Abstract

Productive engagement is the involvement of older adults in society through employment, volunteering, and caregiving (Morrow-Howell and Mui, 2012). Although the unprecedented growth of elderly population in the Sri Lanka’s age structure remains a long-term challenge for the country, the positive ageing discourse puts forward the perspective that capacity of independent, healthy and active older people must be promoted and utilized to make them contribute to the society through various productive activities. The current paper attempted to examine the nature of engagement and their effects on elders, using a sample of 350 community-dwelling elders in three geographical settings representing urban, rural and estate sectors of Sri Lanka. The study was guided by the pragmatic paradigm and used mixed-methods design with a deductive theoretical drive. The results highlight the current state of engagement in each of the three productive activities explaining across personal attributes of elders. The perceived benefits of engagement are summarized and opportunities and barriers are noted to assist future transformations pertaining to productive ageing policies and programmes in Sri Lanka.

Keywords: Caregiving, Elderly population, Paid work, Productive engagement, Volunteering