109
Análisis y Modicación de Conducta
2024, Vol. 50, Nº 182, 109-128
ISSN: 0211-7339
Content On Active Ageing In University Degrees:
A Study In Spain And Portugal
Contenidos sobre envejecimiento activo en titulaciones
universitarias: un estudio en España y Portugal
Emilia Moreno-Sánchez1, Francisco-Javier Gago-Valiente1, María-Isabel Mendoza-Sierra1, Jesús Sáez-Padilla1,
Estefanía Castillo-Viera1, María Cristina Campos de Sousa Faria2, Sandra Rebeca Lozano Carvalhal2, Susana
Isabel Justo Henriques2, Emilia Isabel Martins Texeira da Costa3, María Jose Gouveia Baltazar3, y Diana Maria
Da Costa Bizarro Morais2
1 Universidad de Huelva, España
2 Instituto Politecnico de Beja, Portugal
3 Universidade do Algarve, Portugal
Resumen
Antecedentes: analizar los planes de estudio de
grado y posgrado de la Universidad de Huelva, el
Instituto Politécnico de Beja y la Universidad del Al-
garve, para identicar contenidos sobre atención a la
diversidad, envejecimiento y los cuatro pilares de la
Organización Mundial de la Salud enfocados para po-
blación de tercera edad.
Métodos: diseño mixto. Se llevó a cabo una fase
cuantitativa de análisis de datos con el programa es-
tadístico SPSS. En la segunda fase del trabajo, y de for-
ma cualitativa, se realizó un análisis del contenido de
los planes de estudios.
Resultados: del total de los 54 grados analizados,
solo en los relacionados con las disciplinas de Activi-
dad Física, Psicología, Ciencias Sociales, Gerontología,
Enfermería y Educación Especial, se identicaron los
contenidos relacionados con el objetivo del estudio.
Conclusiones: muchos profesionales que tienen
contacto con la población mayor no reciben la forma-
ción necesaria para dar respuesta a las necesidades
particulares de estas personas.
PalabRas Clave
Educación superior; entrenamiento profesional;
envejecimiento saludable; cuidados de la salud; salud
pública; ciencias sociales.
abstRaCt
Background: to analyse the study plans of under-
graduate and postgraduate degrees at the Universi-
ty of Huelva, the Beja Polytechnic Institute and the
Algarve University, to identify content on attention
to diversity, ageing and the four pillars of the World
Health Organisation for this population.
Methods: mixed design. A quantitative phase of
data analysis was carried out with the statistical pro-
gram SPSS. In the second phase of the work, and in a
qualitative way, carried out an analysis of the content
of the program collected in the syllabuses.
Results: of the total of the 54 degrees analyzed,
only in those related to the disciplines of Physical Ac-
tivity, Psychology, Social Sciences, Gerontology, Nur-
sing and Special Education, the contents related to
the objective of the study were identied.
Conclusions: many professionals who have con-
tact with the senior population do not receive the ne-
cessary training to respond to the particular needs of
individuals in this age group.
KeywoRds
Higher education; professional training; healthy
aging; health care; public health; social sciences
Correspondencia: Francisco-Javier Gago-Valiente. Facultad de Enfermería, Universidad de Huelva, Avda Tres de Marzo sn 21007 Huelva
(España). E-mail: francisco.gago@denf.uhu.es
Recibido: 01/12/2023; aceptado: 29/12/2023
110 CONTENT ON ACTIVE AGEING IN UNIVERSITY DEGREES: A STUDY IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL
Análisis y Modicación de Conducta, 2024, vol. 50, nº 182
1. Introduction
Achieving longevity is a desire of human-
ity, evident throughout its history and across
dierent peoples and cultures. In this sense,
aging can be considered an achievement to
which scientic and technical advances have
greatly contributed. However, paradoxically,
aging has posed unexpected challenges to
contemporary societies, challenges that re-
quire urgent changes in paradigms, namely
regarding training in higher education.
According to the National Statistics Insti-
tute (2019), Spain an average life expectan-
cy of 81.1 years for men and 86.7 years for
women. According to the newspaper Datos
Macro (2022), Portugal has a life expectancy
of 78.7 years for men and 84.8 years for
women.
As we have already underlined, longev-
ity presents unprecedented challenges for
policymakers in general, and for citizens.
Levels of social and economic security must
be maintained, as well as the provision of
health and other services to a segment of
the population due to age.
Among the global demographic changes,
we cannot forget the economic and social
changes that aect many sectors of the
population, such as, among others, the de-
velopment of life with good health, regional
dierences in the proportion of older peo-
ple, feminisation of old age, growing ur-
banisation, globalisation of the economy,
migrations altering the demography of pop-
ulations, technological revolution, climate
change, armed conicts, poverty and social
inequalities or the evolution of human rights
(Moreno-Sánchez & Mendoza-Sierra, 2020).
These issues can be grouped into the
six determining types of active ageing that
the World Health Organization (2002) distin-
guishes, such as those related to social and
health services, behaviors, personal factors,
physical environment, social environment
and economic.
In this scenario, the training and educa-
tion of people who will work in the future
with the elderly population is essential to
improve their interpersonal skills. These have
a marked attitudinal character, being essen-
tial for the qualication and construction of
professionals who must work as a team and
be an active part within an organization
(Palomino, 2018) that acts with people with
their own characteristics and needs.
When reecting on how to provide pro-
fessionals with the quality training that re-
sponds to the needs on which they must
act, the role of teachers as agents of change
and, ultimately, their necessary social com-
mitment (Reyes, 2020), is not always consid-
ered. It is important to train professionals to
be aware of the social impact of their work,
of undertaking their obligations as educa-
tional agents in whose hands rests the vi-
ability of an education that compensates for
social inequalities (Reyes, 2020).
In this line, the term active ageing should
be mentioned. For the WHO (2019), active
ageing is the process of making the most
of opportunities for physical, mental, and
social well-being throughout a person’s life.
The objective is to ensure quality of life,
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EMILIA MORENO SÁNCHEZ • FRANCISCO-JAVIER GAGO-VALIENTE
Análisis y Modicación de Conducta, 2024, vol. 50, nº 182
productivity, and extend life expectancy at
advanced ages and with the minimum prev-
alence of disability. It is important to remain
active in all three areas (physical, social, and
mental) through life-long participation in
recreational and leisure activities, volunteer-
ing or paid activities, cultural, political, and
social activities, educational and training ac-
tivities, and commitment to community and
to one’s own family.
Active ageing is, therefore, a phenom-
enon that has its origin in a set of multifac-
torial eects, which from the psychosocial
point of view, not only contemplates ageing
from a medical point of view, but also incor-
porates factors from the economic and be-
havioural areas, the sociocultural and educa-
tional environments that benet one’s age-
ing process (Fernández-Ballesteros, 2009). It is
a basic health-promoting strategy, which is
guided by the United Nations principles for
the elderly, according to which independ-
ent health, participation, care, and safety are
the basis of social interventions, aimed at
reducing risk factors (personal, behavioural,
and environmental), where protective fac-
tors are strengthened so that people enjoy
more years and with better quality of life.
For all these reasons, it is necessary to
train professionals in the active and healthy-
ageing model; as well as in the person-cen-
tred care model from a theoretical-practical
approach. The rst step is initial training in
university degrees through explicit and/or
transversal content. In addition, basic and
applied research in any aspect related to
the ageing process should be promoted.
As a result of these two processes, educa-
tional institutions and, in this case, univer-
sities, can also promote the dissemination
of approaches that promote healthy habits
and active ageing. University curricula with
content on aging train future professionals
to eectively address active ageing, the pre-
vention of dependency and the increase in
quality of life in older people. For this rea-
son, its presence in the University at a mul-
tidisciplinary level is essential (Walker, 2008).
To carry out these actions, orientation
towards educational policies and programs
that are based on the guidelines that have
been enumerated is required, since this
would allow action and contribute to the
fact that there are more people enjoying
a positive quality of life as they age, that
actively participate in the social, cultural,
economic and political spheres of society,
continue to perform paid and unpaid work,
and improve their participation in domestic,
family and community life (World Health Or-
ganization, 2002). For this, it is a priority to
have qualied personnel who are aware and
who act as agents of change.
This work seeks to gain understanding of
how professionals who are going to work
with older people are trained. To enable
this, a case study of cross-border universi-
ties in Spain and Portugal was carried out
given the parity between the two countries,
which increasingly have an ageing popula-
tion, so it is necessary to promote factors
that improve social conditions and health in
this group of people. To do this, the follow-
ing objectives were set: To analyse the ob-
112 CONTENT ON ACTIVE AGEING IN UNIVERSITY DEGREES: A STUDY IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL
Análisis y Modicación de Conducta, 2024, vol. 50, nº 182
jectives and contents of dierent disciplines
of undergraduate and graduate university
degrees, in two universities in Portugal and
one university in Spain, to identify whether
issues related to ageing arise; Detect if there
are topics with specic content on older
people and active and healthy ageing; Iden-
tify if the disciplines analysed have content
on the four pillars of WHO: health, safety,
continuous learning, participation.
The ndings of this study will benet
two nearby geographical areas with similar
characteristics in terms of climate, economy,
lifestyle, or average life expectancy, among
many other common needs.
Ultimately, this cross-border case study
answers several questions. The rst is that
because Portugal is a country that, apart
from having common characteristics with
Spain, presents very close challenges and
opportunities. Another of the reasons under-
lying this study initiative is that both Spain
and Portugal are countries with a high life
expectancy rate which, together with the
low birth rate, gives rise to the existence of
an ageing population.
2. Materials and Methods
This study is based on an qualitative de-
sign based on the use of secondary sources
(documentary analysis of study plans) that
incorporated a qualitative analysis and quan-
titative. The teaching guides of the Univer-
sity of Huelva (Spain), University of Algarve
(Portugal) and University of Beja (Portugal)
have been analysed. A methodology based
on descriptive design has been used, which
is an observational scientic method that
allows classifying results in relation to a spe-
cic topic, without inuencing or intervening
in them. The data was collected in an Excel
table in which all topics were analysed. In
this methodology, a qualitative method has
been used where we rely on documentary
analysis to know the reality that we want
to observe. Specically, we carried out a
unique study of a secondary source such
as the teaching guides, which are publicly
available information documents. The ap-
proval of the study by an ethics committee
was not necessary, because it is a compari-
son between curricular units of schools and
courses.
2.1. Instruments
A record sheet designed ad hoc has been
used for the content analysis of the teach-
ing guides. In this research, the object of
study has been segmented into dierent
units to be analysed later. The data were
obtained from the Universities’ web pages in
the section of each university degree.
2.2. Study sample
The study sample was made up of the
curricula of the selected degrees at the three
Universities, and the sample is made up of
the degrees detailed in Table 1. The study
plans of the dierent degrees of the 3 uni-
versities cover a large number of subjects
and a multitude of contents. There are uni-
versity careers that train future professionals
in which, in principle, it can be thought
that they would never work with the elder-
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Análisis y Modicación de Conducta, 2024, vol. 50, nº 182
ly, however, at the professional level, there
could be a specic eld in which they work
with these people. Therefore, no university
degree from the universities selected in the
analysis was excluded.
The study plans analyzed were those cor-
responding to the academic year 2021/2022.
The contents were evaluated at a quantita-
tive level (number of credits) and at a quali-
tative level (content program) to establish
what contents were developed.
2.2.1. Inclusion criteria
Compulsory subjects for all students: core
subjects and compulsory subjects.
2.2.2. Exclusion criteria
Optional enrolment subjects or free
choice by students.
2.3. Process
The study plans of the University of Huel-
va (Spain), University of Algarve (Portugal)
and University of Beja (Portugal) were ana-
Table 1
Degrees analysed
CENTER/UNIVERSITY/ COUNTRY
DEGREE
Faculty of Education, Psychology
and Sport Sciences, University of
Huelva, Spain
Master’s degrees
Communication and Audio-visual Education.
Special education.
Pedagogical Innovation and Educational Leadership.
Psychosocial Research and Intervention in Diverse Contexts.
Research in Physical Education and Sports Sciences.
Research in the Teaching and Learning of Experimental, Social and Mathe-
matical Sciences.
Teachers of Compulsory Secondary Education and Baccalaureate, Vocational
Training and Language Teaching.
Health Psychology.
Degrees
Social Education.
Early Childhood Education.
Elementary education.
Psychology.
Physical Activity and Sports Sciences.
School of Education of the Polyte-
chnic Institute of Beja, Portugal
Master’s degrees
Social and Community Gerontology.
Community Development.
Social Services-Social Risks and Local Development.
Physical and Health Activity.
Special Education - Specialization in Cognitive and Motor Domain
Degrees
Social Service
Degree in Basic Education
Degree in Sports
Degree in Audio-visual and Multimedia
Higher Technical Professional Course
Psychogerontology
Sound and Image
Sport, Leisure, and Wellness
114 CONTENT ON ACTIVE AGEING IN UNIVERSITY DEGREES: A STUDY IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL
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lyzed. It is a documentary analysis, of which
an analysis is carried out of frequency, and a
content analysis. The subject teaching guide
is used as a document of analysis, which
is available on the website of each degree.
The elements that the guide must include
are: identication data of the degree; fac-
ulty data; competencies; learning outcomes;
activities formative; teaching methodologies;
contents; and evaluation systems. Then, a
frequency analysis of the corresponding
number of subjects and credits was per-
formed using an observation sheet. Finally,
the content analysis of the subjects was
performed to describe in depth what is be-
ing developed with respect to the study
contents.
To organise and analyse the data, the
Excel program has been used through the
creation of an observation sheet of all the
subjects of the degrees selected for the
study.
With the use of this method for the re-
search work, the variables cannot be inu-
enced. Only the data is collected, thus re-
sponding to whether these variables appear
within the plans of each subject or if, on
the contrary, they are not considered within
University of Algarve, School of
Health, School of Education and
Communication, Portugal
Degrees
Biomedical and Laboratory Sciences
Diet and nutrition
Nursing
Pharmacy
Physiotherapy
Medical Imaging and Radiotherapy
Orthoprosthetics
Communication Sciences
Communication Design
Sport
Basic education
Social education
Animated image
Postgraduate
Specialization Course in Community Health Nursing
Master’s degree
Social Gerontology
Security and health at work
Emergency Nursing and Critical Care - Erasmus Mundus
Management and Evaluation of Health Technologies
Communication Design for Tourism and Culture
Recreation Sport
Preschool education
Teaching English - 1st Cycle of Basic Education
Teaching of Portuguese and English - 2nd Cycle of Basic Education
Teaching of the 1st Cycle of Basic Education and Mathematics and Natural
Sciences 2nd Cycle of Basic Education
Teaching of the 1st Cycle of Basic Education and Portuguese and History and
Geography of Portugal in the 2nd Cycle of Basic Education.
Special Education - Cognitive and Motor Domain
Social Education
School Management and Administration
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the competencies, objectives, methodology
or contents.
The research has been carried out from
December 2021 to July 2022. For the selec-
tion of variables to analyse, the study has
been based on detailed information in pre-
vious similar studies (Walker, 2008).
2.4. Study variables
The variables analysed in the dierent
degrees/subjects were, objectives of atten-
tion to diversity, content on ageing and the
four basic pillars of the WHO [3], such as
health, safety, continuous learning, and par-
ticipation, related to active ageing (Table 2).
2.5. Analysis of data
Analysis was carried out in each of the
three Universities, to determine whether the
proposed variables appear in the teaching
guides, which are the following elements:
objectives on attention to diversity; content
on ageing and content on advanced age. It
was also checked if they had content on the
four pillars of WHO: health, safety, continu-
ous learning, and participation.
The data source was an observation sheet,
and the nature of the analysis quantitative
and qualitative. A documentary analysis was
carried out, for which a perform a qualita-
tive analysis of the sources of information.
In order to represent the presence of the
contents in the dierent subjects, carried
out quantitative analyses, whose data were
recorded using a Microsoft Excel spread-
sheet. The statistical program SPSS v20 was
used for the calculation of percentages and
frequencies.
3. Results
3.1. Analysis of variables at the Univer-
sity of Huelva (Spain)
3.1.1. Analysis of variables in master’s
degrees
In the rst place, for the variable of “objec-
tives on attention to diversity”, it is evident
that, of the 10 master’s degrees analysed at
the University of Huelva, seven have objec-
tives of this type. The master’s in special
education stands out with 100% of subjects
that contemplate this objective. The univer-
sity postgraduates in which no subject with
these contents were found were the mas-
ter’s degree in physical education and sports
sciences, the master’s degree in research of
teaching and learning of experimental sci-
Table 2
Variables analysed
Diversity attention objectives
Content on ageing
WHO pillar contents:
1. Health
2. Security
3. Continuous learning
4. Participation
116 CONTENT ON ACTIVE AGEING IN UNIVERSITY DEGREES: A STUDY IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL
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ences, social sciences and mathematics, and
the master’s degree in research and analysis
of amenco (Table 3).
As for the content on ageing, only three
master’s degrees have content of this type
and in a single subject each of them. The
three master’s degrees that include these
contents are the master’s degree in physical
education and sports sciences, the master’s
degree in general psychology and the mas-
ter’s degree in research and psychosocial
intervention in various contexts (Table 3).
Lastly, regarding the pillars of the WHO,
6 of the 10 master’s degrees analysed have
contents of this type, highlighting the Mas-
ter’s in Physical Education and Sports Sci-
ences and the Master’s in General Psychology
as the degrees with the highest proportion
of subjects with this content, above all, with
the health pillar (100% and 83.3% respec-
tively). The titles in which no subjects were
found that included these contents were the
master’s degree in communication and au-
diovisual education, the master’s degree in
environmental education, the master’s de-
gree in research of teaching and learning
of experimental sciences, social sciences and
mathematics and master’s degree in research
and analysis of amenco (Table 3).
3.1.2. Analysis of degree variables
When analysing the study variables in
the ve university degrees studied at the
University of Huelva, it is observed that they
all have objectives on attention to diver-
sity, with the Degree in Primary Education
having the most subjects with this type of
objective (33.33%) and the Degree in Physi-
cal Activity and Sports Sciences having the
least (11.7%) (Table 4). On the other hand,
the only degree in which no content was
observed in its topics about ageing was the
Degree in Early Childhood Education. The
other undergraduate degrees have at least
one subject related to these contents except
for the Degree in Psychology, which has
two, and the Degree in Social Education,
which has ve (Table 4).
Regarding the contents related to the
WHO pillars, the “continuous learning” pillar
is not present in any subject of any of the
degrees analysed. With regard to the other
pillars, there is evidence of presence in the
subjects, except for the security pillar in the
Early Childhood Education Degree (0%) and
the participation pillar in the Primary Educa-
tion Degree (0%). It should be noted that
all the degrees have subjects that include
content related to the health pillar, especial-
ly the physical activity and sports sciences
degree (56.86%) and the Psychology degree
(44%) (Table 4).
3.2. Analysis of variables at the Univer-
sity of Beja (Portugal)
3.2.1. Analysis of variables in Master’s
degrees
When studying the objectives on atten-
tion to diversity in the master’s degrees of
the University of Beja, all the degrees ana-
lysed contemplate this type of objective in
their subjects. The postgraduate course with
the largest number of subjects is the Mas-
ter’s Degree in Special Education - Speciali-
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Table 3
Statistics for study variables of master’s degrees from the University of Huelva
Degree / Credits Statistics Variables
Objectives
on attention
to diversity
Content
on ageing
WHO
(Health)
WHO (
Security)
WHO
(Continuous
Learning)
WHO
(Participation)
MASTER’S DEGREE IN COMMUNICATION AND AUDIO-
VISUAL EDUCATION / 60
2 0 0 0 0 0
% 14.29 0 0 0 0 0
MASTER’S DEGREE IN ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION /
60
3 0 0 0 0 0
% 17.65 0 0 0 0 0
MASTER’S DEGREE IN SPECIAL EDUCATION / 60 18 0 14 0 0 0
% 100 0 77.78 0 0 0
MASTER’S DEGREE IN PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND
SPORTS SCIENCES / 60
0 1 12 0 0 4
% 0 9.09 100 0 0 36.36
MASTER’S DEGREE IN TEACHING IN COMPULSORY SEC-
ONDARY EDUCATION, BACCALAUREATE, VOCATIONAL
TRAINING AND LANGUAGE EDUCATION / 60
1 0 3 0 0 0
% 8,33 0 25 0 0 0
MASTER’S DEGREE IN RESEARCH OF TEACHING AND
LEARNING OF EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCES, SOCIAL SCI-
ENCES AND MATHEMATICS / 60
0 0 0 0 0 0
% 0 0 0 0 0 0
MASTER’S DEGREE IN GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY / 60 4 1 15 5 1 4
% 22.22 5.55 83.33 27.77 5.55 22.22
MASTER’S DEGREE IN PEDAGOGICAL INNOVATION
AND EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP / 60
3 0 1 1 2 2
% 20 0 6.66 6.66 13.33 13.33
MASTER’S DEGREE IN RESEARCH AND PSYCHOSOCIAL
INTERVENTION IN VARIOUS CONTEXTS / 60
9 1 3 7 1 0
% 50 5.55 16.66 38.88 5.55 0
MASTER’S DEGREE IN RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS OF
FLAMENCO / 60
0 0 0 0 0 0
% 0 0 0 0 0 0
118 CONTENT ON ACTIVE AGEING IN UNIVERSITY DEGREES: A STUDY IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL
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Table 4
Statistics for study variables of undergraduate degrees at the University of Huelva
Degree Statistics Variables
Objectives on
attention to
diversity
Content on
ageing
WHO
(Health)
WHO
(Security)
WHO
(Continuous
Learning)
WHO
(Participation)
DEGREE IN PRIMARY EDUCATION % 33.33 1.96 15.68 3.92 0 0
DEGREE IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION % 27.08 0 14.58 0 0 2.08
DEGREE IN PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND SPORTS SCIENCES % 11.7 1.96 56.86 1.69 0 5.88
DEGREE IN SOCIAL EDUCATION % 29.54 5.68 10.22 1.13 0 6.81
DEGREE IN PSYCHOLOGY % 20 4 44 4 0 22
Table 5
Statistics for study variables of Master’s degrees from the University of Beja
Degree Statistics Variables
Objectives on
attention to
diversity
Content on
ageing
WHO
(Health)
WHO
(Security)
WHO
(Continuous
Learning)
WHO
(Participation)
MASTER IN SOCIAL AND COMMUNITY GERONTOLOGY % 44.44 100 100 66.66 55.55 22.22
MASTER IN PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND HEALTH % 46.15 15.38 92.3 27.03 0 0
MASTER IN SPECIAL EDUCATION – SPECIALIZATION IN
THE COGNITIVE AND MOTOR DOMAIN % 90.9 0 81.81 0 0 0
MASTER IN SOCIAL WORK - SOCIAL RISKS AND LOCAL
DEVELOPMENT % 69.23 7.69 7.69 23.07 0 0
MASTER IN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AND ENTRE-
PRENEURSHIP % 30 0 20 0 0 0
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sation in the Cognitive and Motor Domain
(90.9%), and the course with the least num-
ber of subjects is the Master’s Degree in
Community Development and Entrepreneur-
ship (30%) (Table 5).
Regarding the presence of content related
to ageing, the master’s degrees that have this
type of content are the master’s in social and
community gerontology (100%), the master’s
in physical activity and health (15.38%), and
the master’s in social work - social risks and
social development (7.69%). The degrees that
do not have this type of content in their
subjects are the master’s degree in Commu-
nity Development and Entrepreneurship (0%)
and the master’s degree in Special Education
– Specialisation in the Cognitive and Motor
Domain (0%) (Table 5).
Finally, when analysing whether the de-
grees contemplate the pillars of the WHO,
all of them have health content present in
one or several of their subjects. Three of
the ve master’s degrees have content re-
lated to safety, these were the master’s in
social and community gerontology (66.66%),
the master’s in physical activity and health
(23.07%), and the master’s in social work -
social risks and local development (23.07%).
Only the Master’s in Social and Community
Gerontology presents subjects with continu-
ous learning content (55.5%) and participa-
tion (22.22%) (Table 5).
3.2.2. Analysis of variables in Bachelor’s
degrees
Regarding the objectives of attention to
diversity, it is evident that three of the four
university degrees analysed have subjects
with these types of objectives, these are
the degree in sports (32.55%), the degree
in infantil and primary education (14%) and
the degree in social services (34.37%). In the
degree in Audio-visuals and Multimedia, no
subject with these objectives was evidenced
(Table 4). On the other hand, when analys-
ing the presence of content on ageing, only
the degree in Social Services presented sub-
jects with this type of content (9.37%; 18.9
credits) (Table 6).
When studying the presence of the ba-
sic pillars of the WHO in the dierent sub-
jects of these degrees, all the degrees ana-
lysed had at least two of the four pillars in
some of their subjects, except the Degree
in Audio-visual and Multimedia, which did
not show any subject with these contents.
Of the three degrees in which contents on
basic pillars were evidenced, in the degree
in sports, contents related to the health pil-
lar (65.11), the safety pillar (4.65) and the
participation pillar (13.95) were observed,
in the degree in infant and primary edu-
cation, contents were observed related to
the health pillar (18%) and the safety pillar
(6%) and in the degree in social services,
contents related to the four pillars were evi-
denced (health: 12.5%; safety: 9.37%; contin-
uous learning: 3.12%; participation: 6.25%)
(Table 6).
3.2.3. Analysis of variables in university
degrees oered by the University of Beja
When analysing the university courses of-
fered by the University of Beja, it was ob-
120 CONTENT ON ACTIVE AGEING IN UNIVERSITY DEGREES: A STUDY IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL
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Table 6
Statistics for study variables of Degrees of the University of Beja
Degree / Credits Statistics Variables
Objectives of
attention to
diversity
Content on
aging
WHO (
Health)
WHO
(Security)
WHO
(Continuous
Learning)
WHO
(Participation)
DEGREE IN AUDIOVISUALS AND MULTIMEDIA / 240 0 0 0 0 0 0
% 0 0 0 0 0 0
DEGREE IN SPORTS / 240 14 0 28 2 0 6
% 32.55 0 65.11 4.65 0 13.95
DEGREE IN INFANT AND PRIMARY EDUCATION / 240 7 0 9 3 0 0
% 14 0 18 6 0 0
DEGREE IN SOCIAL SERVICES / 240 11 3 4 3 1 2
% 34.37 9.37 12.5 9.37 3.12 6.25
Table 7
Statistics for study variables of university degree courses from the University of Beja
Degree / Credits Statistics Variables
Objectives of
attention to
diversity
Content on
aging
WHO
(Health)
WHO
(Security)
WHO
(Continuous
Learning)
WHO
(Participation)
HIGHER PROFESSIONAL TECHNICAL COURSE IN PSY-
CHOGERONTOLOGY / 120 10 12 14 5 0 1
% 45.45 54.54 63.63 22.72 0 4.54
SUPERIOR COURSE IN SOUND AND IMAGE / 120 0 0 0 0 0 0
% 0 0 0 0 0 0
121
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served that in the Higher Professional Tech-
nical Course in Psycho-gerontology all the
study variables analysed in some of its sub-
jects were present, except for the continu-
ous learning pillar of the WHO, from which
no data was found (Table 7). However, in
the Higher Course in Sound and Image,
none of the study variables was evidenced
in any of its subjects (Table 7).
3.3. Analysis of variables at the Universi-
ty of the Algarve (Portugal)
3.3.1. Analysis of variables in Master’s
and Bachelor’s degrees
When analysing the presence of objec-
tives on attention to diversity in the dif-
ferent degrees of the University of the Al-
garve, 17 of the 21 studied, presented this
type of objective in some of their subjects.
The degrees in which these objectives were
not evidenced were the Master’s Degree in
Communication Design for Tourism and Cul-
ture, the Postgraduate Specialisation Course
in Community Health Nursing, the Master’s
Degree in Safety and Health at Work and
the Bachelor’s Degree in Biomedical and
Laboratory Sciences. It should be noted that
in the Master’s degrees in Basic Education
1st Cycle, Mathematics and Natural Sciences
2nd Cycle, and in the Master’s Degree in
Portuguese and English Teaching (2nd Cycle,
Basic Education) the study found that 100%
of their subjects had objectives of attention
to diversity (Table 8).
In terms of content on ageing, only sev-
en degrees out of the twenty-one analysed
have subjects related to these topics. The
degrees that have these contents in some
of their subjects are Degree in Dietetics and
Nutrition Degree (10.80%; 26 credits), De-
gree in Biomedical and Laboratory Sciences
(8.69%; 20.5 credits), Degree in Basic Educa-
tion (2.27%; 5 credits), Degree in Social Edu-
cation (5.88%; 11.5 credits), Master’s Degree
in Preschool Education (6.66%; 6 credits),
Master’s Degree in Social Education (13.33%;
16 credits) and Master’s Degree in Social
Gerontology (57.14%; 51.5 credits) (Table 8).
Finally, when analysing the presence of
the four pillars of the WHO, it was observed
that the pillars of continuous learning and
participation were present in at least one
subject in all the degree programs analysed.
The health pillar was evidenced in subjects
of ten of the twenty-one-degree program
studied, these were the master’s degree in
social gerontology (35.71%), the master’s de-
gree in special education - cognitive and
motor domain (33.33%), the degree in social
education (26.47%), the degree in basic edu-
cation (4.54%), the degree in sports (100%),
the master’s degree in safety and health at
work (6.66%), the degree in biomedical and
laboratory sciences (100%), degree in nurs-
ing (73.52%), degree in pharmacy (100%)
and degree in medical image and radio-
therapy (100%). The security pillar was ob-
served only in subjects of eight degrees,
these were the degree in basic education
(15.90%), degree in sports (3.44%), post-
graduate course specialization in commu-
nity health nursing (87.5%), master’s degree
in safety and health at work (6.66%), de-
gree in biomedical and laboratory sciences
122 CONTENT ON ACTIVE AGEING IN UNIVERSITY DEGREES: A STUDY IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL
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(13.04%), degree in nursing (2.94%), degree
in pharmacy (2.70%) and degree in medical
image and radiotherapy (2.27%) (Table 8).
4. Discussion
The general objective of this research has
been to analyse dierent university degree
programs in three universities of two cross-
border countries, to study the presence of
contents in attention to diversity, ageing,
and the four basic pillars of the WHO (2002):
health, safety, continuous learning, and par-
ticipation.
The ndings obtained show that in the
three Universities, the degree programs that
oer a higher number of subjects related to
ageing and attention to diversity, are those
concerning Physical Activity, Social Sciences,
Gerontology, Psychology and Nursing. The
Social Education degree also addresses this
content but is only oered at the University
of the Algarve. From these ndings, we can
conclude that the approach to ageing in the
study plans (courses content) is mostly con-
templated according to the biopsychosocial
concept of the term ageing (Martín, 2001;
Toronjo-Gómez, 2007), without considering
other perspectives that essential in the care
of elderly. It is vitally important that indi-
viduals that are trained to be teachers, also
have an approach to ageing in their study
plans, since there is currently a wide variety
of training options for approaching deal-
ing with the elderly, and all the benets of
transgenerational activities. Kane (1992) de-
nes professional competence as the degree
of use of the knowledge, skills and good
judgment associated with the profession, in
all situations that may be confronted in the
exercise of professional practice. In this de-
nition, which is one of the most dynamic
and complete, there is a dimension that is
fundamental: the professional’s ability to use
good judgment; that is, to be able to reason
adequately to make decisions as long as he
has sucient knowledge. In addition, the
university also has a task of social involve-
ment, that is, taking into account that the
strictly theoretical knowledge that is trans-
mitted is not enough, the university must
commit to making structural changes in its
four basic pillars, which are, its organization,
teaching sta, students and administrative
sta (Vallaeys, 2007). For this reason, in ad-
dition to including content on active aging
in the teaching guides that require it, a
transversal management of content should
also be promoted, transferring responsibility
in this type of training to all teachers (OEI,
2021). In addition, it is necessary to promote
educational activities that allow students to
discuss and reason and thus acquire knowl-
edges of this segment of the population
(Souza, Silva & Barros, 2021).
It would also be interesting in training
programmes to include contact with the
elderly in addition to theoretical training.
Contents that include intergenerational con-
tact practices reduce stereotypes related to
motivational and social aspects of aging
(Lorente-Martínez, Brotons-Rodes & Sitges-
Maciá, 2010). Therefore, it is necessary to
change the conventional model of training
on content related to aging, methodologies
123
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Table 8
Statistics for study variables of degrees from the University of Algarve
Degree / Credits Statistics Variables
Objectives of
attention to
diversity
Content
on aging
WHO
(Health)
WHO
(Security)
WHO
(Continuous
Learning)
WHO
(Participation)
MASTER’S DEGREE IN SOCIAL GERONTOLOGY / 120 45 8 5 0 15 15
% 50 57.14 35.71 0 100 100
MASTER’S DEGREE IN SOCIAL EDUCATION / 120 8 2 0 0 12 12
% 6.66 13.33 0 0 80 80
MASTER’S DEGREE IN SPECIAL EDUCATION – COGNI-
TIVE AND MOTOR DOMAIN / 120 96 0 5 0 16 16
% 80 0 33.33 0 100 100
MASTER’S DEGREE IN BASIC EDUCATION 1ST CYCLE
AND PORTUGUESE, HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY OF
PORTUGAL IN 2ND CYCLE / 120
82 0 0 0 20 20
% 68.42 0 0 0 100 100
MASTER’S DEGREE IN BASIC EDUCATION 1ST CYCLE
MATHEMATICS AND NATURAL SCIENCES 2ND CYCLE /
120
120 0 0 0 20 20
% 100 0 0 0 100 100
MASTER’S DEGREE IN PORTUGUESE AND ENGLISH
TEACHING (2nd CYCLE BASIC EDUCATION) / 120
Fi 120 0 0 0 21 21
% 100 0 0 0 100 100
MASTER’S DEGREE IN PRE-SCHOOL EDUCATION / 120 36 1 0 0 16 16
% 40 6.66 0 0 100 100
MASTER’S DEGREE IN COMMUNICATION DESIGN FOR
TOURISM AND CULTURE / 120
0 0 0 0 14 14
% 0 0 0 0 100 100
DEGREE IN ANIMATED IMAGE / 240 17.6 0 0 0 27 27
% 8.1 0 0 0 72.97 72.97
DEGREE IN SOCIAL EDUCATION / 240 11.7 2 9 0 33 33
% 5.68 5.88 26.47 0 97.05 97.05
DEGREE IN BASIC EDUCATION / 240 20.3 2 2 7 45 45
% 9.09 4.54 4.54 15.90 100 100
DEGREE IN SPORTS / 240 26.2 0 29 1 30 30
% 13.79 0 100 3.44 100 100
DEGREE IN COMMUNICATION DESIGN / 240 33.4 0 0 0 39 39
% 15.78 0 0 0 100 100
124 CONTENT ON ACTIVE AGEING IN UNIVERSITY DEGREES: A STUDY IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL
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DEGREE IN COMMUNICATION SCIENCES / 240 246 0 0 0 37 37
% 89.18 0 0 0 100 100
POSTGRADUATE COURSE SPECIALIZATION IN
COMMUNITY HEALTH NURSING / 60
0 0 0 7 7 0
% 0 0 0 87.5 87.5 0
MASTER’S DEGREE IN SAFETY AND HEALTH AT WORK /
120
0 0 1 1 1 0
% 0 0 6.66 6.66 6.66 0
DEGREE IN BIOMEDICAL AND LABORATORY SCIENCES
/ 240
0 4 47 6 47 47
% 0 8.69 100 13.04 100 100
DEGREE IN DIETETICS AND NUTRITION / 240 53 4 0 0 36 37
% 22.07 10.80 0 0 97.29 100
DEGREE IN NURSING / 240 77.6 6 25 1 34 34
% 32.35 17.64 73.52 2.94 100 100
DEGREE IN PHARMACY / 240 6.5 3 38 1 38 38
% 2.7 8.10 100 2.70 100 100
DEGREE IN MEDICAL IMAGE AND RADIOTHERAPY / 240 16.3 1 45 1 45 45
% 6.81 2.27 100 2.27 100 100
125
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must be established to conrm a reec-
tive professional practice with older people
(Sáez-Carrera, 1996).
As for the four major pillars that the
WHO (2002) points out within the actions
in which all activities that respond to dif-
ferent needs with the aim of promoting ac-
tive, happy, and healthy ageing must be
framed, of which one of them is health, it
has also been shown that in general they
are addressed in the three Universities in
degree programs related to Psychology, So-
cial Sciences, Physical Activity, Gerontology
and Nursing. In the same way , the degree
programs that most address these contents
from the WHO pillar of safety have been
Psychology, Gerontology and Physical Activi-
ty. Finally, for the continuous learning block,
the degrees in Physical Education, Nursing,
Social Education, Special Education and Psy-
chology stand out as they clearly show this
topic in their study plans.
To analyse the meaning and impact of
these results, it must be taken into account
that the professional competencies based on
the WHO pillars refer to the attitudes and
capacities necessary to solve community
problems eectively and eciently (Segura,
Larizgoitia & Benavides, 2003). The diversity
of competencies in relation to the basic pil-
lars of the WHO (2002) suggests that there
are many professionals who have training
for this. This explains why being multidisci-
plinary is one of the dierential character-
istics (Consell Catalá d’Especialitats en Cién-
cies de la Salut, 2000), and why training in
this area has spread from the health profes-
sions to other degrees. However, there are
few degree programs analysed that have
addressed these pillars in their dierent sub-
jects. Perhaps the problem is also teacher
training (Ribera, 2001), traditionally there
was a generalized and negative thought to-
wards older people, as a social group, and
towards old age as a stage of life (Butler,
1994). The current reality is that there are
very few chairs of geriatrics (Ribera, 2001). If
teachers do not have adequate preparation,
they will not be able to teach the con-
tents related to active aging eectively, and
there is a risk of continuing in a negative
view of aging, and may even lead to situa-
tions of discrimination against the collective
(Palmore, 1999). Therefore, it is necessary to
transform the situation, the circumstances
that have generated it and, above all, devel-
op potentialities from a positive perspective
(Acero, 2003). To solve this problem, it could
be considered the adaptation of degrees to
the European Higher Education Area (EHEA),
providing the opportunity to reorganise the
courses content taught in European univer-
sities in undergraduate and postgraduate
programs, thus following the philosophy of
European convergence of adapting them to
the dierent professional proles (Ronda,
Davo & Alvarez-Dardet, 2005). Another argu-
ment that reinforces the inclusion of these
contents in university curricula is Resolu-
tion 46/91, of December 16, of the United
Nations, which recognizes the importance
of active aging for the elderly through the
principles of independence, participation,
care and self-realization (Resolución 46/91,
126 CONTENT ON ACTIVE AGEING IN UNIVERSITY DEGREES: A STUDY IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL
Análisis y Modicación de Conducta, 2024, vol. 50, nº 182
de 16 de diciembre, de las Naciones Unidas,
2022).
In the rest of the subjects of the total of
the 54 degrees studied, it can be deduced
that ageing is not dealt with in a visible or
explicit way, but this does not imply that it
is not dealt with transversally in the class
sessions.
Despite the richness and impact of the
data obtained, the study described here has
certain limitations and strengths. This is a
pilot investigation, therefore, the objectives
set are very general, it is intended to con-
tinue along the same lines with increasingly
specic objectives. One of the strengths of
this study is that it provides new informa-
tion regarding content on aging in many
university degrees that, until now, have
been scarcely studied. This updated infor-
mation could help develop future lines of
intervention and future study plans.
5. Conclusions
There is a popular saying that “those who
really love life are those who are getting old”.
This idea is what should stimulate institutions
to act in the face of people’s old age.
To conclude this work, it is necessary to
highlight that there are currently some uni-
versity training courses where the contents
on active and healthy aging are explicitly
addressed in cross-border universities. How-
ever, it should be noted that, in general,
professionals in the various areas of inter-
vention (social, community, health, cultural,
communication) are not properly trained to
respond to the needs of the senior popula-
tion, with quality interventions.
The results show that the study plans
of the dierent levels of university degrees
need a new approach, where university stu-
dents are prepared and trained in a more
holistic perspective to work with and for
senior citizens. It is essential that these stu-
dents have the qualications that respond
to the needs which are demanded in their
future as professionals who are going to
work with the elderly, for the transforma-
tion of society in an egalitarian context, and
with quality of life for all people.
For all these reasons, it is necessary to
reorient the University Study Plans to train
future professionals to work with the chal-
lenges that await them, namely population
aging. These curricula must include work
aimed at this segment of the population
(China, Frank, da Silva, de Almeida & da Silva,
2021). In addition, we must not forget that
this preparation covers the whole of soci-
ety, not just those who will carry out their
professional activity directly with the elderly.
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