Examination of the effects of public education center courses on successful aging

Being old refers beging mature and being experienced during lifelong. Being old is indespensable end of life as a process. People grow and take ages and complete ther lives. The process of being old is perceived as passive term. But individuals who have a happy, active and healty life live a happy and active process when they are getting older. The secret of having happy life is to get older successfully. The most important thing is not to add life to years but to add years to life. Getting older succesfully is summarized as an attitude of being physically, socially and spirital free. If an individual keeps his/her life active and happy, she/he can be happy later in his/her lives. The process of learning is a long adventure which starts from pre-school and cantives to teenage times. Learning does not have an end and it keeps an individual active. Adult Education give some abilities to individuals and it is a teaching and learning facility which appeals to individuals who are fromm all ages. Public edication center are the places where adults mostly join. The courser which are given in there centers refer to the active particition of the individuals and learning processes. Therefor, it gives effect to getting older successfully. The purpose of the research is to Show whether it has an effect an being older successfully or not. This research was done with combined research method. The working group of this researc included participants who are fifty and above 85 and the ones who don't come to the courses and who were chosen randanly with sampling method. The process of having dats was made from the interviews which were done with trainees and people who are not treinee. The qualitative datas which were gained in research were abserved with content analiysis. Quantitative datas was andysed by SPSS programme. When the datas which were gotten at the end of the recearch were abserved, participants who joined to the courses spent more active and happier proceses of being old. But the anes who didn't attend to the courses were seen for away from the concept of getting old. The participant who joined to the organized courses felt themselves more relaxed and it was absorved that they showed a reguler participation thanks to there courses. As a result of this research, the courses which supported lifelong learning had a positive effect an getting older successfully. Key words: Elderly, successful aging, adult education, lifelong learning, public education, public education centers