Background and aims: A wealth of research leaves no room for doubt that people with chronic pain are vulnerable to depression. However, it remains unclear what might prevent the debilitating consequences of pain in older age. The aim of the study - to investigate whether the relationship between chronic pain and depression experienced by older people can be altered by successful aging, defined by the use of selection, optimization, and compensation strategies.

Participants and methods: 106 people experiencing chronic pain participated in the study. Their ages ranged from 65 to 93 years (M = 72,12, SD = 6,39), with 89,6% female and 10,4% male. The Pain Intensity, Enjoyment of Life, and General Activity Questionnaire (Krebs et al., 2009) was used to assess participants' chronic pain, and the Geriatric Depression Scale, short form (Sheikh & Yesavage, 1986) was used to assess depression. The short form of the Selection, Optimization, and Compensation Questionnaire (Freund & Baltes, 2002) was used to determine successful aging. A cross-sectional correlational study was conducted, and correlational and moderation regression analyses were applied to answer the research question.

Results and conclusions: The study results revealed that more severe chronic pain in older adults is associated with more significant depression. Additionally, successful aging and greater use of its strategies are essentially associated with lower depression. However, only the compensation strategy has an impact on the relationship between chronic pain and depression in the study sample. Using the compensation strategy less, more incredible chronic pain predicts higher depression while using compensation more breaks this relationship between chronic pain and depression. Thus, it was found that compensation has a moderating effect, weakening the relationship between chronic pain and depression in older adults.

Keywords: chronic pain, depression, successful aging, selection, optimization, compensation.

Background and aims: Specific stressful factors of care and nursing institutions, attitudes to aging, and empathy are mainly studied as having significance for clients' psychological well-being. This study aims to find the links between the psychological well-being of care and nursing institution employees and their attitude to aging and empathy for clients, as this would improve the efficiency of care and care and the well-being of clients.

Methods: The study included 103 employees of Vilnius city and district nursing and care institutions (89.3% - women). An anonymous questionnaire was utilized that included three scales: the Questionnaire on Aging Stereotypes, Jefferson's Empathy Scale, and the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale – 21 (DASS-21), alongside demographic questions.

Results: The results indicated direct and indirect relationships among several factors. Specifically, care and nursing facility employees who held negative attitudes toward aging and exhibited lower empathy for clients tended to experience greater difficulties regarding psychological well-being, including higher symptoms of anxiety, depression, and stress. Moreover, negative attitudes toward aging not only predicted lower levels of empathy for clients but also suggested that this lack of empathy further contributed to psychological well-being challenges.

Conclusions: In conclusion, the psychological well-being of employees in care and nursing facilities is influenced by their attitudes toward aging and their empathy for clients, indicating that these factors may impact one another.

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of digital technology in addressing mental health challenges. Due to limited digital technology use and certain age-related factors older adults could have been more vulnerable to the pandemic's effects. However, the impact of internalized ageism and regional comparisons have been less integrated in pandemic related studies of older people‘s mental health factors. Therefore, our study aimed to investigate the associations between internet use and mental health outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic among older adults in the Nordic-Baltic region, while adjusting for socio-demographic factors and internalized ageism. Data from the the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) Corona Survey 2 was used for this study, including 7263 individuals aged 65 and above from the Nordic and Baltic regions. The study found that internet use was associated with a lower probability of depressive symptoms among older adults but not with anxiety, while internalized ageism predicted both depressive and anxiety symptoms. Regional differences were observed: internet use predicted depressive symptoms in the Baltic but not Nordic regions, while internalized ageism predicted anxiety symptoms in the Baltic but not Nordic regions. These findings highlight the need for interventions that foster digital inclusion and combat ageism, tailored to regional contexts, to promote better mental health among older adults across diverse regions.

Middle-aged women start developing a relationship with their aging and their awareness of death might be changing. It is important to understand what factors are related to aging and death anxiety as it might interfere with a better aging experience. Current satisfaction with own aging and life might be related to how future aging and end-of-life are perceived. The aim of the study was to analyze the association between aging anxiety, death anxiety, perceptions of current own aging, and life satisfaction among middle-aged women. Participants of the study are middle-aged women from Lithuania, aged from 30 to 59 years old. The study is currently in the data collection stage, which is anticipated to be finished in April 2025. The planned sample of the study is a convenience sample of at least 300 women. Measures used in the study are the Anxiety about Aging Scale (Lasher & Faulkender, 1993); The Existential Death Anxiety Scale (Jong, & Halberstadt, 2016); the Attitudes Toward Own Aging subscale from the Philadelphia Geriatric Center Morale Scale (Lawton, 1975) and The Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener et al., 1985). The correlations between aging anxiety, death anxiety and self-perceptions of aging and life satisfaction will be analyzed, and linear regressions will be performed to test whether these constructs predict the level of aging and death anxiety when controlling for other sociodemographic factors. Results will be reported in this presentation. The findings of the study will provide insights into whether factors like how much middle-aged women are satisfied with their lives and with their current aging are related to aging and death anxiety. These insights can be helpful in promoting a healthier relationship with aging and consequently better aging experience. This study was financed by the Research Council of Lithuania (LMTLT), agreement No. S-PD-24-58.