Perceived Levels of Stress and Coping Strategies among Retirees of Selected Area of Guwahati, Assam

Retiring can be rewarded for years of hard work, but at the same time it can also trigger stress, anxiety and depression. Many people spend years picturing their ideal retirement. People tend to give lots of thought to planning for the financial aspects of retirement, but the psychological impact of retiring is often overlooked. Method: Quantitative approach with descriptive cross sectional survey design was used to accomplish the objectives and multistage sampling technique was adopted to obtain the desired sample size. A total of 200 sample comprising of retirees meeting the inclusion criteria were selected. Results: Out of 200 retirees, majority, i.e., 122(61%) had moderate stress, followed by 55(27.5%) had severe stress and 23(11.5%) had mild stress with obtained score range of 6-37 with median was 120 and an average mean stress score was 21.36 and SD=7.252. The study also reveals that majority 111(55.5%) of retirees had average coping, 60(30%) had good coping and 29(14.5%) had low coping. The study result revealed (r=0.757) indicating strong positive significant correlation between perceived levels of stress and coping strategies among retirees and it also shows that perceived levels of stress and coping strategies among retirees are statistically associated with age, educational status, monthly income, type of family, spouse, job sector and household help. Conclusion: The findings of the study suggest that the perceived levels of stress and coping strategies among retirees is average. Significant positive correlation was found between perceived stress and coping strategies. It is recommended to provide pre-retirement education and counselling about effective coping strategies to manage post-retirement concerns.