Retirement anxiety and psychological well-being of basic school teachers in selected municipalities in Ghana

Abstract

The study examined retirement anxiety and psychological well-being of selected Basic school teachers in Ghana. It focused on retirement anxiety levels, influence of retirement on psychological well-being dimensions, relationship between retirement anxiety and psychological well-being, gender differences in retirement anxiety, experiences and concerns of retirement, and pre-retirement counselling programmes. Mixed methods approach underpinned by sequential explanatory design was adopted for the study. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected using questionnaire and a semi-structured interview. Multistage sampling and proportionate stratified random techniques were used to select 450 participants for quantitative phase. Maximum variation sampling was used to sample 24 teachers from 450 and interviewed in qualitative phase. Research questions 1 and 2 were analysed using mean and standard deviation, and MANOVA. Hypotheses 1 and 2 were analysed using Correlation and ttest. Research questions 5 and 6 were analysed thematically. The findings reported high levels of retirement anxiety. Mental health, financial insecurity and reduced social network influence psychological well-being. The findings reported positive relationship between retirement anxiety and psychological well-being. The findings also revealed gender differences in retirement anxiety. Experiences and concerns of retirement were related to financial, accommodation, detachment from significant others and professional identity shift. Pre-retirement counselling programmes included financial, social, psychological, emotional and psychological support, career transition counselling, and health and wellness programmes. The study concluded that teachers experience high level of retirement anxiety. It was recommended that school counsellors should organise individual and group counselling sessions for teachers on financial and health management and create social support systems.