Seniors enjoying life through engaging activities.

Finding Joy in Later Life: Adapting Tools to Boost Happiness in Seniors

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Rhea Morgan in Health & Wellness December 2025 • 4 min read.

"Discover how a cross-cultural adaptation of the COPPES instrument can help Brazilian seniors rediscover pleasure and improve their well-being through engaging activities."


As we live longer, maintaining a good quality of life becomes increasingly important. For seniors, experiencing pleasure through engaging activities is key to their overall well-being, encompassing psychological, physical, and social aspects. Valid tools that measure how involved seniors are in these joyful activities are essential for designing interventions that promote well-being.

However, there's a gap in resources. Currently, there aren't many Brazilian tools specifically designed to evaluate how engaged older adults are in enjoyable activities. To address this, researchers turned to an American instrument called The California Older Person's Pleasant Events Schedule (COPPES).

This article delves into the process of adapting the COPPES for use in Brazil, ensuring it accurately reflects the experiences and cultural context of Brazilian seniors. It highlights how this adaptation can help promote well-being and foster a more joyful aging experience.

Adapting the COPPES: A Journey of Cultural Relevance

Seniors enjoying life through engaging activities.

The process of adapting an instrument from one culture to another involves several key steps to ensure it remains accurate and relevant. These include evaluating semantic equivalence (making sure the words have the same meaning), conceptual equivalence (ensuring the concepts are understood similarly), cultural equivalence (considering cultural norms and values), idiomatic equivalence (addressing language-specific expressions), operational equivalence (how the instrument is administered), and measurement equivalence (whether the instrument measures the same thing across cultures).

Researchers in Brazil undertook this rigorous process to adapt the COPPES for use with Brazilian seniors. This involved a series of studies, each focusing on a different aspect of equivalence:

  • Semantic Equivalence: Ensuring the translated version of the COPPES had the same meaning as the original.
  • Conceptual and Cultural Equivalence: Confirming that the concepts measured by the COPPES were relevant and understood within the Brazilian cultural context.
  • Idiomatic Equivalence: Verifying that the language used in the adapted COPPES was natural and appropriate for Brazilian seniors.
  • Operational Equivalence: Assessing how well the adapted COPPES could be administered and understood by the target population.
The results of these studies indicated that the adapted COPPES demonstrated satisfactory semantic equivalence and that the items were relevant to the Brazilian cultural context. This suggests that the adapted COPPES can effectively evaluate the dimensions identified by the original instrument, paving the way for its use in promoting the well-being of older Brazilians.

The Path Forward: Promoting Joyful Aging

The successful adaptation of the COPPES for use in Brazil represents a significant step forward in promoting the well-being of older adults. By providing a culturally relevant tool to assess engagement in pleasurable activities, healthcare professionals and researchers can better understand the needs and preferences of Brazilian seniors.

With this understanding, targeted interventions can be developed to encourage participation in activities that bring joy and fulfillment, ultimately enhancing their quality of life. This might involve creating community programs, adapting existing activities to be more accessible, or simply helping seniors identify and pursue their passions.

Further research is encouraged to validate the adapted COPPES and explore its effectiveness in different populations of Brazilian seniors. By continuing to invest in tools and strategies that promote joyful aging, we can create a more supportive and fulfilling environment for older adults to thrive.

About this Article -

This article was crafted using a human-AI hybrid and collaborative approach. AI assisted our team with initial drafting, research insights, identifying key questions, and image generation. Our human editors guided topic selection, defined the angle, structured the content, ensured factual accuracy and relevance, refined the tone, and conducted thorough editing to deliver helpful, high-quality information.See our About page for more information.

This article is based on research published under:

DOI-LINK: 10.1590/0102-311x00130212, Alternate LINK

Title: Adaptação Transcultural De Um Instrumento Para Avaliar O Envolvimento De Idosos Em Atividades Prazerosas

Subject: Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health

Journal: Cadernos de Saúde Pública

Publisher: FapUNIFESP (SciELO)

Authors: Heloisa Gonçalves Ferreira, Elizabeth Joan Barham

Published: 2013-12-01

Everything You Need To Know

1

Why is experiencing pleasure important for seniors?

The importance of experiencing pleasure through engaging activities is paramount for older adults. This encompasses psychological, physical, and social aspects of their lives. When seniors actively participate in joyful activities, it directly contributes to their overall well-being and quality of life as they navigate their golden years.

2

What is the COPPES?

The COPPES, or The California Older Person's Pleasant Events Schedule, is an American instrument designed to measure how involved seniors are in enjoyable activities. In this context, it serves as a tool to assess the types of activities that bring pleasure to older adults. This instrument helps healthcare professionals understand the preferences of seniors. The core idea is that knowing what brings joy allows for the creation of interventions to boost well-being.

3

What steps were taken to adapt the COPPES for use in Brazil?

The process of adapting the COPPES for use in Brazil was a multi-step process. It involved evaluating several types of equivalence: semantic (meaning of words), conceptual (understanding of concepts), cultural (cultural norms), idiomatic (language-specific expressions), operational (how it's administered), and measurement (if it measures the same thing). Each step ensured that the adapted version accurately reflected the experiences and cultural context of Brazilian seniors, making the COPPES a relevant instrument.

4

What is meant by 'equivalence' in the context of adapting the COPPES?

Semantic equivalence refers to ensuring the translated version of the COPPES has the same meaning as the original. Conceptual and cultural equivalence confirms that the concepts measured by the COPPES are relevant and understood within the Brazilian cultural context. Idiomatic equivalence checks if the language used is natural and appropriate. Operational equivalence assesses how well the adapted COPPES can be administered. These considerations are critical for creating a culturally relevant assessment tool.

5

Why is the adaptation of the COPPES important?

The successful adaptation of the COPPES for Brazilian seniors is significant because it provides a culturally relevant tool to assess their engagement in pleasurable activities. This allows healthcare professionals and researchers to better understand the needs and preferences of this population. The use of this tool facilitates the design of targeted interventions. Ultimately, it aims at improving the well-being of older Brazilians by promoting a more joyful aging experience.

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