| Summary: | This thesis explores the transition to retirement in a literature review, a research paper and a critical review. Retirement is a concept that has become central both to theoretical, and to practical, ideas of ageing. The literature review focuses on the impact of retirement upon identity. A meta-synthesis was completed of nine qualitative papers. Three themes emerged: (1) The central role of the 'productive' identity, rather than the narrower 'work' identity, to people's sense of self; (2) Retirement as 'second adolescence' in terms of identity change and development; and (3) The importance of external as well as internal processes in mitigating the influence of retirement on identity. The findings suggested that retirement was not experienced as a crisis. There was a sense that many aspects of retirement were surprising and that this time allowed people to continue with preferred activities while also exploring new aspects of the self. "'J The research paper explored first-hand accounts of people who had retired. A narrative approach was employed to allow further consideration of the socio-cultural framework that surrounds the research. A composite story of retirement was created that involved five progressive acts; these acts were (l) life as it was, (2) the realisation of retirement, (3) the last day, (4) making the change, and (5) life goes on. Prominent within the narratives were issues around health and how to maintain a sense of being productive in retirement. Finally, the critical review discusses my journey through the research process and the issues that became prominent. This is presented as four sections; these were (1) the motivation to carry out this piece of research, (2) the analysis and results from the research, (3) the interplay of narratives of the researcher and the participants, and (4) reflections on the emotions surrounding the research.
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