The Achievement of Flourishing in the Elderly through Education at Pesantren

. This study aims to explore the flourishing in elders. In this study, the authors developed an in-depth interview based on Seligman’s concept of flourishing. The interview has open questions, which were given to eight santri as research subjects aged 55 to 76 years. Data were analyzed using qualitative method i.e Interpretative Phenomenology Analysis (IPA) techniques. The results of the study showed that the elderly who were the research targets have fairly good flourishing achievement. They can do daily activities naturally formed from the results of habituation while in pesantren. They also have high independence and resilience as has been revealed in previous research which used quantitative methods that showed a high level of both variables. It can be concluded that the activities can increase the independence and resilience of the elderly who become santri and with habituation carried out can bring the elderly to achieve flourishing

Being elderly is a fulfillment of humans' destiny to live long lives.At this age, the elderly must be ready to accept and experience various changes.These changes include a decline in their physical, cognitive, social, and psychological abilities.Nonetheless, the impact of these changes depends on their lifestyle since their youth.Lifestyle will determine the ability of each individual when entering old age, a well-organized lifestyle makes it easier to carry out activities when entering old age (De Medeiros et al., 2020;Loeches et al., 2019;Su & Wang, 2019).Hence, successful aging remains the focus of researchers who aim to develop their knowledge about the elderly because the ultimate goal of a human is to lead healthy and happy lives, especially in old age.
In a study based on a grounded theoretical framework, interviews were conducted with 23 parents aged 62-88 years in Zapopan, Mexico, to explore the perspectives of Mexican adults toward successful aging.The results showed that successful aging is a multidimensional concept influenced by several intrinsic and extrinsic factors.Overall, successful aging is defined as the acceptance and adaptation to transitions and living conditions, strong engagement with family and friends, closeness to God, the achievement of personal goals, and aging in residence (Uribe, 2015).Besides, the elderly require high resilience, as indicated by the significant correlation between successful aging, low depression, and longevity (Lazuka, 2019;Alcañiz & Solé-Auró, 2018;MacLeod et al., 2016).
Correlation between the physical and psychological conditions of the elderly may influence successful aging (Erdal et al., 2017).The elderly are prone to loneliness or isolation from the environment.Thus, the composition of the household, education, health status, and the amount of social interaction, including recreation and travel facilities, can minimize the lonely state of the elderly (van den Berg et al., 2016).With the growth of the elderly population in urban areas, residence for this group has become an urgent requirement especially because they spend almost all of their time at home (Grassi et al., 2020;Wrosch et al., 2006).If there are no more families to care for them, the elderly are usually taken to a nursing home.Because they are classified as neglected elderly, so they usually have a feeling of inferiority.In this nursing homes, they are rehabilitated, including the rehabilitation of their self-esteem (Indriana, 2012).
The case is different for the elderly living in the pesantren.Pesantren are places for Islamic religious education.The size of the elderly population increases annually, thus prompting managers of pesantren to consider the large number of the elderly who require the services of pesantren.Such motivation resulted in the opening of special classes for the elderly in pesantren in 1950.The increasing number of elderly students in pesantren is correlated with their increasing religiosity.Many of them are elderly who have retired from their jobs.Routines done every day caused them to feel lost when they had to retire.If this is allowed to drag on, they could be threatened with the post-power syndrome.The results of research from Indriana and Desiningrum, (2017) showed that many retirees experienced a tendency to post-power syndrome.
Many efforts can be made in improving the welfare of elders, including the selection of a place that is comfortable and conducive for them to stay active, so as to become more empowered.The alternative is pesantren.Permani (2011) stated that pesantren contribute to the formation of social capital, especially in the form of religiosity, which consequently contributes to the improvement of people's welfare.Apart from the religiosity factor, pesantren helps the elderly continuously learn.One study found that lifelong learning for parents can improve their psychological well-being and enhance their skills to achieve healthy and active aging, that is, successful aging (Díaz-López et al., 2017).
Research on the elderly are mostly about successful aging which is related to high resilience and low depression, as well as health and social support.This study aims to explore the flourishing of the elderly at pesantren that has never been studied.In addition to showing high enthusiasm and discipline in participating in all the activities required in the pesantren, the elderly also have the motivation to develop themselves.They have high spirits in striving for achieving the desired abilities and knowledge.Thus, exploring further flourishing of the elderly as santri is very interesting.Due to the limited study of flourishing, this research explores it qualitatively.
In preliminary studies at Pesantren Payaman Magelang, Central Java, researchers have also explored the independence and resilience of the elderly.Preliminary studies related to resilience were conducted a few months before the study and related to independence were conducted one week before the study.Collected data will then be analyzed by quantitative methods as additional data that can explain their lives towards flourishing.The results showed that of the 31 subjects studied, 14 people had high independence and 17 people had very high independence.The complete results can be seen in Table 1.

Category
Range Numbers Subjecs Very Low In addition to research on the independence of elderly in pesantren, the author has also conducted research on resilience.Resilience is the ability to adapt and overcome the problems at hand.A resilient elder will be able to face problems both from themselves as a result of the setbacks he has experienced and unpleasant treatment from other people and the environment.Resilience can prevent the elderly from having feelings of hopelessness that can be caused because they see their lives as part of misfortune, disappointment, and failure.
Resilience is an individual's ability to cope with and adapt to serious events that occur in his life.Enduring stress and even dealing with adversity or trauma experienced and remaining steadfast in difficult situations (Reivich & Shatte, 2002).Resilience also includes recovering from traumatic times, overcoming failures in life, and enduring stress so that individuals can function properly and can carry out their daily tasks.Thus, resilience can be interpreted as a positive adaptation pattern so that individuals can still show progress even in difficult situations (Masten et al., 2013).Siebert, (2005) adds that resilience is the ability to cope well with life changes at a high level, maintain health under stressful conditions, rise from adversity, overcome adversity, change ways of life when the old way is no longer suitable for existing conditions, and face problems without committing violence.Experience and involvement in spirituality are also one of factors forming a person's resilience (Hebbani & Srinivasan, 2016).
The results of the research on resilience showed that out of 34 subjects, 11 had high resilience and 20 had very high resilience.Only 3 subjects have moderate resilience.Details can be seen in Table 2.

Categorization of Resilience Variable
The results of that two preliminary studies concluded that the santri who were studying at the pesantren Payaman Magelang had high independence and resilience.Independence is significantly positively correlated with resilience, which means that the higher the independence, the higher the resilience (MacLeod et al., 2016).
The schedule of activities in pesantren is dense, but the elderly maintain their high spirits and appear comfortable at home.Many elderly in pesantren have been living there for years, with some residing there in the last 12 years.They have also come from distant places, including Kalimantan or Sulawesi.The challenge for the elderly when living together in pesantren is that they may fail to achieve successful aging without social support.One study found that when provided with adequate educational, material, and psychological support, individuals in institutions can meet the requirements that support psychosocial development (Wanat et al., 2010).When the elderly live in closed institutions such as pesantren, they still need to have access to open spaces, which could address their physical, emotional, psychological, and social needs (Othman & Fadzil, 2015).When these needs of the elderly are adequately met, they can ultimately flourish.
Flourishing is a condition where individuals can develop properly, where the strength of their character can be realized even in old age (Bullock et al., 2020;Kainulainen, 2018).When an individual can function optimally and develop well, this individual can still flourish positively.The goal of flourishing is achieved with superior mental health measured by physical and mental health, as well as high vitality measured by full physical and mental functioning (Seligman, 2012).Flourishing emerges as a mechanism that can explain the relationship between anxiety, optimism, pessimism, and positive influences.

Analysis of various research findings shows that positive self-help interventions have
the potential to improve an individual's well-being until flourishing and reduce anxiety and symptoms of depressive symptomatology (Dam et al., 2020;Schotanus-Dijkstra et al., 2017).The elder of pesantren who are independent and fully involved in all scheduled activities are considered to have the ability to self-help, and are expected to support their well-being, and form flourishing.Sex, occupational status, educational level, presence of a living child, and chronic medical conditions are significantly associated with flourishing.
Aside from that, age, marital status, life alone, and economic status only have little impact on flourishing (Momtaz et al., 2016).Developing flourishing requires a distinctive educational approach that is not easy, so it is interesting to study in various countries (Barrable & Arvanitis, 2018;Schotanus-Dijkstra et al., 2017).It is also important for the elderly to reach flourishing and become successful in aging.
The elderly in pesantren is relatively unique compared to those who live in other places in terms of the genuine need to achieve successful aging.An interesting observation in the current work is that the elderly are willing to leave their families and their homes to stay in pesantren.Based on the research results from Indriana (2013), the elderly still need a partner so many of them remarried.They feel happier because they can live with a new partner after losing their previous partner.Married elderly couples in pesantren stay in different rooms as the rooms of men and women are generally separated.Therefore, some couples rent rooms around pesantren so that they can live with their spouses.The study aims to get a picture of flourishing in the elderly who become santri at the pesantren and to find out their experiences.Flourishing formed on them, their independence and resilience in the pesantren can support their flourishing.Flourishing, referred to in this study, according to Seligman, ( 2012), includes positive emotion, engagement, positive relationships with others, the meaning of life, and accomplishment.Based on the background previously described, the research questions presented are; 1) What is the depiction of flourishing in the elderly as a santri in pesantren?2) What factors influence flourishing itself?

Participants
The characteristics of participants are elderly aged 55-76 years old who are currently not living with their family nor are they living alone.They should not come from the same city.
In terms of the gender of the eight elderly, there are four men and four women.Participants were obtained by incidental sampling techniques.The main characteristic of participants was santri at Payaman Islamic boarding school, Magelang.At the first meeting, the researcher asked the pesantren administrators to find participants who at that time were not busy, did not do activities and did not take a nap.After the participants were determined at the first meeting, the researchers took data on the participants through appointments at the second and third meetings.

Procedures
Interviews were conducted to collect data or information by meeting the elderly face-toface to get a complete picture of the flourishing aspects.Interviews herein were conducted in a semi-structured way, that is, the researchers conducted the interviews based on a guide that had been prepared previously.This research conducted an in-depth study of flourishing and was carried out on a limited participant.
Some of the questions in the interview guide include; 1) Do you have any friends you can discuss with?What things did you discuss with your friends? 2) What efforts do you make to be actively involved in pesantren?3) How did you feel when you live in this pesantren?4) What are some of your goals and expectations during your time at this pesantren?5) What was your process in seeking to draw closer to God?
Observation is used in this study to collect data by observing the ongoing activities at the research target.The observations carried out are a supporting method in data collection.The main data collection method carried out is an in-depth interview.
Researchers conducted observation based on aspects of flourishing, such as positive emotions (feelings of happiness and comfort), engagement (involvement in activities in pesantren), positive relationships with others (sharing and caring for each other, being assertive and open, befriending fellow santri), the meaning of life (feeling closer to God), accomplishment (feeling free from responsibilities that must be done at home), learning motivation (desire to deepen religion), and togetherness (obtaining social support).
In addition to using qualitative methods, researchers also used quantitative methods in this study in the form of questionnaires containing a self-reliance scale and a resilience scale.Both of these scales were given by researchers to participants a few months before the study was conducted.

Data Collection
This study involved 3 researchers and 5 assistants.We visited 3 times a month to collect the data.This study used qualitative methods, including observations and interviews for data In this study, the researchers developed an in-depth interview based on Seligman's concept of flourishing which has 5 aspects, namely positive emotion, engagement, positive relationship with others, the meaning of life, and accomplishment.In-depth interviews reveal about building positive emotions in individuals.Many things were asked in this interview, the first was about every activity carried out that involved themselves totally, optimally, wholeheartedly, and had a significant purpose of the activity.
The form of a positive relationship with others in the delivery of information to others, where individuals will feel comfortable conveying and other people also feel happy and accept what is conveyed, is also one of the questions.The meaning and achievements in life for each elderly were also asked in the interview.Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and the data was then analyzed.
In addition to interviews and observations, researchers also provide two kinds of scales, namely the independence scale and the resilience scale.The scale of independence is made based on aspects of independence according to Steinberg (2002), namely emotional independence, behavioral independence, and value independence.The aspect of emotional independence is divided into four indicators and the aspects of behavioral independence and value independence are each divided into three indicators.From the aspect of emotional independence, there are seven items favorable and seven items unfavorable.The behavioral independence aspect consists of six favorable items and six unfavorable items.
Finally, the aspect of value independence consists of five favorable items and five unfavorable items.When added together, this independence scale consists of 36 items.
While the resilience scale consists of 23 items.Filling in these two scales is with a checklist consisting of four answer choices: Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Agree, and Strongly Agree.

Data Analysis
The data were then analyzed using the interpretative phenomenology analysis (IPA) method to identify and categorize themes and patterns in the data.Smith et al., (2009) explained that IPA aims to reveal in detail how participants perceive their personal and social worlds, explore participants' experiences, and emphasize the perception or opinion related to an object or event.IPA emphasizes the formation of meaning from participants and researchers.The results of the interviews are grouped according to five aspects of flourishing.
The stages in the IPA are (1) reading the transcript repeatedly to find its meaning, (2) initial nothing to provide comments on the participant's utterances (descriptive, linguistic, and conceptual comments), (3) developing an emergent theme, (4) developing a super-ordinate theme, (5) moving on to the following participants' transcript, (6) finding patterns between participants, and (7) describing the main theme.Researchers read and reread the transcripts to conceptualize and categorize the data into meaningful categories and themes (Smith et al., 2009).
In an effort to obtain the validity of the data, researchers triangulated to the pesantren administrators to get a general picture of the data and to the head of the pesantren to get a special picture of the data.The researcher also reconfirmed and reflected on the subject at the final meeting fearing that something was missing or missed.

Result
The characteristics of the eight elderly in this study are presented in Table 3.
Table 3.  Research findings from the results of interviews with eight elderly are specifically presented below.

The Characteristics of The Elderly
Subject 1.Her children support her as santri and live in pesantren.With this support, she is grateful for whatever happens and appreciates her independence.She feels satisfied with the opportunity to gain religious knowledge by learning to read the Scripture.The learning process frees her from illiteracy.She never misses any activity in the pesantren.
Her life has been relatively happy since she has been freed from thoughts related to her needs.She feels capable of participating in all pesantren's activities and in becoming a better person.Therefore, she has developed an optimistic attitude and confidence.Her attitude is open and assertive.She also feels proud of her children who take care of all her needs.
Subject 2.She is always sad because her eldest daughter is still single and is over 30 years old; the subject's positive emotion is thus inhibited.Consequently, she tends to close herself off and has low self-esteem.Moreover, she feels that she has failed as a mother.She is a smart woman and appears capable of participating in all activities in the pesantren.
However, she feels unsuccessful, and she is always worried that she might hurt others.
Subject 3.He is full of gratitude and has a high spirit of worship and inner calamity.
He is strongly passionate about staying in pesantren, where he feels comfortable as he can avoid disputes with his children who are eager to have him stay with them.Life in the pesantren is meaningful for the subject because he can give his life entirely to God even if he feels sorry for having to leave the activities there.Moreover, he can worship without any form of disruption.He always tries not to interfere with and depend on others so that he can feel free from all the burdens of his life.
Subject 4. This subject is always enthusiastic and independent as he performs his activities.Also, he feels that he can still be useful to others.He feels grateful for the opportunity to join the pesantren and lead a better life.He considers his friends as kind people and thus shares his life with them in various ways.He also feels that the environment recognizes his existence.The subject prioritizes togetherness with his friends and is therefore reluctant during certain times.
Subject 5.The subject entered the pesantren in response to her husband's will.Over time, she found attentive friends.Thus, she tries never to annoy and disappoint them.The orientation of the subject is toward the future, and she no longer thinks of worldly affairs, which had previously been the purpose of her life.Consequently, she participates in all worship activities happily.She is grateful that her six children could fulfill all of her needs and wants to die peacefully.Subject 6.The subject feels the revelation and sincerity in increasing one's faith.He demands to be independent in pesantren, and he responds positively.He also likes to live a simple life and feel healthy.The atmosphere in the pesantren is conducive to obedient worship, and it motivates him to compete in worship, gain inner peace, and develop selffeelings that are beneficial to the environment.The subject is a person who is well-liked, friendly, diligent, caring, and assertive.He also has leadership skills.The subject feels that he has achieved all the things he wants in his life.
Subject 7. The subject recognizes his simple life in pesantren, but he feels grateful.He always begs for God's forgiveness and thus gains inner peace while remaining obedient in worship.In pesantren, he feels free from problems, such as those with his family, friends, and the community.Moreover, he can worship in the pesantren without interruption.
Taking a bath at midnight before worship keeps his body fresh; hence, his worship is optimal, and his body is healthy.The cheap living cost in the boarding school makes him feel grateful.The subject always begs for God's forgiveness for his sins in the past and he is more resigned to facing the future.He also feels no different from his friends in terms of personal qualities and thus feels comfortable in the togetherness brought about by having a family in the pesantren.He has fulfilled all his duties as a husband, father, and grandfather.
Subject 8.The subject is a 55-year-old widow who carries out her activities in the boarding school with all her heart.She feels an increasingly positive change in herself.For example, she is starting to be able to control her verbal communication, strengthen her commitment to worship, and increase her gratitude.She feels close to God and finds role models or teachers whose behavior she can emulate.For her, life is to find provisions for the afterlife, including gratitude and sincerity.Apart from seeking role models and teachers, she also connects with friends.She feels complete after raising and educating her four children.
Based on the participants' statements, they received social support from both family and friends at pesantren.The form of social support they receive apart from their families is peer support and pesantren in the form of sharing stories, complaints, and information, as well as religiosity support.

Discussion
Based on the data obtained from the eight subjects, the researchers find that the elderly studying at pesantren has generally reached flourishing.This can be seen in their positive emotions, always enthusiastic in carrying out all activities at the pesantren.They have a high engagement with the pesantren so they feel more at home than at home.The relationship between santri is as close as siblings and always share whatever they have.
They feel that their lives are better, calmer, and more rewarding than before.
Several subjects have even surpassed flourishing, given their enthusiasm and excellent learning achievement.They have improved in their worship, in understanding the Qur'anic interpretation, and in reading the Qur'an.Even those who were previously illiterate have been able to read Al-Qur'an after studying in pesantren for six months.Those who previously refused to take care of their daily needs are now able to do so independently.Those who used to feel that they did not need friends because they lived with their families now recognize the importance of friends in their lives; thus, they want to share with their friends and crave togetherness.Nevertheless, other subjects have yet to reach flourishing because of family problems.They sincerely accept it and it does not prevent them from achieving flourishing conditions.Only one subject considers the problem burdensome and thus often feels sad, complains of headaches, becomes closed off, and harbors feelings.He is afraid to be assertive because it can hurt friends, and he lacks confidence.His friends consider him a smart person, but he feels that he is not as lucky as his friends because they have successfully eliminated their children.By contrast, the subject feels that he has failed as a parent.From these data, several themes can be identified in Table 4.The eight themes show that the elderly can develop themselves positively by studying at pesantren.They may be actively involved in various activities with high enthusiasm and even regret having to perform activities outside the pesantren.They choose to be far from their families so that they can focus on learning and worship.They feel grateful to be able to stay in pesantren, and feel comfort and inner peace; thus, they are happy, they feel healthy, and they carry meaningful and beneficial lives.Activities at pesantren have become an inseparable part of the eight elderly.They have felt comfortable with the pattern of education in the form of habituation.Habituation for the elderly plays a vital role in creating an organized lifestyle (Strote et al., 2020).They feel at home and happy with the routine carried out at the pesantren.
The elderly must also follow the schedule of activities of the pesantren, including waking up at 1:00 a.m. to do the midnight prayer.The activity continued with reading the Qur'an until dawn.After a few hour of rest to bathe and have breakfast, they have to do the dhuha prayer, followed by studying tahsin or reciting the Qur'an.They are guided individually according to their abilities until midday prayer time.After the midday prayer, they rest until the ashar prayer time.They shop for food, cook, do laundry, or take a nap.
After the ashar prayer, there is a broadcast of da'wah from the manager until sunset.They review the Qur'an again until the evening prayer as the last activity and tomorrow's activities resume at 1:00 a.m.
As parents, almost all of them feel that they have finished carrying out all their duties and obligations.They have succeeded in raising and educating their children about succeeding in the workplace and raising a family.They are happy because their children are pious, devoted to their parents, attentive, and committed to fulfilling all their needs.
They feel that they have achieved all their desires and that they are now free from any burden.Now, they just want to be close and submit fully to God and seek provisions for the afterlife.They want to deepen their religion before they die.In Javanese, the term 'Golek Sangu' means, "if you are old, what else to look for besides the afterlife."The attitude of the elderly in this study is a positive impact on the learning process in the pesantren to the preparation for meeting God in the context of thinking about death.This attitude has a spiritual power that makes them enjoy all forms of habituation that may initially be burdensome for them.
Their attachment to pesantren strengthens because they can find teachers as role models whose behavior they can emulate.The teachers always guide and control them to improve their worship and behavior.Being together with their friends, feeling no different from them, sharing, and never having to face disputes motivate them in staying at pesantren.During their stay, their life goals change; they are no longer worldly-oriented, and they feel particularly useful.Hence, they become confident, optimistic, resigned, and sincere; and they achieve self-existence.The development of the activities of the elderly in pesantren is very much influenced by the exemplary measures carried out by teachers.They demonstrate consistent daily activities with predetermined schedules.The example of the teachers is imitated by the elderly so that they become habituated.The advantage of education in pesantren is that caregivers have the experience of learning first, thus changing habits that lead to self-discipline and changes the lifestyle of individuals who are in it (Syafe'i, 2017).
High discipline and commitment to the santri have increased their independence and resilience.This is indicated by the high score of independence and resilience in previous studies.These two variables will lead them to achieve flourishing.The independence of the elderly was related to life satisfaction.Purwanti and Kustanti (2018) found that there was a positive and significant relationship between resilience and psychological well-being.Permani, (2011) states that pesantren can improve human welfare.Díaz-López et al., (2017) also said that lifelong learning for parents can improve their psychological well-being.Thus, it can be concluded that the pesantren trains santri to have high discipline and commitment in carrying out all the activities given.This can develop the independence and resilience of the santri which will lead them to the achievement of flourishing, thus achieving life satisfaction and psychological well-being.
This can be illustrated in the following chart.

The Results of The Data Analysis
Beside, pesantren for elders are still very rare.Payaman is a special pesantren for elders that has been established for a dozen years.With this pesantren, their condition becomes more stable when compared to nursing homes.They continue to do activities and follow the routine of daily activities, such as memorizing alquran and Kitab Gundul, so that their cognition is maintained, thus reducing the chances of dementia.They have also become more independent and responsible.On the other hand, the result of this study ia a new discovery related to flourishing, because it focuses on the elderly living in Islamic boarding schools instead of nursing homes.This is due to the presence of religiosity that contributes to the psychological well-being of the elderly which is not necessarily found in nursing homes.

Conclusion
The qualitative data analysis of eight elderly studying at pesantren showed that they have generally reached flourishing.This can be seen in their positive emotions, such as gratitude, happiness, feeling calmer, better emotional control and behavior.They also have high involvement, commitment, enthusiasm for doing activities in pesantren, and excellent learning achievement, are assertive, love to share and care about others, are optimistic, and are self-disciplined.During their stay, they become confident, optimistic, resigned, sincere, and achieve self-existence.
Even though one person reported experiencing an obstacle because of his sadness toward his unmarried children and his sense that he has failed as a parent, however, the subject feels happy living in the pesantren and the activities are very entertaining, forgetting his sadness.Payaman is a pesantren for the elderly that can be an alternative to nursing homes.This is due to the many routine activities in pesantren that keep the elderly active, have friends to share, focus more on worship, and foster an attitude of independence, resilience, and self-discipline that leads to flourishing.

Recommendation
The research conducted by the author showed that the independence of the elderly was related to life satisfaction.There was a positive and significant relationship between resilience and psychological well-being.Pesantren can improve human welfare.Lifelong learning for parents can improve their psychological well-being.The pesantren trains santri to have high discipline and commitment in carrying out all the activities given.This is what develops the independence and resilience of the santri which will lead them to the achievement of flourishing, thus achieving life satisfaction and psychological well-being.It can be concluded that the achievement of flourishing makes a person achieve psychological well-being and life satisfaction, and it is estimated that people who achieve psychological well-being and life satisfaction, will also be achieved flourishing.Pesantren for elders can be an alternative to nursing homes.The existence of social support based on religious education makes them more empowered, and physically and psychologically stable.
The limitation of this study, there are challenges faced by researchers when collecting data.Pesantren administrators as research participants who were asked to observe the elderly who stayed at pesantren stated that there were times when they behaved unkindly and like a kid, making it difficult for the administrators.