[Social gerontological research as an occupation]

This contribution describes the social gerontological and especially the psychogerontologic research, done during the last 30 years in Nijmegen. During the last ten years this activity was carried out within the Section of Social Gerontology at the University of Nijmegen. From the beginning, the basic attitude was a phenomenological one, which required a theoretical open mindedness, a relative absence of theoretical preconceptions. During the second period we have stressed research of important life events. During the third period the emphasis was on intervention-gerontology; this emphasis will continue in the near future. We are not only aiming for purposeful interventions in the lives of elderly themselves but we will also attempt to demonstrate older persons' unused cognitive and other possibilities. In the end we put the research-contributions of the department of Social Gerontology in this context.