Defining Resilience

In the previous chapter, we explored the impacts of disasters on older people, who are one of the vulnerable populations, and our roles as healthcare practitioners in building their ability to cope with the events. In this module, we will explore the resilience of older people and caregivers with the consideration of age, culture, gender, and other social categories, as well as strategies to improve resilience in older people and their caregivers.

We often use the word resilience in our daily lives, and we see it often in various research studies, whether it’s ecology, neurology, psychology, medicine, or disaster sciences. We connect the word resilience with stressors and adversities. But what does the word ‘resilience’ really mean, particularly for older people, their caregivers and clinicians?

Older people are exposed to various stressors in their lives.; whether from physical or psychological illness or social functioning. It can be found in the form of chronic illnesses, losing their loved ones, living with dementia, or even joint pain that impairs their mobility. These stresses might also have significant impacts on the lives of their caregivers. Stressors that are intense and ongoing can cause a decline in physical functioning or trigger various psychological issues, such as anxiety and depression. Yet, nowadays, our focus is not only on the negative impacts of these prolonged stressors but also on resilience, or what people usually define as the ability to bounce back and thrive in the face of adversity.

Resilience can be seen as a trait, process, or outcome, depending on context. When talking about resilience, we often focus on these three particular concepts:

• A stressor/challenge/adversity that can be acute and traumatic or chronic/ prolonged. For example, dementia can be a chronic stressor for older people and their caregivers. Losing a patient you have been caring for a long time can be traumatic. There are a lot of stressors in a person’s life. When you look at a stressor, you need to understand the context and ask yourself these questions: what is the significance of the particular stressor in this person’s life? What other stressors and factors can accumulate and influence the person’s experience? How is this particular stressor affecting their lives?
• The process or mechanism, including the associated factors (e.g., social support, motivations, self-efficacy, etc.), that explain how the outcome is obtained,
• An outcome or response to the stressor. In some cases, a person may bounce back when facing adversity, while in others, people thrive and grow.

For Activity 1, you can ask the student to identify an older person they know well as a real-life example for this. Having a real-life example will help them conceptualize resilience. Or, as an alternative, the students can use the case study examples we provided in the Case Stories section.

From Activity 1, the students may identify physical, mental health, or social issues or combinations of these as the challenge(s) the older person faces. Resilience is one of the main factors for successful aging, and older persons’ physical and psychological resilience are connected. For example, the lack of physical resilience in older people, or what we commonly call frailty, decreases an older person’s ability to socialize with their peers, which causes isolation and loneliness. Frailty is also associated with depression. On the other hand, an older person with psychosocial resilience is better at identifying and using the support and resources around them, which enhances their physical, emotional and social well-being.

For Activity 2, ask the students to return to Activity 1 to explore the older person’s case to see if they can identify how the older person’s physical resilience is connected to their psychological resilience and vice versa. You can also ask the students to consider the caregiver’s psychological and physical resilience and compare them with the older person’s case. You can also use the link to the news story in Activity 2.5.

After exploring the meaning of resilience for older people, the next section will explore activities and resources to help students identify protective factors and available support around older people and their caregivers. To learn more about resilience in older adults, below are some references you can access online: