Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-p2v8j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-30T16:16:12.426Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Fostering resilience later in life: a narrative approach involving people facing disabling circumstances, carers and members of minority groups

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 August 2014

GOETZ OTTMANN  and
MARGARITA MARAGOUDAKI
GOETZ OTTMANN*
Affiliation:
School of Nursing and Midwifery, Deakin University, Burwood, Victoria, Australia. Uniting Care Life Assist, Glen Waverley, Victoria, Australia.
MARGARITA MARAGOUDAKI
Affiliation:
Uniting Care Life Assist, Glen Waverley, Victoria, Australia.
*
Address for correspondence: Goetz Ottmann, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Deakin University, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood, VIC 3125, Australia. E-mail: Goetz.ottmann@deakin.edu.au
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Over the last two decades, the concept of resilience has become the focus of a growing body of gerontological research. However, there is a dearth of qualitative research that explores how socio-economic and socio-cultural factors shape older people's resilience. This study addresses this gap and explores the concept of resilience through the lens of 25 Australians from a variety of backgrounds, investigating the resilience strategies they employed in the face of different challenging life events. A qualitative narrative methodology involving one focus group and semi-structured interviews was employed. A stratified convenience sample of 34 people aged 60 and over participated in semi-structured interviews between 2009 and 2011. The study describes the meaning participants assigned to the term resilience, and focuses on the range of resilience responses and strategies they employed, bringing to light some key commonalities and differences. The study's findings suggest that access to economic and cultural resources and the nature of the adversity older people face can shape and limit their resilience strategies. The article outlines how the concept of resilience could be incorporated into aged care practice and argues that resilience-focused interventions that potentially broaden the resilience repertoire of older people should be explored within an aged care context.

Keywords

resiliencesocio-economic factorssocio-cultural factorsolder peoplehealthy ageingcopingcommunity aged care
Type
Articles
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 35 , Issue 10 , November 2015 , pp. 2071 - 2099
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alex, L. 2010. Resilience among very old men and women. Journal of Research in Nursing, 15, 5, 419–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, K. 2009. Enhancing Resilience in Survivors of Family Violence. Springer, New York.Google Scholar
Baltes, M. M. 1987. Theoretical propositions of life-span developmental psychology: on the dynamics between growth and decline. Developmental Psychology, 23, 5, 611–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bauman, S., Harrison Adams, J. and Waldo, M. 2001. Resilience in the oldest-old. Counseling and Human Development, 34, 2, 1–19.Google Scholar
Becker, G. and Newson, E. 2005. Resilience in the face of serious illness among chronically ill African Americans in later life. Journal of Gerontology, 60B, 4, S214–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennett, K. M. 2007. ‘No sissy stuff’: towards a theory of masculinity and emotional expression in older widowed men. Journal of Aging Studies, 21, 4, 347–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blane, D., Wiggins, R. D., Montgomery, S. M., Hildon, Z. and Netuveli, G. 2011. Resilience at older ages: the importance of social relations and implications for policy. International Centre for Lifecourse Studies Occasional Paper 3, University College London, London.Google Scholar
Bonanno, G. A. 2004. Loss, trauma and human resilience: have we underestimated the human capacity to thrive after extremely adverse events? American Psychologist, 59, 1, 20–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bonanno, G. A., Moskovitz, J. T., Papa, A. and Folkman, S. 2005. Resilience to loss in bereaved spouses, bereaved parents and bereaved gay men. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88, 5, 827–43.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bonanno, G. A., Wortman, C. B., Lehman, D. R., Tweed, R. G., Haring, M., Sonnega, J., Carr, D. and Nesse, R. M. 2002. Resilience to loss and chronic grief: a prospective study from pre-loss to 18-months post-loss. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 5, 1150–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bourdieu, P. 1992. The Logic of Practice. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Braudy Harris, P. 2008. Another wrinkle in the debate about successful ageing: the undervalued concept of resilience and the lived experience of dementia. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 67, 1, 43–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brett, L., Gray, M. J., Bryant, R. A. and Adler, A. B. 2002. Early intervention for trauma: current status and future directions. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 9, 2, 112–34.Google Scholar
Browne, C., Mokuau, N. and Braun, K. 2009. Adversity and resilience in the lives of native Hawaiian elders. Social Work, 54, 3, 253–61.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cohen, H. L., Greene, R. R., Lee, Y., Gonzalez, J. and Evans, M. 2006. Older adults who overcame oppression. Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services, 87, 1, 35–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Egan, G. 2010. The Skilled Helper: A Problem-management and Opportunity-development Approach to Helping. Brooks/Cole, Cengage Learning, Belmont, California.Google Scholar
Elliott, J. 2005. Using Narrative in Social Research: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. Sage, Thousand Oaks, California.Google Scholar
Felten, B. S. 2000. Resilience in a multicultural sample of community-dwelling women older than age 85. Clinical Nursing Research, 9, 2, 102–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fereday, J. and Muir-Cochrane, E. 2006. Demonstrating rigor using thematic analysis: a hybrid approach of inductive and deductive coding and theme development. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 5, 1, 1–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fredriksen-Goldsen, K. I., Kim, H. J., Emlet, C. A., Muracao, A., Erosheva, E. A., Hoy-Ellis, C. P., Godsen, J. and Petry, H. 2011. The ageing and health report: disparities and resilience among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender older adults. Institute for Multigenerational Health, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fuller-Iglesias, H., Sellars, B. and Antonucci, T. C. 2008. Resilience in Old Age: Social Relations as a Protective Factor. Research in Human Development. 5, 3, 181–93.Google Scholar
Garmezy, N. 1985. Stress resistant children: the search for protective factors. In Stevenson, J. E. (ed.), Recent Research in Developmental Psychopathology. Pergamon Press, Oxford, New York, 213–33.Google Scholar
Gattuso, S. 2003. Becoming a wise old woman: resilience and wellness in later life. Health Sociology Review, 12, 2, 171–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilbert, K. R. 2002. Taking a narrative approach to grief research: finding meaning in stories. Death Studies, 26, 3, 223–39.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Greene, R. R. and Cohen, H. L. 2005. Social work with older adults and their families: changing practice paradigms. Families in Society, 86, 3, 367–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guest, G., Bunce, A. and Johnson, L. 2006. How many interviews are enough? An experiment with data saturation and variability. Field Methods, 18, 1, 59–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hawkley, L. C., Berntson, G. G., Engeland, C. G., Marucha, P. T., Masi, C. M. and Cacioppo, J. T. 2005. Stress, aging and resilience: can accrued wear and tear be slowed? Canadian Psychology, 46, 3, 115–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hegney, D., Ross, H., Baker, P., Rogers-Clark, C., King, C., Buikstra, E., Watson-Luke, A., McLachlan, A. and Stallard, L. 2008. Identification of personal and community resilience that enhance psychological wellness: a Stanthorpe study. The University of Queensland/Blue Care Research and Practice Development Centre, Brisbane, Australia.Google Scholar
Hildon, Z., Montgomery, S. M., Blane, D., Wiggins, R. D. and Netuveli, G. 2010. Examining resilience of quality of life in the face of health-related and psychosocial adversity at older ages: what is ‘right’ about the way we age? Gerontologist, 50, 1, 36–47.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hiskey, S. 2012. Psychological responses to trauma in older people. Mental Health in Practice, 16, 3, 12–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hyer, L. A. and Sohnle, S. 2001. Trauma Among Older People. Brunner-Routledge, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.Google Scholar
LaFerriere, R. H. and Hamel-Bissell, B. P. 1994. Successful ageing of oldest old women in the northeast kingdom of Vermont. IMAGE: Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 26, 4, 319–23.Google ScholarPubMed
Lagana, L. 2009. Pilot testing a new short screen for the assessment of older women's PTSD symptomatology. Educational Gerontology, 35, 8, 732–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lantz, P., House, J., Lepkowski, J., Williams, D. R., Mero, R. P. and Chen, J. 1998. Socioeconomic factors, health behaviour, and mortality: results from a nationally representative prospective study of US adults. JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, 279, 21, 1703–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lazarus, R. S. and Folkman, S. (eds) 1986. Cognitive Theories of Stress and the Issue of Circularity. Plenum, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luthar, S. S., Ciccetti, D. and Becker, B. 2000. Research on resilience: response to commentaries. Child Development, 71, 3, 573–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lynch, J. W., Kaplan, G. A. and Salonen, J. T. 1997. Why do poor people behave poorly? Variation in adult health behaviour and psychosocial characteristics by stages of the socioeconomic lifecourse. Social Science and Medicine, 44, 6, 809–19.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McAllister, M. and Walsh, K. 2003. CARE: a framework for mental health practice. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 10, 1, 39–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, A. J. and Stratton, D. C. 2003. Resilient Widowers: Older Men Adjusting to a New Life. Prometheus Books, New York.Google Scholar
Moyle, W., Clarke, C., Gracia, N., Reed, J., Cook, G., Klein, B., Marais, S. and Richardson, E. 2010. Older people maintaining mental health well-being through resilience: an appreciative inquiry study in four countries. Journal of Nursing and Healthcare of Chronic Illness, 2, 2, 113–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murray, A. 2005. Recurrence of post traumatic stress disorder. Nursing Older People, 17, 6, 24–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nakashima, M. and Canda, E. R. 2005. Positive dying and resiliency in later life: a qualitative study. Journal of Ageing Studies, 19, 1, 109–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neary, S. R. 1997. Room to maneuver: preserving choice in resilient old age. Boston College, Boston.Google Scholar
Ottmann, G. 2013. Bouncing Back Later in Life. Connor Court Publishers, Bendigo, Australia.Google Scholar
Phipps, A. B. and Byrne, M. K. 2003. Brief interventions for secondary trauma: review and recommendations. Stress and Health, 19, 3, 139–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reichstadt, J., Depp, M. S., Depp, C., Palinkas, L., Folsom, D. and Jeste, D. 2007. Building blocks of successful aging: a focus group study of older adults’ perceived contributors to successful aging. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 15, 3, 194–201.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, C. P. 2000. Content analysis and narrative analysis. In Reis, H. T. and Judd, C. M. (eds), Handbook of Research Methods in Social and Personality Psychology. Cambridge University Press, New York, 313–337.Google Scholar
Snow, D. A. and Benford, R. D. 1988. Ideology, frame resonance, and participant mobilization. International Social Movement Research, 1, 1, 197–217.Google Scholar
Talsma, A. M. 1995. Evaluation of a theoretical model of resilience and self prediction of resilience in a sample of community-based elderly. University of Michigan, Detroit, Michigan.Google Scholar
van Zelst, W. H., de Beurs, E., Beekman, A. T. F., van Dyck, R. and Deeg, D. D. H. 2006. Well-being, physical functioning, and use of health services in the elderly with PTSD and subthreshold PTSD. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 21, 2, 180–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wagnild, G. and Young, H. M. 1990. Resilience among older women. IMAGE: Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 22, 4, 252–5.Google ScholarPubMed
Wagnild, G. and Young, H. M. 1993. Development and psychometric evaluation of the resilience scale. Journal of Nursing Measurements, 1, 2, 165–78.Google ScholarPubMed
Wild, K., Wiles, J. L. and Allen, R. S. 2013. Resilience: thought on the value of the concept for critical gerontology. Ageing & Society, 33, 1, 137–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wiles, J. L., Wild, K., Kerse, N. and Allen, R. S. 2012. Resilience from the point of view of older people: there's still life beyond a funny knee. Social Science and Medicine, 74, 3, 416–24.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Windle, G. 2011. What is resilience? A review and concept analysis. Reviews in Clinical Gerontology, 21, 2, 152–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yorgason, J. B., Piercy, F. P. and Piercy, S. K. 2007. Acquiring hearing impairment in older couple relationships: an exploration of couple resilience processes. Journal of Ageing Studies, 21, 3, 215–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar