Assimilative and Accommodative Coping and Older People's Leisure Activities

Supporting resilience in older people: implications for nursing practice

Resilience refers to an individual's ability to adapt and bounce back following adversity. As a concept it may help to explain how some people cope with stressors using internal and social support, leading to personal growth. The concept of resilience is frequently mentioned in the literature but often poorly understood. Older people are vulnerable to multiple adversities such as loss and chronic illness and therefore it is important to introduce strategies that promote resilience. The aim of this article is to explore the concept of resilience in older people by using the social ecological model to examine factors that influence resilience within this context. It further discusses the role of the nurse and uses a case study to highlight how nurses can facilitate the use of individual, contextual and sociocultural resources to foster resilience with older people in practice.

Impact of mobility restrictions on active aging; cross-sectional associations and longitudinal changes parallel to COVID-19 restrictions

BACKGROUND

Meaningful activities can be done in or around home, but opportunities for participation and active aging decrease when moving in smaller areas. Active aging refers to having an active approach to life in line with one's goals, ability and opportunities. In adults over 75 years with different baseline neighborhood mobility levels, we studied active aging scores two years prior to and amid COVID-19, when governments restricted mobility of residents to slow the COVID-19 outbreak.

METHODS

AGNES cohort data were collected in 2017-2018 and spring 2020. Individuals were queried about their will, ability, and opportunity, and extent of doing 17 activities, and subsequently, item, composite and sub-scores of active aging were computed. Neighborhood mobility was assessed as frequency of moving in or beyond own neighborhood (limited, regular, daily=reference). Associations were studied using Generalized Linear Models (cross-sectionally, n = 1007) and General Estimating Equations (prospectively, n = 774).

RESULTS

Participants with limited baseline neighborhood mobility had lower active aging scores than those with daily mobility, but the decline over time was similar. Some item scores on opportunity to act and extent of doing, e.g. for making one's day more interesting and advancing matters of faith or worldview, were better retained amid COVID-19 by those with limited mobility, attenuating group differences.

CONCLUSIONS

Active aging scores were somewhat compromised in individuals with limited neighborhood mobility, but opportunities for and engagement in several activities seemed to be better retained amid COVID-19 than for those with daily mobility. Thus, active aging may be possible despite mobility restriction.

Psychological resilience and active aging among older people with mobility limitations

Active aging refers to striving for well-being through preferred activity and may be restricted with declining mobility. We investigated whether psychological resilience, i.e., the ability to tolerate hardship, can aid older people in being active despite mobility limitations. Participants were 961 community-dwelling persons aged 75, 80, or 85 years living in Jyväskylä, Central Finland. Mobility limitations were indicated as self-reported difficulty in walking 2 km. Categories were no difficulty (reference), difficulty, and unable to walk. Resilience was assessed with the 10-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale and active aging with the University of Jyvaskyla Active Aging scale. Data were analyzed with OLS regression analyses, which were stratified by age. In all age-groups, having difficulties walking or being unable to walk 2 km was associated with lower active aging scores. Resilience moderated this association especially among the 75-year-olds, but not among the 85-year-olds: The higher the resilience score, the higher the active aging score among those reporting no or some walking difficulties. Those unable to walk 2 km had lower active aging scores irrespective of resilience level. Psychological resilience may alleviate the negative effects of early phase walking difficulties on active aging but may be insufficient to compensate for more severe walking limitations that restrict not only function but also autonomy.