Abstract
Resilience is a useful and flexible concept for thinking about aging well, but research on this area has tended to focus on individual factors. In this chapter, drawing from research working with older people to define resilience and aging well, I argue that resilience should be considered as a collective, contextual, and participatory process and outcome. In participatory research, we find that older people perceive resilience as an ongoing and negotiated process of balance and emphasise living with adversity rather than necessarily overcoming it. Resources and assets for resilience operate at micro or individual, as well as meso and macro levels. The social, physical, and symbolic environments in which older people live contribute to their resilience (and older people contribute to the resilience of the places in which they live). Similarly, we can think about the resilience of groups and communities as well as of individuals. This raises questions about the distribution of adversity and of access to resources for resilience, necessitating we also consider issues around inequities and resilience and how resilience as both process and outcome is different for diverse older people. Fostering collective resilience will require thoughtful collaboration with diverse older people and partnerships across sectors.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Arnstein, S. (1969, July). A ladder of citizen participation. American Institute of Planners, pp. 216–224.
Bauman, S., Adams, J. H., & Waldo, M. (2001). Resilience in the oldest-old. Counseling and Human Development, 34(2), 1–19.
Bolton, K., Praetorius, R., & Smith-Osborne, A. (2016). Resilience protective factors in an older adults population: A qualitative interpretive meta-synthesis. Social Work Research, 40(3), 171–181.
Bowling, A., & Dieppe, P. (2005). What is successful ageing and who should define it? British Medical Journal, 331, 1548–1551.
Brasche, I. (2008). Cultural resilience and social wellbeing: A case for research on Groote Eylandt. Australian Aboriginal Studies, 2, 93–98.
Brooks-Cleator, L., Giles, A., & Glaherty, M. (2019). Community-level factors that contribute to first nations and Inuit older adults feeling supported to age well in a Canadian city. Journal of Ageing Studies, 48(June), 50–59.
Browne, C. V., Mokuau, N., & Braun, K. L. (2009). Adversity and resiliency in the lives of native Hawaiian elders. Social Work, 54(3), 253–261.
Buffel, T. (2018). Social research and co-production with older people: Developing age-friendly communities. Journal of Ageing Studies, 44(March), 52–60.
Buffel, T., Handler, S., & Phillipson, C. (Eds.). (2018). Age-friendly cities and communities: A global perspective. Bristol/Chicago: Policy Press.
Connelly, E., Allen, C., Hatfield, K., Palma-Oliveira, J., Woods, D., & Linkov, I. (2017). Features of resilience. Environmental Systems and Decisions, 37(1), 46–50.
Dannefer, D. (2003). Cumulative advantage/disadvantage and the life course: Cross-fertilizing age and social science theory. Journals of Gerontology B Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 58(6), S327–S337.
Dizon, L., Wiles, J., & Peiris-John, R. (2019). What is Meaningful Participation for Older People? An Analysis of Ageing Policies. The Gerontologist.
Dyall, L., Kēpa, M., Teh, R., Mules, R., Moyes, S., Wham, C., et al. (2014). Cultural and social factors and quality of life of Māori in advanced age. Te puawaitanga o ngā tapuwae kia ora tonu – Life and living in advanced age: A cohort study in New Zealand (LiLACS NZ). New Zealand Medical Journal, 127(1393), 62–79.
Fitzgerald, K., & Caro, F. (2014). An overview of age-friendly cities and communities around the world. Journal of Ageing & Social Policy, 26(1–2), 1–18.
Gardner, P. (2011). Natural neighborhood networks – Important social networks in the lives of older adults aging in place. Journal of Aging Studies, 25(3), 263–271.
Gattuso, S. (2003). Becoming a wise old woman: Resilience and wellness in later life. Health Sociology Review, 12(2), 171–177.
Golant, S. (2014). Age-friendly communities: Are we expecting too much? Institute for Research on Public Policy.
Grothberg, E. (2003). Resilience for today: Gaining strength from adversity. Westport: Praeger.
Gutman, G., Knudsen, L., & Olsen, A. (2010). Population ageing and apocalyptic demography: separating fact from fiction Our demographic future–A challenge: On the need for demographic analyses. Scandinavian Population Studies. Aalborg Oest, Denmark.
Harris, P. B. (2008). Another wrinkle in the debate about successful aging: The undervalued concept of resilience and the lived experience of dementia. International Journal of Aging & Human Development, 67(1), 43–61.
Havighurst, R. J. (1961). Successful aging. The Gerontologist, 1(1), 8–13.
Higginbottom, G., & Liamputtong, P. (Eds.). (2015). Participatory qualitative research methodologies in health. London: Sage.
Hildon, Z., Montgomery, S. M., Blane, D., Wiggins, R. D., & 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? The Gerontologist, 50(1), 36–47.
Huisman, M., Klokgieters, S., & Beekman, A. (2017). Successful ageing, depression and resilience research; A call for a priori approaches to investigations of resilience. Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences, 26(6), 574–578.
Israel, B. A., Eng, E., Schulz, A. J., & Parker, E. A. (2005). Methods in community-based participatory research for health. San Francisco: Wiley.
Massey, S., Cameron, A., Ouellete, S., & Fine, M. (1998). Qualitative approaches to the study of thriving: What can be learned? Journal of Social Issues, 54(2), 337–355.
Masten, A. (2007). Resilience in developing systems: Progress and promise as the fourth wave rises. Development and Psychopathology, 19, 921–930. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579407000442.
Milligan, C. (2001). Geographies of care: Space, place, and the voluntary sector. Aldershot/Burlington: Ashgate Publishing.
Mitchell, L., Burton, E., Raman, S., Blackman, T., Jenks, M., & Williams, K. (2003). Making the outside world dementia-friendly: Design issues and considerations. Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, 30(4), 605–632.
Moeke-Maxwell, T., Nikora, L. W., & Te Awekotuku, N. (2014). End-of-life care and Māori Whānau Resilience. MAI, 3(2), 140–152.
Morgan, T., Wiles, J., Moeke-Maxwell, T., Black, S., Park, H.-J., Williams, L., & Gott, M. (2019). People haven’t got that close connection’: Meanings of loneliness and social isolation to culturally diverse older people. Journal of Aging and Mental Health, 1–9.
Morgan, T., Wiles, J., Williams, L., Park, H.-J., Moeke-Maxwell, T., Dewes, O., et al. (2020). Social connectedness: What matters to older people? Ageing & Society. Accepted October 23.
O’Rand, A. (2006). Stratification and the life course: Life course capital, life course risks, and social inequality. In R. Binstock & L. George (Eds.), Handbook of aging and the social sciences (pp. 145–162). San Diego: Academic Press.
Pomeroy, A. (2016). Understanding the place of intangible cultural heritage in building enduring community resilience: Murupara case study. New Zealand Sociology, 31(7), 183.
Rowe, J. W., & Kahn, R. L. (1997). Successful aging. The Gerontologist, 37(4), 433–440.
Salmon, A. (2007). Walking the talk: How participatory interview methods can democratize research. Qualitative Health Research, 17(7), 982–993.
Sapountzaki, K. (2014). “Resilience for all” and “collective resilience”: Are these planning objectives consistent with one another? In Resilience and sustainability in relation to natural disasters: A challenge for future cities (pp. 39–53). Cham: Springer.
Sarre, S., Redlich, C., Tinker, A., Sadler, E., Bhalia, A., & McKevvit, C. (2014). A systematic review of qualitative studies on adjusting after stroke: Lessons for the study of resilience. Disability and Rehabilitation, 36(9), 716–726.
Seccombe, K. (2002). “Beating the odds” versus “changing the odds”: Poverty, resilience, and family policy. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 64(2), 384–394.
Teng, A., Blakely, T., Scott, N., Jansen, R., Masters-Awatere, B., Krebs, J., & Oetzel, J. (2019). What protects against pre-diabetes progressing to diabetes? Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice, 148, 119–129.
Ungar, M. (2011). The social ecology of resilience: Addressing contextual and cultural ambiguity of a nascent construct. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 82(1), 1–17.
van Kessel, G. (2013). The ability of older people to overcome adversity: A review of the resilience concept. Geriatric Nursing, 34(2), 122–127.
Weldrick, R., & Grenier, A. (2018). Social isolation in later life: Extending the conversation. Canadian Journal on Aging, 37(1), 76–83. https://doi.org/10.1017/S071498081700054X.
Wild, K., Wiles, J. L., & Allen, R. (2011). Resilience: Thoughts on the value of the concept for critical gerontology. Ageing & Society, 33(2), 137–158.
Wiles, J. L. (2011). Reflections on being a recipient of care: Vexing the concept of vulnerability. Social and Cultural Geography, 12(6), 573–588.
Wiles, J. L., & Jayasinha, R. (2013). Care for Place: The contributions older people make to their communities. Journal of Aging Studies, 27(2), 93–101.
Wiles, J. L., Leibing, A., Guberman, N., Reeve, J., & Allen, R. E. S. (2012a). The meaning of ‘Ageing in place’ to older people. The Gerontologist, 52(3), 357–366. https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnr098.
Wiles, J. L., Wild, K., & Allen, R. (2012b). Resilience from the point of view of older people: ‘There’s still life beyond a funny knee. Social Science and Medicine, 74(3), 416–424. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.11.005.
Wiles, J. L., Rolleston, A., Pillai, A., Broad, J., Teh, R., Gott, M., & Kerse, N. (2017). Attachment to place in advanced age: A study of the LiLACS NZ cohort. Social Science and Medicine, 185, 25–37.
Wiles, J. L., Miskelly, P., Stewart, O., Rolleston, A., Kerse, N., & Gott, M. (2019a). Challenged but not threatened: Managing health in advanced age. Social Science and Medicine, 227(April), 104–110.
Wiles, J. L., Morgan, T., Moeke-Maxwell, T., Black, S., Dewes, O., Park, H.-J., et al. (2019b). Befriending Services for Culturally Diverse Older People. Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 1–18.
Windle, G. (2011). What is resilience? A review and concept analysis. Reviews in Clinical Gerontology, 21(2), 152–169.
Wister, A., Coatta, K., Schuurman, N., Lear, S., Rosin, M., & MacKey, D. (2016). A Life course model of multimorbidity resilience: Theoretical and research developments. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 82(4), 290–313.
World Health Organisation. (2007). Global age-friendly cities project. Geneva: WHO Press.
World Health Organization. (2015). World report on ageing and health. Geneva: WHO Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Wiles, J. (2020). Communities and Resilience: Contextual and Collective Resilience. In: Wister, A.V., Cosco, T.D. (eds) Resilience and Aging. Risk, Systems and Decisions. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-57089-7_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-57089-7_11
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-57088-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-57089-7
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)