Resilience in Later Life: Responding to Criticisms and Applying New Knowledge to the Experience of Dementia

Abstract

The twenty-first century has seen the concept of resilience as applied to later life becoming increasingly well-established in research, policy and practice. Proponents of the concept argue resilience research challenges stereotypes of aging, an important consideration in societies faced by ageism and discrimination. It has shown how some older people are able to ‘beat the odds’, providing insights into adjustment processes that might be generalisable to others experiencing difficulties. Counter to this, however, are criticisms of resilience; that it is difficult to define and measure and so impossible to be accurately targeted by services. A further criticism relates to some of the interpretations (and misinterpretations) of resilience by governments and services. Public health policies increasingly place the responsibility for health on the individual, as if we can somehow build superhuman people that will withstand all manner of difficulties. In this article, I provide a general overview of some of these challenges we face as researchers and suggest some tentative solutions, albeit these are still open for debate.

This chapter reflects keynote lectures delivered by the author at the:

28th Annual John K Friesen Conference “Understanding and Fostering Resilience in Older Adults.” Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. 10 & 11 June 2019.

48th Annual Conference of the British Society of Gerontology “Resilience and Living Well in Local Communities”. Liverpool, England. 10–12th July 2019.