Population ageing, the increasing median age in a population, is a rapidly advancing global phenomenon. This demographic shift poses major challenges for social and healthcare systems, due to increased dependency and the greater economic impact associated with old age. In this context, the World Health Organisation (WHO) emphasises that promoting habits that improve independence, as well as increasing participation, is essential for successful ageing, as they enable older people to continue playing an active role in their community.
According to this approach, there are two key elements for healthy ageing: independence in Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL), which refer to tasks such as shopping, managing money or using transport; and social participation, understood as involvement in family, social, cultural or leisure activities. Although the importance of both aspects is recognised, research is still ongoing into the risk and protective factors associated with them.
Researchers from the Mind, Brain and Behavior Research Center (CIMCYC) and the University of Valladolid have conducted a study aimed at understanding the role played by stress and psychological resilience in the daily lives of older adults, and, more specifically, analysed whether stress acts as a risk factor and whether psychological resilience functions as a protective factor for independence and participation.
To this end, they assessed men and women aged over 55, without dementia or mental disorders, using various tests that measured their level of independence in IADLs, their degree of social participation, their perceived stress, their accumulated stress over recent months (measured via cortisol in hair) and their psychological resilience.
These researchers have found that psychological resilience is the factor that best explains good performance in the IADLs. In other words, it was neither the amount of stress nor the sustained cortisol levels over time that made the difference, but rather the way in which people cope with the adverse situations they have had to face. Similarly, they have also observed that psychological resilience is linked to greater social participation. The most resilient people not only retain their autonomy better, but also remain more active and involved in their community. Finally, the study shows that autonomy and participation are interconnected.
These findings are highly significant as they highlight that developing programmes to promote psychological resilience in this population could help improve older people’s independence and participation – two aspects closely linked to successful ageing, which the WHO is promoting in its campaign for the 2020–2030 decade.