Nijetta Hill

Building resilience is very important among the elderly community, they experience many trials
and tribulations and still manage to push through. The reading explains the new trend of creating
interventions for older emphasizes their strength and coping skills. Civic engagement can help
reestablish a balance between self and personal contributions to community (Lavretsky, 2014).
Civic engagement means to engage in activities that affect communities and policymaking.
Political engagement refers to behaviors influencing governmental processes on the local, state,
national, and even international levels; social engagement refers to actions that connect
individuals and relate to care or personal development (Lavretsky, 2014). Volunteering is great
for the elderly, it is associated with positive outcomes for the elderly. According to AARP, in
2008 as many as 68% of older Americans reported having performed some type of service,
formal or informal (Lavretsky, 2014). I can understand volunteering being a positive for the
elderly because they are giving back to the community and being active and engaging in things
that they love to do.
The government is supportive of volunteer programs regarding older adults. Most prominent are
the three national senior corps programs: Foster Grandparent Program, the Senior Companion
Program, and the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (Lavretsky, 2014). Research has
shown that volunteering benefit the elderly with increasing resilience by providing community
involvement and living for a purpose. Having meaningful friends and family, a great support
system, provide the elderly with resources to adapt to adversity. With the elderly engaging in
activities it motivates them to want to learn more. Developing interventions to increase resilience
is important for successful outcomes in life. Happiness-enhancing strategies, by enhancing the
ability to cope with stress and encouraging proactive control of ones emotional appraisals and
reactions to events, can be important for boosting individual resilience (Lavretsky, 2014).
Therefore, happiness interventions can build resilience when dealing with adversity; with
positive emotions, thoughts and events. Some programs are cognitive-behavioral therapy, broad-
minded affective coping, well-being therapy, learned optimism training and hardiness training.
(Lavretsky, 2014). Of these programs optimism training stood out to me because it teaches a
person to identify the linking between adversity, beliefs and consequences in life.
I think social support needs attention in terms of building resilience because the reading explains
no studies have examined the effect of social support interventions on enhancing resilience.
Therefore, more work needs to be done. While reading over medicine interventions adaptogens
seemed interesting. According to the reading adaptogens increase the ability of an organism to
adapt to environmental factors that are used to improve energy, mental focus, cognitive
enhancement, and sexual function (Lavretsky, 2014). Another area that I believe needs attention
in terms of building resilience when looking at interventions consider cultural differences. It is
great to create an overall resilience building interventions. But it would be even better if some
were created with specifics. For example gender specific, cultures etc. I love the example of Mrs.
M described in the reading. The reading explains that Ms. M was a nursing home resident with
dementia. Ms. M would pace the floors for hours and she was not verbal. Ms. M used to be a
dancer and listening to music from 1940s ad 50 helped her a lot.
What the nursing home did was took the thing that she loved the most, music and dancing, to
support her and calm her down. Ms. M also enjoyed meditation which was another method used
to assist her. This example shows that interventions to build resilience are very effective,
overtime Ms. M behavior improved. Building resilient communities and programs for older
adults will enhance their health, functioning, and well-being, but it also will require multifaceted
management(Lavretsky, 2014).

Lavretsky, H. (2014). Resilience and Aging: Research and Practice. Baltimore, MD: John
Hopkins University Press.