Year: 2004
Type: article
Abstract: The purpose of this exploratory study was to determine factors that contribute to resilience in older women.A theoretical orientation that integrated critical gerontology, life-span development, and a feminist life-span perspective of aging was used.Maximum variety sampling was employed to address diversity in the experience of aging.A sample of seventeen women between the ages of seventy and eighty years was drawn from two south central Ohio counties.Audio taped in-depth interviews provided the primary source of data.An interview schedule consisting of open-ended questions derived from the resilience literature guided the conversations.A constructivist approach encouraged the women to name their experiences of, and reactions to, advantage and adversity across the life span.Data analysis began with the first interview and continued during data collection through the use of the constant comparative method.Findings revealed that the women accumulated a variety of advantages and adversities across the life span.Each woman's story was unique despite the influence of similar historical and cultural effects and social-structural forces.The women continued to realize a strong investment in and positive orientation toward life regardless of the challenges and losses they experienced.iii Themes related to resilience include: social connectedness, extending self to others, moving forward with life; curiosity/ever-seeking; "head-on" approach to challenge; "maverick"; and spiritual grounding.Indicators of each theme suggest diversity in the capacity to be resilient and complexity in how resilience is exercised.This research has multiple implications for social work practice with older women.Social workers must be conduits of knowledge and information about aging in order to facilitate empowerment and foster solidarity.Ageism must be confronted by educating persons of all ages about the facts of aging.To encourage resilience a strengths-based approach is suggested, whereby the focus is on the positive and possibilities.Future studies will benefit from the use of alternative methods of data collection and collaboration with older women.Through hearing the voices of older women needs for services and the direction for political advocacy will be more optimally addressed by gerontologists and social workers.iv Dedicated to my mother, a model of resilience and my father, who encouraged me in every endeavor v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to thank my adviser, Virginia Richardson, for her unwavering support, both intellectually and personally.Her encouragement and enthusiasm provided stimulation just when I needed it.I thank my committee members, Celeste Burke and Eugene Folden for sticking with me throughout the dissertation process and offering critical input.I extend a big thank you to Evie Bradley, who spent many hours discussing methodology and theory.I appreciated her challenges and affirmations.For upholding me in the profession and offering a listening ear I thank the staff of the Greene County Council on Aging.Without their backup when I needed to work on the research I could not have finished.My family provided ongoing support and assistance.I especially thank my sister, Gin, who scrutinized early drafts.I am deeply grateful to and thankful for my son Josh
Author: Beth I. Kinsel
Institution: The Ohio State University
Language: English
Topic: Resilience and Mental Health
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W415214439