Les enjeux de la résilience chez les personnes âgées

Certain life events can lead to a trauma that will impact the person's development. Some people will be able to resume development and build a future for themselves; this is resilience. Growing old is a period of loss and grief; of adapting to one's environment and particularly to the changes in one's body. However, ageing is also finding new capacities, building competence, and discovering new resources. Resilience is related to trauma; it can result from a major event but can also set-in following repeated events exceeding the person's capacity to cope. Resilience implies the presence of a tutor who is available, and attentive, and who can see beyond the social or medical model of the person; and who will represent a source of resilience. In the elderly, resilience is the capacity to give a meaning to one's existence; a period of 'personal integration' during which the elderly person reassesses his/her past. The feeling of belonging and interest in others are also keys to resilience. The caregivers' role is also important in the exchanges they have with the person they accompany, through the creativity of the relationship they propose, and with the skills they will permit the person to use.