Associations between resilience, community belonging and social participation among community-dwelling older adults: Results from the Eastern Townships Population Health Survey

Publication date: Available online 26 April 2017
Source:Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Author(s): Mélanie Levasseur, Mathieu Roy, Bernard Michallet, France St-Hilaire, Danielle Maltais, Mélissa Généreux
ObjectiveTo examine the associations between resilience, community belonging and social participation, and the moderating effect of resilience on the association between community belonging and social participation among community-dwelling older adults.DesignCross-sectional; secondary analyses of the Eastern Townships Population Health Survey.SettingCommunity.ParticipantsA sample of 2485 women and 2056 men aged 60+ was randomly selected according to area. Most participants had less than 14 years of schooling, owned their dwelling, were retired, had 1-2 chronic conditions, and did not have depressive symptoms.InterventionsNot applicable.Main outcome measuresSelf-reported data on age, education, depressive symptoms, social participation, community belonging and resilience were collected by phone interviewer-administered questionnaire. A social participation scale measured frequency of participation in eight community activities. A 4-point Likert scale ranging from "very strong" to "very weak" estimated sense of belonging to the local community. Social participation and sense of belonging questions came from Statistics Canada Surveys. Resilience was assessed with the 10-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale capturing the ability to cope with adversity.ResultsControlling for age, education and psychological distress, greater resilience and community belonging were associated with greater social participation among women (R²=0.13; p<0.001) and men (R²=0.09; p<0.001). The association between community belonging and social participation varied as a function of resilience, especially in men. Greater community belonging further enhanced social participation, especially among women (p=0.03) and men (p<0.01) with greater resilience (moderator effect).ConclusionsResilience moderates the association between community belonging and social participation among community-dwelling older women and, especially, men. Interventions targeting social participation should consider the potential impact of resilience on improving community belonging. Future studies should investigate why resilience moderates associations between community belonging and social participation, and how to enhance resilience among older adults.



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