Challenges and healthy ageing: the role of resilience across the life course (ResNet)
Lead Research Organisation:
Bangor University
Department Name: Inst of Medical & Social Care Research
Abstract
There is considerable interest within public policy and society as to how health and quality of life can be maintained and enhanced across the lifespan, and how people respond to the various challenges of the ageing process.
Resilience is important as it could be the key to explaining resistance to risk across the lifespan and how people ?bounce back? and deal with problems such as ill health. Resilience can enable an understanding of how health and well-being can be maintained in the face of adversity and challenge.
We wish to generate new knowledge for research, policy and practice on resilience and healthy ageing across the life span. To achieve this we will to form a network partnership between different academic disciplines and organisations. Our aim is to unite people and consolidate existing evidence and opinion so that we can develop a plan for future research.
The network will enable discussion of all the different factors that might impact on resilience from early to advanced older age. These include the places people live, the support they receive, biological and psychological characteristics. We will address problems regarding definitions of resilience, and how it might be examined and promoted.
The network will develop scientific and universal bulletins of the key issues. Through consultation meetings we will discuss the meaning, application and potential usefulness of the science in future research, healthy ageing policies and practice. This will ensure our work is universally understood and of maximum benefit.
Resilience is important as it could be the key to explaining resistance to risk across the lifespan and how people ?bounce back? and deal with problems such as ill health. Resilience can enable an understanding of how health and well-being can be maintained in the face of adversity and challenge.
We wish to generate new knowledge for research, policy and practice on resilience and healthy ageing across the life span. To achieve this we will to form a network partnership between different academic disciplines and organisations. Our aim is to unite people and consolidate existing evidence and opinion so that we can develop a plan for future research.
The network will enable discussion of all the different factors that might impact on resilience from early to advanced older age. These include the places people live, the support they receive, biological and psychological characteristics. We will address problems regarding definitions of resilience, and how it might be examined and promoted.
The network will develop scientific and universal bulletins of the key issues. Through consultation meetings we will discuss the meaning, application and potential usefulness of the science in future research, healthy ageing policies and practice. This will ensure our work is universally understood and of maximum benefit.
Technical Summary
?Resilience? is receiving increasing interest across policy, practice and research in relation to its potential impact on health, well-being and quality of life. But there is little consensus regarding definitions and measurement, and debate about the factors that contribute to its? maintenance or reduction. There is little information regarding the developmental pattern of resilience over the life-course. Is it something about the community in which a person lives which makes them resilient, or is there a biological predisposition? Is resilience a psychological resource that is developed over the lifespan, or does it develop from exposure to difficulties or risks, enabling a person to develop the capacity to ?bounce-back?? Do resiliency factors in childhood affect resilience to challenges and inequalities in older age? Resilience could be the key to understanding resistance to risk across the lifespan and how health and well-being can be maintained in the face of challenges. However in order to inform future research more clarity is required. Investigation is needed to understand how resilience can be promoted. The potential importance of resilience is considerable.
The proposed network (ResNet) will take forward these objectives. It will unite and build upon previous research and work undertaken on resilience, and strengthen this with new perspectives and collaborations, thereby enhancing research capacity and development. The disciplines and organisations represented within the network represent a unique, biopsychosocial partnership. ResNet will draw on this diverse expertise to develop a research, knowledge transfer and dissemination strategy and subsequent research bids. These will take a multi-level approach and consider the complex interplay between places people live, the support they receive, biological and psychological characteristics on resilience and healthy ageing. This could not be achieved without ResNet.
The work will generate new knowledge for research, policy and practice, which will be accomplished through activities within 3 related work-packages. Each consists of meetings of researchers, service users and lay members, and research activity with outputs appropriate for all who may be interested. This approach will ensure a mutual understanding by all sectors of the research and its application; knowledge transfer will be fully embedded. It will enable stakeholder expertise in healthy ageing and policy to be extended into national and international research. Multiple pathways of dissemination will ensure that the work is accessible to a wide range of recipients.
The proposed network (ResNet) will take forward these objectives. It will unite and build upon previous research and work undertaken on resilience, and strengthen this with new perspectives and collaborations, thereby enhancing research capacity and development. The disciplines and organisations represented within the network represent a unique, biopsychosocial partnership. ResNet will draw on this diverse expertise to develop a research, knowledge transfer and dissemination strategy and subsequent research bids. These will take a multi-level approach and consider the complex interplay between places people live, the support they receive, biological and psychological characteristics on resilience and healthy ageing. This could not be achieved without ResNet.
The work will generate new knowledge for research, policy and practice, which will be accomplished through activities within 3 related work-packages. Each consists of meetings of researchers, service users and lay members, and research activity with outputs appropriate for all who may be interested. This approach will ensure a mutual understanding by all sectors of the research and its application; knowledge transfer will be fully embedded. It will enable stakeholder expertise in healthy ageing and policy to be extended into national and international research. Multiple pathways of dissemination will ensure that the work is accessible to a wide range of recipients.
