Science and Practice of Resilience: Disaster Systems Applications to Aging Resilience

Klasa, Katarzyna; Galaitsi, Stephanie; Trump, Benjamin D.; Linkov, Igor

This chapter adapts the National Academies of Science systems model of resilience to natural disasters to a resilience model for aging adults. After exploring the origins and applications of the term resilience in gerontology, medicine, and public health, we incorporate the components of disaster resilience to present a framework for quantifying resilience for elderly individuals. The recent COVID-19 pandemic reinforces the importance of a system-level resilience approach. By merging transdisciplinary knowledge of resilience using a complex systems approach, we seek to develop a generalized theory for different contexts and populations. While resilience for the elderly can be quantified at the individual level, it must also be contextualized for external structural and system-level factors that influence the types and availability of resources that adults can access to recover from aging-related adversities. Understanding resilience for elderly adults can complement studies that seek to minimize risk, vulnerability, and frailty to improve quality of life and to decrease the burden of care arising from a growing elderly population.