The impact of resilience on healthy aging with multiple sclerosis
- PDF / 888,158 Bytes
- 11 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 89 Downloads / 199 Views
The impact of resilience on healthy aging with multiple sclerosis M. Ploughman1,2 · M. B. Downer1 · R. W. Pretty1 · E. M. Wallack1 · S. Amirkhanian1 · M. C. Kirkland1 · The Health, Lifestyle and Aging with MS Canadian Consortium Accepted: 5 May 2020 © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Abstract Purpose The aim of this study was to identify characteristics of older persons with multiple sclerosis (MS) reporting high and low levels of resilience. We also examined the influence of resilience on three key elements of healthy aging: level of disability, participation and health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Methods Data were extracted from the Canadian Survey of Health, Lifestyle and Aging with MS (n = 743). Lifestyle, psychological health, and quality of life variables were compared between people with high and low resilience scores controlling for confounding variables. We used hierarchical regression to determine the unique contribution of resilience and related variables to healthy aging. Results Roughly, 1 in 5 respondents reported high resilience (18.8%), while 1 in 3 reported low resilience (33.9%). The group having higher resilience scores lived with less disability (~ 10%) and fatigue, reported greater participation, exercised more, consumed a healthier diet and lived with greater social support and financial security, compared to the lower scoring group. Resilience added only 1–2% of predictive value explaining disability, participation and HRQoL when confounding variables were accounted for. Years since diagnosis, type of MS, depression, fatigue and resilience significantly predicted healthy aging. Conclusion Resilience contributed minimally (but significantly) to healthy aging. Older participants scoring higher on resilience reported healthier lifestyle behaviors (more exercise, better diet) and social/financial support compared to lower scoring respondents. Our findings suggest that self-management programs for older persons with MS should focus on three key factors to foster healthy aging: depression, fatigue and resilience. Keywords Resilience · Aging · Multiple sclerosis · Depression · Anxiety · Fatigue · Quality of life
Introduction
The members of the The Health, Lifestyle and Aging with MS Canadian Consortium study group are listed in the Acknowledgements.
Resilience is characterized as the ability to achieve, retain, or regain a level of physical or emotional health after illness or loss [1], which is associated with successful coping and ‘bouncing back’ in spite of substantial adversity [2, 3]. People living with debilitating illnesses, including Multiple
* M. Ploughman [email protected]
M. C. Kirkland [email protected]
M. B. Downer [email protected]
1
Faculty of Medicine, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Health Sciences Centre, 300 Prince Philip Drive, St. John’s, NL A1B 3V6, Canada
2
The Recovery and Performance Laboratory, Room 400, L.A. Miller Centre, 100 Forest Rd., St. John’s, NL A1A 1E5, Canada
R. W. Pretty [email protected] E. M. Wallack ewa
Data Loading...
