Effect Of Positive Reminiscing On Life Satisfaction In The Elderly

Author : Marcia Tai-Vazquez
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 117 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (126 download)

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Download or read book Perception of Life Satisfaction in Older Adults and Its Relation to Resilience, Meaning, and Depression During the COVID-19 Pandemic written by Marcia Tai-Vazquez and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page 117 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study set to explore why some older adults age well and perceive living their life successfully, while others perceive living it poorly or unsuccessfully. Successful aging is synonymous of life satisfaction, and it can be defined as: (a) avoidance of disease and disability, (b) maintenance of high physical and cognitive function, and (c) sustained engagement in social and productive activities (Rowe & Khan, 1978). Based on a review of the older adulthood literature, this study focused on factors related to the perception of life satisfaction (Farquhar, 1995; Lou, 2012) and quality of life (Calvo, Carr, & Matz-Costa, 2017); having purpose and meaning in life (Hill & Turiano, 2015); functional activities (Hamer, 2014); depression (Lin et al., 2014); and resilience (Alex 2010; Windle, 2011); hypothesizing that: a) depression would be negatively associated to perceived life satisfaction and actual life satisfaction; b) perceived life satisfaction would be positively associated with actual life satisfaction; c) resilience would be positively associated to perceived life satisfaction and actual life satisfaction; d)functional activities would be positively associated to perceived life satisfaction and actual life satisfaction; e) meaning in life would be positively associated to perceived life satisfaction and actual life satisfaction; f) the COVID-19 social distancing measures would be negatively associated to perceived life satisfaction and actual life satisfaction; and e) high education would be positively associated to perception of life satisfaction and actual life satisfaction. Reliable and valid measures were selected to test the study’s hypotheses. These instruments comprised the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWL; Diener et al., 1985), the Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ; Steger & Frazier, 2015); the Functional Activities Questionnaire (FAQ; Pfeffer, 1982), the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS; Yesavage et al., 1983), and the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS; Smith et al., 2008). The recruitment strategy aimed at administering a demographic questionnaire and these instruments to a sample of 200 older adults; however, the COVID-19 pandemic interfered with this approach. Instead, a new questionnaire was constructed, extracting four items from each instrument, i.e., the SWL, MLQ, FAQ, GDS, and BRS to construct a general measure of functioning. These items covered areas of life satisfaction, meaning in life, functional activities, depression and resilience. The final sample included 52 older adults, aged 65 to 85 years, living in the South Florida counties of Dade, Broward and Palm Beach, during the COVID-19 pandemic. After receiving BRANY IRB approval, the co-investigator contacted the participants who consented to participate and completed two questionnaires: a) general demographics, with four added questions on reactions to COVID-19 and to social distancing measures; and b) a 20-question instrument covering questions on life satisfaction, meaning or purpose in life, functional activities, depression and resilience. Descriptive and inferential statistics showed that the majority of participants reported aging well (n = 31 or 58.5%), average (n = 18 or 34.0%) or poorly (n = 3 or 5.7%), supporting previous findings on the reported life satisfaction of older adults (Strawbridge, Wallhagen, & Cohen, 2002). Most participants (n = 28 or 52.8%) indicated that COVID-19 had affected them, or were unsure of how it affected them (n = 12 or 22.6%). Thirty-five (67.3%) participants were between the ages of 65 and 74, and 17 (32.7%) between 75 and 85 years of age, but no significant differences were found between these age groups. Dependent samples t- tests (Kent State University, 2021; Newcastle University, 2021; Xu et al., 2017) were conducted to test mean differences between the study’s variables; they were found to be significant in the hypothesized direction. In conclusion, the majority of participants aged 65 to 85 reported being depressed and affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, which threatened their mortality; however, they still reported being satisfied with their lives. Despite facing adverse conditions, high perception of life satisfaction was associated to actual life satisfaction, functional activities, resilience and meaning in life. Additional research is needed to further explore the findings of this pilot study. Caregivers, paraprofessionals and professionals will benefit from understanding the hopeful attitude that some aging adults have, despite threatening circumstances (Duay & Bryan, 2016; Romo et al., 2013).