Disaster Resilience Among Older Adults

Abstract

With each passing year the impacts of climate change become more pronounced and lead to increasingly frequent and severe disasters. Disaster risk reduction (DRR) strategies emphasize a whole-of-society approach to mitigate climate change impacts and enhance resilience. Older adults are a population whose agency has historically been overlooked, and vulnerability emphasized in disasters. Painting older adults as homogenously vulnerable is fascinating, and paradoxical, considering they are a diverse population in terms of age range, capability, and capacity. Older adults are also the fastest growing demographic globally, and in the context of mounting pressure to address climate change, there is a need to better understand how their resilience can be supported. With this in mind, the purpose of my dissertation research was to explore how resilience can be supported for older adults in disasters.

My research is comprised of two qualitative studies and three articles. In Study 1, a narrative approach was used to capture the lived experiences of 67 older adults at two time points during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, in Study 1a (Article 1), we explored what older adults identified as assets to support their resilience. In Study 1b (Article 2), I used my lens as an occupational therapist (OT) to further understand how older adults used their assets to adapt daily occupations, and described connections to the literature pertaining to the role of OTs in supporting older adults in pandemics. Through Study 1, we developed an empirically derived asset map and described how older adults used their assets to support their resilience and that of their households during the pandemic. Using their assets at the community level was challenging due to pandemic-related restrictions, in addition to influences of self- and societal perceptions of older adults as vulnerable. We draw connections to the experiences of older adults during the pandemic, and the role of occupational therapists in supporting participation in disaster contexts.

To better understand older adults as partners in DRR at a broader level - in Study 2 (Article 3) - we used a problematization approach to examine assumptions that appear in 10 guiding disaster and emergency management documents. Under an overarching theme of vulnerability, those considered 'young' older adults were afforded more agency in disaster contexts than 'old' older adults. The framing of older adults as contributors and resilient was reserved for those who fit preconceived notions of younger, ableist aging. Further, the protection of older adults in disasters was framed as a moral discourse, which has implications for their inclusion and participation as partners in DRR.

I used The EnRiCH Community Resilience Framework for High-Risk Populations to situate my understanding of older adults from a salutogenic and asset orientation. In the dissertation discussion, I highlight the need to redress the balance between the participation and protection of older adults to enhance disaster resilience. This dissertation research provides insight into the asset literacy of older adults and draws connections to the ways in which empowering participation can enhance resilience, while restriction may perpetuate vulnerability under the guise of protection. To advance work in this field, there is a need to engage more diverse partners, like OTs, who work with older adults and can help to dismantle dominant constructions of vulnerability in old age. A greater role for older adults and OTs in DRR aligns with movement towards a whole-of-society approach to mitigating disaster risk and enhancing resilience. Efforts to enhance the resilience of older adults now are invaluable for climate resilience for the future.