RESILIENCE AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH SELF-RELIANT ELDERLY LIFESTYLE

Abstract

Objective: Relate the resilience of a group of self-reliant elderly from Chillan Viejo County (Chile) with their life style. Design: Co relational and cross-sectional study of 176 self reliant both sexes elderly between 65 and 85 years old attending a primary health care unit at Chillán Viejo County, Bío-Bío Region, Chile. Wagnild and young Resilience Scale, adapted by the authors of this research, was applied using the ?2 test or the Fishers exact test, when necessary, considering as statistically significant, p <0.05. Results: 82.4% of the subjects of study have a high resilience. It was observed that the resilience depends significantly on the condition of living with a partner (p=0.002), the capacity of sexual activity (p= 0.008), the recreational activities (p= 0.015) and the mood condition (p=0.001). Conclusion. There are characteristics in their life styles that relate themselves in a greater extent to their level of resilience which enables them to face changes that are typical of the natural process of aging among older adults.