Resilience among older adults living at home: urban-rural difference in a population-based study

Abstract

Objective. We examined how individual and contextual factors affect resilience in community-dwelling older adults living in urban or rural areas in Northern Iceland. Methods. A cross-sectional study, conducted from 2017–2018, randomly sampled community-dwelling older adults (age ≥ 65) stratified by residency (urban/rural), age, and gender. Results. Compared with rural dwellers (n = 75), urban dwellers (n = 105) had more education (p < 0.001) and better access to organized physical (p < 0.001) and social activities (p < 0.001). Urban dwellers had higher resilience scores compared with rural dwellers (p < 0.001). A multivariate analysis showed that better health literacy and better mental health increased resilience (p > 0.001). Conclusions. We found a significant association between contextual and individual factors and resilience. To enable older adults to live longer in their own homes, health care professionals should pay attention to health literacy and mental health factors that increase resilience.