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Abstract
As more studies reveal the positive relationships between resilience and aging well, mental health practitioners are increasingly interested in recognizing and strengthening resilience among aging Baby Boomers. Although there is much information on characteristics of resilience, there is very little research on assessing for resilience. This article presents a framework for assessing resilience among middle-aged and older adults that includes the Resilience Scale and open-ended questions to provide clients opportunities to reflect on and perhaps rediscover their resilience. This assessment framework may be useful for mental health practitioners using a strengths-based approach with their clients.
The purpose of this article is to present an interviewing framework within which to identify and assess psychological resilience among the aging population of Baby Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964), who number 75 million in the United States (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Mental Health Services, 2004, 2005). It is anticipated that this group will be at greater risk for substance abuse, anxiety disorders, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) than the current population of older adults (Patterson & Jeste, 1999). A recent Pew Research Center report suggests the huge size of this generation has created a greater competition for schooling and jobs than any other generation. This competition has created stress and may have led to less contentment and satisfaction on average than among younger or older adults (Cohn, 2008).
Interest in resilience within this adult population is growing rapidly, and now many studies describe the importance of resilience and its associated characteristics. Many mental health care providers incorporate a strengthsbased component into their overall client assessment (Kivnick & Stoffel, 2005), and this article will contribute to this approach by presenting an assessment framework specific for resilience.
Background
For several decades, aging has been viewed in terms of deficits, decline, decrepitude, disabilities, depression, and dementia. Traditionally, health care assessments and interventions have used a model grounded in pathology, which tends to focus on ameliorating or eliminating problems. Since the early 1980s, health care providers and researchers have countered the deficit model of aging by identifying positive, successful, or healthy aging as an achievable and desired goal for those who are middle aged and older. Successful or healthy aging has often been defined...