Mobility Resilience Processes Among Older Adults

This chapter integrates resilience frameworks (Richardson, J Clin Psychol 58:307–321, 2002; Wister et al., Int J Aging Hum Dev 82:290–313, 2016) with processes of adaptation articulated in the Selective Optimization and Compensation (SOC) model (Baltes and Baltes, Successful aging: perspectives from the behavioral sciences. Cambridge University Press, New York, 1990) to understand mobility challenges among older adults, termed mobility resilience. Forty-one studies were reviewed to identify the range of adaptive processes employed by older adults with mobility limitations in order to explore how these strategies are associated with the different classes of reintegration in the resilience model. The linking of models of resilience and adaption helps to (i) explain why some older adults adapt to or recover from mobility limitations better than others and (ii) understand the factors and processes involved in building mobility resilience, which in turn can guide the development of programs that enhance older adults’ health and well-being.