Inner strength and its relationship to health threats in ageing—A cross‐sectional study among community‐dwelling older women

Boman, Erika; Lundman, Berit; Nygren, Bjoern; Årestedt, Kristofer; Fischer, Regina Santamäki

doi:10.1111/jan.13341

Cited by 7 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…Applying this theory to explore the inner strength of community dwelling older women, they found women with higher inner strength, as measured using the Inner Strength Scale (Lundman et al, 2011), had better physical health, and their social relationships were more satisfying. Subsequent studies have found stronger inner strength is associated with less risk of experiencing depression and feeling lonely in older women (Boman, Gustafson, Häggblom, Fischer, & Nygren, 2015;Boman, Lundman, Nygren, Årestedt, & Fishcer, 2017). Janssen, Regenmortel and Abma (2011) do not provide a definition of what they mean by strength, but identified sources of strength that give rise to resilience in older people receiving longterm community care.…”

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confidence: 99%

Uncovering strengths within community dwelling older adults: What does it mean for health care practice?

Waterworth

Raphael

Gott

et al. 2020

Health Soc Care Community

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The aim of this paper is to present the psychological strengths we identified from interviews with community dwelling older adults. Data for this paper is drawn from participants in a community dwelling older adult study. The latter involved qualitative in‐depth interviews with the participants exploring their well‐being. All participants were community dwelling and living in a region in the North Island of New Zealand. Interviews took place between March 2017 to September 2017. Thirty‐seven older adults between the ages of 66–99 took part in semi‐structured interviews and all interviews were audio‐recorded. Interviews ranged from 1 to 3 hr. Analysis was informed by the Values in Action Character strengths framework. We were able to identify strengths within the VIA conceptual framework comprising; cognitive strengths, emotional strengths, social and community strengths, protective strengths and transcendental strengths. Throughout this study we found that participants experienced difficulties in identifying and talking about their strengths. In many ways this may reflect participants' strength of humility, demonstrating modesty in talking about themselves. This study has highlighted the challenges older adults experienced in identifying their own strengths. However, the study has demonstrated how narratives can be one way of uncovering psychological strengths with older adults. In particular, these findings highlight the range of strengths, for example, bravery, gratitude, hope, humour, kindness, perseverance, spirituality, that older adults have and give a voice in highlighting these. However, more practical ways of making strength‐based practices workable in daily practice, for example, in clinical assessment and health promotion programs are required.

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confidence: 99%

Uncovering strengths within community dwelling older adults: What does it mean for health care practice?

Waterworth

Raphael

Gott

et al. 2020

Health Soc Care Community

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“…This implicates that psychological flexibility can be seen as an important underlying mechanism with significant associations with both trait gratitude and loneliness. Findings in limited prior research support a positive association between gratitude and psychological flexibility (Fredrickson, 2004;Hill, 2011;Kashdan & Rottenberg, 2010) and a negative association between psychological flexibility and loneliness (Boman et al, 2017;Gardiner et al, 2018;Hamama-Raz & Hamama, 2015). In addition, results revealed that engaged living partly mediates the association between gratitude and loneliness in middle-aged and older adults when it is included as a single mediator.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 75%

“…The first four processes represent the Acceptance process and the last two processes represent the Commitment process in ACT (ACT; Hayes, Luoma, Bond, Masuda, & Lillis, 2006). Because previous research has demonstrated that psychological flexibility decreases with age (Boman, Lundman, Nygren, Årestedt, & Santam€ aki Fischer, 2017;Viglund et al, 2013), it may be beneficial for middle-aged and older adults to strengthen psychological flexibility. However, there is a gap in the literature about psychological flexibility as an underlying mechanism in the association between trait gratitude and loneliness.…”

Section: The Role Of Psychological Flexibility and Engaged Livingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, gratitude is viewed as a life-enhancing skill that promotes psychological flexibility (Hill, 2011). However, limited prior research has indicated that psychological flexibility is associated with reduced feelings of loneliness (Boman et al, 2017;Gardiner, Geldenhuys, & Gott, 2018;Hamama-Raz & Hamama, 2015).…”

Section: The Role Of Psychological Flexibility and Engaged Livingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Gratitude and loneliness in adults over 40 years: examining the role of psychological flexibility and engaged living

Frinking

Jans-Beken

Janssens

et al. 2019

Aging & Mental Health

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Objectives: The aim of the present study was to investigate the association between trait gratitude and loneliness in a Dutch population sample of adults over 40 years. In addition, the mediating role of psychological flexibility and engaged living between trait gratitude and loneliness was assessed. Method: A total sample of 163 adults of which 65 men (40%) and 98 women (60%) between 41 and 92 years (M age ¼ 66, SD age ¼ 12) participated in this study. Data from the Loneliness Questionnaire, Flexibility Index Test, Engaged Living Scale and the Short Gratitude, Resentment, and Appreciation Test were used. Mediation analysis was performed. Results: Analysis showed a negative association between trait gratitude and loneliness. In addition, after adjusting for the demographic variables age, gender and educational level, the association between trait gratitude and loneliness was fully mediated by psychological flexibility, and partially mediated by engaged living. Conclusion: This study endorses the importance of trait gratitude and psychological flexibility in relation to experiencing loneliness. Further research is needed to replicate these findings in a more diverse sample and to investigate the causal relationships between these constructs. It would also be interesting to further investigate the role of different age groups and goal (dis)engagement strategies in this relation.

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“…That is, people with a higher degree of inner strength reported better self-rated health despite their disease (Viglund et al 2014 ). In a group of older women, inner strength was found to be positively related to physical and mental health (Boman et al 2017 ) and, conversely, negatively related to signs of depression (Boman et al 2015b ). Higher scores of inner strength showed an association with better subjective and objective health and more social contacts, in a group of very old people (Lundman et al 2012 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relationships among inner strength, health and function, well-being, and negative life events in old people: a longitudinal study

2021

Self Cite

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Inner strength is a conceptualization of a human resource that is generally considered beneficial for health and well-being. Previously, it has been examined in qualitative and cross-sectional studies, but longitudinal data are lacking. The aim of this study was to examine how inner strength, health and function, well-being, and negative life events, namely crises and diseases, affect each other over time in old people. A longitudinal two-wave design was used with data from 2010 and 2016. A total of 4023 participants, living in Finland and Sweden, and born in 1930, 1935, 1940, or 1945 were included. Data were collected using the Inner Strength Scale, the Life Orientation Scale, a short version of the Geriatric Depression Scale, one item from the SF36, and five items from the Katz ADL-index. Structural equation modeling was used to test for cross-lagged effects. Crises and diseases were found to be a positive predictor of inner strength, a negative predictor of well-being, and to have no significant effect on health and function over time. Inner strength and well-being had a reciprocal positive relationship, and health and function was a positive predictor inner strength. The study expands findings by providing perspectives of inner strength across time indicating that inner strength in old people increases when they have to face a disease or crisis. From a health perspective, the present findings reinforce the importance of healthcare professionals’ awareness and knowledge of the construct of inner strength.

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Inner strength and its relationship to health threats in ageing—A cross‐sectional study among community‐dwelling older women

Cited by 7 publications

References 54 publications

Uncovering strengths within community dwelling older adults: What does it mean for health care practice?

Uncovering strengths within community dwelling older adults: What does it mean for health care practice?

Gratitude and loneliness in adults over 40 years: examining the role of psychological flexibility and engaged living

Relationships among inner strength, health and function, well-being, and negative life events in old people: a longitudinal study

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