Researchers have found that older people who exhibit higher levels of mental resilience are more likely to live longer than peers who are not mentally resilient. This highlights the importance of developing the associated skills as a younger person.
The Australian aged care workforce shortages are expected to sit at 110,000 vacancies for direct aged care workers by 2031, causing stress and challenging situations for aged care workers currently caring for Australia’s ageing population.
The study, published earlier this month in September, consists of data from more than 10,500 participants whose mental resilience was assessed.
People with high mental resilience, also known as psychological resilience, are those who continue to have good mental health even in the face of adversity or challenging situations.
Similar evidence was highlighted by researchers in an Australian study where ‘higher levels of resilience were associated with lower levels of anxiety.’ It was suggested that ‘proactively coping with stress may be particularly important for good mental health’ in people with lower levels of mental resilience.
Examples of adversity include experiencing rejection, the death of a loved one, financial stress, and physical injury or illness.
Resilience was a term referenced by Kevin Rudd, one of Australia’s past Prime Ministers, to describe Australia’s response during the 2009 Victorian bushfires, a quote that could be used as inspiration for anyone currently living through adversity.
“Australia [is] a nation of compassion. Courage and compassion. And the third of these great values: resilience,” he said.
Additionally, for many Australians, work can be a significant factor affecting stress levels and challenges one’s resilience.
With multiple studies indicating the importance of being mentally resilient, looking after your mental health as an aged care worker could be the key to living a longer life.
Suggestions on how to better manage stress as an aged care worker include:
However, in an interview with ABC Four Corners, one enrolled nurse spoke about the difficult and stressful situation she experienced at her aged care workplace.
“I’ve been to management to complain about the workload, that it’s not possible, and was basically told it was my poor time management,” she said.
Approximately 370,000 people are employed in Australian aged care homes and services including residential aged care facilities, home care and the Commonwealth Home Support Program, as per the Department of Health and Aged Care.
In addition to the other studies focussing on mental resilience, the University of New South Wales is conducting research to determine numerous factors related to a person’s resilience using an app to ‘answer questions about your daily life and overall well-being and complete game-like cognitive and physical tasks.’
According to information on the Resilient Minds Study (ReMind) webpage, researchers will be using the collected data to answer long-held questions including:
Although these researchers are not currently recruiting for this study, other similar studies may be developed in the future as researchers discover more about the importance of mental resilience and how it can impact other areas of one’s life for Australia’s growing and ageing population.
Australia’s population is approximately 27 million people and is projected to reach more than 40 million people by 2056, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
