Resilience and Sense of Purpose in
Long-term Care Environments
by David Seaton
"Believe that life is
worth living and your belief will
create the fact."
~William
James
Okinawans call it ikigai
(that which makes life worth
living). On the Nicoya Peninsula in
Costa Rica, they talk about plan
de vida (life purpose).
Whatever word you use, this concept
is the key to a long and happy life.
When you take away someone's
purpose, their reason to get up in
the morning, whether that be their
social connections, the opportunity
to feel useful and to help others,
or the daily rituals that add
enjoyment to life, you significantly
affect the length and quality of
that person's life. And isn't that
ultimately our goal, as long-term
care providers, to help create the
highest quality of life possible,
for as long as possible?
A
sense of purpose is strongly
associated with resilience, the
capacity of individuals to adapt to
adversity and change. Individuals
with cognitive disabilities must
daily address issues associated with
their challenges, whether they have
lived with a disability for their
entire life or have experienced a
change in life circumstances as a
result of an injury or illness. In
order to support these individuals
in developing a quality life, we
can't start from a foundation that
focuses just on deficits, diagnoses
and limitations. We must start from
a place of personal aspiration and
possibilities. John Reich, a social
psychologist on the Arizona State
University Resilience Solutions
Group team puts it this way, "At the
heart of human adaptation is
resilience, the ability to create a
positive world for ourselves, often
in the face of stressful life
experiences, and the ability to
resist being overtaken by negative
experiences when they seem to be
overwhelming."
According to a study published in
the American Journal of
Psychiatry in 2008, "the most
important psychosocial factor
associated with resilience or
recovered status was a sense of
higher purpose in life." We can
learn a great deal about resilience
and adaptation from individuals with
disabilities--this is not a novel
idea. In reality, most individuals
with cognitive disabilities will
not "recover," and that's not the
goal. But we can support them to
continually grow, build
relationships and find their place
in a world that sometimes moves way
too fast. By transforming long-term
care settings into supportive
LifeLong Living environments that
promote purposeful living through
volunteer work in the community,
personal responsibility,
connectedness to others and the
simple pleasures of daily living, we
are telling individual's with
cognitive disabilities that their
lives are meaningful, that they are
needed and their contributions do
make a difference.
As
human beings, we are all in search
of ikigai or plan de
vida. Acknowledging this fact
allows us to see that the things
that separate us are not as
important as what connects us to one
another. It is our responsibility in
the long-term care field to create
environments that continue to give
individuals the chance to experience
hope, optimism and purpose in their
life. Anything less is simply
inadequate.
