Harnessing Resilience in the Healthy Ageing Discourse: Insights from Attappadi Indigenous Older Adults, Kerala, India

ABSTRACT

In this “Decade of Healthy Ageing,” the integration of resilience into the healthy aging discourse becomes paramount, particularly in the context of indigenous communities grappling with the enduring effects of historical oppression, persistent poverty, and health disparities in their aging journey. Employing a phenomenological lens, this study seeks to derive the resilient characteristics exhibited by the Attappadi indigenous older adults of Kerala, aiming to explore the role of resilience in their pursuit of healthy aging. In-depth phenomenological interviews (n = 34), observation, and document analysis have revealed four key themes: A life course marked by adversities, Embracing the unyielding strength within, Personal resilience catalysts, and Extrinsic resilience catalysts. The participants exhibited a reasonably well-functioning collective, given their persistent adversities in their life course. Narratives illuminated a notable connection between the presence of resilience characteristics and the overall functioning of older adults. From a social work standpoint on resilience, this article underscores the vital interplay between individual agency and environmental factors in addressing adversity. The article advocates culturally sensitive, asset-based strategies to strengthen indigenous older adults’ intrinsic and extrinsic resilience to ensure that they are not left behind in the global pursuit of healthy aging.

KEYWORDS:

• Healthy aging
• resilience
• indigenous community
• gerontological social work

Acknowledgments

The first author is a senior research fellow at the Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi, and this research forms a part of her doctoral work on healthy ageing. We are deeply grateful to all participants for their contributions. Thanks to the Integrated Tribal Development Project (ITDP), Attappadi, and Schedule Tribe Development Department (STDD), Kerala, for granting necessary administrative permissions for the study.

The authors express sincere gratitude for the invaluable comments provided by the reviewers, which have significantly contributed to refining and fortifying the content of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ Designating an area as a tribal development block in India means that the Indigenous communities residing there receive special attention and priority.

² Indigenous communities in India are officially referred to as Scheduled tribes.

³ A central scheme which provides at least one hundred days of guaranteed wage employment every financial year for an adult household member willing to do unskilled manual labor

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Indian Council of Medical Research [NO.3/1/3/JRF-2019/HRD(SS)].