None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
This project will deliver innovative resilience training for older Australians (50+ years). Fifty years of age reflects a point of major work and life transition (National Seniors Australia) and we seek to assist adjustment at this critical life-stage. According to Beyond Blue and government reports, incidences of depression and stress are reported by 10-15% of the population over 50 years of age (Commonwealth Department of Health), with physical and psychological illness ranked the 2nd most common reason for people leaving the workforce prematurely (ABS, 2017). Our project is designed to mitigate these effects by improving psychological resilience among older Australians to keep them in the workforce longer, and to improve psychological outcomes and enhance community engagement among older unemployed Australians. Unlike conventional resilience training that takes a ‘one size fits all’ approach, we have developed a personalised self-reflection strategy to building resilience. This strategy enables participants to identify and build on their individual strengths, and to harness these in the face of challenges. Leveraging our success in fostering resilience in the Australian military, we will tailor our unique approach for older Australians and test its efficacy with two key groups; working and unemployed and retired older adults. This will be the first resilience training tailored to older adults with the objective of preventing mental illness and developing the skills and insights needed to cope with the inevitable adjustments and challenges of ageing. In collaboration with a major national employer and local councils, we will deliver a new tool to support older Australians to lead active and fulfilling lives, while reducing the risk of mental illness that affects Australians over 50.
Interventions
The study involved a partial group RCT design with three conditions: (1) corporate active control condition, (2) corporate SRT group, and (3) community SRT group.
Corporate participants were allocated to the training or control condition between September and October 2018 over a five-week period. Corporate participants were assigned to either the control or intervention group depending on the training session they attended. This was because initial training introduction sessions occurred in sm
The study involved a partial group RCT design with three conditions: (1) corporate active control condition, (2) corporate SRT group, and (3) community SRT group. Corporate participants were allocated to the training or control condition between September and October 2018 over a five-week period. Corporate participants were assigned to either the control or intervention group depending on the training session they attended. This was because initial training introduction sessions occurred in small to medium sized groups (2 to 22 people) and sessions involved different content depending on condition. Five training sessions were randomly assigned to receive the control presentation (n=41), and seven received the intervention (n=58). Condition membership was consistent throughout the study, unknown to participants, and no exclusion criteria for participation was enforced. The only inclusion criteria was age. Consistent with our definition of resilience and recommendations provided by Chmitorz et al. (2018), the study was designed to assess the program outcomes in the context of a stressor event. Training sessions for both the corporate and community samples were therefore delivered prior to the busy Christmas period (2018). This time in the Australian calendar is recognized as a stressor, being related to a decrease in life satisfaction and emotional wellbeing (Mutz, 2016). It is also the busiest period for the participating organisation, with peak sales inducing high workload. Our methodology was intended to examine whether the Self-Reflective Resilience Training (intervention) is superior to an active control group. The longitudinal design allowing the exploration of outcomes while controlling for baseline functioning.
Sponsors
NSW Department of Family and Community Services
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Prevention
Masking
Blinded (masking used) (Subject)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
50 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
Working and non-working adults 50 years of age or over.
Exclusion criteria
Those who report a current mental health or memory-related diagnosis
Outcome results
None listed