Scientific Programme
Programme-at-a-Glance
Pre- and Post-Congress Workshops
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Having a multidisciplinary congress like this is very useful. The tracks for the Academic Clinical Programmes sets a standard and creates a platform for interprofessional as well as inter-institutional staff to come together to share on
research, education and clinical service advancement.
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~ Prof Celia Tan
Group Director, Allied Health, SingHealth
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Programme >
Geriatric Symposium
Resilience and Longevity
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Track type: Symposium |
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Duration: 90 minutes |
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Location: Academia, Level 2, PSL 2 |
Topic 1:
Conceptualisation and Understanding of Physical Resilience in Older Adults
 Speaker: Dr Harvey J. Cohen
Aging is accompanied by increasing
physical limitations and higher rates of adverse outcomes, but there is a
substantial variation in overall trajectories of physical function, as well as
important fluctuations over time for each person. This variation may
reflect differences in physical resilience, here defined as the person level
ability to resist or recover from new declines in physical function. In
recent decades, a robust literature has framed resilience as a psychological
construct; adaptive attitudes, and behaviours that allow one to remain
psychologically sound after being exposed to stressful events. Here, the
ability to “bounce back” physically will be discussed including
characteristics, both physical and psychological, that may be related to this
ability.
An example of recovery from cancer
treatment as a stressor will be discussed. In this example, among a group
of patients receiving chemotherapy, some showed no decline in physical function
(resistant) while others declined. Among the latter, some recovered their
physical function over a two-year period (resilient) while others did
not. Baseline, physical functional status, general health, as well as
psychosocial factors such as self-efficiency and social support were associated
with resistance to decline as well as resilience in physical function.
Topic 2:
Frailty and Resilience: A Geriatrics and Public Health Perspective
Speaker: Dr Wong Chek Hooi
With aging, older adults accumulate multiple chronic diseases and disabilities. As a consequence, there are more frail older adults with complex medical, social, functional and psychological health needs. Within this complexity, we sometimes forget the positive adaptive processes that can occur in older adults and instead, concentrate on quantifying the negative disease and degenerative process. The talk will explore aging and the need to recognise health of older adults not only as physiologic processes but also their ability to cope using strategies both at individual and community level.
Topic 3:
Caregiver Resilience Amidst an Aging Population
Speaker: Dr Dennis Seow
At home, caregivers of frail older adults form the vanguard of informal care and they bear significant caregiver burden. The ability to cope with caregiver stress depends as much on the caregivers’ resilience as on the modality of intervention. This talk explores the concept of caregiver resilience and how resources can possibly be provided or developed to sustain positive caregiving.
Topic 4:
A Dynamic Model of Stress-induced Functional Loss and Resilience
Speaker: Prof David B. Matchar
Understanding the complex processes underlying functional loss is essential in conceptualising frailty. Beyond the simple result of physiological senescence, the trajectory of functional decline is the manifestation of the interplay between small and large life stressors, and response to those stressors. Further complicating the dynamics of the trajectory of functional ability is the presence of feedback loops. We propose the use of a parsimonious dynamic model to represent a wide variety of trajectories for functional ability, and argue that the decline typical towards end of life can be explained by the dynamic interactions of functional levels, resilience, and stressors. A simulation model representing the life trajectories of functional ability was developed using the system dynamics modelling methodology. It captures the dynamic interactions among four key components: actual functional ability, stressors, resilience, and expected functional ability. A wide range of functional ability trajectories similar to real world phenomena were replicated by varying model inputs. Apart from offering a dynamic framework to understanding the multiple interactions that influence functional trajectories, the proposed model offers many other benefits. Various hypotheses regarding how components interact with each other can be tested through the variation of model inputs, providing a foundation for the identification of potential interventions to optimize the trajectory based on underlying drivers of functional loss or recovery. Illustrating the mechanisms by which interventions might improve patterns of functional decline also allows for the systematic evaluations of interventions. This exercise suggests that it is valuable to disaggregate the notions of functional ability and resilience that are embedded in the concept of frailty and offers an explicit framework that may be used to facilitate further discussion on the definition and measurement of key concepts in frailty and how specific causes generate specific effects.
Topic 5:
Resilience in the Absence of Longevity
Speaker: Dr James A. Tulsky
The goal of palliative care is to live as well as possible for as long as possible. Whereas longevity is frequently not within our control, quality of life may be. This talk will describe the elements of resilience in the setting of limited life expectancy and how these can be supported and encouraged in practice.
*Information is correct at time of update
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