Cohen Odeya, Geva Diklah, Lahad Mooli, Bolotin Arkady, Leykin Dima, Goldberg Avishay, Aharonson-Daniel Limor
Department of Emergency Medicine, Recanati School for Community Health Professions, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
PREPARED Center for Emergency Response Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
PLoS One. 2016 Feb 4;11(2):e0148125. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0148125. eCollection 2016.
An increase in the exposure and predisposition of civilian populations to disasters has been recorded in the last decades. In major disasters, as demonstrated recently in Nepal (2015) and previously in Haiti (2010), external aid is vital, yet in the first hours after a disaster, communities must usually cope alone with the challenge of providing emergent lifesaving care. Communities therefore need to be prepared to handle emergency situations. Mapping the needs of the populations within their purview is a trying task for decision makers and community leaders. In this context, the elderly are traditionally treated as a susceptible population with special needs. The current study aimed to explore variations in the level of community resilience along the lifespan. The study was conducted in nine small to mid-size towns in Israel between August and November 2011 (N = 885). The Conjoint Community Resiliency Assessment Measure (CCRAM), a validated instrument for community resilience assessment, was used to examine the association between age and community resilience score. Statistical analysis included spline and logistic regression models that explored community resiliency over the lifespan in a way that allowed flexible modeling of the curve without prior constraints. This innovative statistical approach facilitated identification of the ages at which trend changes occurred. The study found a significant rise in community resiliency scores in the age groups of 61-75 years as compared with younger age bands, suggesting that older people in good health may contribute positively to building community resiliency for crisis. Rather than focusing on the growing medical needs and years of dependency associated with increased life expectancy and the resulting climb in the proportion of elders in the population, this paper proposes that active "young at heart" older people can be a valuable resource for their community.
在过去几十年里，平民人口面临灾害的风险和易感性有所增加。在重大灾害中，如2015年尼泊尔和2010年海地发生的灾害所显示的那样，外部援助至关重要，但在灾害发生后的最初几个小时里，社区通常必须独自应对提供紧急救生护理的挑战。因此，社区需要做好应对紧急情况的准备。对于决策者和社区领袖而言，梳理其管辖范围内民众的需求是一项艰巨的任务。在这种情况下，老年人传统上被视为有特殊需求的易感人群。本研究旨在探讨社区恢复力水平在整个生命周期中的变化。该研究于2011年8月至11月在以色列的9个中小城镇开展（N = 885）。联合社区恢复力评估量表（CCRAM）是一种经过验证的社区恢复力评估工具，用于检验年龄与社区恢复力得分之间的关联。统计分析包括样条回归和逻辑回归模型，这些模型以一种无需事先设定约束条件就能灵活模拟曲线的方式，探究了整个生命周期内的社区恢复力。这种创新的统计方法有助于确定趋势发生变化的年龄。研究发现，与较年轻年龄组相比，61 - 75岁年龄组的社区恢复力得分显著上升，这表明健康状况良好的老年人可能对构建社区危机恢复力做出积极贡献。本文并非聚焦于与预期寿命增加相关的日益增长的医疗需求以及多年的依赖问题，以及由此导致的老年人口在总人口中所占比例的攀升，而是提出心态积极的活跃老年人可以成为其社区的宝贵资源。
