Questions: As older adults adapt or cope, which task is more…

Questions: As older adults adapt or cope, which task is more important or effective: selection, optimization, or compensation? Provide at least three reasons in support of your answer.
In what ways can selection, optimization, and compensation be healthy/effective?
In what ways can selection, optimization, and compensation be unhealthy/ineffective?
Reference:
Lecture: Selection, Optimization, and Compensation (SOC) Model
The meta-theory of Selection, Optimization, and Compensation (Baltes & Baltes, 1990) suggests a way in which older adults may successfully adapt to ongoing, cumulative life changes. As noted by Carpentieri and colleagues (2017), “…the SOC framework offers conceptualization of success that is not outcome dependent, but centers on doing the best one can with what one has” (p. 352). The process of selection, optimization, and compensation (SOC) emerged from the famous Berlin Aging Study and consists of three basic steps:
Select activities that are important and maintain them (where to focus one’s resources).
Elective selection—choosing from all options of interest which activity/goal to engage in; a higher level of physical function.
Loss-based selection—modification, prioritization of activities/goals in response to current needs, abilities, diminished function; redirection of effort/resources.
Find ways to optimize performance of these activities (maximize/promote gains).
Find ways to compensate for declines or losses, which may require innovative strategies and/or asking others for help (minimize/counteract losses).
These steps correlate, but incompletely, with Rowe and Kahn’s (1987) original concept of successful aging (absence of disease and disease-related disability; maintaining physical and cognitive function; and active engagement in life). These original components of Rowe and Kahn’s model of successful aging have been criticized for excluding older adults with chronic illness and disability.
A more appropriate, inclusive definition of successful aging emphasizes life satisfaction, a sense of well-being, doing the best with what one has, and suggests that even the frail elderly can age successfully. With a nod to Baltes and Baltes (1990), we may include “relying on help from others” as an additional adaptive process in successful aging. However, keep in mind what Dr. Rowe mentioned in Week 2 – too much instrumental support may have adverse consequences.
Older adults can apply selection, optimization, and compensation (SOC) in a multitude of ways from completing household chores to personal care (activities of daily living, ADLs).
The following information serves as one example and illustrates how SOC can be applied to the area of maintaining physical health and function:
Selection
Be selective about activities to avoid overexertion. (S)
Build some exercise into one’s daily routine. (S)
Take time to plan and eat nutritious meals and snacks. (S)
Optimization
Try new forms of exercise like yoga or tai chi. (O)
Keep up-to-date on the latest health recommendations. (O)
Try new recipes to keep meals interesting. (O)
Compensation
Switch medication or increase the dosage, if necessary. (C)
Install grip bars in the bathroom to avoid falls. (C)
Get flu and pneumonia immunization every fall. (C)
This SOC-plus-help-from-others process has been demonstrated in adaptation to chronic illness and disability (Gignac, Cott, & Bradley, 2000):
The SOC model was applied toward five types of activity: personal care, mobility in the home, mobility in the community, household activities, and, lastly, hobbies and leisure activities. The study also examined whether relying on help from others had a negative effect (i.e., sense of dependence, helplessness, or loss of control) or whether in fact there were positive effects on adaptation. The study produced the following results across the SOC model, and the additional strategy of asking for help resulted in fourteen identified strategies used to manage chronic illness or disability:
Selection (21 percent of all efforts)
Perform the activity less often.
Give up or avoid the activity.
Restrict or limit the activity.
Optimization (30 percent of all efforts)
Spend more time on the activity.
Plan ahead to avoid problems.
Maintain regular movement to avoid pain/stiffness.
Compensation (40 percent of all efforts)
Substitute one activity or object for another.
Modify or change the way activities are done.
Use furniture or equipment to help with mobility.
Use gadgets to help get the job done.
Use assistive devices.
Rely on help from others (8 percent of all efforts)
Help from a close family member.
Paid help for services like hairstyling, house cleaning, or yard maintenance.
Help from services like Meals on Wheels or home health care.
The participants used the following strategies for each of the five activities:
Personal care
Mostly used compensation
Did the activity less often rather than give it up
Avoided certain types of clothing (e.g., buttons)
Used the services of a hairstylist or manicurist
Mobility
Mainly used compensation and optimization
Used exercise and stretching to stay mobile
Balanced periods of activity with rest
Household activities
All four strategies were used quite frequently
Gave up or limited some activities
Optimized by working smarter, not harder
Compensated by using gadgets or convenience products
Asked for help from close relatives or hire services
Hobbies and leisure activities
Selection was used most often
Gave up or limited the activity
Overall
Older adults used some combination of all four strategies across all five activities.
Compensation was used more than any other strategy, with optimization in second place.
Receiving help was used the least often and was used for household work rather than for other activities.
Perceptions of dependence and independence
Across all activities, relying on others was associated with feelings of dependency, but not helplessness or inability to cope.
It appears that relying on others for help is both adaptive and frustrating.
It is worthwhile to note the following points.
Successful, healthy aging is based in a positive frame of mind and an optimistic attitude towards life. Those who age successfully have life skills that help them adapt to change and loss. Selection, optimization, and compensation (SOC) is one of the most useful models for understanding what these life skills are and how they work. As we age, we have to be more selective about what we choose to and where we invest our energies. We also need to constantly try to make the most of the abilities we still have and learn new ways of making adjustments.
As mentioned earlier, stress management and coping skills also are critical to healthy aging. We must recognize that stress is a normal part of life and that, while some stress is predictable and normal, some stress is not. As mentioned last week, too little stress can be as harmful as too much stress. Moreover, it is normal to feel out of control in a crisis and sometimes we really have no control over what is happening. The trick is to figure out what we can control and to do something about it. The one thing we usually have some control over is how we manage our stress response to life events. In general, coping with stress involves monitoring our thinking, emotions, and behavior.
Folkman and Lazarus (1988) posited two types of coping strategies designed to modify a problem or situation (stressor) in the person-environment relationship:
Problem (solution)-focused coping (usually the most effective)
Emotion-focused coping (usually the least effective)
According to Folkman and Lazarus (1988), coping strategies in older adults tend to be more planful problem- or solution-focused (i.e., get more information about the problem) rather than emotion-focused (i.e., vent or worry excessively about the problem); however, “the adaptive value of coping often depends on context” (p. 473). An individual’s coping style and efficacy are key factors in determining the success of the adaptation. Bear in mind that coping behaviors may be maladaptive as well as adaptive, may generate more threshold crises rather than fewer, and may produce more identity imbalance than less.
Costa and McCrae (1985) discussed the construct of personality as it pertains to older adults. They saw personality as the psychological organization of the individual as a whole, consisting of traits, features, or facets that distinguish one person from another. What have become known as the “Big Five” personality traits (NEOAC) are:
Neuroticism
Extraversion
Openness to change
Agreeableness
Conscientiousness
According to Roberts, Walton, and Veichtbauer (2006), neuroticism and extraversion gradually decline with age, openness to change first increases then decreases with age, while agreeableness and conscientiousness gradually increase with age. This may be an important contributing factor to inadvertent or iatrogenic addictive disorders, since the more agreeable and conscientious older adult may be more dutifully compliant with taking medications despite potentially harmful negative consequences.
This is a critical observation: addictive behaviors and disorders may be induced inadvertently or iatrogenically. An iatrogenic disease or disorder is one that occurs as a product of some health procedure with unintended consequences. Older adults may become dependent on a substance unknowingly or unintentionally. More on this in the weeks ahead.
Rotter (1966) introduced the concept of locus-of-control, that is, the degree to which one perceives that external forces determine what happens to the individual (external locus-of-control) or the degree to which one perceives that one exerts personal control and influence over outcomes and elements of one’s life (internal locus-of-control). Ample evidence suggests that when older adults are oriented toward the latter (internal locus-of-control), they experience improved health outcomes, greater life satisfaction, and overall well-being. “Active participation in one’s own well-being hinges in part on the belief that one is capable of having some control over one’s own successful functioning within one’s particular environment” (Mallers, Claver, & Lares, 2014, p. 68).
The above-mentioned coping strategies, personality factors, and locus-of-control orientation are generally taken to be indicators of how well one will adapt and age. Aging is generally seen to occur in the last three Eriksonian stages of psychosocial development: intimacy vs. isolation, generativity vs. stagnation, and integrity vs. despair.
Dependent on how well one resolves crises at each stage, one may be said to be aging successfully or not. As discussed in week 1, a potential ninth stage was added to the original Eriksonian model by Joan Erikson and refined by Lars Tornstam (2005). By recapitulation, this stage, gerotranscendence in old age, was a shift from a materialistic worldview to a cosmic worldview, where the older adult seeks to define him- or herself in relation to the universe rather than the material world.