Resilience: resistance factor for depressive symptom.

The purpose was to explore influence of resilience on the willingness of African Americans aged 65 and over to seek mental health care for depressive symptoms. Specifically, the study examined relationships between personal resilience and willingness of undiagnosed, community dwelling older adults to seek mental health care for depressive symptoms. A cross-sectional, correlational, causal modelling design was used to study older African Americans (N= 158; 121 women and 37 men) recruited from churches, retirement organizations and senior nutrition centres. Participants completed study instruments to measure depressive symptoms, resilience, willingness to seek mental health care, and general demographics information. Descriptive statistics and multiple regression analyses were preformed. Depressive symptoms and resilience accounted for 15.4% of the willingness to seek mental health care variance; extraction of resilience lowered variance to 0.9%. A direct, predictive relationship between resilience and willingness to seek mental health care was documented. Understanding resilience and willingness to seek mental health care supports future research for interventions that bolster resilience in older adults. Identifying the influence of resilience on such willingness may provide direction for developing interventions for older African Americans and may be applicable to vulnerable, marginalized and minority older adults worldwide.