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Innov Aging
Innov Aging
innovateage
Innovation in Aging
2399-5300 Oxford University Press US 

10.1093/geroni/igaa057.1983
igaa057.1983
Abstracts
Session 5590 (Symposium)
AcademicSubjects/SOC02600
Trauma and Adversity: Factors Impacting Vulnerability and Resilience Among Older Disaster Survivors
Davis Molly 1 Bellamy Nikki 2 1 
George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, United States
2 
Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Rockville, Maryland, United States
2020 
16 12 2020 
16 12 2020 
4 Suppl 1 Program Abstracts from The GSA 2020 Annual Scientific Meeting “Turning 75: Why Age Matters”591 591
© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America.2020This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Abstract
Most would agree that older adults represent a highly vulnerable group prior to, during and post disaster. Age-related vulnerabilities often lead into an increased risk for traumatic experiences and post-traumatic stress symptoms after a disaster. Trauma informed principles offer a possible way to reduce the vulnerability of older adults after a disaster. For example, utilizing the trauma informed question “what has happened to you” shifts the focus from a deficit approach and allows for a deeper understanding of the impact of traumatic life experiences on current functioning and reaction to the disaster. It is this understanding of trauma’s impact that may have a role in how older adult disaster survivors view, respond, and recover after a natural disaster (Seery et.al. 2010; Iacoviello & Charney, 2014). In addition, understanding the role of lifetime adversity provides critical insights for disaster planning, reducing vulnerability and promoting resilience among older disaster survivors.