Measurement of community resilience using the Baseline Resilience Indicator for Communities (BRIC) framework: A systematic review

Abstract

Community resilience is an important concept in disaster prevention policy, as it is hypothesised to mitigate the impacts of ‘shocks’ and facilitate adaptation to reduce the negative impact of future adverse events. The field of community resilience measurement has developed in recent years, with composite indices emerging as a popular methodology. An initial scoping review identified the Baseline Resilience Index for Communities (BRIC) as the most replicated quantitative method of measuring community resilience. A systematic review was undertaken to assess how the BRIC methodology has been used to measure community resilience. The review describes the geographical locations, types of communities and ‘shocks’ in which the BRIC has been applied. The methodology quality was assessed and scored using the OECD framework for composite indicator development. The review identified 32 relevant papers. There was variation in the number of resilience sub-domains, indicators, definition of communities and the type of ‘shock’. The median quality assessment score for studies was 60% (IQR 40–70%), no papers completed all the recommended steps. Quality assessment identified strengths in data selection, and weakness in sensitivity analyses and handling of missing data. Measurement of community resilience is an emergent field and there is a lack of methodological consensus. Some variation in how the BRIC model has been applied is warranted as it is necessary to make adaptations to the local context. Improvement in the methodological quality of composite index construction could lead to wider use of these tools in disaster risk reduction.