Resiliency Program Research Articles

Application of a mind-body tool in a rural population to improve post-operative outcomes in women with breast cancer: A pilot study

BackgroundBreast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women in the United States. While improvements in treatment have improved mortality, they can negatively impact quality of life (QOL). Mindfulness-based programs are low-cost interventions shown to improve QOL. The study aim was to evaluate a well-validated mind-body program – determining its feasibility, acceptability, and improvement in symptomatology in post-operative breast cancer patients in a rural setting. MethodsWe recruited patients during post-operative appointments following mastectomy or lumpectomy for breast cancer. Each participant completed 3 surveys before and after the intervention: (8 PROMIS-29, PROMIS –Global QOL, and MAAS (Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale). The intervention was an 8-week course: “The Stress Management and Resiliency Training (SMART) - Relaxation Response and Resiliency Program (3RP)”, which has been well-validated for the treatment of various clinical problems. Feasibility, acceptability, quantitative survey data, and demographics were analyzed. ResultsSMART-3RP was highly acceptable with greater than >80% completion rate. 23% of the invited participants enrolled, although over 70% of patients approached (34/48) expressed interest. The principal recruitment deterrent was scheduling. Sleep and anxiety/depression were improved in participants although not significantly due to small sample size. We also demonstrated improving trends in other QOL measures. ConclusionsThis small pilot study proved feasibility, showed excellent acceptability, and demonstrated a benefit in post-operative breast cancer patients. Even with our small sample size, we found trends in improvement in certain QOL measures which emphasizes SMART-3RP's potential effectiveness. A large-scale randomized controlled trial is warranted.

Interventions that promote resilience among teachers: A systematic review of the literature

ABSTRACTIn this article we discuss teacher resilience and the critical role it plays in preventing attrition and burnout in schools. Using a bioecological model, we examine protective and risk factors that promote or inhibit teacher resilience at the levels of the person, microsystem, mesosystem, and exosystem. We then provide a systematic review of the small but emerging literature on interventions that have been evidenced to support teacher resilience, with particular attention to experimental research studies, as well as practical programs and initiatives that best support resilience in teachers. The findings of this review suggest that while individual factors may contribute to resilience, interventions that target contextual factors and integrate resilience programs at the school level appear most important for developing safe and collaborative environments where teachers and their students can thrive.

Promoting positive development: Coaches as trainers in sports-based resilience programs.

To assess the efficacy of a train-the-trainer model for sporting coaches delivering a youth sports-based resilience program. A quasi-experimental design was applied, with a pre-post comparison, utilising purposive sampling to take advantage of an existing naturally formed group. A total of 11 coaches and 86 athletes involved in a community rowing program. Coaches responded to paper-based measures of resilience and knowledge/attitudes pre- and post-completion of a training workshop. Athletes responded to online measures of stress, efficacy and life satisfaction pre- and post-completion of a resilience program. Following the completion of the train-the-trainer workshop, coaches reported significant increases in general knowledge and confidence in teaching resilience skills. Following the delivery of the resilience program, athlete self-efficacy and satisfaction with life scores were significantly higher, with significant reductions in reported stress for athletes trained by the varsity-level coaches. There is support for investing in a train-the-trainer model for the delivery of a resilience skills program within a sports context. Caution is given to investing in the training and support of the coaches, particularly coaches with less coaching experience. These results are consistent with previous research and demonstrate support for coach-led resilience programs being effective in community settings, with implications for rural and remote locations.

Effectiveness of Psychosocial-Based Resilience Intervention on Reducing Negative Emotional States among Schizophrenia Caregivers

Schizophrenia caregivers are chronically exposed to a high level of negative emotional states such as depression, anxiety, and stress. Many studies have explored the problem among caregivers, but there remains to be limited evidence in the use of psychotherapeutic intervention to reduce schizophrenia caregivers’ psychological adversities. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of psychosocial-based resilience intervention in reducing the negative emotional states of schizophrenia caregivers. The one group pre-post quasi-experimental design was conducted to five participants. Following the six sessions of training and two-weeks of follow-up, participants showed a significant reduction of negative emotional states (p= .007), measured using the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21). Furthermore, dimensions of negative emotional states were also significantly reduced i.e., depression (p= .008), anxiety (p= .015), and stress (p= .016). These results provide evidence that a psychosocial-based resilience program can effectively reduce the negative emotional states of schizophrenia caregivers. Keywords : Resilience, Depression, Anxiety, Stress, Family Caregiver, Psychosis

Family resilience minimizes post-traumatic stress disorder: A systematic review

This study aimed to systematically examine the factors associated with family resilience to minimize the risk of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) due to disasters. Systematic reviews were carried out using the PRISMA model. The articles were collected from 5 database sources including Proquest, MEDLINE, CINAHL, Science Direct, and Springer Link. The keywords used are family resilience, post-traumatic stress disorder, and disaster. Inclusion criteria include English language, quantitative study, articles published from 2014 to 2018. The author found review of 823 articles, finally selected 11 articles that meet the inclusion criteria. Family resilience was affected by conflict (18.1%), communication (9%), family support (54.5%), and improvement in resilience programs (27.2%). Psychosocial support in the family after the family experiencing a disaster needs to be carried out continuously and scheduled.

Evaluating a group-based Yoga of Stress Resilience programme: a pragmatic before–after interventional study protocol

IntroductionRates of mental health illnesses and burnout are increasing internationally. Therapeutic yoga is increasingly used to improve and maintain physical, mental and emotional well-being and general health. This protocol describes...

Plan, implement and institutionalise: The three phases of a supply chain resiliency programme that can deliver robust ROI

The paper describes the three-phase journey to a mature, resilient-stage supply chain resiliency programme (SCRP) that can deliver return-on-investment (ROI) of as much as US$15m per US$1bn in annual sales. Written for supply chain professionals with varying levels of experience, the paper outlines the core elements of the three phases: plan, implement and institutionalise. Key tasks in the plan phase include developing the business case, estimating ROI, overcoming objections, creating service agreements with internal customers, defining metrics and building a team and governance structure. Implementation builds on four core services essential to building a resilient supply chain: risk intelligence, risk monitoring and response, risk analysis and risk treatment. Institutionalising an SCRP requires continuous education and change management by the core supply chain team and can ultimately yield far-reaching results such as integrating resiliency into new product design and achieving significantly enhanced brand value.

Building volcanic disaster resilience community through school and education

School has a significant role in building community resilience since school has the responsibility to deliver knowledge and science in a one hand, and has the capacity to implement disaster risk reduction education in the other hand. Having more than eighty schools located in volcanic disaster prone areas, Merapi volcano is one of the most densely populated volcanoes in the world. Therefore, it is important to understand the role of schools in implementing disaster risk reduction education through a program entitled Sister School and to 1nalyse teachers’ and pupils’ knowledge and experience on volcanic disaster and risk reduction awareness program. In addition, this research tries to 1nalyse their acceptance towards this disaster resilience program. This research was conducted in two schools located in a volcanic prone area, one as affected school and one as supporting school. The results showed that schools located in the highest volcanic prone area participate in the Sister School program. Most of teachers and pupils of the affected school and supporting school have good knowledge on volcanic disaster since most of them experienced the 2010 Merapi volcanic eruption and participated different volcanic risk reduction awareness programs. Teachers and pupils have positive acceptance towards sister school program.

Helping Families Pilot of a Family Resilience Program for Families Experiencing Homelessness and Parental Substance Use

Helping Families Pilot of a Family Resilience Program for Families Experiencing Homelessness and Parental Substance Use

Preschool Teachers’ Resilience and Their Readiness to Develop Resilience to Young Children in a Chinese Context

Resilience is defined as a “positive adaption in the face of risk or adversity” (Wright, Masten, & Narayan, 2013). Both the teachers’ resilience and their readiness to develop preschool children’s resilience were examined in the Hong Kong context (n=196). Results from the K-means cluster analysis indicated that Hong Kong preschool teachers had a relatively high level of resilience, with family being a significant contributing factor. These teachers were generally ready to foster children’s resilience and showed relatively high support for programs on developing children’s resilience (PDCR). The main effects of preschool teachers’ resilience and institutional climate supportiveness were identified. Institutional climate tended to affect highly resilient teachers more in terms of their willingness to implement PDCR. These findings provide insights and directions for developing early childhood resilience programs.

Showcasing Relationships between Neighborhood Design and Wellbeing Toronto Indicators

Cities are the keystone landscape features for achieving sustainability locally, regionally, and globally. With the increasing impacts of urban expansion eminent, policymakers have encouraged researchers to advance or invent methods for managing coupled human–environmental systems associated with local and regional sustainable development planning. Although progress has been made, there remains no universal instrument for attaining sustainability on neither regional nor local planning scales. Previous sustainable urbanization studies have revealed that landscape configuration metrics can supplement other measures of urban well-being, yet few have been included in public data dashboards or contrasted against local well-being indicators. To advance this sector of sustainable development planning, this study had three main intentions: (1) to produce a foundational suite of landscape ecology metrics from the 2007 land cover dataset for the City of Toronto; (2) to visualize and interpret spatial patterns of neighborhood streetscape patch cohesion index (COHESION), Shannon’s diversity index (SHDI), and four Wellbeing Toronto indicators across the 140 Toronto neighborhoods; (3) to quantitatively assess the global collinearity and local explanatory power of the well-being and landscape measures showcased in this study. One-hundred-and-thirty landscape ecology metrics were computed: 18 class configuration metrics across seven land cover categories and four landscape diversity metrics. Anselin Moran’s I-test was used to illustrate significant spatial patterns of well-being and landscape indicators; Pearson’s correlation and conditional autoregressive (CAR) statistics were used to evaluate relationships between them. Spatial “hot-spots” and/or “cold-spots” were found in all streetscape variables. Among other interesting results, Walk Score® was negatively related to both tree canopy and grass/shrub connectedness, signifying its lack of consideration for the quality of ecosystem services and environmental public health—and subsequently happiness—during its proximity assessment of socioeconomic amenities. In sum, landscape ecology metrics can provide cost-effective ecological integrity addendum to existing and future urban resilience, sustainable development, and well-being monitoring programs.

Pilot study of the effectiveness of a Mindful Self-Care and Resiliency program for rural doctors in Australia.

Rural doctors are difficult to recruit and retain. Burnout and stress in the medical workforce fluctuates according to location. Overall, doctors have an elevated risk of depression and suicide compared to the general population and other professionals. Higher levels of occupational stress also effect patient care, levels of work satisfaction and relationships with others. This study evaluated the effectiveness, acceptability, feasibility and sustainability of the Mindful Self-Care and Resiliency Program. This was a sequential mixed-method study involving the collection of both quantitative and qualitative data. The study was conducted in Emerald, Queensland. Thirteen doctors took part in the program with seven providing pre and post survey responses. Qualitative data were collected via semi-structured telephone interviews with an additional four rural doctors. Intervention The Mindful Self-Care and Resiliency program consisted of a 4-hour face-to-face session and three 1-hour video-conference follow up sessions. Main outcome measures Burnout, negative affect, well-being and psychological strain were assessed using self-report measures before and after taking part in the program. Results The majority (six out of seven) of the doctors showed reductions in burnout, psychological strain and negative affect following participation in the program. The qualitative data indicated that all doctors gained new skills: self-awareness, reflection and self-care. They also reported improved interaction with colleagues and patients, to whom they passed on their new learning. Conclusion This preliminary investigation of the effectiveness and feasibility of Mindful Self-Care and Resiliency for rural doctors indicates that the program has promise in improving the emotional well-being of this occupational group. Although this study captured approximately one-third of the Emerald workforce, further research with a larger sample is required to confirm these findings.

The effectiveness of Pennsylvania resilience training to decrease marital boredom and increase religious commitment and individual resilience

BACKGROUND: Chronic illness is a long-term disease that causes a body structure damage and body functions, and it necessitates changes in the patient's normal life. Resiliency is one of the factors contributing to the development of chronic physical and psychological disorders, which affect marital satisfaction and boredom. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of the Penn Resiliency Program (PRP) on marital boredom, religious commitment, and individual resilience. METHODS: This quasi-experimental research was conducted with a pretest-posttest design and control group. The study population consisted of all married female students of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran, who had referred to the university clinic in the first 6 months of 2017. The sample consisted of 40 women selected using convenience sampling. They were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. To collect the required data, the Couple Burnout Measure (CBM) (Pines), Religious Commitment Inventory (RCI) (Worthington et al.), and Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) were used. The collected data were analyzed using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). RESULTS: The results of ANCOVA showed that PRP reduced marital boredom and increased religious commitment and individual resilience in the participants (P < 0.010). CONCLUSION: It can be concluded that the PRP is effective on marital boredom, religious commitment, and individual resilience.

How can we design a curriculum for a resilient medical student? - A blueprint for resiliency programs for med students in Japan

Recent research around the world has consistently reported that medical students experience a high rate of psychological morbidity, depersonalization, and low personal accomplishment. Resilience-enhancing programs have been proposed and implemented even in Japan. However, most of them remain extracurricular programs that are not specifically tailored to medical students. Additionally, they mostly mimic resiliency programs in North America, although studies have indicated that cultural perspective to the self, others, and context contribute to the capacity to respond to a stressful situation.In this context, the presenters investigated what factors might affect the similarities or differences in the perceptions of resilience among experienced palliative care physicians in Canada and Japan in 2017-2018 in order to propose a theory for a resiliency curriculum from a different cultural perspective. This study showed that Japanese physicians are more likely to rely on “Relationships” with other persons such as mentors, family, friends, or colleagues; in contrast, Canadian physicians tended to be more focused on individual factors such as “Autonomy” and “Confidence”.As a result, Showa University School of Medicine in Japan has developed a progressively advancing resiliency program for first through fourth year medical students as part of a new curriculum, implementation of which will begin in the spring of 2020. This represents one of the largest revisions in the school’s history. In this presentation, a blueprint for resiliency programs in a new curriculum will be presented, including course description, course content, educational objectives, learning resources, timetables, and instructional strategies.

The implementation and evaluation of a resilience enhancement programme for nurses working in the forensic setting.

This study aimed to implement and evaluate a work-based personal resilience enhancement intervention for forensic nurses. A mixed methods design consisting of surveys, interviews, and a case study approach, whereby the experiences of a group of nurses were studied in relation to their experiences of an intervention programme to enhance personal resilience, was utilized. Nurses working on forensic inpatient wards were invited to participate. Senior nurses were recruited as mentors. Data were collected via pre- and post-programme surveys to evaluate nurses' levels of resilience. Post-programme interviews were undertaken with nurses and mentors to explore their experiences of the programme. Descriptive statistics of survey data examined changes in nurses' resilience levels pre- and post-intervention. Free-text survey data and interview data were analysed thematically. The SQUIRE 2.0 checklist was adhered to. Twenty-nine nurses participated. Levels of personal resilience (M=4.12, SD=0.60) were significantly higher post-programme than pre-programme (M=3.42, SD=0.70), (t49=3.80, P=0.000, 95% CI=0.32, 1.07). Nurses felt the programme had a marked impact on their personal resilience, self-awareness, confidence, and professional relationships. The benefits of the programme demonstrate the advantages of providing a nurturing environment for nurses to consolidate their resilience levels. Findings demonstrated that resilience enhancement programmes can increase nurses' levels of resilience and confidence and improve inter-professional relationships. Our findings are important for clinicians, nurse managers, and policymakers considering strategies for improving the workplace environment for nurses. The long-term impact of resilience programmes may improve nurse retention and recruitment.

Resilience on the Run: an evaluation of a well-being programme for medical interns.

Junior doctors experience high rates of psychological distress and burnout. System-level interventions are one strategy to reduce psychological distress in junior doctors. Unfortunately, few of these interventions have been evaluated. To evaluate the acceptability and effectiveness of a resilience and well-being programme designed for junior doctors. A prospective cohort study of 24 medical interns at a teaching hospital in regional Queensland with a control group of 29 medical interns at a second teaching hospital in regional Queensland. Survey instruments to assess psychological distress, the ProQOL and K10, were completed at baseline, at the completion of the well-being programme, and 3 months after the completion of the well-being programme at both sites. The intervention site had an older cohort and fewer participants had a regular general practitioner compared to the control site. Both groups had moderate levels of psychological distress. Insufficient numbers of participants completing the instruments at the two sites meant that it was not possible to demonstrate differences between the groups; however, the trends were promising. Qualitative evaluation data supported these trends, indicating that the Resilience on the Run programme was positively received and provided useful skills to junior doctors. Well-being programmes benefit medical interns; introducing new knowledge and skills for effectively identifying and managing personal and workplace stressors that can contribute to psychological distress.

Lifestyle among urology trainees and young urologist in the context of burn-out syndrome

IntroductionBurnout syndrome has increased dramatically in urology within recent years. A healthy lifestyle has been described as a protective factor. However, data on lifestyle is lacking among residents and urologists and remains to be elucidated. We aim to assess lifestyle among urology residents and young urologists across Europe. Materials and MethodsMembers of the European Society of Residents in Urology (ESRU) designed a 34-item online survey via surveymonkey.com. The survey was designed in accordance with Checklist for Reporting Results of Internet E-Surveys (CHERRIES) guidelines and was distributed via e-mail and social media in 23 European countries to urology residents and young urologists. The primary endpoint was reported as self-perceived health status. Secondary endpoints included questions on sleeping disorders, exercise and dietary habits. Data was analyzed SPSS software. ResultsA total of 412 residents and young urologists responded to the survey. The mean age of the respondents was 31.4 ± 3.9 yr. The data on dietary intake demonstrate a mean of 2 or more cups/day of coffee and alcohol consumption 2-3 times/week. The intake of fruits and vegetables is very low, almost 60% of responders consume <1 portions of fruit/day and more than half (52%) eat <1 portion of vegetable/day. Overall, the majority of respondents reported to have a moderate to low satisfaction with lifestyle (59.65%) and low to moderate self-perceived health status (45.94%). Moreover, 46% of respondents reported to have some kind of sleep disturbance and 60% only slept 6 h/night or less with 53% reporting a moderate to very low quality of Sleep. Regular exercise of at least 30 min twice weekly was only performed by 33% of the respondents. ConclusionsResidents and young urologists have unbalanced diet, tend to exercise too little and often suffer from sleep disturbances all of which increases the risk of burnout. Physicians, organizations and institutions should strive to promote healthy lifestyle, resiliency and support programs.

Towards an Eco-social Food System: The Shift from Industrial Agriculture to Agro-ecology in South Africa

Input-intensive industrial-scale production systems are not sustainable means of addressing issues such as food security, nutrition security and sustainable livelihoods. Several literatures suggest that the solution to world hunger is to diversify agriculture and reorient it around ecological practices. There is considerable evidence that supports agro-ecological farming system ss a viable alternative that can improve food production especially for the most vulnerable farming households. In addition, literature shows that an agro-ecology food system holds the key to increasing dietary diversity at the local level, as well as reducing the multiple health risks from industrial agriculture. This paper is aimed at discussing the benefits of agro-ecology food system and how agricultural support systems can play a role. The emphasis of the paper is the application of the agro-ecology approach in an urban/ peri-urban setting. An evaluation report of City of Johannesburg (CoJ) Food Resilience Programme Evaluation unpublished report (2016), shows that very few households engage in gardening/ urban agriculture either in their backyards or nearby open spaces due to the following reasons; strict city by-laws, no access to land, no knowledge of innovative/alternative farming practices lack of interest and limited resources.

Responding to COVID-19 Stress: Disseminating Mind-Body Resiliency Approaches.

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in unprecedented stress and uncertainty, particularly among vulnerable populations such as healthcare workers who are facing a multitude of current and looming economic and psychosocial stressors. As clinician-scientists delivering mind-body interventions in our hospital, we suggest applying evidence-based mind-body techniques that promote resiliency and adaptive coping during these difficult times. Interventions that package a variety of mind-body skills into one cohesive program, such as the Stress Management and Resiliency Training – Relaxation Response Resiliency Program (SMART-3RP), offer promise for meeting the variety of stress management needs (e.g., health concerns, isolation) present during the COVID-19 pandemic. From our work with frontline healthcare clinicians and other caregiver populations, we offer recommendations for adapting the delivery, modality, and content of mind-body practices during the COVID-19 pandemic and suggest key skills for promoting resiliency and buffering against the future stressors that lie ahead for everyone.

A Rapid Overview: The Resiliency of Rural Households after Flood 2020 Amidst Pandemic COVID-19 in Bangladesh

The mini study was conducted after the flood 2020 to observe the household level resiliency of extreme poor at most flood prone rural areas in Bangladesh. Primary data was collected from extreme poor households who are participants government’s social safety net programme “Employment Generation Programme for the Poorest (EGPP)”. Those households are located at flood prone areas of Bangladesh, The National Resilience Programme (NRP) is also working there in limited scale. Bangladesh is a low-lying nation highly exposed to the threat of repeated floods, due to the country being susceptible to receiving monsoon rains between June and October each year. During the monsoon flood 2020, 1.5 million people was affected by flooding, and a third of the country’s districts have been affected by flooding. Data was collected between November and December of 2020 for the mini-survey.The mini survey finds that the respondent households are bounce back to normal life after flood 2020 from analysis of primary data and interpretation. But this recovery it is not bounce back better or worse. It can be said that household level resilience has increased for short term. In this study resilience level has assessed based on how rural households cope with and overcome recurrent disaster like flood in 2020. The study looked at livelihood, income, place of residence, types of houses, household assets, land ownership, access to information on flood warning messages, internal displacement, loss & damages, recovery mechanism of losses, access to cash savings & loan and their perception about recent flood 2020 and resiliency over flood.Findings of the study shows that, engagement in agriculture is low because those sampled households are extreme poor and have no cultivable land and very few percentages of household heads are engaged in off-firm based professions. Evidence shows that almost of half of respondents, 46.67% households have increased their income immediate after received training and input support on Income Generating Activates (IGA). Those households who have incremental earnings, can earn additional money BDT 250 to BDT 2000 beside their main income.It is noticeable findings that 93.33% of respondents have been informed early warning before flood 2020 from Union Parishad and NGOs. The respondents also experienced price hike in commodity market during flood 2020.79.63% said that the flood 2020 amidst COVID-19 have affected their income, their income had reduced. Few numbers of respondents (11.67%) said that they sold asset because of disasters. Respondents who have sold assets, all of them said that they sold livestock for their recovery. Flood 2020 affected respondents’ households informed that had managed cost of house repair and maintenance from their own daily income.Good percentage of respondents said that they have access to finance, which is helpful for recovery after disasters. The survey finds that only 26.67% of respondents have cash savings. Survey findings showed that 43.33% respondents have taken loan at normal time or after disaster. Only 03.33% respondents are living on government sites, those are landless people or internally displaced because of river erosion.In conclusion, from the primary data analysis, we can say that Flood 2020 affected households have recovered for short term by their own and some of institutional resources. The recovery, resilient capacity can be increased through skill and knowledge transfer for alternative livelihood options considering disaster risks.