Toward a middle-range theory of resilience.

The ability to transform disaster into a growth experience and move forward defines the concept of resilience. Nursing is concerned with individuals in this process of moving through adversity and with its own contribution to that process. However, when one examines the literature on resilience for insight into its nature, inconsistencies emerge, suggesting that further theoretical delineation of the concept is needed. This article reports a concept synthesis of resilience undertaken to clarify this confusion. A model, disclosed through the literature, postulates resilience as a four-dimensional construct with the simultaneity paradigm of nursing science.

[1]  E. Werner,et al.  Resilient offspring of alcoholics: a longitudinal study from birth to age 18. , 1986, Journal of studies on alcohol.

[2]  W. Beardslee Commitment and endurance: common themes in the life histories of civil rights workers who stayed. , 1983, The American journal of orthopsychiatry.

[3]  H. Young,et al.  Resilience among older women. , 1990, Image--the journal of nursing scholarship.

[4]  David O’Grady,et al.  Resilience in children at high risk for psychological disorder. , 1987, Journal of pediatric psychology.

[5]  M. Rutter Psychosocial resilience and protective mechanisms. , 1987, The American journal of orthopsychiatry.

[6]  W. Beardslee The role of self-understanding in resilient individuals: the development of a perspective. , 1989, The American journal of orthopsychiatry.

[7]  Jack Block,et al.  Assimilation, accommodation, and the dynamics of personality development. , 1982 .

[8]  M. Rutter,et al.  Resilience in the Face of Adversity , 1985, British Journal of Psychiatry.

[9]  J. Rabkin,et al.  Resilience in adversity among long-term survivors of AIDS. , 1993, Hospital & community psychiatry.

[10]  M. Newman Prevailing paradigms in nursing. , 1992, Nursing outlook.

[11]  N. Garmezy Resiliency and Vulnerability to Adverse Developmental Outcomes Associated With Poverty , 1991 .

[12]  M. Rutter Stress, coping and development: some issues and some questions. , 1981, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[13]  M. Glassman,et al.  Resilient children: individual differences in developmental outcome of children born to drug abusers. , 1990, The Journal of genetic psychology.

[14]  W. Beardslee,et al.  Resilient adolescents whose parents have serious affective and other psychiatric disorders: importance of self-understanding and relationships. , 1988, The American journal of psychiatry.