Defining Resilience Following a Potentially Traumatic Event in Psychological Research: A Delphi Study

Abstract

The concept of psychological resilience following a potentially traumatic event remains a contested construct, which is limited by the absence of a clear and widely accepted definition. Indeed, debates and contradictions within the psychological resilience literature threaten the utility of the term. A total of 22 experts from academia, healthcare, and charitable organisations representing 11 unique countries consented to join this study. All included experts had published within the field of resilience research. This e-Delphi aimed to reach a consensus on items that could help define resilience in adults following a potentially traumatic event. The items were generated for this Delphi study in two ways; firstly, from existing definitions in the literature (n = 84) and secondly, suggested by participants in the study (n = 8). In total, 92 items were rated based on their essentiality to defining resilience with 13 reaching the pre-set requirements. Of these 13 items, 4 were deemed essential to defining resilience and 9 were deemed non-essential. Referring to resilience as a trait was largely rejected. The consensus view was that resilience is a dynamic and multifactorial concept. The definition synthesised during this study was as follows: “Resilience is a dynamic process that enables adaptation to adversity through a complex interplay of multiple internal and external factors. These risk and protective elements aid in the ability of an individual to “bounce back” following a potentially traumatic event.” This study provides a discussion of these items in relation to the wider literature and potential direction for future research and debates on this topic.