The following list of sources presents a brief overview of resilience research, listing publications, research centres, projects and training programmes on resilience.

Articles and books publications/working papers and reports

Luthar, S., Cicchetti, D. and Becker, B. (2000), ‘The construct of resilience: a critical evaluation and guidelines for future work’, Child Development, 71, 543–62.

In this paper the authors address various critiques of the concept of resilience, which they define as the ‘maintenance of positive adaptation by individuals despite experiences of significant adversity’. The criticism focuses on (1) ambiguities in definitions and central terminology; (2) heterogeneity in risks experienced and competence achieved by individuals viewed as resilient; (3) instability of the phenomenon of resilience; and (4) concerns regarding the usefulness of resilience as a theoretical construct. The authors address each of these four areas of criticism and thereby give a good overview of the field of resilience and its literature but also propose solutions for overcoming the criticism they view as substantial and clarifying misconceptions of others. It represents a key conceptual text on resilience.

A number of articles in the Journal Social Policy and Society, 6, April 2007

Volume 6, Issue 2 of the Journal Social Policy and Society from April 2007 has several articles on resilience especially in regards to childhood resilience and evaluations of the children's fund. (1) ‘Working collaboratively to build resilience: a CHAT approach’, Anne Edwards, pp. 255–64; (2) ‘Networks connectedness and resilience’, Nathan Hughes and Ruth Evans, pp 275–8; (3) ‘Networks connectedness and resilience: learning from the Children's Fund in context’, Marian Barnes and Kate Morris, pp. 193–7; (4) ‘Inclusion social networks and resilience: strategies practices and outcomes for disabled children and their families’, Ruth Evans and Gill Plumridge, pp. 231–41.

Luthar, S. and Zelazo, L. B. (2003), ‘Research on resilience: an integrative review’, in S. Luther (ed.), Resilience and Vulnerability: Adaptation in the Context of Childhood Adversities, Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 510–49.

This is an excellent resource book on childhood resilience work which has conceptual chapters – e.g. the resilience framework − but also a wide range of themed sections on different adversities – e.g. familial adversities, socio-demographic risks, etc. A more detailed review of the book can be accessed here: http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/reprint/162/8/1553-a.

Rutter, M. (1999), ‘Resilience concepts and findings: Implications for family therapy’, Journal of Family Therapy, 21, 119–44.

As one of the pioneers of resilience research, Michael Rutter's research on childhood resilience and family therapy is an important source for these areas. From the authors: ‘Resilience is a term used to describe relative resistance to psychosocial risk experiences. There is abundant evidence that there is enormous variation in children's responses to such experiences but research to determine the processes underlying the variations needs to take account of several crucial methodological issues. The findings emphasise that multiple risk and protective factors are involved; that children vary in their vulnerability to psychosocial stress and adversity as a result of both genetic and environmental influences; that family-wide experiences tend to impinge on individual children in quite different ways; that the reduction of negative, and increase of positive, chain reactions influences the extent to which the effects of adversity persist over time; that new experiences which open up opportunities can provide beneficial ‘turning-point’ effects . . . The implications of these findings for family therapy are considered in terms of the need for therapists to look carefully at the ways in which different risk factors interact; to assess and take account of individual differences in susceptibility; to consider the extent to which risk factors impinge on the individual and, in that connection, to note the importance of patterns of social interaction outside as well as inside the family; to appreciate the role of both the peer group and individual characteristics in the development of negative and positive chain reactions; and to pay attention to the ways in which individuals process their experiences’ [Abstract].

Howard, S., Dryden, J. and Johnson, B. (1999), ‘Childhood resilience: review and critique of literature’, Oxford Review of Education, 25, 307–23.

This article, while solely focusing on childhood resilience and in the second part on the educational literature, is nevertheless a good overview article, which discusses different definitions of risk and resilience, as well as some of the most influential literature in the field of childhood resilience and different types of protective processes of resilience, distinguishing internal and external protective factors in the fields of family, schools and community. One of the main conclusions of the article is that values, attitudes and beliefs of those who are the target for resilience research should be taken into account as this promises to be more successful for effective interventions.

Research centres/academic institutions

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/capabilityandresilience, 30/Jan/08

ESRC funded research network on Human Capability and Resilience with the aim to contribute to policy by improving the scientific understanding of the socio-economic, biological and psychological circumstances that contribute to human capability and resilience over the life course. Research areas cover: (1) positive adjustment within the family context, (2) sources of resilience to adverse social environments, (3) stability and persistence of resilience in early and mid-adult life, (4) resilience and quality of life in early old age, (5) resilient population: a geographical perspective, (6) how social welfare policies build resilience.

There is also an excellent reading list on their website with conceptual and empirical literature. Further, the report by Bartley, M. (2006). ‘Capability and resilience: beating the odds’, UCL Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, represents a good overview article about the diverse research UCL is doing in the field of resilience. Besides childhood and adolescence resilience there are also sections on long-term consequences of childhood adversities in adult life, older people, area deprivation and policy intervention.

Access: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/capabilityandresilience/beatingtheoddsbook.pdf

http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/qf/resilience.html, 30/Jan/08

School Mental Health Project at the Department of Psychology at UCLA, US. The National Centre for Mental Health in Schools was established in 1995. The websites has some good resources and reading lists.

http://www.resilienceproject.org, 30/Jan/08

The International Resilience Project (IRP) is a multi-year international research study funded by the government of Canada through Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia Canada. The purpose of the IRP is to develop a better, more culturally sensitive understanding of how youth around the world effectively cope with the adversities that they face in life. The website offers different country reports: http://www.resilienceproject.org/cmp_text/?TargetID=1716. Further, it also aims at providing cultural sensitive definitions on resilience. There is an interesting video project on the website, where people around the world answer the questions on what they understand by resilience.

http://www.welldev.org.uk, 30/Jan/08

This ESRC research group at the University of Bath researches poverty, inequality and the quality of life in developing countries. The purpose of its current research programme is to develop a coherent conceptual and methodological framework for understanding the social and cultural construction of wellbeing in specific developing societies. A great source for literature on resilience in developing countries.

http://www.cce.umn.edu/nrrc, 30/Jan/08

The National Resilience Resource Centre (NRRC) is based at the University of Minnesota in the College of Continuing Education. It assists school, community and organisational leaders in enhancing capacity to tap natural, innate health or resilience of youth, families, communities and systems.

http://resilnet.uiuc.edu, 30/Jan/08

ResilienceNet is a collaboration of ASSIST INTERNATIONAL and the Early Childhood and Parenting (ECAP) Collaborative, College of Education, at the University of Illinois. It provides a world-wide source of current, reviewed information about human resilience. They have a literature database: http://resilnet.uiuc.edu/library.html.

Projects

http://www.childwitnesstoviolence.org, 30/Jan/08

The Child Witness to Violence Project (CWVP) is based in Boston, US. It is a counselling, advocacy and outreach project that focuses on the growing number of young children who are hidden victims of violence: children who are bystanders to community and domestic violence.

http://www.tucsonresiliency.org/default.cfm, 30/Jan/08

Formed in 1998, the Tucson Resiliency Initiative (TRI) is based in Arizona, US. It works with school-communities to adopt resiliency building attitudes, policies and strategies. Funded by a SAMHSA – Center for Mental Health Services grant, TRI's goal is to help schools, families and communities recognise and utilise the talents and strengths of youth.

http://www.elcircodelmundo.com/proyectoiquique.html, 30/Jan/08

The project is based in Chile and the website is in Spanish only. This project seeks to support resilience by fostering characteristics internal to the individual, such as self-esteem, humour and creativity, and by fostering external conditions, such as social support networks.

The Children's Fund in the UK

Barnes, M. and Morris, K. (2007) ‘Networks, connectedness and resilience: learning from the Children's Fund in context’, Social Policy and Society, 6, 193–7.

Prior, D. and Paris, A. (2005), ‘Preventing children's involvement in crime and anti-social behaviour: a literature review’, a paper produced for the National Evaluation of the Children's Fund, Research Report 623, DfES, London.

Rochester Child Resilience Project

Cowen, E., Wyman, P., Work, W. and Parker, G. (1990), ‘The Rochester Child Resilience Project: overview and summary of first year findings’, Development and Psychopathology, 2, 193–212.

Training programmes

http://www.resiliency.com, 30/Jan/08

Resiliency In Action is a publishing and training company in Southern California and provides various resources and training programmes. Nan Henderson is the co-founder and president and has widely published on resiliency and wellness, positive youth development and school and organisational change.

http://projectresilience.com, 30/Jan/08

Project Resilience is a private organisation based in Washington, DC which offers teaching materials and products, provides training and disseminates information for professionals working in education, treatment and prevention.

http://www.scie.org.uk/publications/resourceguides, 30/Jan/08

These resource guides are a good starting point to gather information, especially in the area of social care.