The concept of resiliency, or how young people thrive in the face of adversity, brings a positive focus to youth development research and has emerged as an important topic in the youth development field. Adversity, or risk factors, may be internally or externally generated, and may acute or chronic. Researchers often point to the balance of between risk factors and protective factors as the determining influences on a child's resiliency. If protective factors in the layers of a child's world (such as self, family, school, and community) outweigh the risk factors, then a child will be resilient. However, questions remain about why siblings who share the same family, school, and community, often respond differently to the same adversity. Though a child's temperament is often considered the answer, researchers also point to the fact that underlying relationship processes surrounding adversity play a role in how young people respond and how children in the same family may have different responses.

Research on resilience has almost completely bypassed the juvenile justice literature. Using data on 1,354 youth from the Pathways to Desistance study, the present study examined associations between individual, community, and familial risk and promotive factors and resilient outcomes, specifically gainful activity, in juvenile offenders. Results of both logistic and hierarchical regression models indicated significant associations between resilient outcomes in each domain: specifically individual (age at first arrest, motivation to succeed), community (geographic location, exposure to violence), and family (socioeconomic status, parental monitoring) predictors. Finally, this paper discusses reasons for non-significant findings and directions for future research on resilience among youth involved in the juvenile justice system.

The purpose of this study was to fill a gap in the literature regarding survivors of child abuse and their capacity to continue their educational pursuits beyond high school. Thus, this study explored the lived experience of self-identified abuse survivors who were enrolled in higher education. The theoretical bases for this study included Bandura'€™s social cognitive theory, Rotter'€™s theory of locus of control and Heider'€™s and Weiner'€™s theory of attribution. Open-ended interviews were conducted with 15 survivors of child abuse enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate degree program at an online or brick and mortar university. The interviews were then transcribed and analyzed for relevant codes and themes. Results of this phenomenological qualitative study revealed that external supports played a major role in motivation for survivors of abuse to pursue higher education and that middle school was a pivotal point for child abuse survivors. This study contributes to social change by providing information to survivors of child abuse, educators, family members, and counselors that may lead to better understanding the needs of the survivors of child abuse and increase training effectiveness for interventions useful in meeting the unique needs of child abuse survivors.

Building Resiliency and Coping Effectiveness (BRACE): A Program for Military Families by Linda Zarrett MSN, University of Cincinnati, 2012 BSN, Minnesota State University, Moorhead, 1985 Project Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Nursing Practice Walden University August 2015 Veterans returning from combat report significant family strain and Post Traumatic Stress Symptoms (PTSS) yet have limited access to care resources. Family members, including children, report very similar symptoms to those of veterans and have yet fewer health care resources. The purpose of this project was to apply principles from existing research on post-traumatic stress and secondary trauma to providers as the basis for a curriculum for families of combat veterans with PTSS. The health beliefs model and Orem's self-care deficit theory were used to guide development of this curriculum. Long-term goals of this initiative are increased resiliency in families of combat veterans with PTSS, decreased family conflict, diminished incidence of secondary trauma in children, and reduced productivity losses and education losses in this population. The project was designed as the first stage of a long-term quality improvement initiative. Products of the project include a curriculum and plans for implementing and evaluating the curriculum. Products were developed in collaborative meetings with stakeholders, including the grant administrator, a social services representative, a military member, and a military family member. The curriculum was reviewed for content validity by sending sections to nurse scholars with relevant context expertise, after which revisions were made in accordance with feedback. Implementation and evaluation plans suggest use of a web-based program hosted by the Minnesota Association of Children's Mental Health. Increasing resources for combat veterans and their families has important implications for positive social change. This project may also address the reluctance of this population to engage in treatment by applying principles of military culture and concern for confidentiality, and may aid cost reduction through prevention of complications of secondary trauma.

Veteran suicide is a public health issue that requires more research to understand the multidimensional factors, such as resilience, that lead someone to suicide. Adverse childhood events (ACEs), such as poverty and abuse, have affected how resilience is developed. This study examined the association between childhood factors of socioeconomic status, parental discipline, and being a military child, and adult resiliency level. Dienstbier's theory of mental toughness framed the study, which posits that a child who experiences mild ACEs and has time to recover between events, will be more resilient than children who experience serious ACEs, and children who experience little to no ACEs. Army veterans recruited through social media and veterans' organizations, answered an online survey consisting of demographic questions, the Harsh Discipline Scale and 9 item Resiliency Scale. No significant associations were found between these ACEs and resilience level. However, when the harsh discipline scale was analyzed by individual questions, associations were shown between spanking and high resilience with reported answers of "almost always" having higher level of resilience (OR = 12.001, p = .032), and those who reported they were hit with an object scored much lower on resilience than any other category measured. Examining resilience questions individually showed that low and middle socio-economic status had statistically significant higher resilience in responding to extreme pressure in a positive way. More research is needed on these specific ACEs using Dienstbier's theory. Understanding how specific ACEs affect resilience could lead to developing better prevention strategies that focus on helping children process these ACEs and develop higher resilience as adults, thus reducing suicide in the civilian and veteran population.

Nonlinear and chaotic environmental changes characterize health services organizations as complex adaptive systems in which leaders must exercise non-traditional leadership practices to succeed. Health services leaders who have learned and implemented traditional linear management approaches are ill prepared to lead in complex environments. This study tested complexity and adaptive leadership theories of agility and resilience in complex health systems. The purpose of this quantitative cross-sectional internet-based survey study was to quantify relationships between independent variables of agility and resilience and secondary dependent variables of financial, patient satisfaction, quality and human capital outcomes. The impact of turbulence was also examined. Included sample data were collected from 533 employed healthcare leaders using probability-based systematic proportional random sampling methods and were analyzed through correlation, regression, one-way analysis of variance, t tests, and Hayes PROCESS statistical analytics. Agility correlated with and predicted patient satisfaction outcomes. Resilience independently correlated with and predicted financial performance and patient satisfaction outcomes and augmented the correlation and predictability of agility. Agility and resilience cumulatively predicted financial performance outcomes. Turbulence was related to agility, resilience, financial performance, and patient care quality outcomes and mediated relationships with financial and patient care quality outcomes. Health services leaders may apply these findings to promote social change through the implementation of the agile and resilient leadership approaches necessary to achieve organizational performance outcomes that benefit vulnerable populations.

Decades of qualitative case studies suggest that organizations must be able to deal with change effectively to compete and survive. Many researchers have linked higher workforce levels of agility and resilience to organizations' abilities to deal with change more successfully; however, there is a scarcity of empirical research addressing the efficacy of agility and resilience development in the workplace. The purpose of this study was to quantitatively examine the development of workforce resilience and agility, as measured by FIT for Change assessment. The theory of planned behavior was the study's theoretical framework, theorizing that changing attitudes and beliefs about change through a learning program might lead to more positive behaviors in response to change. The primary research question was whether a significant difference exists between individual agility and resilience levels before and after a learning intervention in the target population (N = 612) of associates employed by a large healthcare organization who participated in the learning intervention. Due to the abnormal distribution of the data and failed assumption of homogeneity of the regression slopes, Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test was used in lieu of ANCOVA. The results indicated that Agility scores increased on the second test (p = .000). Resilience scores did not change significantly on the second test (p = .913). This study is significant to healthcare organizations undergoing change and may result in organizations investing in development of agility and resilience of their workforce. Developing agility and resilience in people facilitates social change by creating communities that do not just survive but adapt in an optimistic way and find opportunities benefiting the society even during the most adverse changes.

Bullying has long been associated with school children. In recent years, however, more attention has been paid to the bullying that has reached beyond the playground and into the workforce. One population facing this problem is staff nurses. To date, no one has found an effective way to address workplace bullying in the healthcare field, nor have effective methods been found for retaining trained nurses affected by this problem. The focus of this dissertation was on understanding nurses' lived experiences and how nurses decided to remain in their current working position despite these problems. Taking a phenomenological approach and using the conceptual framework of resilience, the study included telephone interviews of 2 pilot study participants and 12 main study participants. Recorded and transcribed participant responses to interview questions were coded thematically and analyzed. Three main themes emerged: stories of working with workplace bullying, challenges of the lived experiences of being bullied, and special techniques of nurses being bullied. Three subthemes also emerged: despair, love of being a nurse, and resilience. This study gave a voice to nurses affected by this problem, revealing special challenges they encounter and coping strategies they employ. Hospital administrators can use the findings of this study to create social change within nurses' working environment by implementing policies that will keep their nurses safe and happily employed. Future research should focus on workplace bullying in the nursing field and how it affects patient safety.

Children account for approximately 34% of the burn-injured population in the United States and are particularly at risk for developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or other significant psychopathology (i.e., behavioral and attentional difficulties, acute stress, depression, anxiety, phobias, dissociative symptoms, and enuresis). There is a significant risk that quality of life (QOL) can have a negative impact on children who have sustained a burn injury, particularly within the domain of social functioning. Specifically, children who meet the criteria for PTSD following a burn injury are at an increased risk of experiencing impairment in overall QOL. However, there remains significant evidence that a substantial portion of children exhibit satisfactory QOL outcomes following a burn injury at a level comparable to their noninjured peers. This positive outcome may be attributed to the child's level of resiliency--the protective factors that positively influence their ability to adjust and move forward following a traumatic event. Research on risk and resiliency of posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) in pediatric burn survivors is limited. For psychological assessment and burn treatment to be successful, it is important to understand the resilient qualities that are present in children who experience positive post-burn-injury outcomes. By focusing on a child's mental health strengths and by building his or her resilience, a health professional may prevent or lessen the child's adjustment difficulty or psychopathological symptoms. Thus, the primary purpose of this study was to identify the relation between pediatric burn injury, demographic variables, resilience and QOL outcome with regard to PTSS. Demographic information (e.g, gender, age, household income, and diagnoses) and burn injury characteristics (e.g., age at time of burn, total body surface area injured, number or days spent in the hospital, and number of surgeries) were considered with regard to PTSS, resiliency, and QOL outcome. Further analysis efforts compared results from the Resiliency Scales for Children and Adolescents (RSCA) with scores obtained from the University of California at Los Angeles Posttraumatic Stress Reaction Index for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual--Fourth Edition (UCLA PTSD Reaction Index for DSM-IV; Reaction Index). Identical analyses were performed regarding the RSCA and the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory, Version 4.0 (PedsQL 4.0). Analyses indicated a significant relation between PTSS severity and resilience, with positive resilience outcomes correlated to lower levels of PTSS severity. Further, a significant relation was found between QOL and PTSS, with positive QOL functioning related to lower levels of PTSS. Finally, a significant relation was found between resilience and QOL: Participants who endorse higher levels of resilience demonstrate better QOL outcomes. Overall, demographic information and burn injury characteristics did not significantly affect results regarding PTSS severity. Clinical implications and future areas of research are discussed.

While there has been extensive research on the quality of life for people with disabilities, very little research has been conducted on the way in which families impact the quality of life of these individuals. This study focused on how family dynamics impact the quality of life for people with disabilities who are clients of state vocational rehabilitation agencies. Specifically, family flexibility and cohesion, as well as family resilience, were the independent variables; quality of life was the dependent variable. It was found that family functioning and family resilience play an important role in the quality of life for people with disabilities. There was a strong relationship between family functioning and quality of life, in addition to family resilience and quality of life. Ten life domains were used to examine quality of life: physical health, mental health, work/education, leisure activities, relationship with significant other, family relationships, social relationships, financial situation, independence/autonomy, and religious/spiritual expression. For each domain, the participant was asked four questions on the importance, control, satisfaction, and impact of disability. Family functioning and family resilience significantly correlated with all of the 10 life domains on most of the four factors. Family dynamics account for 36% of the variance of quality of life. Family dynamics significantly impact the quality of life for people with disabilities and therefore should be taken into consideration in the rehabilitation process.