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In general, findings were less consistent and suggested more null effects for resilience factors including those that showed favorable effects for the comparison between resilience trajectories and less favorable responses (e.g., individual and household income, perceived social support). None of the studies examined variables that were discussed as social-level resilience mechanisms.Evidence on the predictive validity on societal-level resilience factors was rare and for most factors limited to single studies (e.g., environment quality, local house value, temperature; see Fig. 5). Evidence for perceived social support was predominantly positive, with 26 (59.1%) effect estimates showing incremental validity beyond sociodemographic variables and other resilience factors (+++). Only in one study50, psychological flexibility was discussed as potential higher-level resilience mechanism.At the social level, studies focused on living with family or others, perceived social support, and having a partner (see Fig. 5). First, we examined associations between the level of resilience factors/mechanisms (individual vs. social vs. societal) and types of societal challenges.

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From utilizing community-based participatory methods in the assessment of patterns of resilience 35, 36 to the inclusion of nontraditional partners such as schools 37, 38, finding new ways of building and utilizing partnerships between on-the-ground practitioners and academics continues to drive interest in resilience and recovery programs. A central element of the recent literature on the practice of resilience is the pursuit of authentic community partnerships and the importance of collaboration in establishing effective capacity-enhancing programs. As the scholarship on resilience, both conceptually and in measurement, is increasingly being advanced, so too are applications of resilience thinking in disaster preparedness and planning. Despite the significant growth in the scholarship of resilience thinking and practice, studies of resilience practice remain comparatively scarce . Findings like these continue to expand on our understandings of the mechanisms linking social capital and disaster recovery, as well as the limits on those effects. In examining how victims recovered from the 2013 Southern Alberta Flood in Canada, most residents experienced negative declines in important post-disaster recovery measures such as place attachment despite some expansion of personal social networks following the events of the crisis.

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Mental health refers to a state of emotional, psychological, and social well-being, enabling individuals to cope with stress, work productively, and contribute to their community. A body of lots of work has also documented the social ecology of resilience, which includes studying how key resources in the social, economic, cultural, or political environment influence individual-level or family-level resilience. The empirical study of determinates of resilience will inform efforts made at fostering resilience, with the recognition that resilience may be enhanced on numerous levels (e.g., individual, family, community, culture). While no amount of funding can undo the harm caused by the attack, community representatives say sustained investment in mental health and resilience is essential to ensuring people are not left to cope alone once public attention fades. Autonomy enhances the feeling of self-control and this can support the mental health of the individuals who are working to high demands. This holistic approach addresses not only clinical interventions but also social support structures that contribute to community resilience.

• Within the last years, many societies were exposed to multiple stressors and crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, economic crises, wars and armed conflicts, or natural disasters1.
• Evidence for this report was gathered through interviews, focus groups and a selected literature review.
• In the context of COVID-19, community engagement in China and elsewhere helped to confront uncertainty and counter rumours effectively, strengthening international cooperation and evidence-based decision making for prevention and control measures .
• This recent international treaty emphasises specific outcomes and priorities related to disaster risk reduction to be achieved by 2030, such as, “the substantial reduction of disaster risk and losses in lives, livelihoods and health in the economic, physical, social, cultural and environmental assess of persons, businesses, communities and countries (p. 12)”11.
• There is preliminary evidence that bidirectional therapy results in an improvement in both individual as well as dyadic resilience.

The primary limitation of the systematic review method can be over reliance on a quantitatively oriented systematic review process, which is often geared towards assessing studies with more robust experimental designs, such as randomised controlled trials (RCTs). Resilience, in this context, is not solely determined by SES but is instead deeply tied to the presence of community connections and the ability of individuals to mobilise collectively. However, evidence from community-level responses, such as those observed in Toronto during the COVID-19 pandemic , challenges this assumption. A key finding of this systematic review is the inconsistent focus on collaboration with communities in the studies examined.

Here, we provide an overview of recent work on clinical and epidemiological correlates of resilience and mental health in children and adolescents. This yields higher levels of community physical and emotional health. The growing field of community resilience holds much promise for promoting systemic change in how we prepare for future disasters. Yet, even with this continued emphasis on refining concepts like social capital, improving measurement of resilient outcomes, and discovering new means of applying resilience-building to diverse settings, there remains something of an “equity gap” https://www.cdcfoundation.org/howrightnow in current conceptualizations and applications of resilience to the field of community disaster preparedness and recovery.

It could be that involvement in dissemination enhances community cohesion and collaboration, enabling members to better identify and address their own unique contexts and challenges but this requires further research. In the literature, tailored communication strategies are recognised as being crucial for effectively engaging often overlooked populations, such as school children’s understanding of natural disasters . For example, emergency messages may be perceived as culturally insensitive, untrustworthy or irrelevant to different communities. Community leaders, together with their leadership approaches, are known to play a vital role in this respect, helping to build trust and partnerships with different communities worldwide . By examining the literature through this lens, it becomes clear that collaborative approaches are more effective in building trust, enhancing the dissemination of information, and ensuring that communication strategies are responsive to the real needs of communities. While some of the articles included in this systematic review hint at collaboration, this perspective was not consistently applied.