A Transdisciplinary Conceptual Framework of Contextualized Resilience for Reducing Adverse Birth Outcomes

Abstract

Research in preterm birth has focused on the disparate outcomes for Black, Hispanic, and Latina women as compared to White women. However, research studies have not focused on centering these women in frameworks that discuss how resilience is embodied. This article presents a transdisciplinary contextual framework of resilience, building on work that centers Black, Hispanic, and Latina women, as well as historical oppression and trauma resilience frameworks developed by transcultural psychiatry, psychology, public health, anthropology, medicine, nursing, sociology and social work. To develop the model, we reviewed 115 articles and books (1977 to 2019), which were then evaluated and synthesized to develop a transdisciplinary framework of contextualized resilience to enable a better understanding of the complex interplay of medical and social conditions influencing preterm birth. The framework includes multiple ecological layers that cross the individual, familial and intimate, community, structural, policy and law, and hegemonic domains.

The Disproportionate Burden of the COVID-19 Pandemic Among Pregnant Black Women

“…However, as hypothesized (3c), the relationship between self-reliance and reduced risk for meeting depression criteria was moderated by race, such that more self-reliance was related to reduced risk for depression only among White women, but not Black women. This constellation of results suggests that even though Black women exhibited higher rates of self-reliance and emotion regulation than White women, this personal resilience was not sufficient to buffer risk for depression ( Sumbul et al, 2020 ). These findings may be due to the disproportionate effects of the pandemic on Black women relative to White women (e.g., financial burdens).…”

“When Is Health Care Actually Going to Be Care?” The Lived Experience of Family Planning Care Among Young Black Women

“…Thus, this study contributes to existing literature regarding the basic elements for improving care for Black women ( Crooks et al, 2019 ; Gomez & Wapman, 2017 ; Rosenthal & Lobel, 2020 ; Sacks, 2013 , 2018 ; Warren-Jeanpiere et al, 2010 ) using frameworks and methods that center social and reproductive justice along with the experiences of Black women. Future research should acknowledge the pervasiveness of medical mistrust and structural barriers to care for young Black women and employ structurally competent frameworks (e.g., cultural health capital) in their assessment of health care inequities, including ones that highlight the strength and resilience of marginalized populations ( Sumbul et al, 2020 ).…”

Perceptions of stress and resilience among Latina women enrolled in prenatal care in Metro Atlanta through an ecosocial lens

“…thrive in spite of adversity and attendant stress may offer avenues to ameliorate the effects of structural racism and other macro-level stressors (Sumbul et al, 2020).…”

“…Luthar et al, (2000) defined resilience as 'a dynamic process encompassing positive adaptation within the context of significant adversity' (Luthar et al, 2000, p. 543). Resilience is not fixed, but varies in different situations and contexts and may differ across individuals and communities (Masten, 2007;Panter-Brick, 2014;Sumbul et al, 2020). Resilience occurs in the presence of adversity, which may be individual, community or historical.…”