Resilience Interventions Conducted in Western and Eastern Countries—A Systematic Review

Abstract

Previous research has demonstrated the efficacy of psychological interventions to foster resilience. However, little is known about whether the cultural context in which resilience interventions are implemented affects their efficacy on mental health. Studies performed in Western (k = 175) and Eastern countries (k = 46) regarding different aspects of interventions (setting, mode of delivery, target population, underlying theoretical approach, duration, control group design) and their efficacy on resilience, anxiety, depressive symptoms, quality of life, perceived stress, and social support were compared. Interventions in Eastern countries were longer in duration and tended to be more often conducted in group settings with a focus on family caregivers. We found evidence for larger effect sizes of resilience interventions in Eastern countries for improving resilience (standardized mean difference [SMD] = 0.48, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.28 to 0.67; p < 0.0001; 43 studies; 6248 participants; I2 = 97.4%). Intercultural differences should receive more attention in resilience intervention research. Future studies could directly compare interventions in different cultural contexts to explain possible underlying causes for differences in their efficacy on mental health outcomes.

Resilience in children of parents with mental illness, alcohol or substance misuse—An integrative review

“…A limitation of the study is that almost all studies and samples represented what could be labelled traditional Western cultures, which may have a limited transferability to other cultural settings where for example help-seeking is viewed differently, and stigma is more or less strong. Other research has shown similar findings and concluded that intercultural differences are important to consider when studying resilience in multicultural settings (Blessin et al, 2022). There have been multiple studies over the past 25 years focusing on resilience and protective factors among children of parents with alcohol as shown by two systematic reviews (Park & Schepp, 2015;Wlodarczyk et al, 2017) but fewer studies of such character were evidently published over the time period applied in this study according to our findings.…”

Psychological resilience and cortisol levels in adults: A systematic review

“…Specifically, Harvanek et al (Harvanek et al, 2021) have suggested that, among others, psychological resilience factors may moderate the deleterious effects of cumulative stress on epigenetic aging in healthy adults, thereby emphasizing the usefulness of preventive interventions aimed at fostering resilience and reducing stress in order to improve quality of life. Several resilience training interventions have been conducted to date, mainly focusing on strengthening resilience or diverse psychosocial factors associated with resilience, such as active coping, positive reappraisal, and self-efficacy, using different approaches such as problemsolving therapy, relaxation, and mindfulness-based training or some elements of positive psychology (Blessin et al, 2022;Chmitorz et al, 2018;Kunzler et al, 2020Kunzler et al, , 2022. These interventions have been shown to be effective in improving mental health outcomes, including quality of life and perceived stress or distress in different populations (Blessin et al, 2022;Chmitorz et al, 2018).…”

“…Several resilience training interventions have been conducted to date, mainly focusing on strengthening resilience or diverse psychosocial factors associated with resilience, such as active coping, positive reappraisal, and self-efficacy, using different approaches such as problemsolving therapy, relaxation, and mindfulness-based training or some elements of positive psychology (Blessin et al, 2022;Chmitorz et al, 2018;Kunzler et al, 2020Kunzler et al, , 2022. These interventions have been shown to be effective in improving mental health outcomes, including quality of life and perceived stress or distress in different populations (Blessin et al, 2022;Chmitorz et al, 2018). Surprisingly, to the best of our knowledge, only one study to date has analyzed participants' cortisol levels following a resilience-related intervention.…”

Relation between resilience and personality traits: The role of hopelessness and age

“…We consider that future studies should focus on the replication of our findings in samples from different cultures and socioeconomic statuses with different levels of risk exposure. For example, Blessin, Lehmann, Kunzler, van Dick and Lieb ( 2022 ) suggest that because the world is increasingly intercultural, we should reassess the way we consider different countries in psychological research, which could help to complete our knowledge about effective resilience approaches and related factors.…”