Hope and Distress: A Cross-Country Study Amid the Russian-Ukrainian War.

Recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic: Distress and resilience

We compared three types of resilience (individual, community, and national resilience), two indicators of distress (sense of danger and distress symptoms) and wellbeing, among samples from Israel, Brazil, and the Philippines, during the “first-wave” of COVID-19 pandemic. Though significant differences were found among the samples regarding all variables, similarities were also emerged. Individual resilience and wellbeing negatively predicted distress symptoms in each sample, and women of all samples reported higher level of distress-symptoms compared with men. The differences between the samples are presented and discussed. Understanding the similarities and the differences, between these cultures, may help developing efficient countermeasures tailored to each country. This knowledge may promote efficient health policy to foster people’s ability to cope with the hardship and to prevent future psychological and health implications.

Community Resilience: Is it Greater than the Sum of the Parts of Individual Resilience?

This research aims to analyse the relationship between Individual Resilience, as measured by the CD-RISC-10 scale (Campbell and Stein, 2007) and Community Resilience, as measured by the Index of Perceived Community Resilience (IPCR, Kulig et al., 2013), in a sample of 387 people living on the island of Bali (Indonesia). The population of this area regularly faces the consequences of natural disasters, such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and severe floods. A Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the IPCR was carried out, which confirmed the multidimensional structure of Community Resilience originally proposed by its authors. Results also showed that there is a positive and moderate correlation between Individual and Community Resilience. Specifically, regression analysis showed that the three Community Resilience factors explain 32% of Individual Resilience, although Leadership followed by Community Engagement are the two factors that provide the most explanatory power.

The COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, a disaster that shocked the whole world, has affected various aspects of people's lives, including the resilience of society, especially the poor. This study aims to see the condition of the resilience of the poor in Bandung in facing the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey method was chosen to obtain the latest data flexibly with a total of 200 respondents, through the distribution of a questionnaire of 40 items consisting of aspects of individual, family, and community resilience. The results show that individual resilience is very dominant during the COVID-19 pandemic disaster, this mutually affects family resilience and community resilience. The most dominant factor in the resilience of individuals and families is the factor of spirituality and optimism in facing this epidemic, the factors that affect community resilience are individual interactions in community activities in the security, social and religious fields

The resilience and stability of human society, be it of the individuals or the communities comprising it, depend on several key variables.At times, these variables are influenced by internal forces, such as the economy, social cohesion, and mutual responsibility; at times, they are influenced by the perceptions of the individual -as a product of one's upbringing, education, and values; and at times, these variables are affected by external forces, such as existential threats facing the nation.The latter will be at the heart of this essay, which will delve into Israel as a nation on the brink of social collapse over the government's push for a radical judicial overhaul.What seemed like an unbridgeable internal divide, however, was immediately sidelined on October 7, 2023, when the Hamas terrorist group launched an unprecedented onslaught against Israel, with a massacre that left 1,400 people dead.That bloody morning, which plunged Israel into war, saw all sectors of Israeli society band together immediately, rising like the legendary phoenix to stand united against those seeking its destruction and proving Israel's national resilience as a force to be reckoned with.This shift -from distress to determination -will be the main focus of this analysis.Is there such a thing as "inherent" national resilience?Looking at the British people during World War II, when they came together to keep calm and carry on during the attacks by Nazi Germany, the answer could be "Yes," as the national strength exhibited seemed ingrained in the British character.Still, other nations seem to lack this type of "backbone" and must therefore develop "acquired resilience" via defense training, active and passive defenses, vaccinations, etc.Does this claim stand the test of time and reality as it appears to manifest in the Israeli case?This essay will focus on resilience as a basic and central concept around which the circles of society move.It will present the variables influencing the nature of resilience and their effect on the quantity, quality, and reality of resilience, in any given country at the level of an individual, the community, and the nation.To analyze these concepts, I will present the Israeli case of 2023 to examine the fundamental question of whether an external threat is key to a nation's unity, social cohesion, and the formation of a strong and How to cite this paper:

Resilience of individuals with chronic illness who reside in low resource communities: a concept analysis

Background. Research on border territories exposed to adverse conditions, including those in the Chernihiv region, has gained particular importance in the context of ongoing military threats and the challenges of post-war reconstruction. These communities are highly vulnerable to external pressures, experiencing continuous socio-cultural challenges and security risks. At the same time, they have simultaneously become spaces where new identities and forms of societal resilience emerge, reshaping their socio-cultural landscape. Understanding these processes is essential both scientifically and practically, as borderlands often serve as the frontline of local mobilisation and adaptation during crises, enabling their evolution from peripheral areas into spaces of resistance. Methods. Given the broader international scholarship on socio-cultural challenges, resistance identities, resilience communities, and socio-cultural transformation (a field that extends beyond the scope of this article), this study employs a triangulated methodological approach. It integrates classical, qualitative, and digital methods of human geography. These include cartographic and statistical analyses and fieldwork (classical methods), in-depth interviews, focus groups, and discourse analysis (qualitative methods), as well as social network analysis and digital ethnography (digital methods). By using these methods in combination, or selectively depending on the research focus, it is possible to reconstruct the lived experiences of borderland residents and trace the emerging socio-cultural orientations within these communities. Results. A review of Ukrainian and international literature was conducted, examining the borderland as a discursive concept, socio-cultural transformations in both border and broader contexts, and the role of adverse conditions in shaping these processes. The study identifies key pre-war socio-cultural challenges and their driving factors, the specific characteristics of the 2014–2022 period, and the critical shifts that occurred after 2022. Findings show that the earlier identification ambiguity within border communities has been gradually transforming into a resistance identity. This development strengthens societal resilience, underpins the emergence of resilience communities, and drives socio-cultural change. Resilience communities are conceptualised as new socio-cultural formations that ensure continuity in borderland development under unfavourable conditions. They fulfil consolidating, integrating, adaptive, and restorative functions, influencing both the condition of border communities themselves and potentially the wider regional context. Conclusions. The border communities of the Chernihiv region are undergoing a complex socio-cultural transformation: from long-standing challenges of peripherality and demographic decline to mobilisation, consolidation, and the formation of resilience communities during wartime and, subsequently, in the post-war period. Resistance identity plays a central role in enhancing societal resilience, while resilience communities provide the structural foundation for the functioning of society during war and for the recovery and long-term development of border territories afterwards. The results obtained are significant for human-geographical research and may form the basis for practical recommendations in regional policy and local governance.

Severe weather events, exacerbated by climate change, can lead to hardships such as displacement, resource scarcity, and social network disruptions. Such disasters impact mental health, triggering conditions such as anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder. For communities in the Gulf South, the increasing frequency of disasters often further exacerbates already disastrous levels of inequality. In this context, there is an urgent need for evidence-based, multilevel, community-based interventions to support individual and community mental health and resilience. This protocol describes the design of a community-based participatory research (CBPR) study to improve individual and community mental health in Gulf South communities by examining the implementation and effects of the multilevel, community-based intervention, Communities Organizing for Power through Empathy (COPE). Specifically, this study aims to (1) examine factors affecting the implementation, effectiveness, and adoption of the COPE intervention and (2) test its effects on mental health and community resilience. We hypothesize that participants in the COPE intervention will experience greater reductions in psychological distress (eg, perceived stress, anxiety, and depression); improvements in protective factors (eg, social support and coping self-efficacy); and community participation as compared with an attention control group. The Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research guides our analysis of data collected from surveys, fidelity and field notes, interviews, and focus groups to examine aim 1. We examine aim 2 primarily via a 2-arm pragmatic stepped-wedge cluster randomized trial (SW-CRT) with individuals (approximately n=300) in clusters (faith-based and secular community-based organizations; approximately n=15) in a disaster-prone community in the US Gulf Coast. The cluster-based design implemented in steps supports the community-based nature of the study where timelines differ by organization. A total of 5 self-assessments will be conducted both in person and via email at later time points. We will integrate mixed methods in our analyses for aim 1 by combining themes from interviews and focus groups with implementation measures, and for aim 2 by constructing a data matrix to combine findings from the SW-CRT with thematic analyses of field notes and interviews. The SW-CRT is being conducted from June 2022 to June 2025. Recruitment began in April 2023, to conclude in spring 2025, to assess mental health, social support, and community resilience at 5 time points. Data analysis and dissemination of results are expected by spring of 2026. This protocol is among the first to use a CBPR approach to examine the implementation and effectiveness of a multilevel intervention on psychological distress and resilience. This study provides new insights into how CBPR can enhance intervention implementation research and expand the evidence on community-based mental health interventions during disasters. Policy makers should consider integrating CBPR approaches into disaster response frameworks to ensure culturally relevant and sustainable outcomes. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT06093737; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06093737. DERR1-10.2196/63723.

This article discusses the construct of resilience and suggests potential benefits of taking a resilience-based approach in social science research. Inspired by the early work of Werner on resilient children, the authors provide conceptual guidelines and suggest methods of inquiry into how people and communities stay healthy, even thrive in stressful contexts. They examine the recruitment of positive emotion, a fundamental resilience resource and as an example, offer their own intervention to promote resilience in individuals with chronic pain by enhancing resilience capacities through the cultivation of emotional complexity. Their discussion of community well-being reveals a burgeoning field of study that promises to contribute to our understanding of individual and community resilience and the importance of social connection.

A new concept of community resilience pertaining to the community's post adversity strength to vulnerability ratio was associated with five determinants: individual resilience, national resilience, well-being, community size, and sense of coherence. The data was collected four months after Israel's war in the Gaza Strip in 2014. Participants were 251 adult civilians living in southern Israel who have recently been threatened by massive missile attacks, and 259 adults living in northern Israel, which has not been under missile fire recently. The investigated variables predicted community resilience, and their effects were mediated by sense of coherence. Results which were similar for both samples were discussed in terms of the nature of resilience and in terms of proximal and distal exposure to war.

How disasters (e.g., disease, war, and natural disasters) affect people is reflected in their behavior; in the face of a disaster, people are likely to act out of fear, anxiety, uncertainty, and panic in terms of self-preservation. Following more than 2 years of living amidst a global pandemic, issues of human behavior, and especially individual and societal resilience in response to disasters, are increasingly gaining focus. The theories of planned behavior and cognitive dissonance can help explain behavioral changes and underlying intrinsic conflicts. Especially in relation to global health, such phenomena as discrimination and exclusion are identified as having a negative impact on efforts to contain infectious diseases. In this context, the question arises of how to encourage members of a global society to behave cohesively in terms of quarantine, social distancing, and vaccination. This article demonstrates the existence of disbelief and misrepresentations in the context of vaccine fatigue and skepticism. While vaccinations have helped improve public health, skepticism, and resistance toward their efficacy are increasing. Looking specifically at the relatively new vaccines inoculating against the coronavirus, this article explores factors contributing to vaccine skepticism, especially with regard to Western Europe and the United States.

This paper explores the need for a broader and more inclusive approach to decisions about land and resources, one that recognizes the legitimacy of cultural values and traditional knowledge in environmental decision making and policy. Invisible losses are those not widely recognized or accounted for in decisions about resource planning and decision making in resource- and land-use negotiations precisely because they involve considerations that tend to be ignored by managers and scientists or because they are often indirect or cumulative, resulting from a complex, often cumulative series of events, decisions, choices, or policies. First Nations communities in western North America have experienced many such losses that, together, have resulted in a decline in the overall resilience of individuals and communities. We have identified eight types invisible losses that are often overlapping and cumulative: cultural/lifestyle losses, loss of identity, health losses, loss of self-determination and influence, emotional and psychological losses, loss of order in the world, knowledge losses, and indirect economic losses and lost opportunities. To render such invisible losses more transparent, which represents the first step in developing a more positive and equitable basis for decision making and negotiations around land and resources, we recommend six processes: focusing on what matters to the people affected, describing what matters in meaningful ways, making a place for these concerns in decision making, evaluating future losses and gains from a historical baseline, recognizing culturally derived values as relevant, and creating better alternatives for decision making so that invisible losses will be diminished or eliminated in the future.

This research paper explores the role of performing arts in the 21st century and its potential to alleviate the stress caused by the processes of liberalization, privatization, and globalization (LPG). As societies become more interconnected and dynamic, individuals face increased pressures and stressors related to rapid societal changes. The performing arts, including theater, dance, music, and other forms of artistic expression, provide a valuable avenue for emotional release, personal growth, and community engagement. Through a comprehensive review of existing literature, this paper highlights the therapeutic, social, and cultural benefits of performing arts, offering insights into how they can mitigate the negative impacts of LPG. The findings suggest that investing in and promoting performing arts can contribute to the overall well-being and resilience of individuals and communities in the face of contemporary challenges.  

Literature is bountiful in relation to different theories and approaches that advocate for resiliency in individuals, families and communities.One widely acknowledged fact is that people build up resilience on the basis of their experience that they gain through their day-to-day hardship and struggles.For those who often live in fragile environments and vulnerability, there is the capacity for resilience to become a part of the culture of a community; becoming absorbed, entrenched and then bequeathed to each subsequent generation.This paper spotlights a group of women who live in an area of Bangladesh that is known for both its poverty and its regular tendency to flood, hereby regularly putting them, their families and their communities at risk of losing lives and/or their livelihoods.Through their narrations, the authors will demonstrate the human capacity to endure adversity, loss, vulnerability and destruction and still maintain the indomitable spirit of acceptance, hope and flourishment.Coping strategy is a central theme throughout.The authors provide accounts which outline the means by which these women practically and psychologically, prepare for and endure the regular and destructive nature of flooding.A brief discussion occurs in relation to the implication of some aspects of social work assistance in the context of women and floods.'This is every year affair.As the affected ' we don't have to lose our dreams and hopes, we need to face it and move on for survival' (research participant).