Interventions to build resilience among young people A literature review

Ungar et al.
(2005)
Yeager &
Dweck (2012)
Risk, resilience
and outdoor
programs for atrisk
children
Mindsets that
promote
resilience: When
students believe
that personal
characteristics
can be developed
strategic timing and targeting of interventions.
Findings:
Resilience research has shifted toward dynamic system models with multiple levels of interaction, including research on the
neurobiology of stress and adaption, epigenetic processes, and disasters.
Growing evidence indicates individual differences in biological sensitivity to negative and positive experiences, including interventions.
Early experiences show enduring programming effects on key adaptive systems, underscoring the importance of early intervention.
Studies of developmental cascades demonstrate spreading effects of competence and symptoms over time, with important
implications for the timing and targeting of interventions.
Disaster research suggests guidelines for planning to protect children in the event of large-scale trauma.
Two outdoor programs were reviewed:
Winter Treasures: primary prevention seeking to bolster a sense of self among youth as having a meaningful role in community and a rite
of passage necessary to transition from child to adult
Choices Wilderness Program: addresses the risks posed to youth when they are involved with substances such as drugs, alcohol or
gambling.
Outdoor programs show favourable outcomes in terms of relationship building and a sense of spirituality and purpose, though there was
little increased awareness of environmental issues.
Follow-up support after programming helped to reinforce changes made during the outdoor experience.
The long-term effect of the program depends on how promoting or constraining the environments to which young people return after the
program. Personal growth depends on support from respective communities.
Though the evidence for the effectiveness of these programs is still emerging, the authors point out that group-work in natural settings
offers a promise as a way to promote wellbeing in at-risk children.
More rigorous evaluation is required in this field.
Implicit theories of intelligence: changes in theories of intelligence can affect academic behaviour over time; if students can be redirected
to see intellectual ability as something that can be developed over time with effort, good strategies and help from others, then they are
more resilient when they encounter rigorous learning challenges.
Implicit theories of personality: The incremental theory of personality intervention (leading students to hold a mindset in which people had
the potential to change) increased resilience among students at a school with substantial levels of peer conflict. It reduced aggressive
retaliation and increased pro-social behaviour following an experience of peer exclusion 1 month post-intervention, and it improved overall
conduct problems in school as assessed 3 months post-intervention. When adolescents have or are taught a mindset in which people have
the potential to change their socially relevant traits they can be more resilient in the face of victimisation or exclusion.
Collaborative partnership between researchers, practitioners and students may be necessary to engineer interventions that will work at
scale (customised to address the mindsets of student of a given age or in a given context).
Context specificity for effectiveness of the intervention raises the question of the extent to which implicit theories taught in one context are
transferrable across to other contexts.
The authors conclude that psychosocial interventions that change students’ mindset are effective.
Interventions to build resilience among young people: a literature review 84