Resilience of Patients With Chronic Physical Diseases: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Resilience can be seen as an adaption to stress, such as that caused by health problems or disease, that attenuates the negative effects of stress. The present research performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to study resilience scores among adults diagnosed with chronic physical diseases.

Electronic databases, including Persian language (scientific information database [SID], IranMedex, Magiran, IranDoc, and Medlib) and English language (Google Scholar, Science Direct, PubMed, Pre-Quest, and Scopus), were searched. Fifteen articles were found using the keywords disease or chronic disease, resilience or resiliency, and illness, either alone or in combination, both in Persian and English languages. Data analysis was carried out through meta-analysis (random-effects model), and heterogeneity was investigated by subgroup and meta-regression analyses. The data were analyzed in STAT software (12.0).

The mean resilience score of the chronic disease patients (n = 3369) was 74.6 (95% CI: 51.8 - 97.4). In terms of diseases, the mean resilience score of cancer patients was 79.6 (95% CI: 48.3 - 111.1), whereas it was 79.6 for cardiovascular disease patients (95% CI: 45.8 - 113.3) and 64.6 for patients with other diseases (95% CI: 6.6 - 122.7). There was no relationship between the resilience of chronic disease patients and the year of the study (P = 0.711) and the sample size in the studies (P = 0.351).

The mean resilience score of the patients was less than that of healthy individuals. As resilience can be acquired at any stage of life, irrespective of age and disease status, there is a need for training to improve resilience among patients through educational programs.