Building the Concept of Nurturing Resilience
Laurie Ann Martinez1, Andra S Opalinski1
1Florida Atlantic University, Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing, United States of America.
Theoretical Principles:
Children and adolescents are faced with ubiquitous daily stressors. When faced with various stressors, they will either recover or stay distressed. For those unable to recover, acute daily stressors have potential to turn chronic with long term negative mental health outcomes. Nurturing resilience is one way to prevent distress from turning to mental health disorders. With the ability of adolescents and children to access nurses with various specialties, it is imperative nurses understand the nuances of resilience and the core elements to nurture resilience in youth.
Phenomena Addressed:
The purpose of building the concept of nurturing resilience is to clarify the meaning of this concept in children and adolescents, develop a conceptual definition of nurturing resilience, and provide a conceptual model of nurturing resilience based on the building process. The concept was formulated utilizing Liehr and Smith's practice-based approach to concept building.
Research Linkages:
Concept building defines nurturing resilience as developing secure connections with another to support self-acceptance that aids in tempering reactivity when faced with environmental hardships. Resilience is a protective mechanism which keeps youth balanced while promoting positive mental health when faced with adversities by allowing one to bounce back after adversity to an original, fundamental state. Understanding patterns and processes of resilience enables nurses to nurture resilience. Nurturing resilience provides adolescents and children the ability to change in response to difficult circumstances; in turn, mental distress is reduced, and mental health of youth are optimized.
Related Concept Videos
Nature and Nurture
Self-Concept
Infancy and Emerging Recognition
During infancy, self-concept is virtually nonexistent. Babies do not distinguish themselves as separate entities and often mistake their...
Concepts and Prototypes
The brain organizes this information using concepts, which are mental categories grouping linguistic data,...
Formula Mass and Mole Concepts of Compounds
Concepts of Health and Illness
Understanding Self-Concept


