Adult individual resilience interventions: A PRISMA-compliant meta-analysis

Psychological resilience interventions have garnered growing attention because of their potential to enhance mental health outcomes by facilitating adaptive responses to stress, adversity, and trauma. These approaches are especially pertinent during large-scale crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of psychological interventions designed to enhance individual resilience. Additionally, it aimed to explore differences in intervention outcomes across key subgroups, including intervention modality and implementation timing relative to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A comprehensive literature search was conducted across six electronic databases, including EMBASE, EBSCO, APA PsycINFO, PubMed, SpringerLink, and Web of Science, to identify controlled trials or randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that assessed the effectiveness of therapies proposed to increase psychological resilience. Trials that met the inclusion criteria were synthesized using a random-effects meta-analysis to calculate pooled standardized mean differences (SMDs) with 95 % confidence intervals.

After excluding four studies owing to potential publication bias, 16 RCTs were included in the final meta-analysis. The interventions assessed were categorized as: (1) cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), (2) mindfulness-based interventions, and (3) combined CBT and mindfulness approaches. Overall, resilience-focused interventions showed a statistically significant positive effect (SMD = 1.54, P < 0.001), with subgroup analyses indicating that CBT was more effective (SMD = 1.92, P < 0.001) than the other interventions. Additionally, interventions administered during the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated a greater effect (SMD = 2.13, P < 0.001) compared to those implemented before the pandemic.

The findings suggest that CBT, mindfulness-based, and combined interventions are efficacious in enhancing psychological resilience, with CBT appearing particularly beneficial. Resilience interventions may be especially impactful during periods of heightened stress, such as during pandemics.