The Resiliency Model

Abstract

The health education and prevention professions are in the midst of a philosophical revolution attempting to build upon negative directioned risk reduction programs, which are driven by the medical model, to competency models. Noted psychologists and psychiatrists have suggested that competency and resiliency characteristics are strengths that are more protective than risk reduction efforts. Many suggested traits have been proposed for the resilient individual. This article reviews those characteristics but more importantly, describes the traits within the resiliency model as a process applicable to health education. This expanded view of prevention includes perspectives on the value of personal disruption and adversity as avenues to promote growth and increased protective factors. The process of psychological reintegration is the ability to learn new skills from the disruptive experience and put life's perspective back in a way that will increase abilities to negotiate life events. The model also identifies four points during the disruptive process, where health educators/prevention specialists can intervene to protect, enhance, support, and facilitate reintegration.