Conversation Hour Presentation 6th World Congress on Positive Psychology 2019

Implementing Large-Scale Resilience Initiatives: Program Evolution And Quality Implementation (#40)

Jill Antonishak 1
  1. 49 North, Malvern, PA, United States

Basic research in psychology has seen a rapid increase and proliferation of evidence for the specific skills and abilities that foster resilience and thriving in just the past two decades, along with the development of interventions to boost resilience and wellbeing.  And, while several programs have been implemented with military audiences, the group has unique features (e.g., high operational tempo and deployment schedules) that make it important to ensure that the training remains effective when applied in this novel setting. As part of this roundtable, we’ll discuss the integration of resilience initiatives within two military communities. In one community, a long-term universal program is evolving into a targeted program, matching the dose of training and skill with the risk and resilience of the individuals and community. The second initiative is a family-based intervention focused on high-deploying families.  Both initiatives focus on delivering skills when, where, and how they are most likely to be internalized.  We’ll discuss results of the programs, and the unique implementation challenges for large-scale resilience initiatives.  We’ll also discuss the importance of evolving programs to match the needs of the community, and using strong primary prevention principles to execute effective interventions.