Tapping the Potential of Resilience to Support an Integrated and Person-Centred Approach to Health and Wellbeing—Developing a Simple Assessment Tool for Practice

Abstract

(1) Background: The push towards population health management and the need for new approaches in health services delivery focusing on the prevention and management of chronic diseases has helped in advocating for more person-centred care, and thus for integration of physical and mental health. Resilience plays a key role in supporting sustainable lifestyle changes and promoting health and wellbeing, but most assessment tools available today are too long for widespread use. The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of a new diagnostic tool to capture a person’s resilience and resources. (2) Methods: This paper outlines the interrelatedness of different theories of salutogenesis, social determinants of health and health promotion with resilience and establishes resilience as a key enabler to promote health and wellbeing. (3) Results: A new, short questionnaire is proposed based on the triade of evidence-based medicine, which should be easy to use and give a good assessment of a person’s resilience. (4) Conclusions: There are many reasons why the call for a short and easy-to-use assessment tool for resilience is warranted. In view of the international transition towards integrated, person-centred health systems, such a tool would find many usages. It would also support the strategies to tackle multi-morbidity, complex conditions and the social determinants of health in its focus on strengthening an individual’s ability to cope with adverse events, and actively engage in health promotion and community involvement programmes. The next step is to test the tool in practice and validate it.