Translating Resilience Theory for Application: Introduction

Abstract

This volume on Resilience is written in the spirit of those who suggest that the construct has too much heuristic power to be abandoned (Luthar et al., 2000). The emphasis of this volume is not to identify the one true definition of the term with the purpose of excluding applications that lack conceptual purity. The major goal of this volume is to enhance practical usefulness of the "resilience" construct. In this pursuit, the first goal of the volume is to identify constructs of resilience that have practical usefulness, across contexts and to demonstrate this usefulness. The second goal of the volume is the examination of tools developed for the assessment of resilience for practical application. Embedded in the science of test development is the rigor of construct identification, development of tools for assessment and psychometric analysis to determine the reliability, validity, and potential usefulness of the respective assessment. The third purpose of the volume is to present cultural considerations in the discussion and application of resilience and related constructs. It is the hope of this volume's editors that the volume will be a valuable reference contribution to the growing literature on the construct of resilience as well as a practical guide for the application of this construct. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved). (chapter)