© Devereux Center for Resilient Children, 2011 1

Devereux Center for Resilient Childrenwww.CenterForResilientChildren.org

Presentation Created by: Paul LeBuffeAdapted and Presented by: Karen Cairone

Resilience:Recent Research and Resources

NAEYC Annual Conference

Orlando, 2011

Today’s Learning Objectives

1) Define resilience, risk factors and protective factors.2) Share a variety of resources and organizations that focus on assessing and/or building resilience.3) Examine a recent study done by Devereux that found protective factors to be a reliable predictor of future behavioral concerns (or lack thereof).

Defining Resilience

“Successful adaptation in the individual who has been exposed to biological risk factors or stressful life events.” (Werner, 1992)

Requires two judgments– Individual has been exposed to risk– Successful adaptation

Risk Factors

“Biological or psychosocial hazards that increase the likelihood of a negative developmental outcome in a group of people” (Emmy Werner, 1992)

Risk AssessmentMajor Life Events – Discrete, traumatic events– Usually highly stressfulDaily Hassles– Recurrent – Typically lower degree of stress

Risk Gradients

Risk Factors

Good Outcomes

Poor Outcomes

Masten (2001)

© Devereux Center for Resilient Children, 2011 2

Successful AdaptationExternal Criteria– Major Developmental Tasks– School RecordsInternal Criteria– Absence of Psychopathology– Rating Scales

Risk GradientsResilient children are “off the gradient”

Risk Factors

Good Outcomes

Poor Outcomes

Masten (2001)

Typology of Child Outcomes

LowCompetence

HighCompetence

LowRisk

Very Vulnerable

Competent

HighRisk

Maladaptive Resilient

Masten, (2001)

Resilience - A Ray of Hope

Emmy Werner - Hawaii

500 plus children born at risk

30% at high risk– 2/3 had significant negative life problems

– but 1/3 did not!

– “lived well, loved well, played well & expected well”

What characterized these children?

Protective FactorsCharacteristics, events or processes that decrease the impact of a risk factor and the likelihood of an adverse outcome (Kazdin, 1997)

Risk and Protective Factors

Outcome

Negative: Vulnerability

Positive: Resilience

Protective Factors

Environmental

Within-Child

Familial

Risk Factors

Environmental

Familial

Within- Child

© Devereux Center for Resilient Children, 2011 3

How Important is Resilience?

Mental illness is the leading cause of disability worldwide – 5 of the top 10 most debilitating diseases are mental illnesses

The majority of these disorders begin in youth – 50% diagnosable by age 14

US spends 85 billion dollars per year on MH treatment.

30,000+ suicides per year

SAMHSA, 2007, p. 13

About the Devereux Center for Resilient Children (DCRC)

The Need– Younger and more acute referrals– Managed care

The Goal– Prevention & Promotion

The Strategy– Early childhood– Resilience– Combine early childhood and behavioral health

Expanding our Scope– Infants & Toddlers– School Aged Children– Adults– Resilience, Prevention & Promotion, SEL gaining

empirical support

DCRC values…

1. The strengths, happiness and resilience of all children.

2. The well-being of the adults who parent, nurture and educate children.

3. Strength-based approaches.4. Strong partnerships between parents and

child-serving professionals. 5. Collaboration to optimize positive outcomes.6. Data-driven decision making.

DCRC promotes the strengths, happiness and resilience of children through…

1. Developing resources including assessments and intervention guides that are grounded in theory, research-based, practical and accessible.

2. Conducting and supporting applied researchto inform and evaluate our programs and resources.

3. Collaborating with Devereux programs and community partners.

4. Providing training and technical assistance.5. Advocating for children and influencing

public policy.

Devereux Assessments ofWithin-Child Protective Factors

50

55

60

65

70

High Risk Low Risk

Be

ha

vio

rC

on

ce

rns

Low ProtectiveFactors

High ProtectiveFactors

Do Protective Factors Really Make a Difference?

DECA Risk & Protective Factors Study

Worse

Typical

© Devereux Center for Resilient Children, 2011 4

But Can We Predict and Prevent Problems?DECA Chemung County, NY Study

Participants and Materials– 406 preschool-age students

– Pretest (January) /Posttest (May) DesignDECA

– Total Protective Factors (TPF)

– Behavioral Concerns (BC)

75 kids had behavioral concerns at the end of the year

BUT, 30 of those kids did NOT have behavioral concerns 5 months earlier

What does this mean???

Key Finding

Research SupportResults from a study done in Chemung County New York show that protective factors on the Devereux Early Childhood Assessment (DECA) are related to low behavioral concerns 5 months into the future.– (r = .64, p < .001)

41% of the variability in children's behavioral concerns 5 months into the future can be accounted for by the variance in children's current protective factors. – A significant amount of variance in PostBC scores can be accounted for

by PreTPF (R2 = .41)– PreTPF and PreBC together account for 56% of variance in PostBC

scores

Implications

Head Start Serves 1 million preschoolers– 30,000 additional students can be helped

Increased primary prevention work vs. intervention work

Strength-based vs. deficit-based

Implications for Professionals

Reason for hopeNeed to focus not just on deficits, but on protective factors as wellPreserve the essential adaptive mechanisms– Brain development– Parenting– Schools– Community

Implications for Professionals (continued)

Believe in innate resilience

Believe in our own resilience

Support Resilience of our staff– Sense of belonging

– Opportunities for contribution

– High Expectations

Created by Alex Dopp, Devereux Trainee. Adapted for NAEYC Conference Presentation November, 2011. Questions/comments: deca@devereux.org (Page 1)

Resilience Promoting Groups and Organizations Compiled by the Devereux Center for Resilient Children

2011 NAEYC Annual Conference The Devereux Center for Resilient Children (DCRC) promotes social and emotional development, fosters resilience, and builds skills for school and life success in all children and the adults who care for them. Visit: www.CenterForResilientChildren.org

DCRC promotes the strengths, happiness and resilience of children through…

1.) Developing resources including assessments and intervention guides that are grounded in theory,

evidence-based, practical and accessible.

2.) Conducting and supporting applied research to inform and evaluate our programs and resources.

3.) Collaborating with Devereux programs and community partners.

4.) Providing training and technical assistance.

5.) Advocating for children and influencing public policy.

Embrace the Future is an initiative by the Mental Health Foundation of Australia. It focuses on educating school-aged children and their parents about resilience, and how they might implement it on a personal level. The Resiliency Resource Centre is a website dedicated with this end in mind, providing educational materials for kids and adults as well as helpful links to other resilience web sites. http://www.embracethefuture.org.au/

WestEd is a non-profit organization that focuses on working with “education and other communities to promote excellence, achieve equity, and improve learning for children, youth, and adults.” Through assessment, evaluation, and evidence-based intervention, WestEd works with schools to promote competency and improvement of all subjects. They employ an empowerment model, identifying student strengths and protective factors. WestEd’s key researcher in resilience is Bonnie Benard. Visit: http://www.wested.org/cs/we/view/rs/712

Building Resilience in Kids (BRIK) is a small non-profit organization that benefits schools in the Boston area. They promote resilience through four different programs: Making Connections at School, Art from the Heart, Girls on the Brink of Adolescence, and Kids on the Brink of Adolescence. BRIK is headed by Georgia Sassen, PhD, who is also a faculty member at the Stone Center for Women’s Development. Visit: http://brikontheweb.org/

The National Resilience Resource Center (NRRC) is devoted mainly to educating teachers and parents about how to foster resilience in their kids. They have no interventions or programs to speak of, explaining that true resilience must happen from the inside out. Tapping into one’s natural resilience involves starting

with personal belief, as shown in the figure at left. The NRRC website provides a number of articles and short video clips. Visit: http://www.cce.umn.edu/National-Resilience-Resource-Center/index.html Research for the NRRC is mainly performed by Bonnie Benard.

Created by Alex Dopp, Devereux Trainee. Adapted for NAEYC Conference Presentation November, 2011. Questions/comments: deca@devereux.org (Page 2)

Pathways Health and Research Centre is dedicated to promoting resilience and life skills in children and families. They employ individual and group therapy sessions with a wide variety of foci, including depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, ASD, personal challenge, and marital stress. Pathways also offers workshops and staff in-services for the FRIENDS program, which focuses on fostering resilience in children and adolescents. Visit: http://www.pathwayshrc.com.au/

Terrorism and Disaster Center out of University of Oklahoma (TDC) mainly deals with helping children and adults prepare for and cope with traumatic experiences. They provide Disaster Resilience Enhancement Training (DRET), which is a school-based psycho-educational curriculum for children from grades two through five. The TDC has also produced the manual “Building Community Resilience in Children and Families.” Visit: http://www.oumedicine.com/body.cfm?id=3737

The Centre for Confidence and Well-being in Glasgow, Scotland works to educate the public in cognitive psychology, especially in regards to optimism, life-satisfaction, and happiness. Their Positive Psychology Resources page offers tools, tips, articles, and projects to educate individuals in resilience, with the objective of application for families, companies, and athletes. Visit: http://www.centreforconfidence.co.uk/

The Raising Resilient Children Foundation (RRCF) is dedicated to raising, supporting, and developing stress hardy children, and disseminating information to assist adults in doing so. Based upon the work of Drs. Robert Brooks, Sam Goldstein and others. They offer articles on fostering resilience, a Resilient Mindset Quiz for parents, and a variety of books, videos, and links to online resources for parents and teachers. Visit: http://www.raisingresilientkids.com/

ResilienceNet provides the “single, most comprehensive world-wide source of current, reviewed information about human resilience,” with a focus on the resilience of children, youth, and families. They provide comprehensive bibliographies on resilience literature, a “Virtual Library” of select full-text articles, links to websites approved by a panel of experts, tips on promoting resilience, and information on resilience research, conferences, etc. There is also a resiliency listserv. A Spanish version of the site is available. Visit: http://resilnet.uiuc.edu/

Resiliency in Action is a commercial site based on a book and training program developed by Nan Henderson, MSW (president of Resiliency in Action). The site provides some free information, including a newsletter, blog, and articles. Visit: http://www.resiliency.com/

Project Resilience is co-directed by Steven and Sybil Wolin. Offers teaching materials and products, training, and information for professionals working in education, treatment, and prevention. Promotes a strengths-based approach to both youth and adults struggling to overcome hardship. The project conducts research on resilience and offers books and training courses. Visit: http://projectresilience.com/index.htm

The Resilience Research Center out of Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada, studies how children, youth and families cope with adversity, under the direction of Dr. Michael Ungar. The International Resilience Project (IRP) seeks to broaden our understanding of how resilience is conceptualized across cultures and contexts; currently validating a culturally sensitive measure of youth resilience, the Child and Youth Resilience Measure (CYRM). Negotiating Resilience is a qualitative exploration of how youth from five different countries cope with daily challenges. Pathways to Resilience seeks to better understand how youth navigate between mandated services (child welfare, education, mental health, and youth justice) to successful outcomes. And, Stories of Transition explores factors informing career decisions among Canadian young people aged 23-30. Visit: http://www.resilienceproject.org/

Created by Alex Dopp, Devereux Trainee. Adapted for NAEYC Conference Presentation November, 2011. Questions/comments: deca@devereux.org (Page 3)

Search Institute is a nonprofit whose mission is to provide leadership, knowledge, and resources to promote healthy children, youth, and communities. The Search Institute Press has developed the 40 Developmental Assets, a framework of qualities, experiences, and relationships youth need to succeed. The website provides 40 Assets lists for different age groups, each with suggestions of how to take action to build the asset. The institute conducts resiliency research, and provides a variety of books, surveys, trainings, and other services, as well as a bibliographic database of resiliency research. Visit: http://www.search-institute.org/

Reaching IN...Reaching OUT (RIRO) is Canada's only evidence-based program for teaching resiliency thinking and coping skills to young children. We teach adults the skills to handle life's challenges with resilience and show them how to pass those skills along to children. These skills promote children's strengths and resilience thereby helping reduce the sense of helplessness that feeds conflict, violence and the risk for depression. RIRO promotes behaviour that is fundamental to the development of civil society at large, benefiting not only children, but adults working with children, caregivers, parents and the communities where they live, learn and work. Founded as a pilot project in 2002, RIRO is an innovator in finding ways to incorporate resilience and strengths-based approaches in organizations that support children from birth to seven. Visit: http://www.reachinginreachingout.com/

American Psychological Association (APA) Road to Resilience Members of APA have access to a wealth of resources to support the resilience of children, adolescents, and adults. Available to all is a useful brochure outlining ways to promote resilience, and resources for more information. Visit: http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/road-resilience.aspx

Resilience Builder Program for Children and Adolescents Psychologists and social workers at Alvord Baker incorporate the literature on best practices and protective factors, to guide interventions as they facilitate their clients’ development of resilience. Visit: http://alvordbaker.com/groups.html

The Penn Resiliency Project: Resilience Research in Children Lead by investigators and co-directors Jane Gillham, Ph.D. & Karen Reivich, Ph.D., the Penn Resiliency Program Curriculum is a group intervention for late elementary and middle school students. The curriculum teaches cognitive-behavioral and social problem-solving skills and is based in part on cognitive-behavioral theories of depression by Aaron Beck, Albert Ellis, and Martin Seligman (Abramson, Seligman, & Teasdale, 1978; Beck, 1967, 1976; Ellis, 1962). Central to PRP is Ellis' Adversity-Consequences-Beliefs (ABC) model, the notion that our beliefs about events mediate their impact on our emotions and behavior. Through this model, students learn to detect inaccurate thoughts, to evaluate the accuracy of those thoughts, and to challenge negative beliefs by considering alternative interpretations. PRP also teaches a variety of strategies that can be used for solving problems and coping with difficult situations and emotions. Students learn techniques for assertiveness, negotiation, decision-making, social problem-solving, and relaxation. The skills taught in the program can be applied to many contexts of life, including relationships with peers and family members as well as achievement in academics or other activities. Visit: http://www.ppc.sas.upenn.edu/prpsum.htm

One offshoot of the project includes: The Pepperidge Farm® Goldfish® brand continues its commitment to healthy lifestyles by partnering with Positive Psychology leader and mother of four, Dr. Karen Reivich, to create Fishful ThinkingSM. Fishful ThinkingSM is a program that helps parents raise children who have a positive attitude and can confidently tackle life's challenges. The project highlights 5 key skills that all parents can teach their children: Optimism, emotional awareness, goal-setting, resilience, and empowerment.

Visit: http://www.fishfulthinking.com/

2012 DCRC National Professional Development Calendar

Dates Training Location February 8 and February 15

4-Hour Devereux Student Strengths Assessment (DESSA) Comprehensive System Webinar (Each session is 2 hours. Both sessions required)

March 1-2 2-Day Building Your Bounce, Building Their Bounce Training: Promoting Resilience of Adults and Children

San Antonio, TX

March 14-15 2-Day DECA Preschool Program Implementation Training

St. Louis, MO

March 21 and March 28

4-Hour DECA-C (Clinical) Webinar (Each session is 2 hours. Both sessions required)

April 23-24 2-Day DECA for Infants and Toddlers Implementation Training

Covington, KY

(Suburb of Cincinnati, OH)

April 25 1-Day Practical Resilience Building Strategies for Home and School Training - Infants/Toddlers

Covington, KY

(Suburb of Cincinnati, OH)

May 7-8 2-Day FLIP IT Train-the-Trainer Session Nashville, TN

June 18-19 2-Day DECA Birth through Five Implementation Training

Westminster, CO

(Suburb of Denver) June 20-22 2-Day DECA Birth through Five Local Program

Mentor Training Westminster, CO

(Suburb of Denver) August 15 and August 22

4-Hour Devereux Student Strengths Assessment (DESSA) Comprehensive System Webinar (Each session is 2 hours. Both sessions required)

September 20 and September 27

4-Hour DECA-C (Clinical) Webinar (Each session is 2 hours. Both sessions required)

September 27-28

2-Day FLIP IT Train-the-Trainer Session Tempe, AZ

October 10-12 2.5-Day Facing the Challenge: Helping Teachers Better Work with Children with Challenging Behaviors Train-the-Trainer Session with Barbara Kaiser

Villanova, PA

(Suburb of Philadelphia)

October 23 and October 30

4-Hour Devereux Student Strengths Assessment (DESSA) Comprehensive System Webinar (Each session is 2 hours. Both sessions required)

October 25-26 2-Day DECA for Infants and Toddlers Implementation Training

St. Louis, MO

Join us for other professional development events offered by the Devereux Center for Resilient Children and Devereux Regional Training Centers!

For more information or to register for any of these trainings, please go to www.devereuxearlychildhood.org. For questions or to bring any of these trainings to your

community, please contact Debi Mahler, Professional Development Coordinator, at dmahler@devereux.org or (610) 574-6141.