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Systematic review of the psychosocial, neurobiological, predicting and promoting aspects of resilience in the military personnel

Objective:

Conducting a systematic review about psychological resilience and/or hardiness within the military personnel, exploring its psychosocial, neurobiological, predicting and promoting aspects.

Methods:

The databases PubMed/MedLine, ISI/Web of Science and PsycINFO were used, including empirical articles published in English, Portuguese and Spanish until May of 2012. The following terms were used: “militar*”, “Army”, “war”, “veteran*”, “resilien*” and “hardiness”.

Results:

Thirty-two studies were included, after being selected out of 1,205 articles. In the majority of research studies, the focus is on the correlation between resilience/hardiness and psychosocial aspects. The protective role of resilience/hardiness with relation to PTSD, as well as the direct association between resilience and health, has already been proved. Neuropeptide Y (NPY) and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) have been the most researched biomarkers. NPY levels in plasma can represent a biological correlate for resilience or recovery from the adverse effects caused by stress. Only two studies have been conducted about resilience-predicting factors within military samples, indicating exposition to adverse situations, social support and gender as predicting factors for such construct. Only one study has evaluated the efficiency of a resilience-strengthening intervention.

Conclusion:

Despite the crucial relevance of resilience, few studies have been conducted in military samples. Neurobiological studies, such as the ones about NPY, are promising. The absence of a controlled randomized trial evaluating the efficacy of resilience-promoting interventions demonstrates how this construct has been neglected within this risky profession, which should be a priority focus area for future studies.

Psychological resilience; military personnel; hardiness


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E-mail: editora@ipub.ufrj.br