Enabling
resilience on
the job – what
works?
Gaynor Parkin
Psychology @ Victoria
gaynor.parkin@vuw.ac.nz
Overview
Defining
resilience
Previous research
What promotes resilience?
Current study
Early trends and practice
implications
gaynor.parkin@vuw.ac.nz
Psychological resilience
Ability
to adapt and recover
well after stress, adversity or
change
“Bouncing back”
gaynor.parkin@vuw.ac.nz
Knowledge from previous
research
Child
development
Trauma – post traumatic
growth
Neuroscience
Positive psychology
gaynor.parkin@vuw.ac.nz
Factors that promote
resilience
Individual
Whanau/Family
Team/organisational
Community
gaynor.parkin@vuw.ac.nz
Evidence to date
Physical
fitness and recovery –
role of stress hormones
Meditation/Mindfulness
Emotion regulation skills
Experiencing positive emotions
gaynor.parkin@vuw.ac.nz
Evidence to date
Cognitive
flexibility
Realistic optimism
Problem solving skills
Connectedness
gaynor.parkin@vuw.ac.nz
Current study
(Thanks
MSI R&D $)!
Resilience skills as building
blocks
Tool kit
Emphasis on practice
gaynor.parkin@vuw.ac.nz
Current study
Face-to-face
vs elearning
Different conditions in face-toface
Individual vs team elearning
6 organisations participating
gaynor.parkin@vuw.ac.nz
Transfer of learning
What
works?
Testing variety of tools to
reinforce learning and support
practice
Email, SMS, elearning
Group follow up
gaynor.parkin@vuw.ac.nz
Psychometric measures





The Gratitude Questionnaire (McCullough,
Emmons & Tsang, 2002) .
Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS) Lyubomirsky, S.,
& Lepper, H. S. (1999),
The Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS),Pavot, W.
G., Diener, E., Colvin, C. R., & Sandvik, E. (1991,.
Flourishing Scale, Diener, E., Wirtz, D., Tov, W., KimPrieto, C., Choi, D., Oishi, S., & Biswas-Diener, R.
(2009).
Percieved Stress Scale (PSS), Cohen, S., Kamarck,
T., and Mermelstein, R. (1983).
gaynor.parkin@vuw.ac.nz






The meaning in life questionnaire, Steger, M. F.,
Frazier, P., Oishi, S., & Kaler, M. (2006)
Brief Mindfulness Measure , Adapted from: Baer, R.
A., Smith, G. T., Hopkins, J., Krietemeyer, J., & Toney, L.
(2006),
Work and Well-Being Survey (UWES), Schaufeli, W.B.,
Bakker, A.B. & Salanova, M. (2006),
Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale Conner, K. M., &
Davidson, J. R. T. (2003)
Life Orientation Test Revised ,Scheier, M., Carver, C.,
& Bridges, M. (1994)
Adult Coping Scale (ACS), Jose, P.E. & Huntsinger,
C.S. (2005),
gaynor.parkin@vuw.ac.nz
Measures of performance
Tricky!
Each
organisation has different
measures
gaynor.parkin@vuw.ac.nz
Training groups
Maximum
15 participants
Facilitated by Clinical
Psychologists
gaynor.parkin@vuw.ac.nz
Training modules 1-4
Stress
– mind-emotion-body
responses
Resilience – from psychological
research
Physical wellbeing
Flexible thinking
gaynor.parkin@vuw.ac.nz
Training modules 5-8
 Optimism
 Strong
relationships
 Emotion regulation and positive
emotion
 Relaxation and mindfulness tools
 Tools from Positive Psychology
gaynor.parkin@vuw.ac.nz
Our observations
Therapeutic
group effect
Road map for change
Broaden and Build in action
gaynor.parkin@vuw.ac.nz
Participant feedback
Request
for more follow up
Helpful to understand science
behind tools
Mindfulness practice and
flexible thinking rated highly
gaynor.parkin@vuw.ac.nz
Participant feedback
Post
training – 1 week, 3,6, 12
months
I have put the skills into
practice
How?
gaynor.parkin@vuw.ac.nz
Participant feedback
Has the training helped improve your
resilience?
 Health?
 Performance at work?
 Coping with stress at work/home
 Relationships with others
gaynor.parkin@vuw.ac.nz
Early trends
High
levels poor health, stress
and distress
Highly variable work and
wellbeing responses
Low scores on concentration
and focus
High support: flourishing
gaynor.parkin@vuw.ac.nz
Early trends
Improvements in:
Concentration and focus
Cognitive flexibility
Optimism
Active problem solving
gaynor.parkin@vuw.ac.nz
Early trends
Face-to-face
training slightly
ahead
No differences (yet) types of
follow up
Follow up keeping scores more
constant
gaynor.parkin@vuw.ac.nz
Practice implications
Collaboration
with leadership
teams
How is “resilience” perceived?
Integrate don’t separate
performance and wellbeing
initiatives.
gaynor.parkin@vuw.ac.nz
Implications for practice:
Senior
leadership engagement
Frameworks to support practice
Ongoing practice
Ongoing review
Reminders are useful
gaynor.parkin@vuw.ac.nz
Advice welcome!
gaynor.parkin@vuw.ac.nz