Resilience and Quality of Life in People with Mental Illness: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

PURPOSE: Resilience is viewed as an individual’ positive adaptation and experiences of adversity. The maintenance and recovery of mental health in people with mental disorder is considered a sign of coping with adverse conditions. The purpose of the present meta-analysis was to examine the association between resilience and quality of life in individuals with mental disorders. METHODS: Studies were included if research reported measures of association with resilience, as assessed using self-reported resilience scale and quality of life. A systematic literature search was conducted in PubMed and PsycINFO. RESULTS: Eight studies involving a total of 1439 patients were included in the meta-analysis. Assuming a random-effects model, the weighted mean Pearson correlation between resilience and quality of life was r = 0.551 (95% confidence interval [0.370; 0.691], p < 0.001). This association was moderate, although the heterogeneity among individual effect sizes was substantial (I(2) = 93.35%). CONCLUSION: Despite substantial heterogeneity across included studies, the findings suggest a strong association between resilience and quality of life in people with mental disorders. In clinical practice, the promotion of resilience is important to enhance the quality of life among people with mental illness.