An umbrella review of the characteristics of resiliency-enhancing interventions for children and youth with disabilities

PURPOSE: The current umbrella review aimed to identify key intervention characteristics that have been demonstrated to enhance resiliency in children and youth with disabilities. MATERIALS AND METHODS: To identify these key ingredients, using JBI guidelines, we conducted comprehensive searches in the fall of 2022 and searches were re-run in June 2023. Using the PICO format, we searched for peer-reviewed review articles that included children and youth with disabilities (6 to 19 years of age), the intervention targeted resiliency, the context was home, school, or community, and the outcome was resiliency enhancement. RESULTS: The initial searches produced 1031 articles, of which 4 met our inclusion criteria. These articles collectively had reviewed a total of 247 articles representing approximately 2756 participants. We found a wide range of disabilities represented in the studies and many activities that are included in the existing REIs. Our findings identified engagement, self-regulatory processes, capacity building, positive social connectedness, and a customized intervention approach as evidence-based resiliency enhancing features. We propose a model consolidating these findings into a multi-dimensional resiliency process which may help explain successful adaptation. CONCLUSION: Our proposed model may be helpful in delineating entry points that different REIs have used to generate positive change.