Understanding Resilience with results

from the Australasian RTW survey

Finn Sigglekow, Research Advisor, ACC, New Zealand
Introduction

Measuring Resilience

The ability to bounce back from stressful events (resilience) plays an important role in helping
individuals recover from their injury. Clients who have low resilience are more likely to have a longer
recovery period, lower satisfaction and negative experience with the weekly (workers) compensation
scheme. What social factors influence someones resilience is not well known, along with whether
resilience changes following an injury.

The Brief Resilience Scale (BRS) was developed to measure resilience as the ability to bounce back or
recover from stress (Smith et al, 2008).
It is administered using 6 questions, each scored on a scale of 1(Strongly disagree) 5 (Strongly agree):
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

The goal of this research was to look at some social factors, both before and after the injury,
and their relationship with resilience.

Method
As part of the Australasian Return to Work (RTW) survey, phone interviews were carried out by the
Social Research Centre (Melbourne) in 2013 and 2014 with ACC clients who had a claim less than
two years old for either a work or non-work related injury and had received at least one day of weekly
compensation. 1,371 responses were analysed and the odds ratios were calculated using logistic
regression. Age and gender were included in the model.

I tend to bounce back quickly after hard times

I have a hard time making it through stressful events
It does not take me long to recover from a stressful event
It is hard for me to snap back when something bad happens
I usually come through difficult times with little trouble
I tend to take a long time to get over set-backs in my life

The BRS is calculated for each person by averaging their responses to all questions after reverse coding
items 2, 4, and 6. The lowest resilience has a BRS of 1 and the highest resilience has a BRS of 5.
Active coping, mood clarity, mindfulness, optimism, and purpose in life have been shown to influence
resilience.

Results
Resilience is higher in people
back at work

Machinery operators, drivers and labourers have a lower

resilience than other occupations after injury

4.2

4.2

3.8
3.6

Average BRS

4.2

Average BRS

Average BRS

Resilience is lower in Asian and Pacific

peoples

3.8
3.6

3.8
3.6

3.4

3.4

3.4

3.2

3.2

3.2

European
(n=896)

Mori (n=287)

Asian (n=60)

Pacific Peoples
(n=55)

Yes

Other (n=73)

No

Managers, Professionals

Are you currently working in a paid job?

Machinery Operators &

Drivers, Labourers

Ethnicity

There is no difference in
ethnicity between the
proportion of people back at
work.

4.2

4.2

Thinking back just before the injury

4

Now

3.8
3.6

A higher percentage of Mori

and Pacific Peoples were
employed as machinery
operators, drivers or labourers.

Resilience is lower in people who had poor health

before and/or after the injury

Average BRS

There is no correlation
between getting by
financially before the injury
and returning to work.

Technicians and Trade

Workers

Occupation

Resilience is lower in people who had difficulty

getting by financially before and/or after the injury

Average BRS

A higher percentage of
technicians and trade
workers are Pacific People,
NZ European and Other .

Community, Personal
Service, Clerical,
Administration, and Sales

More professionals and

managers get by easily
financially both before and
after the injury, than other
occupations.

Thinking back just before the injury

Now

3.8
3.6

3.4

3.4

3.2

3.2
Great Difficulty
Some difficulty
Fairly easily
Very Easily
Thinking about your household income, how well is your household able to get by

There is no correlation
between health status just
before an injury and returning
to work after the injury.
Poor

Fair
Good
Very Good
How would you describe your general health status

Excellent

Fewer machinery operators, drivers,

labourers, technicians, and trade workers
are back at work compared to other
occupations.

A higher proportion of Asian and Pacific

Peoples said they had excellent health
just before the injury.

Logistic Regression
The proportion of people back at work is
lower in people who are having difficulty
financially following an injury than those
who are getting by easily.

Ethnicity, occupation, not being back at work,

current health and current financial situation
can impact the probability of a low resilience
2.0

Occupation is either machinery

operators, drivers or labourers
Are not currently working

1.5
1.2

Currently back at work

1.6

Getting by financially is currently

difficult

1.5
Getting by financially is currently easy

1.0

Getting by financially was difficult

before the injury

1.0

Getting by financially was easy

before the injury

1.6

1.5

Current health is good/very good/excellent

Current health is poor/fair

1.1
7.1
Ethnicity is Asian or Pacific Peoples
0

1.0

Health before injury was good/very

good/excellent

Health before injury was poor/fair

Conclusions

Ethnicity, occupation, current health and current

financial situation can impact the probability of a
high resilience
Not working as a machinery operator,
driver or labourer

1.6

The proportion of people back at work is

lower in people with poor health
following the injury than those with
excellent health.

4.2

Ethnicity is NZ European, Mori, or Other

1

10

11

12

Odds ratio ( 95% CI) of having a low resilience (BRS < 3.34)

From these results, ethnicity is the biggest predictor for resilience

Multiple factors are related to resilience and the above research just
touches on a few. The difference in resilience between groups measured
could have existed before the injury, or could be a result of resilience
changing following the injury and the magnitude of change differing
between groups. These results are correlations and no causation can be
drawn from them.

10

Odds ratio ( 95% CI) of having a high resilience (BRS > 4.167)

What ethnicity in this dataset is representing is unknown. In this context,

ethnicity could be acting more as a proxy for other social factors not measured in
this survey. As the BRS has not been tested on ethnic groups before, different
ethnic groups could also be interpreting the questions differently. Additional
research is required before these results can be fully understood.

General health and financial difficulty after the injury can

help predict resilience. This most likely comes from how
the individual perceives their pre-injury status compared
to their current status. A change in health or income may
impact how people rate their resilience.

Further research is needed to determine a

baseline for resilience in the New Zealand
population, along with a longitudinal/cohort
study to see if resilience changes over time due
to social factors.

Smith, B.W., Pappa, Z., Tooley, E., Christopher, P., & Bernard, J. (2008). The Brief Resilience Scale: Assessing the ability to bounce back. International Journal of Behavioural Medicine, 15, 194-200.