A scoping review of resilience in adults with cancer based on the NIH resilience concept model

Support Care Cancer. 2025 May 1;33(5):439. doi: 10.1007/s00520-025-09395-9.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: The NIH Resilience Concept Model (NIH-RCM) is a comprehensive model that conceptualizes resilience through three components: challenge or stressor, system, and the system’s responses, providing a clear definition and measurement approach for resilience research. This scoping review uses the NIH-RCM as a framework to organize and summarize research on resilience in adults with cancer, especially those aged 65 + , and identify research gaps.

METHODS: A systematic search of PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and Web of Science was conducted to identify studies that examined resilience in the individual domain of adults (including those ≥ 65 years) with cancer from inception to July 2022. Included studies were organized into the components (stressor, system, and responses), definition, and measures of resilience.

RESULTS: Eighty-nine studies were included. Most (88%) studies included adults of all ages, with only ten focusing exclusively on older adults. Of the 89 studies, 78% identified cancer-related events as stressors, and 94% of studies identified the individual psychosocial system as the system affected by the stressor and measured the system’s responses within the psychosocial subdomain. Several resilience definitions were identified from 60% of studies, with 44% conceptualizing resilience as an ability. Five types of resilience measures were identified in 99% of studies, with 15% measuring resilience by comparing pre- and post-stressor changes in the system’s responses.

CONCLUSIONS: There was a range of definitions and measures for resilience. Gaps in research include a minimal focus on older adults with cancer and individuals’ physiological and molecular/genetic systems and their responses within these subdomains.

PMID:40310553 | DOI:10.1007/s00520-025-09395-9