Uncertain Legacies: Resilience and Institutional Child Abuse - A Literature Review - Research Findings

Note of Caution

There is a dearth of primary data relating to this group of survivors. This review focussed on a small, methodically identified selection of academic papers. The conclusions drawn are therefore preliminary, and aim to stimulate constructive debate on future work.

The issue of definition is a complex one, and a standardised definition of resilience is absent in the literature. So too is a universal acknowledgement of what constitutes 'successful' survival; given the complexity of highly individualised responses to personal experiences, this will inevitably vary from individual to individual. Some care must be taken, therefore, to distinguish between academic definitions of 'resilience', and how resilience might be perceived by individuals themselves.