We need to talk about ‘bad’ resilience

Bibliographic Data

ID21878552
AuthorsDell D Saulnier (0000-0001-7761-0737, Lund University, corresponding author), Stephanie M Topp (0000-0002-3448-7983, The University of Melbourne)
Year2024
Volume9
Issue2
Pagese014041
Publication date2024-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueBMJ Global Health (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2059-7908 • E-ISSN: 2059-7908
PublisherBMJ (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1136/bmjgh-2023-014041
PMID38320804
OpenAlexW4391563071
LanguageEN
Citations received11
References cited27

In this analysis, we argue against seeing health system resilience as an inherently positive concept. The rise in the popularity of health system resilience has led to its increasingly normative framing. We question this widely accepted perspective by examining the underlying assumptions associated with this normative framing of ‘good’ resilience. Our focus is on the risks of accepting the assumption, which can lead us to ignore the social nature of health systems and overlook the consequences of change if resilience is seen as a positive, achievable objective. Finally, we suggest that seeing resilience as a normative concept can be detrimental to health system policy and research, and encourage a critical rethinking of these assumptions so that we can maintain resilience’s usefulness for health systems

Economics · Normative · Political science · Popularity · Positive economics · Psychological resilience · Public economics · Sociology · Agricultural risk and resilience · Computer Science · Disaster Response and Management · Health Systems, Economic Evaluations, Quality of Life · Law · Psychology · Social Psychology