The focus of the Resilience and protection factorsresearch focusses on the question "What keeps people healthy?". The focus is on protective factors that have a strengthening effect on mental and physical health.
Health resources in the sense of the Ottawa Charter are health potentials of people that can contribute to maintaining their health and promoting their well-being. From the perspective of coping with stress, they are also referred to as protective factors.
Protection factor
A protective factor is an environmental or personal factor that buffers the psychological impact of stressful environmental conditions or other risk-increasing factors on a person.
Under otherwise equally stressful environmental conditions, some people develop a mental disorder while others do not. Protective factors are divided into three groups: personal (e.g. coping strategies), familial (e.g. stable emotional relationship with an attachment figure) and social protective factors (e.g. positive school experiences).
Protective factors should not be seen merely as the opposite or the absence of health or developmental risks. Although it is generally assumed that protective factors cushion the stressful effect of risk factors, i.e. have a so-called "moderating effect", some protective factors appear to be directly effective, i.e. independent of the presence of a risk.
Apparative stress and resilience analysis:
Health research
Health research has identified a large number of protective factors to which a salutogenic, i.e. health-protecting or health-promoting function is attributed. In the scientific literature, they are usually categorised into personal and social protective factors:
Personal protective factors
Personal (also known as personal or internal) protective factors are defined as individual life skills, personality traits and specific coping strategies, as well as physical protective factors such as a stable, resilient immune system and physical health. Across all ages, a high expectation of self-efficacy, good self-regulation skills, an internal sense of control, dispositional optimism and the ability to experience positive emotions are regarded as protective - although the number and methodological quality of studies on the individual factors varies greatly.
(Bengel, Meinders-Lücking & Rottmann, 2009; Bengel & Lyssenko, 2012; Rönnau-Böse & Fröhlich-Gildhoff, 2020)
Social protective factors
Social (also: external, environmental or ecological) protective factors are factors of a person's social environment. The securing of basic conditions such as adequate nutrition, sufficient living space and gainful employment are often mentioned here. However, these factors have a generally positive effect on health rather than having a specific effect under risky conditions. A supportive and caring relationship has been identified as the most stable predictor of resilient development (Luthar, 2006).
Protective factors are effective long-term health resources. The continuous promotion of protective resources in children, adolescents and adults in their environments and life contexts (family, community, institutions) as well as active advocacy against jeopardising social and health inequalities (within the framework of living conditions and overall policy) are at the core of health promotion.
Sources:
https://www.dieinitiative.de/glossar-begriff/gesundheitsressourcen/
https://www.spektrum.de/lexikon/psychologie/protektive-ressourcen/11936
https://leitbegriffe.bzga.de/alphabetisches-verzeichnis/resilienz-und-schutzfaktoren/
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schutzfaktor
https://www.deutsche-rentenversicherung.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/DE/Experten/infos_reha_einrichtungen/gesundheitsbildung/schutzfaktoren_sachtext.pdf
