cc_bySchellekens,M.Zwanenburg,L.van der Lee,M.L.2025-02-012025-02-012024Schellekens, M, Zwanenburg, L & van der Lee, M L 2024, 'Resilience in the face of cancer : On the importance of defining and studying resilience as a dynamic process of adaptation', Current Oncology, vol. 31, no. 7, pp. 4003-4014. https://doi.org/10.3390/curroncol310702971198-0052ORCID: /0000-0001-8397-7674/work/16376493810.3390/curroncol31070297https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14602/81687Resilience is defined as the maintenance or relatively quick recovery of mental health during and after adversity. Rather than focusing on psychopathology and its causes, resilience research aims to understand what protective mechanisms shield individuals against developing such disorders and translate these insights to improve psychosocial care. This resilience approach seems especially promising for the field of oncology because patients face stressor after stressor from diagnosis to survivorship. Helping patients to learn how they can best use the resources and abilities available to them can empower patients to handle subsequent stressors. In the past few decades, resilience has increasingly been considered as a dynamic process of adaptation. While researchers use this definition, resilience has not yet been studied as a dynamic process in the field of oncology. As a result, the potential of resilience research to gain insight into what helps protect cancer patients from developing psychopathology is limited. We discuss conceptual and methodological proposals to advance resilience research in oncology. Most importantly, we propose applying prospective longitudinal designs to capture the dynamic resilience process. By gaining insight in how cancer patients engage in protective factors, resilience research can come to its full potential and help prevent psychopathology.enginfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessadaptive copingcancerecological momentary assessmentemotion regulationprospective longitudinal designspsychological distressqualitative researchresiliencesocial supportHumansNeoplasms/psychologyResilience, PsychologicalAdaptation, PsychologicalSDG 3 - Good Health and Well-beingArticleGeneral rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. - Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. - You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain - You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal" Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim.https://www.mdpi.com/1718-7729/31/7/297https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85199870285open10114406946834012https://research.tilburguniversity.edu/en/publications/e7bd7983-8665-43e9-b542-1784b8a400c8https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/(c) Universiteit van TilburgSchellekens, M.§0000-0001-8397-7674Zwanenburg, L.van der Lee, M.L.§0000-0002-1316-7008