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Date of Graduation
5-14-2026
Semester of Graduation
Spring
Degree Name
Educational Specialist (EdS)
Department
Department of Graduate Psychology
First Advisor
Tammy Gilligan
Second Advisor
Deborah Kipps-Vaughan
Third Advisor
Tiffany Hornsby
Abstract
School-based resilience programs have emerged as a promising vehicle for promoting social-emotional development and buffering the effects of adversity among students. However, a systematic understanding of common program components, associated student outcomes, and implementation factors remains limited. This systematized review examined peer-reviewed research on resilience-building interventions for students in preschool through 12th-grade school settings. Following a structured search across four databases, nine studies met inclusion criteria and were analyzed using structured narrative synthesis. Findings were organized by four research questions addressing program components, student outcomes, implementation factors, and implementation–outcome relationships. Results indicated that resilience interventions consistently strengthened protective competencies, including coping skills, emotional regulation, and resilience beliefs, across delivery models and grade levels. Symptom-level improvements were more pronounced in targeted or higher-risk samples than in universal prevention contexts. Behavioral outcomes were infrequently measured and inconsistently reported, representing an emerging area for future investigation. Implementation infrastructure — including facilitator training and fidelity monitoring — varied substantially across studies and was associated descriptively, though not causally, with more consistent program outcomes. A notable gap in culturally grounded intervention design was identified, with only one of nine studies explicitly integrating a culturally responsive framework. Implications for school psychologists are discussed, including the importance of data-driven program selection, culturally informed implementation, and advocacy for tiered service delivery. Future research should prioritize cultural adaptation documentation, differential responsiveness analyses, and longitudinal outcome tracking to advance the evidence base for school-based resilience programming.
