Exploring resilience when living with a wound: an integrative literature review

The psychological impact for patients with wounds can be significant, and adverse psychological effects frequently occur when there are permanent changes in the body’s structure or function. Evidence suggests that anxiety, depression and stress can adversely affect the wound healing process. An integrative review examined any paper that discussed any patient in any health care setting who had experienced a psychological impact from the experience of having a wound and the experience of being resilient in that context. Ninety nine papers were located in the initial search with twelve meeting the inclusion criteria and being reviewed. A review of the papers identified that improvement and maintenance of quality of life was perceived to be an important aspect of patient management, but none focused on resilience as a primary endpoint. Further research is required into the clinical benefits of resilient behaviours in patients living with a wound.