Philip Jefferies | Dalhousie University (original) (raw)
Papers by Philip Jefferies
Applied Research in Quality of Life, 2021
There is an increasing demand for brief measures of resilience that can distinguish different dim... more There is an increasing demand for brief measures of resilience that can distinguish different dimensions of successful adaptation and good quality of life despite the experience of atypical stress. We sought to develop a short measure of resilience that focuses specifically on psychological protective factors associated with resilience.
From a review of existing measures of resilience, a list of protective psychological factors associated with good quality of life in contexts of adversity was compiled. A Delphi approach was employed to identify the most important factors, which were used to create the 10-item Rugged Resilience Measure (RRM). A sample of 5,880 individuals (aged 16-29 years) from seven countries was then surveyed to investigate the psychometric properties of the measure. Analysis of the data involved exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, measurement invariance and alignment tests.
A one-factor model was identified and confirmed to have good fit to the overall sample as well as equivalence across sex and country subgroups. The measure demonstrated good internal reliability (α=.87; ωh=.83) and concurrent validity through significant correlations with a measure of social-ecological resilience (ARM-R: r=.68) and predictive validity with a measure of social anxiety (SIAS: r=-.29). Evidence is also presented for its convergent, discriminant, and incremental validity.
The RRM is a concise and potentially robust measure of personal resilience that works well in different contexts around the world. It may be used to assess internal protective factors or employed concurrently with assessments of social-ecological factors to provide a more holistic account of resilience and an individual’s quality of life.
Academia Letters, 2021
The Brief Resilience Scale (BRS) is a concise measure of resilience developed and put forward by ... more The Brief Resilience Scale (BRS) is a concise measure of resilience developed and put forward by Smith and colleagues in their article The Brief Resilience Scale: Assessing the Ability to Bounce Back. The 6-item BRS finds its audience in those who wish to rapidly assess an individual's self-perceived ability to 'bounce back'. This commentary responds to the development and properties of the measure, articulated in the 2008 study. The length of the BRS is advantageous, particularly so in typical research situations where there may be other factors under investigation. For instance, asking about the experience of wellbeing or mental health (often assessed alongside resilience) can quickly lead to a fairly lengthy survey and increased respondent burden. The BRS is therefore a suitable tool that meets the increasing demand for knowledge about individuals' resilience without needing to engage in-depth assessments (see Sturgess & Department for International Development, 2016; Windle et al., 2011). Other measures of resilience such as the CD-RISC (Connor & Davidson, 2003) and CYRM (Jefferies et al., 2018; Liebenberg et al., 2012) assess the level or presence of internal or external protective factors associated with resilience, and therefore act as indirect and proximal measures of resilience. Such indirect measures of resilience may be useful for identifying where areas of deficit may lie, such as the absence of supportive resources individuals may otherwise turn to in times of hardship or a lack of self-belief. A strength of such measures is also that the particular focus of their items is relatively tangible and unambiguous, but a downside can be their length and contextual variation among protective factors. In contrast, the directness of the BRS is a strength but a potential limitation too. For instance, our group recently conducted a study of social anxiety where we asked individuals around the world to complete a well-established and clinically validated measure of social anxiety while also asking them whether they perceived themselves to be socially anxious [Blinded
Prosthetics and Orthotics International, 2012
There is a lack of knowledge of the psychosocial wellbeing and attributes of Paralympic athletes.... more There is a lack of knowledge of the psychosocial wellbeing and attributes of Paralympic athletes. Such knowledge may reveal what contributes to exceptional performance. To systematically review the literature on psychosocial wellbeing and attributes of the Paralympic athlete. Systematic literature review. Five key databases that index psychosocial literature were searched: CINAHL, ISI Web of Science, MEDLINE, PsycINFO and SportsDiscus. Sixteen papers were found that met the inclusion criteria. The studies were characterised by heterogeneity of design, sample characteristics, outcome assessment and outcomes examined. The emerging thematic areas are 1) participation, motivations and goals; 2) mental imagery; 3) stress and coping; 4) personality; 5) attitudes towards other disabled-bodied athlete groups; 6) knowledge and attitudes towards doping; and 7) transitions to retirement. Relative to the biomechanical aspects of the Paralympian, the psychosocial literature remains limited and diffuse. Nonetheless an understanding of the psychosocial profile of these athletes complements the extant physiological and technological knowledge in enabling a holistic view of what contributes to the successful Paralympic athlete and may facilitate the team working to optimize performance and wellbeing in these high-performing individuals.
Evidence-Based Nursing, 2012
inproceedings by Philip Jefferies
phdtheses by Philip Jefferies
articles by Philip Jefferies
Applied Research in Quality of Life, 2021
There is an increasing demand for brief measures of resilience that can distinguish different dim... more There is an increasing demand for brief measures of resilience that can distinguish different dimensions of successful adaptation and good quality of life despite the experience of atypical stress. We sought to develop a short measure of resilience that focuses specifically on psychological protective factors associated with resilience.
From a review of existing measures of resilience, a list of protective psychological factors associated with good quality of life in contexts of adversity was compiled. A Delphi approach was employed to identify the most important factors, which were used to create the 10-item Rugged Resilience Measure (RRM). A sample of 5,880 individuals (aged 16-29 years) from seven countries was then surveyed to investigate the psychometric properties of the measure. Analysis of the data involved exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, measurement invariance and alignment tests.
A one-factor model was identified and confirmed to have good fit to the overall sample as well as equivalence across sex and country subgroups. The measure demonstrated good internal reliability (α=.87; ωh=.83) and concurrent validity through significant correlations with a measure of social-ecological resilience (ARM-R: r=.68) and predictive validity with a measure of social anxiety (SIAS: r=-.29). Evidence is also presented for its convergent, discriminant, and incremental validity.
The RRM is a concise and potentially robust measure of personal resilience that works well in different contexts around the world. It may be used to assess internal protective factors or employed concurrently with assessments of social-ecological factors to provide a more holistic account of resilience and an individual’s quality of life.
Academia Letters, 2021
The Brief Resilience Scale (BRS) is a concise measure of resilience developed and put forward by ... more The Brief Resilience Scale (BRS) is a concise measure of resilience developed and put forward by Smith and colleagues in their article The Brief Resilience Scale: Assessing the Ability to Bounce Back. The 6-item BRS finds its audience in those who wish to rapidly assess an individual's self-perceived ability to 'bounce back'. This commentary responds to the development and properties of the measure, articulated in the 2008 study. The length of the BRS is advantageous, particularly so in typical research situations where there may be other factors under investigation. For instance, asking about the experience of wellbeing or mental health (often assessed alongside resilience) can quickly lead to a fairly lengthy survey and increased respondent burden. The BRS is therefore a suitable tool that meets the increasing demand for knowledge about individuals' resilience without needing to engage in-depth assessments (see Sturgess & Department for International Development, 2016; Windle et al., 2011). Other measures of resilience such as the CD-RISC (Connor & Davidson, 2003) and CYRM (Jefferies et al., 2018; Liebenberg et al., 2012) assess the level or presence of internal or external protective factors associated with resilience, and therefore act as indirect and proximal measures of resilience. Such indirect measures of resilience may be useful for identifying where areas of deficit may lie, such as the absence of supportive resources individuals may otherwise turn to in times of hardship or a lack of self-belief. A strength of such measures is also that the particular focus of their items is relatively tangible and unambiguous, but a downside can be their length and contextual variation among protective factors. In contrast, the directness of the BRS is a strength but a potential limitation too. For instance, our group recently conducted a study of social anxiety where we asked individuals around the world to complete a well-established and clinically validated measure of social anxiety while also asking them whether they perceived themselves to be socially anxious [Blinded
Prosthetics and Orthotics International, 2012
There is a lack of knowledge of the psychosocial wellbeing and attributes of Paralympic athletes.... more There is a lack of knowledge of the psychosocial wellbeing and attributes of Paralympic athletes. Such knowledge may reveal what contributes to exceptional performance. To systematically review the literature on psychosocial wellbeing and attributes of the Paralympic athlete. Systematic literature review. Five key databases that index psychosocial literature were searched: CINAHL, ISI Web of Science, MEDLINE, PsycINFO and SportsDiscus. Sixteen papers were found that met the inclusion criteria. The studies were characterised by heterogeneity of design, sample characteristics, outcome assessment and outcomes examined. The emerging thematic areas are 1) participation, motivations and goals; 2) mental imagery; 3) stress and coping; 4) personality; 5) attitudes towards other disabled-bodied athlete groups; 6) knowledge and attitudes towards doping; and 7) transitions to retirement. Relative to the biomechanical aspects of the Paralympian, the psychosocial literature remains limited and diffuse. Nonetheless an understanding of the psychosocial profile of these athletes complements the extant physiological and technological knowledge in enabling a holistic view of what contributes to the successful Paralympic athlete and may facilitate the team working to optimize performance and wellbeing in these high-performing individuals.
Evidence-Based Nursing, 2012