Revisiting Proactive and Reactive Pathways to Resilience among CISM-Trained Responders and General Population Participants - Mechanisms That Contribute to Building Overall Psychological Body Armor

Sep 4, 2026

Two prior studies examined how innate well-being and behavioral variables support Psychological Body ArmorTM (PBA), shaped by interacting proactive and reactive resilience pathways in CISM-trained disaster mental health responders and the general population. This study expanded and replicated those findings with 509 general participants and 343 trained crisis intervention responders during COVID-19, using original, revised, and new measures plus an open-ended spirituality item. With COVID-19 social disruption controlled, mindfulness and self-efficacy predicted proactive resilience capacity, and personal relationships predicted reactive resilience. Hierarchical regression and QCA also indicated professional CISM training strengthened resilience across both pathways.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages36

Reading Time1 h 31 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Proactive Resilience

REVISITING PROACTIVE AND REACTIVE PATHWAYS TO RESILIENCE AMONG CISM-TRAINED RESPONDERS AND GENERAL POPULATION PARTICIPANTS: MECHANISMS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO BUILDING OVERALL PSYCHOLOGICAL BODY ARMORTM Harvey J. Burnett Jr., [harveyb@andrews.edu](harveyb@andrews.edu) School of Social & Behavioral Sciences, Andrews University ORCID iD: 0000-0001-6108-1383 Justine Jaeger, [justinej@andrews.edu](justinej@andrews.edu) School of Social & Behavioral Sciences, Andrews University Kristen Witzel, [witzel@andrews.edu](witzel@andrews.edu) School of Social & Behavioral Sciences, Andrews University Karl G. D. Bailey, [kgbailey@andrews.edu](kgbailey@andrews.edu) School of Social & Behavioral Sciences, Andrews University Abstract: Two previous studies by Burnett and colleagues found preliminary support for several innate well-being and behavioral variables that contribute to one’s Psychological Body Armor’sTM (PBA), which is comprised of two unique interacting pathways (proactive and reactive resilience) among trained disaster mental health responders and the general population. This study sought to improve, expand, and replicate the findings of these two studies. Data was collected from 509 Amazon Mechanical Turk workers and 343 trained novice and experienced disaster mental health crisis intervention responders, who were general members of the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation or the Michigan Crisis Response Association, eight months into the COVID-19 global pandemic. Participants completed eight of the original measures used in the original studies, three revised measures, five new measures and an open-ended question about one’s spiritual wellness routines. Controlling for the level of social disruption due to COVID-19, several significant correlations for both pathways were found similar to the two previous studies. Among both samples, hierarchical regression analyses revealed that mindfulness and self-efficacy were significant predictors of resilience capacity for the proactive pathway, while personal relationships with others was a significant predictor for the reactive pathway. Similar to the two previous studies, qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) revealed having professional crisis intervention training contributed more to strong resilience for both pathways. Transcendental phenomenological qualitative data analysis identified 14 spiritual wellness routines among crisis responders with prayer, reading religious literature, meditation and attending religious services being the most frequent. Keywords: resilience, proactive resilience, reactive resilience, psychological body armorTM, critical incident stress management, spiritual wellness Introduction Research has indicated that a majority of people have been exposed to at least one adverse incident in their lifetime but respond to these events in various ways (Kilpatrick et al., 2013; Ozer et al., 2003) . Therefore, one’s resilience capacity, or more specifically their ability to maintain healthy and stable levels of psychological and physiological equilibrium after exposure to such incidents, is critical to their ability to function adaptively over time (Bonanno, 2004; Bonanno et al., 2001; Everly, 2012; Kaminsky et al., 2007) . Furthermore, the resilience literature has advocated that people can exhibit resilience through multiple paths such as hardiness, positive emotions, fostering optimism, social support networks, and engaging in positive thinking after experiencing adversity (Bonanno, 2004; Everly 2012) . Everly (2017) posited the phenomenon of Psychological Body ArmorTM (PBA) which is defined as a “unique form of human resilience” that consists of two critical pathways: proactive resilience (one’s immunity to crisis reactions) and reactive resilience (one’s ability to bounce back from adverse life experiences) . Within Everly’s PBA theoretical framework, setting realistic expectations about significant challenges or threats, foste

FAQs

What is Psychological Body ArmorTM (PBA) and how does it relate to proactive and reactive resilience?

PBA is defined as a unique form of human resilience composed of two interacting pathways: proactive resilience (immunity to crisis reactions) and reactive resilience (the ability to bounce back from adversity).

Who participated in the study and when was data collected?

Data were collected from 509 Amazon Mechanical Turk workers and 343 trained novice and experienced disaster mental health crisis intervention responders. Collection occurred about eight months into the COVID-19 global pandemic.

Which factors predicted each resilience pathway in the study’s analyses?

Hierarchical regression showed mindfulness and self-efficacy predicted proactive resilience capacity, while personal relationships with others predicted reactive resilience. QCA further indicated professional crisis intervention training contributed to strong resilience for both pathways.

Sep 4, 2026

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