The aim of this study was to unify the elusive concept of resilience and to measure the construct by different psychological factors constituting resilience. In particular, using a questionnaire four specific factors of resilience have been analyzed: self-efficacy, optimism, social support and spiritual/religious belief. This analysis was based on a main sample (n = 337) including three different groups of chronic illnesses: chronic backache, multiple sclerosis, and inflammatory bowel disease.

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... urther, the group of people suffering from inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) was examined within a specific sample (n = 153) in order to identify the influence of resilience on depression, anxiety, fatigue, posttraumatic stress disorder, stress, and coping strategies. It was also investigated whether resilience as assessed with the psychometric scale CD-RISC could be fully explained by the four specific factors of resilience. Self-efficacy was identified in both samples as the single most important predictor of resilience, followed by optimism and social support. In addition, the variable spiritual/religious belief was significantly related to resilience in the main sample as well as in the specific sample. However, it had just a small effect on resilience. CD-RISC scores had incremental validity beyond the four specific factors of resilience only with regard to depression scores (ß = -.18; p = .04). Among the specific sample, resilience correlated negatively with psychological distress. The effect of maladaptive and adaptive coping strategies did not show any significant differences, concerning the outcome of resilience. Regarding future research on this topic, the study recommends further detailed considerations of the outcome in order to gain more support for the most significant results. Especially, the clinical practice could include the importance of self-efficacy as a resilience factor on psychological wellbeing when treating people suffering from inflammatory bowel diseases.