Psychosocial Adaptation to Disability Within the Context of Positive Psychology: Findings from the Literature.

PURPOSE: This purpose of this article is to review of the trends of research that examined positive psychology constructs in the context of adapting to chronic illness and disability (CID). This article examines the empirical findings on the relationships between six selected positive psychology-associated constructs (optimism, hope, resilience, benefit-finding, meaning-making, and post-traumatic growth) and adaptation to disability.
METHODS: Six positive psychology constructs were selected to represent the trends found in recent literature published on CID. The process of choosing these six variables included reviewing chapters on positive psychology and CID, reviewing the top rehabilitation journals that typically publish articles on psychosocial adaptation to CID, using search engines to find relevant journal articles published since the year 2000, and selecting the most important constructs based on the authors’ professional judgment.
CONCLUSION: The available evidence supports the unique benefits of these six positive psychology constructs in predicting successful adaptation to a range of disabling conditions. Based on the available findings, the authors offer four suggestions for occupational rehabilitation researchers.