Promotion in the resilience through an intervention based on the character strengths in patients diagnosed with congenital heart disease: from positive psychology perspective

Abstract

The aim of the study was to promote the use of character strengths as generators and/or enhancers of resilience in children with congenital heart disease (CC) through an intervention based on positive psychology. Five patients in a high specialty hospital in Mexico City participated, with an average age of 11.60 ± years old. The intervention consisted of five group sessions and the pre-post test effects were measured with the Inventory of Strengths and Virtues (Cosentino & Castro, 2008) and the resilience Questionnaire for children and adolescents (González, 2010). The results show that children had a resilient behavior and have an adequate adaptation capacity to their CC. In addition, there is an increase in the strengths belonging to the virtues of; Transcendence (z = -2.06, p = 0.039) and Wisdom (z = -2.032, p = 0.042). Studies such as this represent change of perspective in the field of health, since it focuses on the positive development of the child and better management of the disease and its treatment, looking for providing personal tools for the psychopathological prevention and confronting adverse situations better.