Navigating life's challenges: A randomized 6‐week online intervention study to enhance resilience in working‐age adults

Psychological resilience describes a trainable capacity that allows us to cope with adversity and adapt to stressful life events. This study aimed to investigate the efficacy of a 6-week online resilience intervention in students and working-age individuals. We randomly assigned 174 participants aged between 18 and 54 years (74.1% female) to either an intervention (n = 86, M_age = 24.83, SD_age = 5.93) or a wait-list control group (n = 88, M_age = 23.30, SD_age = 4.49). The intervention group received a 6-week flexible, asynchronous online resilience training consisting of 12 short videos. We assessed resilience, perceived stress, and worries in both groups. Mixed-ANCOVA results indicated that participants assigned to the intervention group significantly increased their resilience scores (M_diff = 3.65, p < .001) and reduced negative emotions such as perceived stress (M_diff = 4.18, p < .001) and worries (M_diff = 5.09, p < .001). We observed no significant changes in the wait-list control group. The intervention group's ability to enhance resilience through watching two short videos per week supports the idea that resilience is trainable. Online resilience interventions represent a promising opportunity to acquire novel coping strategies in order to strengthen resilience and manage life's upcoming challenges.