Resilience and vulnerability in women’s health care during the COVID-19 pandemic: an integrative review

Abstract This study seeks to identify the concept of resilience and reflect on factor that made women’s heath vulnerable and protected (at personal level and in health services) during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is an integrative review of the literature, carried out in the SciELO, BVS, PubMed and LILACS databases, using the descriptors resilience, women’s health, gynecology, obstetrics, COVID-19 and pandemic, covering the years 2020 to 2022, in Portuguese and English. 43 articles were included and analyzed in 4 thematic areas: concept of resilience, impacts of the pandemic on health services, stressors and personal resilience factors, and impacts of the pandemic on women’ lives. Highlights difficulties in adapting the health network to the crisis stand out, as well as losses in access to services and information, leading to physical and mental harm, especially for the most vulnerable population. Factors that promote resilience were physical activity, interpersonal support, routine, education, income and maintenance of some services. Resilience in healthcare is a new, complex and promising field, which should be encouraged, as it contributes to strategies for improving and adapting healthcare systems and people’s lives, preventively, during and after crises.