Introduction: Defining and Theorising Key Concepts of Resilience and Well-Being and Arts-Based Research

Resilience and well-being are critical attributes for survival in today’s world. Often people face many challenges in the home, workplace environments and/or educational institutions. This chapter will introduce and theorise key concepts such as resilience, well-being and reflection. It will advocate for arts-based approaches to researching these core principles as the arts can trigger different ways of knowing and thinking about situations that require reflection for advancement. The volume will take the World Health Organisation’s (Mental health: A state of well-being, Retrieved from: http://www.who.int/features/factfiles/mental_health/en/, 2014) definition of well-being as “the state in which an individual realises his or her own abilities, can cope with normal stresses of life, can work productively, and is able to make a contribution to his or her own community” (WHO, p. 1). Resilience is related to the ideal of well-being as it refers to how people adapt to and adopt the ability to cope with challenges and new circumstances.