Hope: a factor influencing crisis resolution.

Hope is a concept often relegated to the realm of the "soft" sciences; yet, the survival value of hope has been documented in both animals and humans. This article develops an operational definition of hope by synthesizing definitions from other disciplines, contrasts hope with hopelessness, and presents a model of hope that represents a reconceptualization of the concepts as applied to health and the crises of stress and transition. The model is presented for critical review, and methods of empirical testing are proposed.