Table 1.

Crisis definitions from seven articles with citations

Original article	Crisis definition
Hoff, 1995 [7,8]	“The representation of a serious occasion or turning point occurring when an individual is faced with an obstacle that is important to life goals. A crisis is self-limiting because homeostatic mechanisms necessitate resolution of a crisis. A crisis results in depletion of system resources and eventually the system shuts down or ceases to function.”
Caplan, 1961 [7,9]	“An obstacle that is insurmountable through customary methods of problems solving.”
Liken, 2001 [7]	“A process precipitated by a stressor that occurs only in the presence of mediating factors, when normal methods of problem solving have failed, and results in an outcomes or resolution.”
Caplan, 1964 [10,11]	“An imbalance between the difficulty and importance of the problem and resources immediately available to deal with it.”
Butcher and Maudel, 1976 [12-14]	“The dual experience of distress and sense of immediacy associated with a defined, problematic situation.”
Aguilera, 1998 [15]	“A perceived or actual imbalance between perceived difficulty of a life challenge and an available repertoire of coping skills.”
Aguilera and Messick, 1986 [16], Joslin, 1980 [17]
England, 1994 [17]	“A decision point, an opportunity for growth.”
Maturana and Varela, 1987[18], Shaw and Halliday, 1992 [17]	“In crisis, experience within the niche is detached and out of sync with the rest of the domains of experiences, one or more structural domain.”
Michon, 2005 [19], De Clerq and Dubois, 2001 [20], Aguilera, 1998 [15]	“Periods of disorganization experienced by the entire family that turn into opportunities of change.”