Lecture 5 Resilience PDF

What is resilience? Multiple definitions Overcoming negative effects of risk exposure, adapting or coping successfully with traumatic experiences, and avoiding negative trajectories associated with risk Shifting understanding of resilience Originally conceptualized as a set of ind...

What is resilience? Multiple definitions Overcoming negative effects of risk exposure, adapting or coping successfully with traumatic experiences, and avoiding negative trajectories associated with risk Shifting understanding of resilience Originally conceptualized as a set of individual traits that predisposed children to successful coping under stress Now in the present, understand resilience as a process ○ Interactions occurring within and between multiple systems (ex. Individual biology, psychological, relational, sociocultural, institutional, and ecological mechanisms) Resilience is a process, not a static trait Resilience is: Content specific Culture specific (Age of exposure is important!) Promotive and Protective Factors and Processes (PPFPs) Positive impact of PPFPs on resilience Resilience is facilitated by multiple PPFPs at multiple system levels Promotive Factors and Processes Promotive factors: characteristics, conditions, or resources that actively enhance or facilitate positive development and well-being Promotive processes: the actions, behaviours, or strategies that individuals or communities engage in to promote positive outcomes and strengths Ex. a promotive factor could be access to quality education, while a promotive process could be an individual’s commitment to studying and learning Protective Factors and Processes Protective factors: factors that act as a buffer or shield against the development of negative outcomes or risks Protective processes: the actions, behaviours, or strategies that individuals or communities use to reduce or mitigate the impact of adverse situations or stressors Ex. a protective factor could be strong social support, while a protective process could involve seeking help and emotional support from friends and family during difficult times What is the difference between promotive and protective? Promotive: ○ Predictors of higher levels of positive outcomes/wellbeing Protective: ○ Predictors of lower levels of psychological symptoms ○ Compensate for risks If something is promotive or protective depends on the circumstances! Promotive and Protective Factors Two kinds: assets and resources Assets ○ Reside within the individual, such as competence, coping skills, and self-efficacy Resources ○ Include parental support, adult mentoring, or community organizations that promote positive youth development Socio-ecological approach Categories of resilience models 1. Compensatory 2. Protective 3. Challenge Compensatory Where a resilience factor counteracts a risk factor Has a direct effect on the outcome One that is independent of the effect of the risk factor Protective Assets or resources influence or reduce the effects of a risk on a negative outcome Protective factors may neturalize the effects of risks, weaken, but not completely remove them, or enhance the positive effect of another promotive factor in producing an outcome Challenge Exposures to both low and high levels of a risk factor are associated with negative outcomes, but moderate levels of the risk are related to less negative (or positive) outcomes Intervening to Cultivate Resilience Goal of resilience research ○ What protects individuals and systems from breaking down when things go wrong in some circumstances Resilience in Conflict Settings Context of Afghanistan Methods: ○ In 2006 School-based health survey of 11-16 year old students and their caregivers in the central and northern municipalities of Kabul, Bamyan, and Mazar-e-Sharif ○ Schools were the best point of contact for drawing a community-level sample Access to both female/male participants and a safe environment Findings: ○ 5% of adults and 10% of children cited mo major worries in life Everyday stressors and social suffering Poverty and Broken Economy ○ “I don’t own my own home. I’ve got two sons, they're both young men now, and I don't have money to marry them off. My husband is a taxi driver, he only earns 150-200 Afs [$3-4 US] a day. There are fourteen people in our family, he can't make enough to provide for us. We can barely make the rent. One of my sons died a year and a half ago, he had a tumour in his ear and he has typhus, he was only in fifth grade. If we’d had money for medical treatment he’d still be alive.” - Caregiver (mother, age 40) ○ “We don’t have money. One day I have work, the next day I don't. Sometimes I can't sell fruit in the market and I don't have any money. Now all I've got is 500 Afghanis [$10 US]. Sometimes the tire on my cart goes flat, and I have to pay to get it fixed. There is no way you can earn enough to eat by selling fruit off a cart.” - student (boy, age 16) Housing and Homelessness Social relationships: domestic violence and marginalization ○ “My husband’s a driver, but he doesn't won the car he drives, so he has to give a large part of what he earns to the owner. We have to share a house with four other families; we live in the separate rooms of the house and it’s difficult. My mind gets weaker and weaker, and I get upset and beat the kids. Yesterday I beat my daughter, then I felt bad about it and slapped myself on the face.” - Caregiver (aunt, age 28) Ill health Governance and social justice  ○ “I’ll tell you one thing - I don’t have anything good to say about the Taliban or Najibullah or Masood or any of the mujahideen. We need peace. We need food. Whoever provides us with these, we need him. If someone asks me who I support, I will say ‘none of them.’ they all strive for power for themselves. Look at their relatives, look at the luxury cars they have, look at the big houses they’ve built! Powerful people get all the money, the poor stay poor.” - caregiver (60-year-old male war veteran) Resilience Faith (iman) Family unity and harmony (wahdat, and ittifaq) Service (khidmat) “I want my children to grow up, and my daughters to get married. I hope God keeps my children on the path of the righteous. I want them to have good health and serve their father and mother.” - caregiver (mother, age 42) Perseverance and effort (koshesh) Morals (akhlaq) Social prominence, respectability, and honour (‘izzat) “Last year my husband kicked me out of our house. I spent a month at my father’s home without my children. Now everyday he’s telling me to go away, that he doesn’t need me around any more. But I suffer all these tortures because of my children and my father’s honour [‘izzat].” - caregiver (mother, age 40) What can we learn from this example? Demonstrates importance of meaning making when encountering adversity Need for a culturally situated understanding of resilience and what factors and processes promote resilience Practice questions: