Beyond resilience: A scoping review of Indigenous survivance in the health literature

Abstract

Health inequity scholars, particularly those engaged with questions of structural and systemic racism, are increasingly vocal about the limitations of “resilience.” This is true for Indigenous health scholars, who have pushed back against resilience as a descriptor of modern Indigeneity and who are increasingly using the term survivance. Given the growing frequency of survivance in relation to health, we performed a scoping review to understand how survivance is being applied in health scholarship, with a particular interest in its relationship to resilience. Results from 32 papers indicate that health scholars are employing survivance in relation to narrative, temporality, community, decolonization, and sovereignty, with varying degrees of adherence to the term’s original conception. Overwhelmingly, authors employed survivance in relation to historical trauma, leading us to propose the analogy: as resilience is to trauma, so survivance is to historical trauma. There may be value in further operationalizing survivance for health research and practice through the development of a unified definition and measurement tool, ensuring comparability across studies and supporting future strengths-based Indigenous health research and practice.

A mixed-methods study protocol on factors contributing to suicide clusters among Native American youth in a northern plains reservation

“…The contribution of this work will showcase the ongoing need to prioritize finding solutions to address the disproportionate mental health comorbidities (depression, anxiety, substance use disorder, complex trauma, and grief) in Fort Belknap. This work will inform a suicide crisis response tool kit and the development of meaningful culturally aligned, and safe solutions and interventions that will enhance individual, family, and community survivance ( 82 ). Overall, our study will serve as an exemplar of co-created, culturally safe solutions designed to address mental health resource gaps, which may be useful for other research-practice partnership teams.…”

Assessing transgenerational trauma transmission: development and psychometric properties of the Historical Intergenerational Trauma Transmission Questionnaire (HITT-Q)

“…However, in order to prevent or diminish the negative impact of trauma in the next generation, it is equally important to consider potential associated resilience factors (e.g. positive coping skills), that facilitate a transition from a state of survival, a reactive state, to one of survivance, a proactive state (Wilbur & Gone, 2023 ), both in families and offspring. Resilience reflects a process over time (Bonanno et al, 2004 ), which can be best viewed from a dynamic, multisystem perspective where diverse factors at play, leading to variation in responses in groups and individuals exposed to mass-level trauma (Masten, 2011 , 2021 ).…”

Emergence and evolution of developmental resilience science over half a century

“…Research on the neurobiology of resilience blossomed when the tools for reliable assessments of processes within the human body became more feasible, including assessments of stress biology, gene methylation, immune function, and brain function (Feder et al, 2019;Feldman, 2021;Gunnar, 2020;Masten & Cicchetti, 2016;McEwen, 2020;McLaughlin et al, 2020;Shonkoff et al, 2021). Research focused on sociocultural processes, acculturation, discrimination, social justice, and historical trauma gained more attention (e.g., Jones et al, 2023;Marks et al, 2020;Murry et al, 2023;Panter-Brick, 2023;Spencer, 2023;Motti-Stefanidi, 2023;Suárez-Orozco et al, 2018;Wilbur & Gone, 2023). Multisystem measures of protective factors became prominent, such as the Child and Youth Resilience Measure (Ungar & Liebenberg, 2011) and indices of positive (rather than adverse) childhood experiences, such as the Benevolent Childhood Experiences scale (Narayan et al, 2023).…”