Exploring Resiliency Factors of Older African American Katrina Survivors

Abstract

Through this qualitative study the author explores the resiliency processes demonstrated by older African American Hurricane Katrina survivors who relocated in the aftermath of the storm and were consequently faced with difficult challenges. In-depth interviews were used to assess the multidimensional characteristics of resiliency that enabled these older adults to deal with adversity. These findings highlight distinct processes reflecting resiliency: (a) Trusting in a higher power, and the importance of (b) living in the present, (c) activating resources, (d) creating community, and (e) doing for others. The author concludes this study with suggestions on how these findings may inform social work practice with older adults.

Disciplining the risky subject: a discourse analysis of the concept of resilience in social work literature

“…Similarly, in an article on African American survivors of Hurricane Katrina, Thomas (2012) first draws attention to wider institutional and systemic forces at play, naming “vast discrimination, rejection, stressors, oppression, and societal exclusion” (p. 355) that affect these subjects’ mental health. It is noteworthy that these same forces are not said to be operative in the survivors’ material lives, including housing conditions and education for example.…”

“…For “diverse” communities and individuals, culture is an additional step in that movement. As Thomas (2012) puts it, better understanding of “how culture and race influence dimensions of resiliency” is an important factor “in adequately attending to the needs of diverse populations” (p. 364). Filbert and Flynn’s (2010) study of Canadian Aboriginal communities is a clear example of this elision at work.…”

Social support, coping strategies and their correlations with older adults’ relocation adjustments after natural disaster

“…Older adults are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of relocation, because they have limited health, mental, economic and social resources, likely decreasing their ability to adapt to changes that accompany their new residential environment . Older people also typically have long‐standing attachments to their previous communities, and generally see themselves as having less time to restore impaired social connections and create new relationships …”

“…A high degree of perceived community cohesion and mutual support can guard community members against the long‐term deleterious effects of disasters . Specifically, a cooperative community can rebuild its social networks, activate its resources, and compensate its members for damages and losses caused by disasters …”

Resilient First-Generation College Students: A Multiple Regression Analysis Examining the Impact of Optimism, Academic Self-Efficacy, Social Support, Religiousness, and Spirituality on Perceived Resilience

“…As seen in the above illustrations, various researchers have defined resiliency differently, which causes fundamental challenges for operationalizing resiliency as a construct that can be measured in research (Miller, 2003). Despite these challenges, resiliency research continues to thrive and has expanded from looking at only children to people of different ages, cultural backgrounds, gender, socioeconomic status, and applied to a variety groups in differing adverse situations (Hartman, Turner, Exum, & Cullen, 2009;Heisel & Flett, 2008;Langer, 2004;Marsh, Evans, & Weigel, 2009;Thomas, 2012;Wadsworth & Santiago, 2008;Wallace, 2012) .…”