The lived experiences of resilience in Iranian adolescents living in residential care facilities: A hermeneutic phenomenological study

Abstract

BackgroundResilience is one of the main factors affecting human health, and perceiving its meaning for high-risk adolescents is of particular importance in initiating preventive measures and providing resilience care.ObjectivesThis qualitative study was conducted to explain the meaning of resilience in the lived experiences of Iranian adolescents living in governmental residential care facilities.Materials and methodsThis study was conducted using the hermeneutic phenomenological method. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight adolescents aged 13–17 living in governmental residential care facilities of Tehran province affiliated to the Welfare Organization of Iran who articulated their experiences of resilience. Sampling lasted from May 2014 to July 2015 and continued until new themes were no longer emerging. The researchers analyzed the verbatim transcripts using Van Manen's six-step method of phenomenology.ResultsThe themes obtained in this study included “going through life's hardships,” “aspiring for achievement,” “self-protection,” “self-reliance,” and “spirituality.”ConclusionOur study indicates that the meaning of resilience coexists with self-reliance in adolescents’ lived experiences. Adolescents look forward to a better future. They always trust God in the face of difficulties and experience resilience by keeping themselves physically and mentally away from difficulties. Adverse and bitter experiences of the past positively affected their positive view on life and its difficulties and also their resilience. The five themes that emerged from the findings describe the results in detail. The findings of this study enable nurses, health administrators, and healthcare providers working with adolescents to help this vulnerable group cope better with their stressful life conditions and improve their health through increasing their capacity for resilience.

Characteristics and components of children’s and adolescents’ resilience in disasters in Iran: a qualitative study

“…Communication with the creator, worship, and prayer, in different cultures and different religions, has calming effects, such as improved mental health and increased tolerance. Other studies have also indicated the effects of a spiritual component on the resilience of children and adolescents (de Milliano, 2015; Nourian et al, 2016; Sapienza & Masten, 2011). Kindness and empathy make up another component of children’s resilience, which in disasters can be effective in promoting the mental and psychological condition of both the society and the family.…”

“…Resilience as a personal characteristic leads to positive adaptation and moderates the negative effects of stressors, enabling people to rehabilitate and maintain their health in spite of existing problems (Tonmyr, Wekerle, Zangeneh, & Fallon, 2011; Wagnild & Young, 1993). According to Zolkoski and Bullock (2012), studies conducted over the past four decades on the concept of resilience indicate that this is a challenging concept for researchers, and there are several different definitions of resilience (Jacelon, 1997; Leipold & Greve, 2009; Nourian, Mohammadi Shahbolaghi, Nourozi Tabrizi, Rassouli, & Biglarrian, 2016; Vinson, 2002). …”

“…A previous study indicated that the recognition and understanding of the concept of resilience in the context of Iranian culture can help health planners to set health programmes for adolescents, identify their needs, and take effective measures to prevent injury and promote their resilience (Nourian et al, 2016). Studies conducted on resilience in Iran have been mainly focused on the areas of psychology and psychiatry, describing the relationship between resilience and the psychological, familial, occupational, and social characteristics of adolescents of different ages.…”

Processes of Religious and Spiritual Influence in Adolescence: A Systematic Review of 30 Years of Research

“…Cook's (2000) study of the resilience of inner-city minority youth found that religious youth had greater psychological well-being than the control group because the church provided teens with the three levels of support-mentorship, community support, and a relationship with God. All three components of support also appeared in three other studies (Clayton-Jones, Haglund, Belknap, Schaefer, & Thompson, 2016;Liu, Carter, Boehm, Annandale, & Taylor, 2014;Nourian, Shahbolaghi, Tabrizi, Rassouli, & Biglarrian, 2016). However, given that most often church leader and community support were the only types of support mentioned (11 out of 18 studies), we coded God support as Spiritual (specifically Theistic Spirituality) and support in religious communities as RS Support.…”

Basic Life Skills Required by Girl-Children to Overcome Adversities of Polygamy in Etsako Nigeria

“…Qualitative researchers may ensure transferability by providing as much contextual information as possible to help future researchers identify relevant characteristics that could be transferred to a different study (Gheondea-Eladi, 2014). As suggested by Nourian, Farahnaz, Kian, Rassouli, and Biglarrian (2016) we provided a detailed and complete description of the process to facilitate the future assessment of the study to achieving transferability. To ensure quality, we thickly explained the settings and participants for this study.…”