Pathways to Resilience IV: Global South Perspectives

Qualitative Methods to Examine Resilience

Abstract #37
Title: Grounded Theory Methods for Insights into Resilience Processes: The Case of a Young Person Transitioning out of Residential Care
Presenter: Adrian van Breda (University of Johannesburg, South Africa)
Introduction: Among the qualitative research designs that can be used to research resilience, grounded theory (GT) is among the most seldom used (in as few as 1% of studies). The purpose of this paper is to argue for and illustrate the usefulness of GT as a research design for resilience research.
Methods: The core theoretical and methodological components of GT will be examined, showing their relevance to a social-ecological construction of resilience. These include GT’s roots in symbolic interactionism, its use of gerunds for coding, and its focus on theory construction. Thereafter, GT will be illustrated with a case example, using GT to analyse qualitative longitudinal data of a young person transitioning out of residential care in South Africa. Unstructured interviews were conducted before he left care and annually thereafter for four years. Data were qualitatively analysed using Kathy Charmaz’s constructivist GT methods.
Findings: Findings show that GT methods in resilience research foreground two aspects important to social-ecological resilience researchers: the agency of human beings to shape their life course through actions performed over time, and the reciprocal interactions between humans and their social environments.

Abstract #179
Title: What can participatory research contribute to understanding resilience? Exploring the potential of participatory methods with rural girls in Ethiopia.
Presenter: Louise Yorke (Trinity College Dublin, Ireland)
Co-Author: Robbie Gilligan
Introduction:  Resilience research requires an approach that can capture the multitude of factors influencing the wellbeing and development of individuals and can account for the impact of culture on their outcomes (Ungar, 2008; 2011). This paper considers the potential contribution of participatory approaches to understanding resilience in developing country contexts.
Methods: This paper is based on participatory research carried out in Southern Ethiopia with a group of rural girls who migrated to urban areas to pursue their secondary education. A combination of participatory video drama, group discussions and life story interviews were chosen to help capture the complexity of rural girls experiences and outcomes, and the significant impact of culture on their lives. A participatory approach was also considered appropriate to help address some of the challenges of conducting in developing country contexts where the researcher is an outsider and to help reduce the ‘foreigner effect’ (Jakobsen, 2012).
Findings: The potential of participatory approaches to contribute to culturally relevant understandings of resilience that reflect local ways of knowing are discussed. Advantages and challenges of using participatory research in developing country contexts are outlined. Finally the potential of participatory research to contribute to participants own processes of resilience are considered. 

Abstract #267
Title: #WE SPEAK: Reflexive participatory action research to facilitate voice and agency with refugee youth
Presenter: Lynn Norton (UKZN, South Africa)
Co-Author: Yvonne Sliep
Introduction: This paper explores the benefits of following a dialogical reflexive approach with refugee youth living in SA, where space is created for strength-based and local opportunities to emerge. Despite a range of mental health difficulties among refugee populations there are numerous barriers to accessing support, especially for refugee youth.
Methods: We conducted a series of workshops using participatory action research with a focus on the creation of safe dialogical spaces, voice, agency, social connection and performativity.  The methodology uses a critical reflexive framework that facilitates a process of deconstructing power in the collective; determining values and identity; negotiating agency; and positive performance. The research is explored through and with the voices of participants using narrative dialogical analysis and poetic inquiry.
Findings: What emerged early in the research was a sense of hopelessness and despair as a result of structural obstacles that make life extremely stressful for refugee teenagers. However, when opportunity is created for youth to respond from a position of strength possibilities arise that work as barriers to anti-social behavior.