Syftet med denna kvalitativa studie är att genom enkäter undersöka om det finns en diskrepans mellan det teoretiska begreppet resiliens och den empiriska tillämpningen. För att besvara denna fråga undersöks följande delfrågor: Vad ingår i olika teoretiska resiliensbegrepp? Hur ser innebörden av resiliensbegreppet ut hos svenska krishanteringsaktörer idag? Hur arbetar svenska krishanteringsaktörer för resiliens för att göra städer säkrare i framtiden? Denna studie ska vara till hjälp för krishanteringsaktörer i deras förståelse för vad resiliensbegreppet är och finna kunskap i dessa tre resilienskoncept för att kunna använda det i sitt praktiska arbete när de talar om att arbeta för resiliens. I denna studie har tjugosex stycken enkäter skickats ut till personer som på något sätt arbetar med krishantering. Respondenterna arbetar på olika nivåer (kommun, länsstyrelse, myndighet, privat sektor samt forskare). Forskning och teorier kring resiliens kommer baseras på Brian Walker & David Salt som beskriver ingenjörsteknisk resiliens och ekologisk resiliens i boken Resilience thinking därefter förklarar Ulrich Beck enligt boken Risksamhället hur man måste arbeta för framtiden och inte se bakåt för att planera efter det som skett i dåtid. Pickett, McGrath, Cadenasso & Felson beskriver i sin forskning Ecological resilience and Resilient cities hur hållbarhet är en viktig del i resiliens. Avslutningsvis beskrivs det tredje resiliensbegreppet, nämligen Socio-ekologisk resiliens där Carl Folke lyfter upp vikten av att utveckla resiliens för det socio-ekologiska systemet för att skapa en anpassningsförmåga som möjliggör kontinuerlig utveckling, som ett dynamisk adaptiv samspel mellan att upprätthålla och utvecklas i förändring. För att kunna minska diskrepansen mellan begreppet resiliens och den empiriska tillämpningen krävs att det först och främst finns en förståelse för och en kunskap om begreppet resiliens. Därefter krävs det en samverkan mellan olika aktörer speciellt att krishanteringsaktörerna tar del av de forskningsresultat som framkommer för att kunna implementera det praktiskt och på så sätt få nya innovativa idéer att arbeta efter. / The purpose of this qualitative study is through survey investigate if there is a discrepancy between the theoretical concept of resilience and the empirical application. To answer this question this study examines the following issues: What is included in various theoretical resilience concept? What is the meaning of the resilience concept at the Swedish crisis management actors today? How does the Swedish crisis management actors use resilience to make cities safer in the future? This study will be helpful for crisis management actors in their understanding of what the resilience concept and find the knowledge of these three concepts to use it in their practical work when they talk about working for resilience. In this study, twenty-six questionnaires was sent out to people who in some way are involved in crisis management. The respondents in this study work at different levels (municipal, county government, government, private sector and researchers). Research and theories of resilience is based on Brian Walker and David Salt describing engineering technical resilience and ecological resilience in the book Resilience thinking then Ulrich Beck explains according to the book Risk Society how one must work for the future and not look backwards and plan because of what was happening in the past. Pickett, McGrath, Cadenasso & Felson describes his research Ecological Resilience and Resilient Cities how sustainability is an important aspect of resilience. Finally the third concept is described, namely socio-ecological resilience where Carl Folke lifts the importance of developing resilience for the socio-ecological system to create an adaptability that allows for continuous development, a dynamic adaptive interaction between maintaining and developing in change. In order to reduce the discrepancy between the concept of resilience and the empirical application it requires, first and foremost an understanding and a knowledge of the concept of resilience. Then it requires a collaboration between various stakeholders especially the crisis management actors to take part of the research evidence and have a will to implement it practically and as a result get new innovative ideas to work with.

Master of Science / Department of Psychology / Brenda L. McDaniel / A large majority of trauma research focuses on relatively acute, physical trauma leading to the development of negative mental and physical trauma symptoms. Sometimes psychological trauma is measured concurrently with these instances of physical trauma. However, less is known about the impact of solely psychological trauma on mental and physical trauma symptom development. Moreover, chronic rather than acute psychological trauma is even more understudied. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to address the gap of knowledge surrounding the impact of chronic psychological trauma on mental and physical health in young adults. The present inquiry was guided by two theoretical models: the Chronic Relational Trauma (CRT) Model and the Etiology of Psychopathology (EP) Model. The CRT Model posits a cyclical pattern of relational trauma perpetrated by caregivers, peers, and intimate partners. Relatedly, the EP Model focuses on acute physical trauma exposure leading to the development of negative mental and physical trauma symptoms as well as potential biological dysregulation with personality characteristics moderating these relationships. However, it is currently unknown how these moderating personality characteristics impact chronic psychological trauma. Thus, the current study blended these two theoretical models in order to examine the impact of chronic psychological trauma on mental, physical, and biological symptoms. One hundred and eighty young adults (Mean age = 18.53, SD = .70) were recruited for the current study. Participants completed a series of questionnaires and provided five total cortisol samples via oral swabs. Results indicate that after controlling for chronic physical trauma, chronic psychological trauma predicts mental trauma symptoms for females and males, but not physical trauma symptoms or biological dysregulation in cortisol. Further, levels of resilience, namely a sense of mastery and emotional reactivity as well as forgiveness significantly moderate the relationship between chronic psychological trauma and mental and physical trauma symptoms for males and females differentially. Contributions of the current findings in terms of adding unique knowledge to trauma literature and future research projects are discussed.

New Orleans, Louisiana, was founded in 1718 on what is known today to be unstable land. In 1719, a flood devastated the budding city. Several other strong storms quickly followed and forced reconstruction. The French colonists who built New Orleans had no experience with Louisiana’s climate or repetitive tropical storms and flooding. Damage from disasters occurred so frequently that the difficult work of reconstruction characterized the city’s first few decades. The lack of population of the area generated the sending of criminals and other unwanted individuals from France. These ended up taking an active part in the construction and reconstruction process. This research examines the reasons for founding the city where it still stands today, early challenges confronting New Orleanians, and their adaptation to an inhospitable environment, specifically underpopulation, disasters, and inexperience. This dissertation displays for the first time colonial materials on a large scale: primary sources from various archives originally written in French and translated by the author. Despite concerns that residents would leave their city to seek safer living conditions on higher land or move back to the home country as some did, early New Orleanians displayed a resilience that can be compared to that found recently in the aftermath of the 2005 Hurricane Katrina. Other settlements had a different fate and eventually disappeared whereas New Orleans always rebuilt itself after each disaster, showing an exclusive sense of its own survival. Since the location of New Orleans became obvious for commercial purposes, early disasters provided the opportunity to rebuild a new town, more adapted to the needs of the colony. Once that town was built and the other local cities proved to be ineffective as capital of the colony, New Orleans appeared as a suitable choice and therefore colonists started investing more into the future of their city.

Magister Artium (Psychology) - MA(Psych) / Due to the recent findings that the majority of South African’s have been exposed to high levels of trauma, the effects of trauma on mental health and wellbeing have become an important area of research in the South African context. Although many individuals in our country experience high exposure and multiple incidences of trauma, there are a significant number of people who seem to cope well in the face of adverse circumstances and trauma and do not develop stress symptomology as a result of exposure to a traumatic event. These individuals are viewed as resilient as they are able to utilize protective factors at their disposal, aiding them in preventing the development of symptoms associated with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). A large body of literature exists that identifies various protective factors, which may have a positive influence on an individual’s response to a traumatic event, thus making them more resilient. However, there is a gap in the South African research on the relationship between exposure to trauma, protective factors and the development of PTSD. The aim of this study is to explain how protective factors mediate PTSD symptoms. It investigates protective factors that resilient individuals utilize in the face of trauma such as; internal characteristics or traits, various demographic factors (i.e., age, gender), supportive interpersonal relationships, religious affiliation and community and family factors that have been identified as protective factors in the literature. Resilience emerged as significant in that it mitigated the development of posttraumatic symptoms (PTS) amongst the sample of university students. This indicates that despite the high incidences of exposure to trauma, individuals have the ability to be resilient, which therefore serves as a protective factor in the event of trauma. The present study constitutes a secondary analysis of previously collected survey data. The data being analysed is from a quantitative, cross-sectional survey that adopted a non-random, convenience sampling method. Logistic regression was undertaken in order to determine the relationship between age, religious affiliation, type of exposure, resilience and posttraumatic stress exposure. Only resilience emerges as a significant predictor underlying its importance for mediating traumatic outcomes. It highlights the importance od including protective factors in future research and interventions.

Magister Artium (Social Work) - MA(SW) / Although the practice of day labouring can be traced back for centuries, it has become a steadily growing global phenomenon and has significant implications for the populations and economies of both developed and developing countries. In South Africa, the day labour market serves as a catchment area for the fallout from a formal economy which is unable to provide employment to all South Africans. The day labourers are often excluded from the benefits of modern societies, such as access to social services, opportunities for employment, and adequate incomes. This study took the form of a qualitative case study and made use of an ethnographic research design. The qualitative data was collected through the conducting of semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and by making use of photovoice, while the quantitative data was generated through the administration of a questionnaire. The triangulation of several sets of data ensured the trustworthiness of the findings. The research population for the study comprised the day labourers who gathered at a particular hiring site in Cape Town. The qualitative data was analysed by means of thematic analysis, while the quantitative data was analysed by means of the SPSS software package to generate descriptive statistics, which were represented graphically in the findings in the form of pie charts and bar graphs. Although there were inherent limitations in the data which was obtained, it nevertheless provided valuable insights into the plight of day labourers in South Africa.

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Thesis advisor: Mary E. Walsh / Comprehensive and collaborative intervention practices with individuals diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) recognize the essential role of the family in effective, long-term treatment of ASDs (e.g., National Research Council, 2001). While some research has focused on the experiences of families of individuals diagnosed with an ASD, there exists a need to better understand what factors detract from or facilitate the family's ability to adapt to their circumstances. Guided by the FAAR model (e.g., Patterson, 1989, 2005) and the Family Systems-Illness Model (e.g., Rolland, 1994, 2003), this current study examined the relationship between two demands or risk factors (i.e., the perceived severity of a child's ASD and the uncertainty related to a child's ASD), three capabilities or protective factors (i.e., optimism, mastery beliefs, and control beliefs), and the family's adaptation to their family member's ASD (i.e., family quality of life). Parents (N=207) of children diagnosed with Autism, PDD-NOS, or Asperger's Syndrome completed a self-report questionnaire assessing perceived ASD severity, the uncertainty regarding their child's ASD, the participant's optimism, mastery, and control beliefs, and the family's quality of life. Results demonstrated that the perceived severity of the child's ASD, the uncertainty related to the child's ASD, dispositional optimism, sense of coherence, and professional-related health locus of control are factors that significantly influence the family's overall quality of life. In addition, dispositional optimism and sense of coherence were found to mediate the relationship between the identified demand factors and the family's quality of life. Results suggest that perceived severity and uncertainty regarding a family member's ASD are demands that have important implications for the family. Additionally, results suggest that optimism and mastery beliefs can play a positive, complex role in the family's adaptation to a family member's ASD. Finally, the results of this study suggest that control beliefs may act in complex and different ways than expected. Theoretical considerations and implications for practice and future research are discussed. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology.

In the era of Global Climate Change, forced displacement and resettlement will affect coastal communities around the world. Through resettlement, the local production of culturally supportive environments can mitigate culture-loss. While previous vernacular architecture studies suggest that the influence of imported architecture leads to culture change, this study investigates the continuity of generative structures in the production of culturally supportive built-environments, demonstrating resilience. In addition, this study expands the discourse on the dialectic relationship between culture and the environment by investigating the role of Indigenous Design Knowledge in the production of culturally supportive space. The dissertation investigates the dialectic relationship between Marshallese culture and the built-environment and uncovers the continuity of deep cultural patterns (DCP) in the production of the Marshallese built-environment. These DCPs are forms of local knowledge production that generate culturally supportive environments. The study takes a theoretical position that persistent DCPs are resilient and provide cultural capital. A multi-sited case study was conducted across rural and urban communities in the Marshall Islands. Historical ethnographies and archaeological studies of the Marshall Islands were examined for cultural patterns present in the built-environment. Interviews, participant observation, site documentation, and a survey were assessed for persistent cultural patterns in the built-environment that supported everyday life. Qualitative analysis uncovered persistent patterns in everyday cultural behavior, such as the cookhouse, and quantitative analysis uncovered spatial and syntactic relationships that demonstrated persistent, underlying cultural structures, such as the shared genotype of urban and rural housing. While outside influence has impacted the production of the Marshallese built-environment and the Marshallese cultural evolution, I argue that DCPs generate everyday cultural spaces and aid in the reproduction of Marshallese place-identity. DCPs represent Indigenous Knowledge and should be applied to design frameworks for climate forced displacement and resettlement.

Thesis advisor: Margaret Lombe / Over the past several decades trauma research has expanded to recognize the heterogeneity in post-exposure reactions. Posttraumatic stress disorder, the most commonly researched mental health outcome associated with trauma, does not develop in all trauma survivors. Rather, more common trajectories of adaptation following a trauma include normative health adaptation, resilience, and posttraumatic growth. The aims of the current study were to: (1) describe and characterize post-combat adaptation profiles in a sample of Israeli male military veterans (N = 448) based on the combination of posttraumatic distress symptoms, types of coping strategies, and level of posttraumatic growth; (2) test the utility of latent class membership on predicting the quality of posttraumatic growth (i.e. constructive growth); and (3) explore the protective factors (i.e. social support and adaptive coping) that promote constructive posttraumatic growth for each profile of post-combat adaptation. The current study used latent profile mixture modeling to identify profiles of post-combat adaptation, Heckman-probit regression models, and logistic regression analysis. Demographic controls, combat related variables, type of coping strategies utilized, and baseline reports of social support were not significant predictors of constructive growth in either the resilient or struggling latent classes. However, for those in the struggling subset of the sample, reported improvement in perceived social support during the intervention increased the odds of reaching constructive growth. This relationship did not hold for the resilient subset of the sample. The study extends existing literature and theory by proposing a more complex and nuanced examination of posttrauma adaption, and specifies conditions under which protective factors may influence positive adaptation outcomes such as constructive growth. These findings highlight the importance of tailored clinical interventions that account for more complex profiles of post-combat adaptation and provide additional support for the unique effects of group intervention modalities. Further, these findings provide evidence that adaptation takes place over time and as such services should continue to be available for veterans long after combat exposure. Finally, these findings call for future research to build on existing longitudinal investigation by examining the complex temporal components of adaptation in trauma survivors. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2016. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Social Work. / Discipline: Social Work.

Thesis advisor: Rebekah L. Coley / This study asked low-income adolescents from rural communities directly how they define success, resilience, and progress. More specifically, it assessed the ways in which rural youth and their families are resilient and identifies the main obstacles they face. This study used the participatory method of Interpretive Focus Groups (IFGs). Together with the researcher, participants examined photographs taken in a previous study (Pratt-Ronco & Coley, 2006), along with transcripts of previous interviews. The data analysis was directed at gaining a better understanding of what resilience and social mobility mean to the adolescents in the sample and identifying the barriers that beset adolescents living in rural poverty. This methodology is a good fit for these questions because the answers lie in the adolescents' perspectives of their worlds. All too often, adults (academics, teachers, families, and the government) decide what it means to be successful, socially mobile, or resilient. This study asked adolescents to define these terms and thereby gives insight to the complexity of working with these youth. In addition to the Interpretive Focus Groups, thirteen educators were interviewed. The purpose of the educator interviews was to gain a better understanding of how school personnel perceived the problem of rural poverty. This information allowed for triangulation of the data, as well as a way to look for disconnects between teachers and students. The findings of this study shed light on an understudied population. There are two overarching themes which categorize the data collected: pervasive poverty and hope and resilience. The adolescents at the center of this research were surrounded by want and deprivation. They were isolated from resources, opportunities, and wealth. The reality of just how much adversity rural poor youth face on a daily basis is disconcerting. However, they showed great resilience, hope, and a "grittiness" that came from their rural poor existence. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling and Developmental Psychology.