This study explored how Jewish Holocaust survivors had coped with various stress situations
in their lives by identifying and articulating what were facilitative coping tactics. The
goal of the study was to understand their lifelong coping process and to contribute to the
field of counselling psychology by providing information on what helps survivors of the
Holocaust be successful copers over a lifetime. A comprehensive category system was
developed for a wide range of successful long term coping strategies.
The research method involved extensive interviews with eleven Jewish Holocaust survivors
who were considered to be well-functioning. Flanagan's (1954) Critical Incident
Technique was chosen because it provided a structure to the information gathering and
allows for a rigorous validation process. Participant's interviews were tape recorded and
later transcribed verbatum. A total of 1,416 critical incidents extracted were identified.
Twenty-three categories emerged in the critical incident data analysis as follows: (1) seeking
social support, (2) reflecting, (3) positive reappraising, (4) emulating, (5) Jewish identity,
(6) helping others, (7) enduring hardship, (8) participating in enjoyable activities,
(9) accepting reality, (10) planful problem solving, (11) bearing witness, (12) affective
self-controlling, (13) planful physical escaping from life threatening situations, (14) distancing,
(15) initiating action, (16) believing in lucky fate, (17) belonging, (18) understanding
context, (19) being responsible/accountable for self and others, (20) confronting,
(21) believing in the value of education, (22) hope in Israel, and (23) believing in the
supernatural.
The validity and reliability of the categories were ensured through: (a) the use of an
independent rater, (b) the use of an expert rater, (c) participants' cross-checking,
(d) exhaustiveness, (e) participation rate, and (f) theoretical agreement in the research literature
to related findings.
The findings of this study contribute to the field of counselling psychology by providing
a category system with descriptions of what constitute successful coping strategies for
Holocaust survivors. Results of the study reveal how Jewish identity issues are intertwined
in the coping process. Theoretical and clinical implications of the present study are
explored, and suggestions for future research are discussed. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UBC/oai:circle.library.ubc.ca:2429/9945 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Baum, Susan |
| Source Sets | University of British Columbia |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis/Dissertation |
| Format | 10882934 bytes, application/pdf |
| Rights | For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use. |
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