This paper examines individual and organizational resilience processes among members of The Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, (RAWA), an Afghan women's underground resistance organization located in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Since 1977, RAWA has used humanitarian and political means to educate, serve, and motivate women and to advocate for peace, secular democracy, and human rights. The authors analyzed 110 qualitative interviews, collected in Pakistan and Afghanistan between December 2001 and July 2002. An iterative coding framework identified processes of resilience and domain specific stressors (risks) and resources (protective factors) at the individual and organizational level. Further analysis found that these process codes clustered by function into components of an operational model of individual and organizational resilience. While individual and organizational resilience are described by the same model, these two levels of resilience were found to operate in synergy as well as in conflict. Although this paper explores a unique setting, we argue that a better understanding of resilience processes in general will come from increased attention to context.

The Meyerhoff Scholarship Program (MSP) is widely recognized for its comprehensive approach of integrating students into the science community. The supports provided by the program aim to develop students, primarily Blacks, into scientists by offering them academic, social, and professional opportunities to achieve their academic and career goals. The current study allowed for a rich understanding of the perceptions of current Meyerhoff students and Meyerhoff alumni about how the program works. Three groups of MSP students were included in the study: 1) new Meyerhoff students participating in Summer Bridge (n=45), 2) currently enrolled Meyerhoff students (n=92), and 3) graduates of the MSP who were currently enrolled in STEM graduate studies or had completed an advanced STEM degree (n=19). Students described the importance of several key aspects of the Meyerhoff Scholars Program: financial support, the Summer Bridge Program, formation of Meyerhoff identity, belonging to the Meyerhoff family, and developing networks - all of which serve to integrate students both academically and socially.

This article examines the meaning, operation, and outcomes of education and related formation of feminist identity development within an Afghan women's humanitarian and political organization. Qualitative data, including 110 interviews, archival review, and participant observations, were collected using a feminist, community, strengths-based approach and were re-analyzed here with a focus on educational processes. Findings revealed multiple educational mechanisms, both similar to and different from many Western assumptions. Within these educational mechanisms, themes of critical consciousness and feminist identity also arose. Outcomes were mapped against Downing and Roush's (1985) feminist identity development model. Similarities, differences, limitations, and lessons in the application of a Western model to an Afghan context are discussed. Findings have implications for understanding indigenous educational methods, the development of critical consciousness and ''feminist'' identity in global perspective, and cross-cultural, feminist, community psychology research and application. C 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. It was not until after September 11, 2001, when the U.S. government's hunt for Osama bin Laden led them to the Taliban and Afghanistan, that many people in the West first learned of Afghan women's struggles for the most basic of human rights. The plight of Afghan women under the Taliban (1995Taliban ( -2001 was indeed desperate: They were denied the right to go to school or work, access health care, and other basic services and restricted in what they wore, who they talked to, and even the circumstances under which they could leave their homes. Yet it is important to note that the modern suffering of Afghan women, and indeed all Afghans, did not begin or end with Taliban rule, but rather can be seen in decades of political strife, social unrest, war, and religious and sociocultural oppression.1 The result is a country that today ranks near the bottom of all countries in a wide range of rankings, including clean water, life expectancy, poverty, gender development, and literacy rates (Brodsky, 2011; United Nations Development Programme, 2010). The political strife and related oppression of Afghan women has impeded their advancement in many realms, arguably the most devastating and wide-reaching of which has been in the area of girl's and women's education.Despite these grave circumstances, Afghan women are not mere victims, but have actively worked, both individually and collectively, to resist oppression and promote opportunities and freedoms for girls, women, and all Afghans. Indeed, the history of activism for Afghan women's advancement, focused particularly on their education, dates well before the current post-Taliban influx of Western governmental and nongovernmental organizations (NGO). In the early 1920s, for example, King Amanullah and Queen Soraya worked to extend women's marital rights, public freedoms, and education and employment opportunities, and founded the first women's press (Emadi, 2002;M...

To assess smoking behavior, knowledge of smoking harm, and attitudes toward campus smoking policy at an Egyptian university, an online survey of students, staff, and faculty was conducted (N = 992). The smoking prevalence of 38% among men was in line with Egypt's national average, but the smoking prevalence among women of 20% was much higher than the national average. Smoking status influenced beliefs about smoking harm and attitudes toward smoking policy, with nonsmokers having stronger beliefs about the harm of smoking and showing stronger support for smoking regulations than smokers. Smokers were more knowledgeable about smoking policy than were nonsmokers and differed slightly in their preferences for smoking policy enforcement strategies. These findings contribute to our understanding of how to tailor college smoking policy and programs to an Egyptian context.

Although responsibility for the care, nurturance, and protection of children can sometimes be viewed as an additional stress in the lives of at-risk women, this article describes the ways in which children act as protective factors in support of Afghan women's resilience. The qualitative data presented come from 110 interviews collected in Pakistan and Afghanistan between December 2001 and July 2002 with Afghan women, children, and men associated with the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA). RAWA, founded in 1977, is an Afghan women's underground resistance organization that promotes resilience through humanitarian and political activities. An iterative coding framework was developed to identify and explore processes of resilience and domain specific stressors (risks) and resources (protective factors). This article discusses the role of children as protective factors for women and RAWA. Although this article explores a unique setting and context, the authors argue that attention to children's role as protective factors may provide an important, strengths-based approach and a useful mechanism to bolster women's resilience in an array of other contexts and conflicts.