A qualitative analysis of factors impacting resilience among youth in post-conflict Liberia

Abstract

BackgroundIn 2008, 5 years after the Liberian civil war ended, there were an estimated 340,000 orphans in Liberia, 18 % of the total child population of the country. Given that children make up half the population and that these children experienced significant trauma and loss both through direct exposure to the war and then to the Ebola epidemic, and indirectly as a result of the trauma experienced by their parents, the recovery of these children is essential to the recovery of the nation as a whole. The goal of this research was to identify factors contributing to resilience among youth in post-conflict Liberia. Resilience was defined as evidence of adaptive functioning and psychological health.MethodsSeventy-five young people (age 13–18) in the capital city of Monrovia, Liberia were recruited in 2012. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, and demographic data were collected. Interviews were then transcribed and coded thematically.ResultsForty-six of the participants were attending school, and 29 were not enrolled in school. Youth enrolled in school demonstrated greater adaptive functioning. This was particularly true for boys in any school setting and girls attending private school. Youth not attending school were more likely to have lost family members or become estranged from them, and many were also engaging in substance use. Emotion regulation, cognitive flexibility, agency, social intelligence and, in some cases, meaning-making were found in participants who showed resilient outcomes.ConclusionsCaregiver relationships mediate the development of psychological capacities that impact resilience. These findings suggest that youth who have lost a caregiver, many of whom are not attending school, are experiencing a significant ongoing burden in terms of their daily functioning and psychological health in the post-war period and should be the focus of further study and intervention targeting substance use and community reintegration.Trial registration Partners Healthcare IRB Protocol# 2012P000367.

Is there room for resilience? A scoping review and critique of substance use literature and its utilization of the concept of resilience

“… [ 85 ] LaFromboise et al, 2006; ( n = 212); US • Aboriginal youth (10–15 years) Resilience is conceptualized as a protective mechanism that modifies an individual’s response to risk situations and operates at critical points during one’s life (Newcomb, 1992). [ 168 ] Levey et al, 2016; ( n = 75); Liberia • Youth in post-conflict Liberia (13–18 years) Resilience is defined as evidence of adaptive functioning and psychological health. [ 109 ] Longman-Mills et al, 2013; ( n = 2294); Colombia, El Salvador, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama, Uruguay • University students with experiences of child abuse Resilience as the ability to help individuals cope with adversity.…”

“…Braverman ([ 167 ], p. 4) argues that “[resilience] researchers have thus far been more successful in identifying protective factors than in explaining how they operate”. This definitely rings true in the substance use literature, where significantly fewer researchers attempt to conceptualize resilience as a dynamic process, which explores the interactions between risk and protective factors, than those who utilize an outcome or trait-based approach to operationalize resilience [ 79 , 86 , 87 , 102 , 108 , 110 , 113 , 115 , 120 , 124 , 129 , 151 , 152 , 154 , 155 , 168 – 172 ]. Just under half of these papers are qualitative investigations of resilience, while the rest are quantitative, utilizing resilience models and longitudinal data sets.…”

“…In this scoping review of substance use literature, only a small number of studies were found that fully invoked the concept of resilience to examine behaviours of individuals who currently use drugs (Table 1 ). Several resilience studies discussed current drug use among homeless youth (e.g., [ 78 , 101 , 111 , 136 , 168 , 182 ]), however most had no clear indication of how many study participants were actively using. Moreover, the focus of these studies remains on dealing with the adversity of the street, and/or on revealing which protective factors are associated with a reduction or cessation of drug use, as well as a number of other social deviance indicators (e.g., criminal involvement, prostitution, suicidal ideation).…”

Elucidating adolescent aspirational models for the design of public mental health interventions: a mixed-method study in rural Nepal

“…Sharing and self-consoling, considered as positive coping mechanisms, were the two most commonly used coping practices and reported to be the most effective. In post-conflict areas such as this, developing resiliency skills could be a key in developing positive mental health [ 49 ]. Studies among vulnerable groups in Nepal have shown that developing resiliency can have better outcomes and is feasible in the context of LMIC settings like Nepal [ 50 ].…”

A qualitative analysis of parental loss and family separation among youth in post-conflict Liberia

“…Resilience was defined as evidence of daily functioning, ability to make realistic plans for the future and presentation of an overall consistent and coherent narrative. A number of individual characteristics were found to be protective in the overall study population, including emotion regulation, cognitive flexibility, agency, social intelligence and, in some cases, meaning-making (Levey et al, 2016). Here, we focus specifically on resilience and recovery following the loss of a parent, identify factors that moderate the impact of the loss and consider interventions that could help vulnerable children following the loss of a parent.…”