Resilience: A Qualitative Meta-Synthesis

Transcription

1 Resilience: A Qualitative Meta-Synthesis Scott Nebel, Psy.D. University of Denver/Mental Health Center of Denver American Evaluation Association Conference Denver, Colorado November 6 th, 2008

2 Problem and Context Emerged from broader study of recovery, resiliency, and systems of care in children Became clear that little consensus exists among researchers, clinicians, and evaluators regarding the resiliency concept Trying to address the definitional ambiguity in the resilience construct (Ungar, 2004) Seeking to create a more explicit and meaningful understanding of resiliency so that it might be delineated from other recovery oriented phenomena

3 Why Qualitative Meta-Synthesis? Qualitative methods identified as something ideally suited to explore resilience and address shortcomings of past research. Has the ability to: 1) Discover previously unnamed processes 2) Attend to contextual specificities 3) Provide equal attention to marginalized voices 4) Produce deep enough descriptions to transfer between contexts 5) Challenge researcher bias that may otherwise orient findings to an adult-centric perspective (Ungar, 2004)

4 What is Qualitative Meta-Synthesis? First coined in 1985 to denote the combination of a group of qualitative studies (Stern & Harris, 1985) Operates under tenets of qualitative research (Jensen & Allen, 1996; Walsh & Downe, 2004) Involves comparison, translation, and analysis through a process of deconstruction, translation, and reconstruction of each qualitative study included (Zimmer, 2006; Thorne, Jensen, & Kearney, 2004) Emphasizes the need to portray individual constructions accurately and faithfully to original author while also comparing and contrasting individual constructions to one another

5 What is Qualitative Meta-Synthesis? (continued) Utilizes translation to create ideas, metaphors, and themes that are not necessarily literal, but preserve the meaning of original studies (Brittain, Campbell, & Pope, 2002) Stresses the importance of maintaining: 1) Credibility truth value, faithful to original research and human experience 2) Auditability similar conclusions may be drawn by other researchers 3) Fittingness generalizability into contexts outside of the study at hand

6 Method Still a new methodological approach with limited consensus or rigor surrounding its application Began with article searches in several databases (PsycARTICLES, Psychology: A Sage Full-Text Collection, PsycINFO, Sociology: A Sage Full-Text Collection) utilizing the terms resilience, resiliency, child, children, adolescence, adolescent, psychology, and mental health Located 41 potentially relevant articles, which ultimately included 9 qualitative studies, many of differing methodologies Due to the limited number of qualitative articles, qualitative studies of varying methodologies were incorporated into the meta-synthesis

7 Method Relationships between qualitative studies may be described in numerous ways within qualitative meta-synthesis (Noblit & Hare, 1988) Chose a line of argument approach Statements about the phenomenon of interest are constructed from the selected studies Constructed a chart that incorporated the main points of each study (in the form of both paraphrases and direct quotes) Main points were translated into common and divergent concepts which were then grouped together on a grid. Main concepts were then synthesized through interpretation and through the establishment of relationships among the studies within the grid

8 Results Some confirmation of how the vagueness of the resiliency concept in research literature has translated into a variety of definitions and approaches but some fundamental components of resilience still emerged Bidirectional, dynamic process of interaction between individual and broader environmental characteristics in resilience No one size fits all approach, uniqueness to the individual Developed eight factor model of resiliency (internal locus of control, reconstruction of the narrative, altruism, acceptance, flexibility, optimistic outlook, interpersonal effectiveness, social support)

9 Discussion The results of the meta-synthesis helped to develop a more meaningful construct of resilience as employed by the mental health field The meta-synthesis is ultimately limited by the nature of its design and the dependency on those nine studies chosen to be included Variance within these nine studies, in populations studied and qualitative methodologies employed, impacted the ease and meaningfulness of translation among the studies A more methodologically homogenous group of studies may allow for greater depth of analysis No real formal approach or procedure is widely accepted; thus, meta-synthesis is heavily dependent on the researcher conducting the synthesis

10 Contact Information Any comments, questions, or feedback is welcomed and greatly appreciated. Scott Nebel, Psy.D