Experiences of Hope, Resilience and Spirituality in Kenyan Children and Adolescents

Resilience is a vital factor in overcoming adversity. The presence of hope and spiritual meaning have been demonstrated to contribute to resilience. Globally, there are millions of children and adolescents who have faced traumatic experiences including, but not limited to, the loss of their parents. The current study explored Kenyan children and adolescents’ experiences of resilience, hope and spirituality in the environment of a group home and school in Kenya. Mixed measures were utilized. Seventy-five participants ages 10-19 years old completed the quantitative measures including the CD-RISC, SEARS-C/A, the Children’s Hope scale, the Adult Hope scale, and a 1-item Spirituality measure. Out of those participants, 14 completed semi-structured interviews. Seven themes were extracted from the qualitative data including the following: adversity, meaning making of the past, community, role models, trust in something bigger than themselves, future plans, and religious coping. A series of correlations were conducted, and results found significant correlations between the children’s social resilience scale and the individual resilience scale (r(35) = .537, p = .001), the total Children’s hope scale and the SEARS-C total score (r(35) = .465, p = .005) and the CD-RISC and the Agency subscale of the Adult Hope scale (r(40) = .433, p = .005. This study contributes to the currently limited research in Kenya by examining the role resilience, hope and spirituality play in the experience of coping with loss for Kenyan children, specifically children and adolescents in a group home environment

Global citizenship education: a case study of the UK-based non-governmental organisation Reading International Solidarity Centre

This thesis examines global citizenship education (GCE) within the context of a case study of the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Reading International Solidarity Centre (RISC). It also examines the relations that exist between GCE and (global) citizenship from a critical perspective. GCE is characterised as a form of critical education as revealed through the perspectives of critical educators and education philosophers, through social and educational movements in general, and through the development education movement specifically. The methods of data collection employed include individual interviews, a focus group, observations and documentary analysis. A grounded analysis of the data and a critical discussion of the results provide insight into the policy making and educational strategies of RISC, its delivery of GCE, and the institutionalisation of critical GCE. The study identifies the importance of NGOs in delivering critical GCE on a long-term basis, and their contribution to the development of an education that engenders, through participation, citizen’s awareness of their individual and collective responsibility for inequalities and social change. Thus the emphasis is on the power of agency in (global) citizenship and on citizens’ participation in GCE

The Understanding and Promotion of Resilience in College Students

Transitioning to college can be hard for many adolescents and emerging adults. The field of psychology has long asked the question, “What helps a person cope with transition and with stress in general?” Research has shown that resilience plays a key role. In recent years there has been a growing interest among psychologists in the concept of resilience, and most importantly in the cultivation of it as both a trait and a learnable skill. Despite this interest in the development and cultivation of resilience, resilience research to date has neglected to explore the ways in which emerging adults understand resilience and use it in coping with the monumental task of transitioning to college and into adulthood. This research aimed to gain a clearer understanding of what knowledge base the undergraduate students at a medium sized liberal arts college have about the concept of resilience and how to develop and employ resilience fostering behaviors. Several research questions were presented: What do resilience rates look like in a healthy college population? What do college students understand about resilience and about resilience fostering behaviors? Do students who report more understanding about resilience concepts and behaviors report higher resiliency in themselves? This research begins answering these questions by asking students about their current understanding of resilience as a concept, as well as their self-reported resilience behaviors. A measure was designed and utilized to evaluate conceptual understanding of resilience. My hypothesis was that students who describe having a greater understanding of resilience will also report higher scores on the resilience measures, as well as on several measures of constructs that have been shown to support resilience, such as optimism and self-mastery. Results from 157 participants include demographic data, multiple regression and correlation findings for quantitative measures, and qualitative data regarding resilience development and promotion. Findings indicate that conceptual understanding is not a key predictor in resilience, however, optimism may play a central role in predicting resilience. Qualitative measures indicate that participating students have a high degree of interest in further resilience oriented education and training

The Understanding and Promotion of Resilience in College Students

Transitioning to college can be hard for many adolescents and emerging adults. The field of psychology has long asked the question, “What helps a person cope with transition and with stress in general?” Research has shown that resilience plays a key role. In recent years there has been a growing interest among psychologists in the concept of resilience, and most importantly in the cultivation of it as both a trait and a learnable skill. Despite this interest in the development and cultivation of resilience, resilience research to date has neglected to explore the ways in which emerging adults understand resilience and use it in coping with the monumental task of transitioning to college and into adulthood. This research aimed to gain a clearer understanding of what knowledge base the undergraduate students at a medium sized liberal arts college have about the concept of resilience and how to develop and employ resilience fostering behaviors. Several research questions were presented: What do resilience rates look like in a healthy college population? What do college students understand about resilience and about resilience fostering behaviors? Do students who report more understanding about resilience concepts and behaviors report higher resiliency in themselves? This research begins answering these questions by asking students about their current understanding of resilience as a concept, as well as their self-reported resilience behaviors. A measure was designed and utilized to evaluate conceptual understanding of resilience. My hypothesis was that students who describe having a greater understanding of resilience will also report higher scores on the resilience measures, as well as on several measures of constructs that have been shown to support resilience, such as optimism and self-mastery. Results from 157 participants include demographic data, multiple regression and correlation findings for quantitative measures, and qualitative data regarding resilience development and promotion. Findings indicate that conceptual understanding is not a key predictor in resilience, however, optimism may play a central role in predicting resilience. Qualitative measures indicate that participating students have a high degree of interest in further resilience oriented education and training

Tools for Regulators in a Changing Climate: Proposed Standards, State Policies, and Case Studies from the Western Grid

With climate change a present reality, governments are confronting the need to adapt their regulatory planning processes to withstand new and uncertain climate risks. This Article provides three new resources to support this essential work. First, it develops a new standard for assessing the quality of climate adaptation decisionmaking, focusing on defining the problem, quantifying adaptation benefits, and evaluating equitable distribution of risk. Second, it reviews California\u27s climate adaptation policy development efforts between 1988 and 2018-from the state\u27s early efforts to study the problem, to later attempts at statewide strategic planning, until more recent work to integrate adaptation into existing regulatory processes-and applies the new assessment standard to illuminate many of the challenges that California has confronted. Third, the Article presents four case studies from California\u27s electric power regulatory sector-electric grid reliability planning processes, wildfire risk mapping, coastal generator siting, and rate case risk costing-to demonstrate the difficulties inherent in incorporating climate-relevant data into complex technical proceedings in a transparent and consistent fashion. A hope exists that lawmakers, policymakers, planners, and regulators can learn from California\u27s three decades of hard work on the climate adaptation problem, build on California\u27s successes, avoid California\u27s mistakes, and, ultimately, develop more resilient and transparent regulatory adaptation strategies

Resilient First-Generation College Students: A Multiple Regression Analysis Examining the Impact of Optimism, Academic Self-Efficacy, Social Support, Religiousness, and Spirituality on Perceived Resilience

First-generation college students (FGCS) have been identified as an at-risk population as evidenced by higher attrition rates, lower socio-economic backgrounds, and are less engaged in the college environment when compared to their college peers. Yet despite these stressors, many will graduate college demonstrating their resilience. This study examined optimism, academic self-efficacy, social support, religiousness, and spirituality as potential protective factors for FGCS who perceive themselves to be resilient. Two-way effects were examined in order to determine if any two-way combination of the five protective factors explored in this study explained more of the variance in perceived resilience of FGCS. Demographic variables were also taken into consideration. The study surveyed 249 FGCS from a small rural state university. The regression model revealed a significant positive relationship between the protective factors of academic self-efficacy, social support, and optimism on perceived resilience. FGCS who indicated having more social support, believed themselves to be optimistic and academically self-efficacious, also perceived themselves to be highly resilient. Furthermore, male FGCS reported higher perceived resiliency scores when compared to female FGCS. The implications, limitations, and the future direction of the research were discussed

Quantitative analysis of contributing factors of career success and overall and academic resilience in higher education: A refinement of Tinto’s theory to stop Latinx oppression

It is indeed a fact that diversity helps to build a better economy, and diverse businesses are proven to be healthier and more successful, but the lack of diversity in the workforce and educational environment, shows that the pipeline is not moving Latinx people enough. Latinx community is the largest minoritized community in the United States, substantially impacting the country’s economy and society, but the United States Census Bureau (2020) estimates that out of the 2% of the population 25 years and older who have a doctorate degree only 0.11% is Hispanic of any race, including Latinx. The purpose of this research was to investigate the relationship between students’ attributes before entering college as well as their college environment and the outcomes of career success and overall and academic resilience among the Latinx community. Three hundred and one Latinx students were surveyed, and a structural equation model (SEM) was created, suggesting a refinement of Tinto’s conceptual schema for dropout from college to better represent the Latinx community. This study showed that instead of exempting the educational institutions of their responsibilities, neglecting the importance of their supportive role by solely blaming the Latinx student and contributing to the historical actions of discrimination and oppression in the United States educational system, they should provide an equitable educational environment, address the deficit thinking experiences lived by Latinx students while in college, and understand the way Latinx students see themselves when compared to their non-Latinx peers (self-deficit thinking). These were the main environmental factors influencing Latinx academic resilience, overall resilience, and career success, and a new framework was observed to help stop Latinx oppression

The impact of an antenatal resilience and optimism workshop on postnatal depressive symptoms

Eight primary health care clinics in Surabaya, Indonesia were randomised to intervention or waitlist-control group. Second trimester pregnant women from the clinics were grouped accordingly. The impact of a 2-day Antenatal Resilience and Optimism Workshop (AROW) showed significant increases in resilience and life satisfaction and reduction in depression, anxiety and stress for the intervention group, maintained at 6 months postintervention. AROW is recommended as an antenatal program in Indonesia and possibly in other developing countries

Learning to Navigate the Unknown: The Importance of Critical Reflection and Collaboration for Community College Faculty During a Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic caused sudden and dramatic shifts in educational systems worldwide, including colleges and universities. Students, faculty, and service staff found themselves navigating uncertain times and addressing challenges they had not faced previously. The use of critical reflection and collaboration became crucial for faculty as they struggled to engage students in different ways. Understanding students’ needs and addressing them effectively became priorities with reflection and collaboration both cost-effective and convenient methods. Following this time of uncertainty, faculty can continue using reflection and collaborative learning communities to address new challenges and obstacles, especially at community colleges where money, time, and resources are often precious and limited