Abstract:
Girl youth, especially those residing in resource-constrained communities such as Diepsloot, constitute a vulnerable population group because of the daily risks they face (Watts & Zimmerman, 2002). Researchers report that chronic exposure to risks can have a negative impact on girl youth’s ability to cope and adjust (Hawke, 2000). However, interventions focused on addressing risk draw on western paradigms of resilience, not accounting for cultural aspects of resilience. Therefore, understanding how girls in Diepsloot conceptualise risk and resilience is an important step in fostering resilience among girl youth. In the present study, I draw on an ecologically-oriented systemic approach to explore how girl youth from Diepsloot make meaning of risk and resilience during an equine assisted intervention called the Growing Great Girls program. Equine assisted interventions, in particular equine assisted interventions that follow an Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association model approach, has been found beneficial in promoting resilience among youth (Boyce, 2016). In the present study, equine assisted interventions played an important role in the process of gaining an understanding of risk and resilience from the perspectives of girl youth from Diepsloot. Using a qualitative exploratory case study design, I collected data from eight girl youth from Dieplsoot who attended the Growing Great Girls program over a period of eight weeks. From open-ended focus group interviews, photovoice, journal entries and observations as data sources, I used inductive thematic analysis to interrogate how girl youth make meaning of the risks they face to discover the source and nature of their resilience. Three themes emerged as the research results and included theme 1- individual psychosocial characteristics and family climate, theme 2- community related social issues and theme 3- broader societal issues. The findings of the present study contribute towards a broader understanding of risk and resilience that is ecologically relevant to the lives of girl youth from the Diepsloot community.
