Barriers to hope and resilience for South African youth

Abstract

This qualitative study forms part of a longitudinal study by the Centre for the Study of Resilience at the University of Pretoria. The RYSE (Resilient Youth in Stressed Environments) research project aims to study the resilience of youth dependant on the petro-chemical industry living in Embalenhle. In this study youth between the ages of 15 and 25 is the focus of the study. This specific study was aimed at describing barriers to hope and resilience for South African youth. The epistemology of interpretivism was followed and the research methodology used was that of a descriptive case study. I collected data by draw, write and tell activities and analysed transcribed discussions of these activities. By using inductive thematic analysis similar responses by participants were highlighted and grouped into themes and sub-themes to find rich descriptions of how youth living in the petro-chemical industry of Embalenhle describe hope and barriers to hope. Two main themes were identified with six subthemes and 15 categories. From the findings I determined that hope is described by youth as optimism and supportive pathways to hope. Barriers to hope are community influence, the self, the petro-chemical industry and poverty. As conclusion I recommended that future research focus on whether individuals have the ablity to identify barriers to hope as well as having strategies to overcome these barriers. In practise workshops to empower youth to identity and utilise sources of hope can be considered.