Hope as a pathway of resilience over time among adolescents in a resource-constrained community

Abstract

My study is a sub-study of the Resilient Youth in Stressed Environments (RYSE) Project (ethics clearance, UP17/05/01 Theron 18-007). RYSE investigates resilience over time among youth living in stressed environments. My study explores what strengthens hope-associated pathways of resilience for adolescents and how consistent these strengthening factors are over time. My study, in 2018, draws on and contributes to data generated by RYSE participants in 2017. In 2017, the RYSE participants generated data that explored hope-strengthening factors that were associated with resilience pathways. I repeated this in my 2018 study. To do so, I used a qualitative phenomenological research design and employed the Draw-Write-Tell method to generate visual and narrative data in a group setting for seven Black participants, aged between 18 and 20 years, from the resource-constrained community of eMbalenhle, South Africa. I used inductive thematic analysis to analyse and code the 2018 data and deductive thematic analysis to code the 2017 data (which was coded and reported in a preceding RYSE sub-study). Through the personal, subjective experiences of the adolescents, the following themes appeared to strengthen hope over time: religious beliefs, self-efficacy, positive personal relationships, and sources of inspiration. The themes showed that the same factors continue to strengthen hope over time and foster pathways of resilience for a group of adolescents in eMbalenhle.