Masters Thesis

Exploring resilience after trauma with Photovoice

A crucial aspect of healing from trauma is the capacity to cope with, reintegrate and bounce back from painful and disruptive life experiences. Resilience is the process by which a person overcomes and flourishes after experiencing traumatic emotional and/or physical pain. This study examines resilience in the lives o f survivors of human trafficking taking a communicative approach, which acknowledges that resilience is an unfolding process that is constituted and sustained through discourse. The methodology employed is Photovoice, a participatory photography research approach that promotes and makes available participants' insights. Through analysis o f interviews with trafficking survivors, the analysis identified two major themes o f how participants understand resilience. The first, valuing relationships, describes how participants value and positively orient to relationships with others and with themselves. The second theme, strategies for engaging with reality, discusses how participants make sense o f and engage with past traumatic memories and present realities. Results also suggest that participants experienced enhanced self-awareness o f the role o f resilience in their lives by participating in a Photovoice research project.

Relationships

In Collection:

Items in ScholarWorks are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.