Human Strengths and Resilience

Grant J. Rich is consulting psychologist in Juneau, Alaska.Skultip (Jill) Sirikantraporn is assistant professor at the California School of Professional Psychology at Alliant International University.

Combining principles of positive psychology with cross-cultural perspectives, Rich (independent scholar), Sirikantraporn (California School of Professional Psychology), and their team of international contributors focus on human strengths and resilience in understudied nations. The volume is novel and timely in its framework of a “strength-based positive psychology approach to posttraumatic growth (PTG) and resilience” (page xviii) in contrast to a more traditional focus on PTSD and trauma in an international context. Most of the chapters implement a developmental perspective, highlighting lifespan growth. Using different methodological approaches (e.g., mixed methods, grounded theory) and age-varied samples, the authors examine existing theories on resilience and their application to a variety of contexts. These contexts include PTG in Indian undergraduates, Haitian adults, and Cambodian young adults; the case of Precious in South Africa; and resilience in Guatemala, in Taiwan, and among Syrian refugees. The last two chapters provide a more practice-based approach utilizing the 7-Step Integrative Healing Model for Resilience and Meaning-Making and Train-the-Trainer Projects. In each case, an overview of the national context is presented in relation to general and culturally specific trauma-inducing events. This volume is a must read for psychologists interested in both research and application of human strengths and resilience.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Graduate students through faculty and professionals.

• Introduction: Human Strengths and Resilience: Developmental, Cross-Cultural, and International PerspectivesGrant Rich and Skultip (Jill) SirikantrapornChapter 1: The Concept of Posttraumatic Growth in a Sample of Undergraduates from India: A Mixed Methods StudySkultip (Jill) Sirikantraporn, Grant J. Rich, and Julie BadaraccoChapter 2: The Concept of Posttraumatic Growth in an Adult Sample from Port-Au-Prince, Haiti: A Mixed Methods StudyGrant Rich, Skultip (Jill) Sirikantraporn, and Wismick Jean-CharlesChapter 3: The Concept of Posttraumatic Growth in a Cambodian Sample: A Grounded Theory StudySkultip (Jill) Sirikantraporn, Grant J. Rich, and Nashaw JafariChapter 4: Resilience in Guatemala: Contextual Overview with Future PerspectivesTannia de Castañeda and María del Pilar Grazioso Chapter 5: Resilience in Taiwan: The Shaping Forces of Confucian Cultural Context and Beliefs about AdversityChing-Yu (Soar) HuangChapter 6: The Resilience Processes of South African Adolescent Girls with Histories of Sexual AbuseSadiyya Haffejee and Linda TheronChapter 7: Resilience and Strengths in Syrian RefugeesNaji Abi-HashemChapter 8: Meaningfulworld Trauma Outreach and Prevention Across Cultures: Utilizing the 7-Step Integrative Healing Model for Resilience and Meaning-MakingAni Kalayjian and Daria Diakonova-CurtisChapter 9: Resilience and Recovery in Natural Disasters and Epidemics: Comparisons, Challenges, and Lessons Learned from Train-the-Trainer ProjectsJudy Kuriansky, Alexandra Margevich, Wismick Jean-Charles. andRussell Daisey