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The contribution of occupation to children’s experience of resilience: A qualitative descriptive study
Author(s) -
Bowden Linda,
Reed Kirk,
Nicholson Ellen
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
australian occupational therapy journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.595
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1440-1630
pISSN - 0045-0766
DOI - 10.1111/1440-1630.12462
Subject(s) - thematic analysis , psychology , resilience (materials science) , psychological resilience , happiness , qualitative research , focus group , distraction , perspective (graphical) , developmental psychology , social psychology , sociology , social science , physics , neuroscience , artificial intelligence , anthropology , computer science , thermodynamics
Background This qualitative descriptive study explored what occupations children aged 10–13 years participate in and how participation in occupation contributes to resilience from their perspective. Little is known about how occupations contribute to resilience, and less is known from children's perspectives. Exploring how participation in occupation contributes to resilience is important as children continue to face adverse situations; resilience may help protect their development against uncertainty. Methods Following ethics approval eight participants were recruited through schools in a large New Zealand city. Data were collected through semi‐structured interviews and one focus group, these were audio recorded and transcribed. The six‐phase process of thematic analysis, developed by Braun and Clarke ([Braun, V., 2006]), was utilised to analyse the data. Findings Three main themes emerged from the data: what resilience is, occupations children do and how those occupations contribute to resilience and thirdly; building participation and resilience. The study revealed sophisticated descriptions of what resilience meant to the participants from their experience, which included the ideas of bouncing back and staying strong. The participants described what occupations they participate in and how these occupations connect to resilience. The participants also described their experience of how participation in their occupations helped build resilience by fostering support, letting go, experiencing distraction, and experiencing fun and happiness. Conclusion The findings suggest that health professionals, policy makers and educators have much to learn from children. Specifically, the need for children to participate in occupations as a way to build resilience. This indicates that a child‐focussed approach is needed to incorporate children's perspectives in practice and policy development. The findings suggest that practitioners working with children should incorporate participation in occupation in social, health and education intervention plans with children, as well as use occupation based coping strategies when teaching children skills to manage challenges in life.