International Resilience Project

Introduction to the Study

The International Resilience Project (IRP) is a multi-year international research study funded by the government of Canada and coordinated through Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Led by Michael Ungar and Linda Liebenberg, the purpose of the IRP is to develop a better, more culturally sensitive understanding of how youth around the world effectively cope with the adversities that they face. The IRP uses a unique cross-cultural approach that employs both quantitative and qualitative research methods to examine individual, interpersonal, family, community and cultural factors associated with building resilience in youth around the world. In particular, the study has helped to develop the Child and Youth Resilience Measure (CYRM) and a tool-box of qualitative research techniques.

The second phase of our project undertakes a number of different qualitative and quantitative research initiatives to further our investigation of the culturally and contextually varied ways resilience is understood, as well as good outcomes achieved by children faced with adversities such as poverty, war, violence, drugs, the illness of a parent, family or community dislocation and cultural disintegration.

In this phase, we are employing visual methods, filming one full day in the life of young people living in a number of Canadian communities and overseas in Asia, Africa and South America. Through this research, we are working together with our community and academic partners to better understand and apply methods of culturally sensitive investigation with at-risk youth and families.

We also continue to collect data on the applicability of our research tools, both qualitative and quantitative, through partnerships with colleagues in countries around the world, as well as through our domestic work on the Pathways to Resilience Project.

Combined, this work aims to enhance our collaborators’ capacities to apply the research findings, seeding action to make our research applicable to those who intervene and those who make policy.

The Participants

During the first 3 year phase of the research, the IRP piloted and integrated innovative quantitative and qualitative research methods and collected data from over 1400 children in 14 communities on five continents, in 11 countries:

  • Sheshatshiu, Labrador
  • Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • Winnipeg, Manitoba (2 sites)
  • Hong Kong, China
  • Medellín, Colombia
  • Tampa, Florida, USA
  • Banjul, The Gambia
  • Imphal, India
  • Tel Aviv, Israel
  • East Jerusalem, Palestinian Occupied Territories
  • Moscow, Russia
  • Cape Town, South Africa
  • Moshi, Tanzania

Each research site was selected for the diversity it would bring to understanding children and youth in high-risk environments.


Investigators

This was carried out with the support of co-investigators, collaborators and researchers from 11 different countries.

  • Dr. Michael Ungar - School of Social Work, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada
  • Dr. Linda Liebenberg - Resilience Research Centre, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS,Canada
  • Mr. Quinton Adams - Department of Educational Psychology and Specialised Education, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
  • Dr. Ken Barter - School of Social Work, Memorial University of Newfoundland, NFL, Canada
  • Ms. Hania Bitar - PYALARA, East- Jerusalem, Palestinian Occupied Territories
  • Dr. Mary Armstrong - Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute, Tampa, FL, USA
  • Dr. Roger Boothroyd - Department of Mental Health, Law and Policy, Tampa, FL, USA
  • Dr. Tara Callaghan - Psychology Department, St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, NS, Canada
  • Dr. Ann Cameron - Psychology Department, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
  • Dr. Normand Carrey - Department of Psychiatry, IWK Children’s Hospital, Halifax, NS, Canada
  • Dr. Maria Cheung - School of Social Work, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada
  • Dr. Luis Duque - School of Public Health, University of Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia
  • Dr. David Este - Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada
  • Dr. Jane Gilgun - School of Social Work, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
  • Dr. Nancy Heath - Faculty of Education, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
  • Dr. Christine Jourdan - Department of Anthropology and Sociology, Concordia University, Montreal, QC, Canada
  • Ms. Angela Ifunya - Protect Children’s Rights Trust, Moshi, Tanzania
  • Dr. Wai-Man Kwong - City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
  • Dr. John LeBlanc - Departments of Pediatrics, Psychiatry, Community Health and Epidemiology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada
  • Dr. Kathryn Levine - School of Social Work, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada
  • Dr. Bruce MacLaurin - Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary, AB, Canada
  • Dr. Alexander Makhnach - Institute of Psychology and Psychotherapy; Institute of Psychology Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
  • Dr. Jean Mitchell - Institute of Island Studies, University of Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown, PEI, Canada
  • Dr. Luis Duque - School of Public Health, University of Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia
  • Dr. Nancy Heath - Faculty of Education, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
  • Father George Menamparampi - Don Brosco, Manipur, India
  • Dr. Kader Musleh - Social Sciences Department, Bethlehem University, West Bank, Palestinian Occupied Territories
  • Dr. Fausta Philip - Muhimbili National Hospital, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
  • Chief Anastasia Qupee - Sheshatshiu Innu Band Council, Sheshatshiu, Labrador, Canada
  • Dr. Les Samuelson - Department of Sociology, University of Saskatchewan, SK, Canada
  • Dr. Zahava Solomon - School of Social Work, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
  • Dr. Eli Teram - Faculty of Social Work, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, ON, Canada
  • Dr. Victor Thiessen - Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology, Dalhousie University, NS, Canada
  • Dr. Nathalie Trepanier - Special Education, Department of psychopedagogie and andragogie University of Montreal, QC, Canada
  • Father Jerry Kulang Thomas - Don Brosco Provincial Office, Guwahati, Assam, India


Publications


Ungar, M., Liebenberg, L., Boothroyd, R., Kwong, W.M., Lee, T.Y., Leblanc, J., Duque, L. & Makhnach, A. (2008). The study of youth resilience across cultures: Lessons from a pilot study of measurement development. Research in Human Development.

Ungar, M., (2008). Resilience across cultures. British Journal of Social Work, 38(2), 218-235.

Ungar, M., Brown, M., Liebenberg, L., Othman, R., Kwong, W. M., Armstrong, M. & Gilgun, J. (2007). Unique pathways to resilience across cultures. Adolescence, 42(166), 287-310.

For further information on the study, email us or call (902) 494-3050.

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