Abstract
ABSTRACTChildren and adolescents are vulnerable in times of disaster and they will suffer more severely if neglected. The concept of resilience differs between cultures, and identifying the components of resilience is essential for decision making and interventions in disasters such as risk management. This study aimed to identify the components of children’s resilience in disasters in Iran. This qualitative study took a content-analysis approach. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 23 people and three group meetings. Conventional content analysis was used for data analysis. MAXQDA 10 software was used for classification. The resilience components derived from the data were categorized into two main categories, internal and external, and eight subcategories covering psychological, emotional, cognitive, mental, spiritual, physical, social, and behavioral factors. The results also showed that the nature of resilience is both intrinsic and extrinsic. Recognizing the dimensions of children’s resilience in disasters can lead to a new perspective for authorities and planners in disaster and emergency situations. The results of this study could be used by planners and policymakers to develop interventions to enhance children’s and adolescents’ resilience at the time of disasters, which is also underlined and highlighted by international documents.
Highlights
Disasters threaten the rights and lives of millions of children in the world, especially in low- and middleincome countries (Martin, 2010; Mudavanhu et al, 2015)
Resilience depends on the cultural context of a society, making the measurement of resilience a challenging task
This study showed that children have significant characteristics and capabilities in disaster risk reduction
Summary
Disasters threaten the rights and lives of millions of children in the world, especially in low- and middleincome countries (Martin, 2010; Mudavanhu et al, 2015). According to the World Report in 2011, about 66 million children are affected by disasters annually (Mudavanhu et al, 2015), and disasters play an important role in the development of children’s personality and psychology (Feitelberg, 2007). To enhance children’s understanding and promote their readiness for disasters, their views could be used as a strategy in disaster management programmes. Given the importance of children’s views, the new document “Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030 (SFDRR)” suggests that children’s capacity should be used in disaster risk-reduction programmes (Cumiskey, Hoang, Suzuki, Pettigrew, & Herrgard, 2015). Identifying and using the capacities and characteristics of children can increase the resilience of their society in disaster situations
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