Promoting resilience in post-secondary students: A case study
Date
2022-07-17
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Abstract
In post-secondary education, students face a variety of risks and challenges, including intensive workload, higher levels of stress, withdrawal from their programs, and emerging substance use disorders. Developing resilience is essential for undergraduate students to navigate through these challenges. It also prepares students to face difficulties in their future professional lives. Empirical evidence indicates that the development of resilience is associated with the living environment and depends on mentors or figures who model the characteristics of resilience. The relationship between instructors and undergraduate students may be particularly important due to the role modelling of the instructors. However, we still do not know the specific ways in which educators develop resilience in post-secondary students. Using a case study methodology, this research aimed to better understand the ways in which instructors promoted resilience in undergraduate students. Interviews, document analysis, and scenario analysis were conducted in an undergraduate faculty in a large university in Western Canada. The findings suggested that creating a safe and trusting environment, focusing on a meaningful goal, clarifying expectations, modeling flexible thinking, and finding the right stories to tell, are specific ways in which instructors promote resilience in their students. This study emphasizes the importance of instructors in the development of resilience. Instructors’ ecological perspective of resilience is embedded in the different strategies used to promote resilience in the classroom. The themes of this study formed the foundation of a novel framework for the development of resilience presented at the conclusion chapter of the present thesis.
Key terms: Resilience, Education, Post-secondary education, Instructors, Ecological resilience, Resilience promotion, Students support.
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Keywords
Resilience, Education, Post-secondary education, Instructors, Ecological resilience, success, Resilience promotion, Students support
Citation
Bello Mendoza, J. A. (2022). Promoting resilience in post-secondary students: A case study (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.