Family Resilience in Christian Cambodian American Ex-Refugee Families: A Qualitative Study.

摘要

This study investigated Froma Walsh's (2006) nine processes of family resilience in Christian Cambodian American ex-refugee families. Walsh's nine processes fall into the broad categories of Belief Systems, Organizational Patterns, and Communication Processes. The theory states that families who exhibit these nine processes not only survive, but thrive when facing stressors. Cambodian families endured many traumatic stressors during the Khmer Rouge genocide from 1975 to 1979. Malnutrition, forced hard, manual labor, fear of being killed, and the separation of family members were typical stressors for families during the Khmer Rouge era (Kamm, 1998). Many Cambodian families risked their lives to escape to refugee camps in Thailand. Difficult living conditions and the unknown future also affected the refugee families. Finally, many families were resettled to the United States in the 1980s and began to rebuild their lives while adjusting to a new culture and language. Despite these chronic, traumatic stressors, many Cambodian families proved to be resilient. This qualitative study involved interviews of nine family members from three Cambodian families. Each participant completed an individual interview and participated in a family interview. Using thematic analysis, the interviews were coded for processes of family resilience and other emphasized themes (Ryan & Bernard, 2003). The findings indicate that the three participant families endorsed many processes of family resilience to varying degrees (Walsh, 2006). A cultural critique of Walsh's communication processes is also presented. Additional sub-themes emerged as participants emphasized specific aspects of several processes. Recommendations for application, future research, and limitations are also discussed.