Assignment #1: Article Critique
Ungar, M. (2010). Families as navigators and negotiators: Facilitating culturally and contextually specific expressions of resilience. Family Process,
49(3), 421-435.
9/26/2013
Families as navigators and negotiators 1
I.Reading-Main Points
The focus of the Ungar article “Families as Navigators and Negotiators: Facilitating Culturally and Contextually Specific Expressions of Resilience” (2010), is on Psychological resilience on both the individual and family level. Resilience by definition is the ability to become strong, healthy, or successful again after something bad happens or the ability of something to return to its original shape after it has been pulled, stretched, pressed, bent, etc. (Merriam-Webster, 2013).Psychological resilience on the individual level relates to an individual's tendency to cope with stress and adversity. Resilience is most commonly understood as a process, and not a trait of an individual. Most research now shows that resilience is the result of individuals being able to interact with their environments and the processes that either promote well being or protect them against the overwhelming influence of risk factors (Zautra, Hall and Murray, 2010). Individual coping strategies are impacted, both positively and negatively, by any number of cumulative factors such as families, schools, communities, and social policies. These factors when taken into consideration make resilience more or less likely to occur.
This article expands on the foundational concepts of strengthening family resilience by Froma Walsh (1998) (2006). Walsh put forth that family belief systems, organizational patterns with regard to accomplishing everyday tasks and nurturing connections and communication patterns that help
References: Benard, B. (1991) Fostering resiliency in kids: Protective factors in the family, school and community. Portland, OR: Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory. Boss, P. (2006) Loss, trauma, and resilience: Therapeutic work with ambiguous loss. New York: Norton Hutchison, E. (2013) Essentials of Human Behavior: Integrating Person, Environment, and the Life Course. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc. Price, S.J., Price, C., McKenry, P. (2010) Families and Change: Coping with Stressful Events and Transitions (4th ed.), Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc. Robbins, S., Chatterjee, P., & Canda, E. (2012). A critical perspective for social work. (3rd ed.). Ungar, M. (2010) Families as navigators and negotiators: Facilitating culturally and contextually specific expressions of resilience. Family Process,49(3), 421-435. Walsh, F. (1998) Strengthening Family Resilience, New York, NY: The Guilford Press Zautra, A.J., Hall, J.S