Not broken but strengthened : stories of resilience by persons with acquired physical disability and their families

Abstract

This study explores the narratives of families of adults with severe acquired physical disability. The research questions posed look into what has helped these families to thrive following the acquisition of disability, the impact of resilient processes on individual family members and family dynamics, and how these complexities make sense in terms of existing literature. A multiple case study narrative approach making use of in-depth semi-structured interviews with different family members is employed. Other records shared by the participants are also used to enrich the verbal stories presented. Results show that not only did the participating families deal exceptionally well with the epiphanies of their disabilities, but they also share common features. The triangulation of data from multiple sources, which is unique to this study in the fields of family resilience and disability, can generate insight about the virtuous processes which occur in resilient families, and thus may possibly influence the services targeting families of persons with disability.