Speaker
Presentation in English
CAROLINE PIOTROWSKI
UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA. CANADA
Dr. Caroline Piotrowski is a Professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences in the Max Rady College of Medicine at the University of Manitoba, and a Scientist at the Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba. Her academic background includes developmental psychology, lifespan human development, and health promotion. Her research expertise encompasses sibling relationships, the effects of exposure to intimate partner violence on children, violence prevention, as well as trauma and resilience in young people and their families, including posttraumatic growth. Her interdisciplinary research uses mixed methods to study vulnerability and resilience in young people and their families using naturalistic observation and standardized assessments, as well as qualitative methods such as photovoice and digital storytelling techniques.
She is currently leading two international research teams; the first is investigating the efficacy of an intervention adapted specifically for Indigenous mothers and children in Canada who have experienced intimate partner violence, and the second is studying psychosocial well-being and resilience in families of children with a chronic illness. She is also involved in international projects examining the efficacy of a suicide prevention program for young people, as well as the long term influences of childhood exposure to intimate partner violence on adults.
Resilience in Children and Young People Facing Challenging Circumstances
Resilience has received growing attention from researchers over the past two decades (Vella & Pai, 2019), particularly those interested in linkages between mental health and resilience in children and young people facing challenging circumstances (Srivastava et al., 2024). This body of work has important implications for not only better understanding how mental health and resilience are inter-related, but also for the design and improvement of prevention mental health interventions targeting young people and their families. In this symposium, three complementary investigations will be presented.
The first presentation includes a qualitative multi-method study that drew upon grounded theory to investigate the nature of resilience in young people affected by intimate partner violence. Using in-depth elicitation interviewing, photovoice, and ecomaps, the qualitative analyses provided a unique understanding of resilience in this population.
The second presentation concerns the quantitative evaluation of a primary prevention program delivered in an educational setting that is designed to enhance young people’s resilience.
The third presentation uses qualitative methods to illuminate the perspectives of Indigenous young people and their families who participated in the pilot of a culturally adapted intervention designed to foster resilience and mental health in families affected by violence.
Taken together, these three presentations offer a rigorous understanding of resilience in children and young people, as well as insight into the effective implementation of interventions that enhance resilience and mental health for researchers and practitioners alike.
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