Applying a Family Resilience Framework in Training, Practice, and Research: Mastering the Art of the Possible

• Published date: 01 December 2016
• Author: Froma Walsh
• Date: 01 December 2016
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/famp.12260

Applying a Family Resilience Framework in Training,

Practice, and Research: Mastering the Art of the

Possible

FROMA WALSH*

With growing interest in systemic views of human resilience, this article updates and

clarifies our understanding of the concept of resilience as involving multilevel dynamic

processes over time. Family resilience refers to the functioning of the family system in deal-

ing with adversity: Assessment and intervention focus on the family impact of stressful life

challenges and the family processes that foster positive adaptation for the family unit and

all members. The application of a family resilience framework is discussed and illustrated

in clinical and community-based training and practice. Use of the author’s researc h-

informed map of core processes in family resilience is briefly noted, highlighting the recur-

sive and synergistic influences of transactional processes within families and with their

social environment. Given the inherently contextual nature of the construct of resilience,

varied process elements may be more or less useful, depending on different adverse situa-

tions over time, with a major crisis; disruptive transitions; or chronic multistress condi-

tions. This perspective is attuned to the diversity of family cultures and structures, their

resources and constraints, socio-cultural and developmental influences, and the viability

of varied pathways in resilience.

Keywords: Family Resilience; Resilience; Resiliency; Systems Approach; Trauma

Fam Proc 55:616–632, 2016

The concept of resilience has come to the forefront in the field of mental health and in

the developmental and social sciences. A growing body of research (Masten, 2014) has

enriched and expanded our understanding of human resilience as involving the dynamic

interplay of multilevel systemic processes fostering positive adaptation in the context of

significant adversity.

HUMAN RESILIENCE: A RELATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

A relational view of resilience assumes the centrality of relationships in human adapta-

tion. An abundance of research has revealed the importance of relationships in nurturing

and sustaining individual resilience (Walsh, 2016b). Most attention has focused on the

role of a significant bond and dyadic processes involving a primary parent, caregiver,

spouse, or mentor. A family systems orientation expands the lens to the broad relation al

network, attending to the ongoing mutuality of multiple influences and identifying poten-

tial resources for resilience throughout the immediate and extended family. A family

resilience practice approach (Walsh, 2016b) seeks to identify and involve members who

*Chicago Center for Family Health, School of Social Service Administration and Department of Psychiatry,

University of Chicago, Chicago, IL.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Froma Walsh, PhD, Chicago Center for

Family Health, 20 N. Wacker Drive, #1442, Chicago, IL 60606. E-mail: fwalsh@uchicago.edu.

616

Family Process, Vol. 55, No. 4, 2016 ©2016 Family Process Institute

doi: 10.1111/famp.12260

are—or could become—invested in the positive development and wellbeing of at-risk or

troubled youth or adults, believe in their potential, and support their best efforts to make

the most of their lives. In eldercare, both individual and family resilience are fostered by

expanding the lens from the role of the primary caregiver, often overburdened, to consider

many varied contributions of members in the family network and their involvement as a

caregiving team (Walsh, 2012).

A Family Resilience Framework: Core Principles

Beyond seeing individual family members and effective parenting/caregiving as

resources for individual resilience, a systemic perspective focuses on risk and resilience in

the family as a functional unit (Walsh, 1996, 2016a). Family resilience refers to the capac-

ity of the family system to withstand and rebound from adversity, strengthened and more

resourceful (Walsh, 2003). More than coping with or surviving an ordeal, resilience

involves positive adaptation, (re)gaining the ability to thrive, with personal and relational

transformation and positive growth forged through the experience. Overlapping with the-

ory and empirical evidence on Posttraumatic Growth (Tedeschi & Calhoun, 2004), resil i-

ence is distinct in focus on the transactional processes and pathways involved in this

growth. In the family systems field, numerous studies have found that couples and fami-

lies, through suffering and struggle, often emerge stronger, more loving, more purposeful

in their lives, and better able to meet future challenges (Walsh, 2016b).

The concept of family resilience extends family developmental theory and research on

family stress, coping, and adaptation (Hawley & DeHaan, 1996; Patterson, 2002). Building

on a substantial body of family systems research on transactional processes in well-func-

tioning families (Lebow & Stroud, 2012), it attends centrally to effective family function-

ing in dealing with adverse conditions. The concept is inherently contextual, with

strengths and vulnerabilities assessed and addressed in relation to a family’s challenging

situation.

A basic systemic premise is that serious crises and persistent life challenges impact the

whole family, and in turn, key transactional processes mediate adaptation (or maladapta-

tion) for all members, their relationships, and the family unit. Major stressors or a cascade

of stresses can derail family functioning, with reverberations throughout the relational

network. In facing adversity, the family approach and response are crucial for resilience.

Key processes enable the family to rally in highly stressful times to reduce the risk of dys-

function and to support positive adaptation. Although some families are more vulnerable

or have experienced severe trauma or persistent hardships, a family resilience perspective

is grounded in a deep conviction in their potential for repair and growth.

Ecosystemic and Developmental Perspectives

From a biopsychosocial systems orientation, risk and resilience are viewed in light of

multiple, recursive influences, involving an interaction of individual, family, community,

and larger system levels over time. Each family occupies a complex ecological niche, shar-

ing borders and common ground with other families, as well as differing positions with the

intersection of such variables as gender, economic status, life stage, ethnicity, and social

location (Falicov, 2012). Thus, each experience of adversity will have common and unique

features. A holistic assessment attends to the varied contexts, aiming to understand the

constraints and possibilities in each family’s position.

Ecosystemic perspective

As research was extended to a wide range of adverse conditions, it became clear that

resilience involves the dynamic interplay of multiple risk and protective processes over

Fam. Proc., Vol. 55, December, 2016

WALSH

/

617