Meaning-Making Trajectories of Resilience in Narratives of Adolescents with MS

Abstract

To date few studies deepen the construct of meaning-making at the base on the resilience process for adolescent with multiple sclerosis. Starting from a mixed-method of analysis our aim is to fill the gap in the literature by qualitatively exploring the narrative articulation of meaning-making processes highlighting specificities and differences within groups of narratives with high/medium/low resilience measured through the CYRM-28. We collected 29 narratives. The qualitative analysis shows five meaning-making processes at the base of the resilience process: Dependence vs Autonomy; Reconstruction of the time lines; Integration of limits; Enlarging personal assumptive worldview; Connecting emotions and thought. Compared to narratives with low/high scores, differences were evident in the way such processes were articulated. We propose a framework of central issues in the lives of adolescents with multiple sclerosis and a way to determine how these issues can be useful for developing practices and trajectories to support resilient processes.

Keywords

• adolescent
• multiple sclerosis
• resilience
• meaning-making
• narratives.