title: Resilience among Japanese atomic bomb survivors.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of the study was to explore the experience of atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Never has the world experienced such extreme devastation as with the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, in August 1945. Although significant quantitative research has been completed about the medical effects following radiation, the literature lacks qualitative exploration from a holistic health perspective.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a qualitative descriptive study, using methods of narrative analysis, oral history and ethnography. The sample for this research included eight individuals who were exposed to the atomic bombings in Japan and currently reside in the United States.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Findings provide insight to the resilience that the survivors exhibited immediately following the bomb, as well as throughout the 65 years following the event. From ethnographic data and interviews with survivors, a thematic structure was developed that depicts the essential elements of the atomic bomb experience. Two ways of being in the world followed the bombing: surviving and thriving, with resilience serving as a lever, allowing for fluid movement over time across the continuum. Individuals experiencing surviving exhibited anxiety about their personal and family members' health, expressed mistrust, and felt a stigma associated with being a survivor. For those who were thriving, peace activism, overcoming and forgiveness were typically displayed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Findings from this study add to the disaster nursing literature and highlight the role resilience plays in the atomic bomb survivors' life perspective.
authors.affiliation: King College School of Nursing, Bristol, TN 37620, USA. alknowles@king.edu
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Knowles
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000368:Aged; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D054043:Nuclear Weapons; D017741:Survivors / Q000523:psychology*