title: The lived experiences of resilience in Iranian adolescents living in residential care facilities: A hermeneutic phenomenological study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Resilience is one of the main factors affecting human health, and perceiving its meaning for high-risk adolescents is of particular importance in initiating preventive measures and providing resilience care.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This qualitative study was conducted to explain the meaning of resilience in the lived experiences of Iranian adolescents living in governmental residential care facilities.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study was conducted using the hermeneutic phenomenological method. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight adolescents aged 13-17 living in governmental residential care facilities of Tehran province affiliated to the Welfare Organization of Iran who articulated their experiences of resilience. Sampling lasted from May 2014 to July 2015 and continued until new themes were no longer emerging. The researchers analyzed the verbatim transcripts using Van Manen's six-step method of phenomenology.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The themes obtained in this study included "going through life's hardships," "aspiring for achievement," "self-protection," "self-reliance," and "spirituality."
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study indicates that the meaning of resilience coexists with self-reliance in adolescents' lived experiences. Adolescents look forward to a better future. They always trust God in the face of difficulties and experience resilience by keeping themselves physically and mentally away from difficulties. Adverse and bitter experiences of the past positively affected their positive view on life and its difficulties and also their resilience. The five themes that emerged from the findings describe the results in detail. The findings of this study enable nurses, health administrators, and healthcare providers working with adolescents to help this vulnerable group cope better with their stressful life conditions and improve their health through increasing their capacity for resilience.
authors.affiliation: Nursing Department, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Manijeh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nourian
authors.affiliation: Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Nursing Department, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran; f.mohammadi@uswr.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Farahnaz Mohammadi
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Shahbolaghi
authors.affiliation: Nursing Department, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Kian Nourozi
authors.initials: KN
authors.lastname: Tabrizi
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing and Midwifery, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Maryam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rassouli
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Akbar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Biglarrian
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D066297:Hermeneutics; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D007492:Iran; D008297:Male; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012112:Residential Facilities; D055500:Resilience, Psychological
keywords: Adolescents; Iran; hermeneutic; residential care facilities; resilience