A Strength-based Approach to Exploring Factors that Contribute to Resilience Among Children and Youth Impacted by Disaster Caroline McDonald-Harker 1, *, Julie Drolet 2 and Anika Sehgal 3 1 Department of Sociology & Anthropology, Mount Royal University, Calgary, Alberta, Canada 2 Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada 3 Department of Community Health Sciences, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada *Correspondence to Dr. Caroline McDonald-Harker, Department of Sociology & Anthropology, Mount Royal University, 4825 Mount Royal Gate SW, Calgary, Alberta T3E 6K6, Canada. E-mail: cmcdonaldharker@mtroyal.ca Abstract Children and youth are among the most vulnerable to the detrimental effects of di- saster due to their unique physical, cognitive and psychological life stage. Despite their increased vulnerability, children and youth also demonstrate resilience when faced with the adverse circumstances of disasters, and can act as important catalysts for change in their families and communities. This article discusses research conducted with eighty-three children and youth (five to seventeen years) who experienced the 2013 flood in Alberta, Canada. A mixed-methods approach was utilised. The Child and Youth Resilience Measure was used to examine the factors that contribute to resil- ience post-disaster, including individual, care-giver and contextual factors. In-depth qualitative interviews further examined the specific ways in which individual, care- giver and contextual factors contribute to higher levels of resilience. Findings reveal that despite numerous post-flood challenges, children and youth had higher than av- erage levels of resilience. The findings demonstrate that high levels of resilience are associated with individual factors, specifically peer support and caregiver factors, namely caregiver psychological support. We discuss the implications of these findings for social work policy and practice, and for understanding the factors that best sup- port the resiliency processes and overall recovery of children and youth following disaster. www.basw.co.uk # The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The British Association of Social Workers. All rights reserved. British Journal of Social Work (2021) 51, 1897–1916 doi: 10.1093/bjsw/bcab109 Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/bjsw/article/51/5/1897/6329659 by guest on 12 October 2023