Trauma and resilience of postdisaster bereavement in China: Integrating the perspectives of bereaved children and practitioners with macrodiscourses.

Abstract

Objective: This study examines trauma and resilience among individuals bereaved by natural disasters in China, integrating bereaved children's and practitioners' perspectives with macrodiscourses. It explores how social contexts shape trauma and resilience, offering a novel comparison of personal, professional, and broader narratives.

Method: Semistructured interviews were conducted with 11 adults who experienced childhood bereavement due to the Wenchuan earthquake and nine practitioners working with traumatized children. Additionally, 58 government documents and 129 newspaper articles were analyzed to capture macrolevel discourses on trauma and resilience.

Results: Discrepancies emerged between bereaved individuals and practitioners in understanding bereavement's impact. The bereaved emphasized the long-term effects on personal development and family dynamics, highlighting the social-ecological factors shaping resilience. In contrast, practitioners focused more on the immediate psychological consequences and were less attuned to the broader socioeconomic implications. Macrodiscourses, largely framed by government and media, tended to medicalize trauma and depict resilience as overcoming adversity, simplifying its complexity compared to the more nuanced perspectives of practitioners.

Conclusions: Trauma and resilience are shaped by the interplay of individual experiences and broader societal narratives. To improve postdisaster support, policies must consider the long-term socioeconomic impacts of bereavement and adopt a more holistic understanding of resilience, beyond psychological recovery, that is sensitive to cultural and social contexts in China. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).