Community Mothers and Vicarious Resilience: An Exploration in a Colombian Community

Abstract

This study explores vicarious resilience process in early childhood education. It addresses the question of how low-income community mothers who are involved in child care and education for other low-income working caretakers are affected by the children’s resilience. It focuses on the women’s interpretations of the children and caretaker stories’ experiences and stories, and how they make sense of the impact these experiences and stories have on their lives. Twenty-one semistructured interviews were conducted with community mothers who work in the Hogares Comunitarios de Bienestar Program (Wellness Community Homes), of the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare in Cali, Colombia; their perceptions of the children and caretaker’s overcoming adversity were explored. Data were analyzed through grounded theory and Consensual Qualitative Research methodology to describe the themes that speak about the effects of witnessing how children and caretakers constructively overcame adversity. These themes are discussed to advance the concept of vicarious resilience and how it can contribute to sustaining and empowering educational endeavors, community leadership, and family life in the context of poverty, adversity, and potential trauma.