Supporting the Development of Hope in Youth from Marginalised Populations

Abstract

This paper is an examination of research for the purpose of understanding how professionals, such as social workers, educators, and counsellors, can support the development of hope in youth from marginalised populations. Hope is a critical protective factor and part of healthy development for youth who face social barriers resulting from marginalisation. The current research on how to support the development of hope in this vulnerable population is limited. The author examined 10 qualitative peer-reviewed studies through wholistic text analysis, sorted the results of the analysis of the data from these 10 studies into themes and subthemes, and organised them into a framework to understand the development of hope. The two primary processes to support the development of hope are autonomy and connection. By supporting the development of both the autonomy and connection of youth, professionals aid and enrich their development of hope. They promote autonomy by cultivating the agency, voice, mastery, and actualisation of youth and connection by fostering access to community, individual relationships, culture and values, environment, and spirituality. The author makes recommendations for the practical application of hope in the classroom, therapy, and community initiatives.