Social Work Commons^™

Overcoming Trauma: A Phenomenological Study Of Adults Who Overcame Childhood Trauma, Mary Ann P. Crowder

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This transcendental phenomenological study examined the lived experiences of individuals who overcame childhood trauma to become resilient adults. For this study, a resilient adult was defined by successful academic and career outcomes. Successful academic outcomes were operationalized as post-secondary educational attainment and successful career outcomes were demonstrated by steady employment of a professional career pathway. Terr’s (1991) theory of childhood trauma and Garmezy and Rutter’s (1983) resilience theory guided the study designed to answer the following central research question: What are the lived experiences of individuals who have overcome adverse childhood experiences to become resilient adults? The study involved thirteen …