The Routledge Handbook of Communication and Resilience

Drawing on expertise from communication scholars who examine resilience within and across individual, relational, group/team, organizational, inter-organizational, and community levels, this handbook provides a wide-ranging resource for theory building, empirical investigations, and practical applications.

Chapters in this handbook bring awareness to how resilience is constituted through human communication processes. As a baseline, Part I begins with chapters that explicate and conceptualize resilience as a process that shapes and reflects communication behavior at multiple levels. In Part II, chapters focus on micro communication processes in the enactment of resilience at an interpersonal level in domains such as close relationships, families, and small groups. In Part III, attention shifts toward examining resilience processes in professional domains within and among organizations. Part IV considers macro communication processes, looking at how communities can build resilience, sustainability, and engagement through communal activities that cultivate strong networks and promote the health and safety of the community All chapters feature a discussion of practical implications for policy investments and/or interpersonal interventions for building and maintaining sustainability and resiliency.

This handbook is a useful resource for scholars and advanced students in communication studies, social psychology, sociology, human development, public policy, and family sciences.

Marya L. Doerfel is Professor of Communication at Rutgers University, USA. She researches how multi-level organizational communication constitutes resilience. Funded by the National Science Foundation and recognized with numerous awards, publications include her book, Organizing Resilience and journal articles published in outlets such as Journal of Communication, Public Relations Review, and Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly.

Jennifer A. Theiss is Professor of Communication at Rutgers University, USA. She studies the ways that interpersonal communication shapes and reflects relational turbulence during times of transition in close relationships and families and the ways that people can be resilient to such turmoil. Her scholarship has been recognized with more than a dozen major research awards for distinguished articles and career achievements. She is a Research Fellow for the International Association for Relationship Research, and the recipient of the Bernard J. Brommel Award for Distinguished Achievement in Family Communication Research from the National Communication Association.

Maria K. Venetis is Associate Professor of Communication at Rutgers University, USA. She examines interpersonal processes among dyads managing critical health issues. As a co-author of the Dyadic Communicative Resilience Scale, her work centers dyadic resilience processes among patients and interdependent loved ones who manage severe illness such as cancer. She also examines communication processes among patients and companions with clinicians during healthcare interactions. Her scholarship is frequently published in outlets including Patient Education and Counseling and Health Communication.

Kristina M. Scharp is Associate Professor of Communication at Rutgers University, USA. She explores the process of marginalization and the ways people cope with the major disruptions to their lives. She has produced over 100 publications in outlets such as the Journal of Communication, Communication Research, Communication Monographs, and Human Communication Research. Her program of research has also been recognized with awards such as the International Communication Association’s Early Career Award and a variety of Distinguished Article Awards from different divisions of the National Communication Association.