How Meaning-Making Impacts Identity Formation within Posttraumatic Growth
How Meaning-Making Impacts Identity Formation within Posttraumatic Growth
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Issue Date
2025-11
Authors
Kraus, Ryan
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Abstract
Meaning-making impacts identity formation within posttraumatic growth, yet the linkage is described unevenly across the literature. This project examines how meaning processes shape identity formation and clarifies the mechanisms, conditions, and boundaries under which identity repair is most credible. The methodology adopted is a critical literature review and analysis. Thirteen core studies were reviewed. The majority were quantitative studies. Due to most included designs being correlational, conclusions are framed as practice-relevant inferences rather than causal claims. Findings cluster into three areas. First, mechanisms, identity repair appears most credible when discrepancy between global and situational meaning narrows, reflective style shifts toward more deliberate processing, and clarified purposes are enacted in roles that others can recognize. Second, contextual conditions, belonging, routine, and realistic access to roles support enactment, while material strain and service limits require careful pacing. Third, boundaries, single-time self-report is not sufficient for durable claims, so monitoring pairs brief self-report with behaviour-adjacent indicators and applies cultural and ethical safeguards. Implications for Alberta practice include a brief, clinician-facing workflow that reads self-report alongside role-based indicators to keep change visible under session caps and documentation demands. Recommendations include integrating light, role-based monitoring into short-term services and strengthening cultural adaptation and longitudinal designs in future research so identity repair is assessed through both reflection and enacted change.
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Keywords
meaning-making , identity formation , identity , posttraumatic growth , trauma , meaning
License
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States , openAccess