From serious illness to natural disasters, humans turn to communication as a major source of strength to help us bounce back and to keep growing and thriving.

Communicating Hope and Resilience Across the Lifespan addresses the various ways in which communication plays an important role in fostering hope and resilience. Adopting a lifespan approach and offering a new framework to expand our understanding of the concepts of «hope» and «resilience» from a communication perspective, contributors highlight the variety of «stressors» that people may encounter in their lives. They examine connections between the cognitive dimensions of hope such as self-worth, self-efficacy, and creative problem solving. They look at the variety of messages that can facilitate or inhibit experiencing hope in relationships, groups, and organizations. Other contributors look at how communication that can build strengths, enhance preparation, and model successful adaptation to change has the potential to lessen the negative impact of stress, demonstrating resilience.

As an important counterpoint to recent work focusing on what goes wrong in interpersonal relationships, communication that has the potential to uplift and facilitate responses to stressful circumstances is emphasized throughout this volume. By offering a detailed examination of how to communicate hope and resilience, this book presents practical lessons for individuals, marriages, families, relationship experts, as well as a variety of other practitioners.

Gary A. Beck (PhD, University of Texas at Austin) is Assistant Professor of Communication and Theatre Arts at Old Dominion University. His work has been published in Communication Monographs, Personal Relationships, and Journal of Social Psychology.

Thomas J. Socha (PhD, University of Iowa) is Professor of Communication at Old Dominion University. He was founding editor of the Journal of Family Communication and was the recipient of the National Communication Association's (NCA) Bernard J. Brommel Award for Outstanding Family Communication Scholarship.

Contents: Gary A. Beck/Thomas J. Socha: Embracing the Insights of «Murphy»: New Frontiers of Communication, Hope, and Resilience Across the Lifespan - Valerie Manusov/Jacquelyn Harvey-Knowles: On Being (and Becoming) Mindful: One Pathway to Greater Resilience - Rachel L. DiCioccio: «We Could Sure Use a Laugh»: Building Hope and Resilience Through Humorous Communication - Rachel McLaren/Joshua Pederson: Fostering Hope in a Hurtful World: The Role of Communication in Promoting Hope and Resilience in the Face of Difficult Experiences - Sandra Metts/Bryan Asbury: Unfolding the Transgression Scene: From Distress to Hope and Resilience - Brittany L. Peterson/Tim P. McKenna-Buchanan: (Re)Envisioning Hope and Resilience in U.S. and Norwegian Prisons - Gary A. Beck/Ashley M. Poole/Lisa M. Ponche: Employment Transitions in the Aftermath of Economic Collapse: Emerging and Older Adults - Patrice M. Buzzanell/Suchitra Shenoy-Packer: Resilience, Work, and Family Communication Across the Lifespan - Erik W. Green: Fear of the Unknown, Hope for the Unseen: Resilience of Child Soldiers in Uganda, East Africa - Andy J. Merolla: When All Seems Lost: Building Hope Through Communication After Natural Disasters - Lisa Sparks/Veronica Hefner/Amy Rogeness: The State of Cancer Care Communication Across the Lifespan: The Role of Resilience, Hope, and Decision-making - Imparting Hope and Resilience -Thomas J. Socha/Alfredo Torres: Life's «War Stories»: Accounts of Resilience and Hope - David L. Palmer/Lawrence R. Frey: Fostering Civic Resilience and Hope Through Communication Activism Education.