The development and assessment of a family resilience-enhancement programme

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: A probe into resilience research has revealed that psychologists have taken on therole of 'keepers of the crypt, where our attained knowledge has been 'entombed byvirtue of our reluctance to allow it to bear practical fruition. Consequently, the impetusof the research is a response to the aforementioned gap and is explicated in fourphases: Phase 1: A detailed literature review consisting of the review and integrationof appropriate preceding resilience research, thereby serving as a possible referenceguide for future studies; Phase 2: Provision of a succinct, comprehensive frameworkfor programme development within the field of psychology; Phase 3: Familyhardiness was selected as the resilience quality to be attended to via thedevelopment of a universal, multidimensional resilience-enhancement programme;Phase 4: An assessment of whether the resilience-enhancement programme issuccessful in developing the selected resilience quality in families. Following thesalutogenic approach, the main theoretical foundation of the investigation resides inthe Resiliency Model of Stress, Adjustment and Adaptation (McCubbin & Thompson,1991). The significant contribution of the research is its provision of a framework forprogramme development within the field of psychology. Self-report questionnairesand open-ended questions were completed by mothers as representatives of theirfamilies. Therefore, the research amalgamated both qualitative and quantitativemeasures in its quasi-experimental, pretest-posttest natural control-group researchdesign. A total of fifty families living in the Western Cape, South Africa participated inthe research. The statistical trends observed in the study hinted at the enhancementpotential of family hardiness. It became evident that gender, level of education,income and occupation, emotional intelligence and the time frame of interventionsaffected the enhancement potential of family hardiness. Age may also play a role, butthe conflicting research results render conclusions about the correlation between ageand hardiness questionable. Comparative studies would clarify this aspect. Futurestudies attempting to develop these findings further, need to consider the influence offactors such as gender, level of education, income and occupation, emotionalintelligence and the time frame of interventions. Family hardiness is but one of theidentified resilience qualities. An exploration of the enhancement potential of otheridentified resilience qualities will provide a plethora of interventions for serviceproviders to choose from, enabling them to meet families and communities at theirpoint of need.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University