The identification of resilience in, and the development of a corresponding intervention programme for families with a parent living with major depressive disorder

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Major Depressive Disorder is a prevalent psychiatric illness that poses critical risk factors tofamilies. Risk factors associated with depression are widely researched, but limited SouthAfrican and international research exists with regard to family resilience factors and interventionprogrammes associated with these high-risk families. The aim of the present study was toaddress these limitations by (a) identifying and describing the qualities of resilience in familiesin which a parent had been living with Major Depressive Disorder, (b) developing a familyintervention programme for parents to strengthen and enhance a quality of resilience and, finally,following the intervention programme, (c) to evaluate the impact of the intervention programmeon the identified resilience quality. The research was divided into two phases in order to addressthe above-mentioned, namely the descriptive phase (Phase 1) and the intervention phase (Phase2). The results of the descriptive phase revealed various statistically significant correlationsbetween the independent variables and the dependent variable, namely family adaptation, asmeasured by The Family Attachment Changeability Index 8 (FACI8) (McCubbin et al., 1996).The strongest statistically significant correlation was found between family problem solving andcommunication, and family adaptation. This steered the development of the interventionprogramme, aiming it at enhancing family problem solving and communication as a familyresilience quality. An experimental design was used to evaluate the impact of the interventionprogramme. Analysis 1 revealed a trend (not statistical significant on a 5% level), suggesting thatnegative communication decreased over a three-month period after the intervention programme.Analysis 2 supported this trend on a 5% level. The qualitative post-test data reveal that theparticipants perceived the intervention programme in a very positive light, namely as a beneficialand educational experience. Furthermore, the three-month follow-up assessment showed that themajority (81%) of the participants indicated that the intervention programme impacted positivelyon their family's communication.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University