Resilience in bereaved Zulu families
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Date
2007
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Abstract
This study investigated resilience factors in thirty bereaved Zulu families who lost a family member between one and four years prior to the study.
The researcher used self-report questionnaires to access an array of information that could not be accessed through direct observations. In each family, one adolescent (n=30) and one parent (n=30) were interviewed. A standardized questionnaire gathered information regarding family composition, employment, level of education, income, age and gender of the respondent's nuclear family members. This questionnaire included an open-ended question which requested the respondents' opinion on which factors or strengths they believed helped their family through the stressful period. In addition to the use of the questionnaire, a focus group contextualized the following concepts; family, crisis and resilience.
The key coping strategies used by individuals, spouses, parents and siblings were seeking help from the relatives and community members; resistant personality traits or inner strengths; spiritual support from the church and for others, ancestral belief. However, there is still a need for more research on resilience in bereaved Zulu families; promotion of peer and professional support as well as for a refinement or adaptation of the measuring instruments that were herein used.
Description
A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the degree of Master
of Arts in Counselling Psychology at the University of Zululand, 2007.
Keywords
Bereaved families