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Adapting and Validating the Family Resilience Assessment Scale in an Afrikaans Rural Community in South Africa

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Abstract

A family resilience framework understands families as having the potential to not only face adversities but to overcome them; although its measurement is not always agreed upon. The aim of this study is to explain the processes involved in the adaptation of the 54-item family resilience assessment scale into Afrikaans, and to further examine its psychometric properties. Data were collected via the door-to-door method with the assistance of fieldworkers in two rounds. The pilot sample included 82 participants whilst the larger study included 656 participants. The internal consistency and construct validity was assessed using Cronbach’s alphas and Exploratory Factor Analysis implementing a Principal Component Analysis and Promax rotation, respectively. The factors which were found are similar to those of Sixbey’s, however, a new factor emerged replacing Maintaining a positive outlook which was named Family and community outlook. The processes described in this study facilitated the assessment of the feasibility and efficiency of the full-scale study and reduced the number of unanticipated problems associated with large sample data collection particularly using fieldworkers.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the National Research Foundation of South Africa [Grant number: 93975] who funded this project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of the Western Cape, Private Bag X17, Bellville, Cape Town, 7535, South Africa

    Serena Ann Isaacs, Shazly Savahl & Xin-Cheng Sui

  2. Department of Social Work, University of the Western Cape, Bellville, South Africa

    Nicolette Vanessa Roman

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  1. Serena Ann Isaacs
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  2. Nicolette Vanessa Roman
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  3. Shazly Savahl
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  4. Xin-Cheng Sui
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Correspondence to Serena Ann Isaacs.

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Isaacs, S.A., Roman, N.V., Savahl, S. et al. Adapting and Validating the Family Resilience Assessment Scale in an Afrikaans Rural Community in South Africa. Community Ment Health J 54, 73–83 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-017-0091-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-017-0091-1

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