Resilience among families where a parent accepted a voluntary teacher's retrenchment package

Teachers who accepted the voluntary severance package from the South African Department of Education between 1996 and 1998 were approached to take part in this study on behalf of their families. Thirty participants completed a biographical questionnaire and the Family Index of Regenerativity and Adaptation (FIRA-G) developed by McCubbin and Thompson (1991). The results confirmed the relationship between family Stressors, family strains and family distress, implying that if stressors and strains are not managed, they pile up, deplete resources and lead to family tension and stress. The results also highlighted the protective nature of good financial management, suggesting that there are measurable factors which act as crisis-meeting resources, diminish the negative impact and degree of the stressor and ultimately foster resilience and facilitate recovery. Social support was highlighted as a resilience variable.Articl