Family resilience is the ability of a family to respond positively to an adverse situation, and emerge from the situation feeling strengthened, more resourceful and more confident than its prior state. The family is seen as a unit, and resilience refers to the family itself rather than the individual members. Families can be confronted with a multitude of challenges at any time. Those with newborn babies and young children are particularly vulnerable to stress. In the face of economic hardship, health crises, and other unforeseen adversities, it is remarkable to see families harnessing their resilience. Read More
Professor Carolyn Wallace, Emeritus Professor David Pontin, and Dr Michelle Thomas from the University of South Wales focus on understanding the social and environmental factors that enable families to navigate challenges successfully. Their vital work has led to the development of the Family Resilience Assessment Instrument and Tool – or ‘FRAIT’.
FRAIT is now invaluable in health visiting assessments of the family. It provides a structured approach to measure the strengths and vulnerabilities of family units as they navigate through ups and downs in life. Working in collaboration with Welsh Health Boards, Wallace, Pontin and Thomas have dedicated years to developing this systematic framework.
FRAIT measures and evaluates family resilience by gathering information from families through a structured assessment on multiple dimensions, including responsive parenting, family health, engagement, family support, socioeconomic factors and more. Together, these dimensions provide a holistic view of family resilience, allowing professionals and families themselves to identify strengths and areas where support might be needed.
Once the assessment has been completed and analysed, Health Visitors and Public Health Nurses or Practitioners can ascertain a score indicating levels of family resilience. Interpreting the results is crucial, because it creates a comprehensive picture of a family’s resilience profile. Based on the interpretation, FRAIT supports the provision of feedback to families and professional judgement as to whether and what type of support is required to strengthen family resilience. Ongoing review of a family’s FRAIT enables Health Visitors to track family resilience and adapt their support strategies.
The team at the University of South Wales has adopted a continuous improvement approach with FRAIT. They have an ongoing Community of Practice that gives constant feedback on FRAIT and how it is used. FRAIT has developed from a paper-based assessment and tool into an online e-FRAIT. The online e-FRAIT integrates the assessment and tool, which can be built into the digital record keeping programme of a health visiting service. The team has developed a self-assessment version of FRAIT and has completed preliminary tests.
FRAIT is starting to be used in international markets. The concept of family resilience has been developed in India and a FRAIT pilot is being planned. Health professionals in Australia and parts of Asia are in discussion with the team about how FRAIT could fit into their health services.
