Marisa de Villiers

meer tyd vir die ontwikkeling van elke vaardigheid toe te ken. Intervensieprogramme van
hierdie aard kan die risiko vir emosionele versteurings onder kinders verlaag en kinders in
staat stel om ouderdomstoepaslike take en uitdagings suksesvol te bemeester. Die
wetenskaplike evaluering van intervensieprogramme is belangrik om sodoende die bydrae
en potensiële impak van die program te bepaal.
SUMMARY
(Key words: resiliency, intervention program, middle childhood, children, fortitude
questionnaire, behavior- and emotional rating scale, stress, coping, resources, risk factors,
protective factors, developmental psychopathology)
South Africa is considered to be one of the countries with the highest crime rate in the
world. It is disturbing to note that a large percentage of these crimes are perpetrated
against children. A culture of violence seems to be the norm within the South African
community. The demise of apartheid and the transition to a post-apartheid socio-political
dispensation has had a serious psychological impact on South African children. Unless
drastic measures are taken to bring about change, more and more children will be
presenting with stress related symptoms and problems connected to age-related
developmental tasks. Children are especially vulnerable during middle childhood and the
possibility exists that the demands they are subjected to, will overwhelm them both
emotionally and psychologically.
The purpose of this study is to develop and implement a stress resilience program to
promote children’s ability to manage stress. The goal of the recent study is to scientifically
evaluate the resilience program in order to determine its contribution to children’s ability to
manage stress. Thus post testing was carried out immediately after the completion of the
program. Follow-up tests were carried out three months after completion to determine the
medium term effect.
A total of 168 children between the ages of 11 and 12 (Grade 6) were involved in this
research. The simple random sampling applied in each school did not provide sufficient
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