Walsh Family Resilience Questionnaire Short Version (WFRQ-9): Development and initial validation for disaster scenarios

This study aimed to develop and validate a short scale of family resilience for disaster scenarios, with the Walsh Family Resilience Questionnaire (WFRQ-32) being adopted as the foundation for its development. The reliability and validity of the scale were evaluated using a sample of 1015 participants in Hong Kong. The key determinants that enable families to overcome adversities and disasters were investigated through multivariate regression modeling.

The results showed that the Walsh Family Resilience Questionnaire Short Version (WFRQ-9), with 9 items, demonstrated satisfactory measurement properties, including good explanatory power, construct validity, and high internal reliability. Proactive disaster preparedness and emergency response behaviors, and ample living space increased WFRQ-9 score. Lower education level, residence in government-subsidized housing, and having disabled family members decreased WFRQ-9 score. The paper conludes that the WFRQ-9 is effective in its ability to measure family resilience in interventions aimed at improving disaster resilience, and emphasises the importance of fostering family resilience in response to rising global disasters.