Enhancing the resilience of retrenched workers in Harare, Zimbabwe, using the cognitive social capital

Abstract

The thrust of the research was to explore how retrenched workers dealt with the loss of employment, which adversely affected their psychological well-being and access to mental health services. The compromised financial position faced by retrenched workers further exposed them to severe mood disorders and abject poverty. In the end, the prospects of a bright future among retrenched workers gradually diminished and were superseded by a sense of hopelessness. The ecological model and thriving theory of resilience, constituted the theoretical frameworks for the study. The researcher employed concurrent triangulation mixed method convergence design to provide an intervention for retrenched workers to deal with the loss of employment. The research sample was drawn from Parirenyatwa Annex mental health hospital in Harare, Zimbabwe, where the participants voluntarily took part in the study. The researcher ensured comprehensive data analysis by applying both the descriptive and inferential statistics. From the data gathered, it emerged that culturally aligned functional social bonds, reciprocity, as well as trust and cognition, could assist participants to deal with employment loss grief. However, further studies could investigate the psychological impact on family dependence due to retrenchment of the bread winner. Future studies can also probe how religious and spirituality practices may enhance resilience among the retrenched workers.