This study employs interviews to measure the perceptions of sixteen teachers, nine school principals, and seven School Resource Officers on the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program, offered to grade six students in one small (population approximately 70,000) city in western Canada. Perceptions in three areas are examined: curricular content, program delivery, and efficacy. Subjects overwhelming viewed the curricular content favourably. Similarly, there was strong agreement that the program was well delivered. The efficacy of the program was judged less positively; however, this did not mitigate the subjects' strong desire to continue implementation of the program. These results are consistent with the research literature on DARE which documents the popularity of the program, but acknowledges that it appears to have limited effects upon reducing student drug use. The results of this study are used to examine five options for delivering an in-school program for preventing or reducing drug abuse and violence among students. The options explored range from retaining the DARE program in its current form, to eliminating it, reforming it, implementing an alternative program, or designing an entirely new drug and violence prevention program. The conclusion drawn is that the DARE program should be withdrawn and replaced with an entirely new drug and violence prevention program and curriculum specific to community realities and needs. / vii, 109 leaves ; 28 cm.

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This study focuses on the experiences that educators have of their relationships with adolescents involved in drug use. It has been recognised over time that school communities are becoming more important with regards to the impact they have on learners, in particular the impact that learner-educator relationships have on the wellbeing of learners. A qualitative, phenomenological design was therefore used in order to ascertain the educators’ lived experiences. In total, sixteen educators were purposely selected from a secondary school in the area of Delft in Cape Town. In-depth interviews were conducted with all sixteen participants after which a World Café group session was organised in which the same 16 educators participated. These methods collected rich information. The results of the study are reported in an article. The aim of the article was to explore educators’ lived experiences of their relationships with adolescent learners involved in drug use. The study has shown that educators can have positive relationships with learners involved in drug use despite the challenges they face. It seems that it is most likely to occur when the educator feels motivated to nurture these relationships – possibly experiencing personal well-being – and uses a variety of skills and strengths to attempt to achieve this goal. This has implications for how other cases with learners involved in drug use should be treated and how the educators and school can assist these learners. Recommendations that emerged as a result of this study are to make educators aware of their own personal well-being and the importance of nurturing their wellbeing, in order to enable them to, in turn, nurture positive relationships with learners involved in drug use. Schools themselves can also play a role in creating an organisational culture that places emphasis on the relational and personal well-being of teachers as well as students. / MA (Psychology), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

This study focuses on the experiences that educators have of their relationships with adolescents involved in drug use. It has been recognised over time that school communities are becoming more important with regards to the impact they have on learners, in particular the impact that learner-educator relationships have on the wellbeing of learners. A qualitative, phenomenological design was therefore used in order to ascertain the educators’ lived experiences. In total, sixteen educators were purposely selected from a secondary school in the area of Delft in Cape Town. In-depth interviews were conducted with all sixteen participants after which a World Café group session was organised in which the same 16 educators participated. These methods collected rich information. The results of the study are reported in an article. The aim of the article was to explore educators’ lived experiences of their relationships with adolescent learners involved in drug use. The study has shown that educators can have positive relationships with learners involved in drug use despite the challenges they face. It seems that it is most likely to occur when the educator feels motivated to nurture these relationships – possibly experiencing personal well-being – and uses a variety of skills and strengths to attempt to achieve this goal. This has implications for how other cases with learners involved in drug use should be treated and how the educators and school can assist these learners. Recommendations that emerged as a result of this study are to make educators aware of their own personal well-being and the importance of nurturing their wellbeing, in order to enable them to, in turn, nurture positive relationships with learners involved in drug use. Schools themselves can also play a role in creating an organisational culture that places emphasis on the relational and personal well-being of teachers as well as students. / MA (Psychology), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Work

A study of data from 85 undergraduate and graduate students involved in church youth groups revealed a significant relationship between degree of religious belief and drug using behavior and attitudes. Highly religious subjects disapproved of drinking alcoholic beverages and used cigarettes and alcohol less than subjects professing lower religiosity. Protestant subjects had more negative attitudes and less personal use of tobacco and alcohol than Catholics. Similar findings pertaining to drug using behavior and attitudes were reported between groups for all other substances.

The focus of this study was to determine if certain personality traits could be detected within a population of substance-abusing adolescents. The Depression (d), Psychopathic Deviant (Pd), Paranoia (Pa), and Hypomania (Ma) scales of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) were utilized as indicators of psychopathological traits for this project. It was found that a significant degree of elevation on these scales was achieved by the subject, when compared to an ideal normative sample. It was concluded that this indicated the presence of certain psychopathological personality traits within this population. The implication that personality differences within this population can be detected could lead to a greater understanding of substance abuse among adolescents, and the potential for more appropriate counseling approaches with such substance abusers.

The treatment of schizophrenia today consists of a multi-component system of services. Mental health professionals generally agree that anti-psychotic medications are an essential treatment for schizophrenia. However, adherence to medication regimens by patients with schizophrenia is notoriously poor. To identify correlates and predictors of medication compliance, the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia (SADS), a semi-structured diagnostic interview, was administered to 90 outpatients with schizophrenia. The results suggest that there are specific variables (i.e., mood symptoms, psychotic symptoms, and socio-demographic variables) that predict medication compliance. In addition, the confirmation of these variables was effective (90.0%) at identifying non-compliant patients. The results suggest that schizophrenia is a complex disorder composed of heterogeneous symptoms. However, a specific group of symptoms is proposed which may provide a screening measure for predicting patients who are likely to be non-compliant with their medications.

Background: Healthy Spirituality helps to find identity, she led to inner harmony and also harmonizes the relationship to the world and external activity. Four dimensions act of faith - an autonomous source present grace, free response and social framework - will appear in therapeutic practice and may contribute to the development of a mature personality and eliminate substance abuse during adolescence and the next life. We can talk about that in difference from other religious direction Christianity has the personality of addictological terms of psychotherapeutic influence. The main aim of my thesis is an overview of the situation of substance use among adolescents from Christian oriented schools of Prague aged 13 to 16 years. Another objective is to compare the results with the results from the ESPAD study in 2011. Method of making data: For these purposes, we used a short questionnaire ESPAD (2007), Prague spirituality questionnaire (PSQ 30) and a standard questionnaire on religious attitudes M. Duda and Smely I. (2013). Participants: The research sample consisted of 96 students from Christian schools aged 13 to 16 years. Data analysis methods: The data were processed at the level of descriptive and mathematical and analytical statistics (chi-square) and the results reported in the tables and...

M.A. (Social Work) / Please refer to full text to view abstract