<p>The aim of the study was to develop an understanding of how adolescent South African girls in institutional care perceive their female gender role, in the past, the present and future.</p><p>The research question was: How do adolescent girls living in institutional care in South Africa perceive their female gender role in the past, the present and future? A mixed design, a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, was used in order to answer the research question. The quantitative part of the study consisted of a questionnaire, and the qualitative part of the study contained seven interviews. To interpret the analyzed data a theoretical framework was used, consisting of the theory of social constructionism and gender theory. The final result of the quantitative and the quantitative parts of the study showed that the perception of the female gender role among the respondents is more stereotyped/ traditional when it comes to the area of relationships and sexuality, but more equal in the field of future occupation and the professional role. The result shows that a majority of the respondents have one view of gender roles in general, a more traditional picture of how things are supposed to be, and another, less conservative when they express their own desires of how they want their future life and household.</p>

<p>Aggressive and violent behaviour in inpatient mental health facilities is found worldwide and is a frequent and serious clinical and nursing care problem. Despite the importance of international research findings and recommendations, it appears that patients perceptions of the possible contributing factors toward aggressive and violent behaviour in mental health facilities is an area of enquiry that has not been widely explored in South Africa in general, or in the Western Cape, in particular. It is against this background that this study endeavoured to investigate the external and situational contributing to patients aggressive and violent behaviour in mental health facilities in Cape Town, as seen from patients perspectives.</p>

Legislation in South Africa pertaining to the care and protection of children is presently being revised and changed. Should alternative care be necessary for a vulnerable child, the Children's Act 38/2005 prioritises a foster care placement over a child and youth care centre of which a Children's Home is a part. Given the steady decline in traditional family living due to, amongst other things HIV/AIDS, poverty and unemployment in South Africa, the dominant view of family care being prioritised may not always be feasible in reality. The study researched this view by hearing the voices of children and their caregivers, in both foster care and in Children's Homes by conducting a qualitative study based on the exploratory and descriptive designs A purposive sampling strategy was used as there were clear criteria for the selection of participants. There were two sample groups. One consisted of child participants and the other consisted of caregivers viz. foster parents and child-care workers. Caregivers were included for the purposes of enhancing reliability, validity and trustworthiness of the study. Data was collected by means of semi-structured in depth interviews with the child participants. Two focus groups were held with the caregivers; one with the foster parents and the other with the child-care workers. Both the in depth interviews as well as the focus group discussions were guided by similar themes that were linked to the main objectives of the study. The findings revealed that children's voices were largely absent in decisions pertaining to their well being; that they preferred to live with families of origin as opposed to alternative care and should they be placed in alternative care, foster care was preferred to Children's Homes. The findings further emphasized the need for infrastructural support such as family preservation programmes, financial and social work support for all poverty stricken families and strengthened human resources for Children's Homes. Recommendations therefore centred around ways in which to capacitate families of origin; ways of including children in decision making and the necessary infrastructural support to ensure optimum care for vulnerable children. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2007

Circumstances of an increasing proportion of elderly persons in the population of the United States and the incidence of pain among elderly persons established the need for this research project. Significant to nurses was the lack of information regarding responses to the pain experience and evidence of inadequate pain control. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between pain and coping strategies used by a group of elderly persons experiencing pain and living in long-term-care facilities. The population included individuals residing in long-termcare facilities in Indiana. A convenience sample of 36 persons from six facilities in central Indiana participated in the study.Gate Control Theory of pain and Lazarus' theory of stress and coping were the theoretical frameworks of the study. The independent variable, pain, was measured by two Parts of the McGill Pain Questionnaire, pain rating index andpain intensity. Coping, the dependent variable, was measured by the Ways of coping checklist; scoring methods yielded coping, problemfocused coping, emotion-focused coping, and eight subscales. Data was collected by the researcher through use of these two instruments and interviews. Pearson product moment correlations were used for statistical analysis.There were no significant correlations between pain intensity and coping measures. There were no significant correlations between pain rating and coping and emotionfocused coping. Additional findings were based on the data analysis with coping subscales. There was a significant positve correlation between pain rating and the coping subscale escape-avoidance. There was a significant negative correlation between pain rating and the coping subscale distancing.Results of the study indicated elderly individuals experiencing pain used several coping strategies. This finding is consistent with research involving elderly persons living in the community. / School of Nursing

Previous studies have demonstrated the use of momentary time-sampling methods for the objective measurement of naturally occurring events (Zarcone, Iwata, Rodgers & Vollmer, 1993; Shore, Lerman, Smith, Iwata & DeLeon, 1995). These studies have provided information about observed levels and characteristics of direct care services, supervision, resident activity and facility conditions. The present study evaluated the utility of these assessment procedures in a residential facility for developmentally delayed adults. The procedure was further evaluated for sensitivity to changes relative to an intervention designed to increase staff and client interaction. A multiple baseline design was used to assess a data collection procedure in the context of intervention in four residences on a state facility campus. Intervention included the use of scheduling, modeling and performance feedback. Results indicate an overall increase of staff and client interaction and demonstrate the utility of the assessment procedure for the evaluation of multiple, on-going activities as well as intervention effects.

This study investigated the effects of verbal and graphic feedback alone and in combination with praise on the data-recording behavior of 12 direct care trainers (DCTs) who recorded their reinforcer deliveries as they interacted with mentally retarded clients. An additional variable examined was the effect of time of delivering feedback on subsequent data-recording behavior. Feedback was delivered by the experimenter. Correspondence checks were conducted and a three-phase multiple condition experimental design was used. All feedback conditions produced an observable difference in DCT data-recording behavior. Time of delivery of feedback also appeared to have an effect on the amount of data recorded by DCTs.

The problem of this study was to specify personality changes of children during their first five months of residence in an institutional home and school, as measured by the California Test of Personality.

This study investigates (1) whether infants cared for by a single caregiver exhibit more attachment behaviors than do infants cared for by multiple caregivers and (2) whether sex differences are found in these behaviors. Twenty-six Black infants, nine to twenty-three months of age, in a day-care center, were observed during one brief low-stress separation from a caregiver. Data were taken using six indices of attachment: maintaining proximity, visual regard, touching, protesting, seeking proximity, and greeting. Where subjected to a two-way analysis of variance, the obtained results showed no significant differences in the effects of the two types of care. However, visual regard and greeting behaviors were observed significantly more frequently in females than in males.

The diploma thesis titled "Foster care" is dedicated to the foster care in the Czech republic. Its main objective is to explore the benefits of legislative changes to the functioning of foster care. The work also provides view of alternative forms of family education and types of foster care. In the theoretical part of the thesis focuses on the history of foster care, its forms, modes of mediation, both for applicants and in children. Furthermore, is the financing of foster care and foster's rights and obligations that are newly included within the framework of foster care. Finally, the work also addresses the difficulties that foster care entails, and which should be equated foster even before the adoption of a child in foster care. There is the thesis research among foster families focusing among other things on the evaluation of changes in foster care from their perspective in the practical part.

Thesis deals with the legislation of institutional care for delinquent youth and the possibilities of saving measures in response to wrongdoing committed by adolescents or otherwise of a criminal offense a child younger than 15 years. The work also includes analysis of the situation and socio-pathological development of young people after leaving the institutional care. The last part deals with implementation of the Early Intervention System and Youth team as an effective tool in combating children and adolescents crime in the Czech Republic.