Thesis (MA) -- Stellenbosch University, 2005. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study will review the literature on resilience in adult female childhood sexual abuse survivors with specific focus on incestuous abuse. Adults with histories of sexual abuse are categorised as either resilient or non-resilient on the basis of current functioning. Characteristics of the family of origin and its perceived contribution to the child sexual abuse are discussed. The developmental psychopathology literature addressing issues of resilience and vulnerability to stresses is addressed. The theoretical concepts of resilience, as they relate to protective mechanisms are discussed. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie navorsingstuk bied 'n oorsig oor die literatuur met betrekking tot die herstelvermoe van volwasse vroulike persone wat as kinders seksueel mishandel is, met besondere klem op bloedskandelike mishandeling. Volwassenes met 'n geskiedenis van seksuele mishandeling word op grond van hulle huidige funksionering beskryf as Of in staat om te herstel of nie daartoe in staat nie. Kenmerke van die gesin van oorsprong en die waargenome bydrae van die gesin tot die seksuele mishandeling van kinders word bespreek. Die literatuur met betrekking tot ontwikkelingsgerigte psigopatologie gee aandag aan vraagstukke met betrekking tot herstelvermoe en kwesbaarheid teen die agtergrond van stres. Die teoretiese konsepte van herstelvermoe, en die verband daarvan met beskermende meganismes, word ook bespreek.

Thesis (MA)-- Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: A chronic illness such as type 1 diabetes does not only have an impact on the individual’s physical and psychological well-being, but ultimately on the well-being of the family as a whole. The family typically fulfils the role of primary support structure for the diabetic child. Regardless of the physical and psychological challenges that form part of the illness, a large number of families are resilient. Families are able to adjust, adapt and cope adequately with a variety of life stressors. Consequently, this study aimed to identify and explore family resilience characteristics that are associated with family adaptation after the diagnosis of a chronic illness in a child. The Resiliency Model of Family Stress, Adjustment and Adaptation (McCubbin & McCubbin, 2001) served as theoretical framework for this study. Fifty-one primary caregivers represented families with a child with type 1 diabetes who was a patient at a big state hospital in the Western Cape, South Africa. The study used a mixed methods approach and it was expected from the participants to answer an open-ended question and complete four self-complete questionnaires. The dependent variable in the study is family adaptation, measured with the Family Attachment and Changeability Index 8 (FACI8) (McCubbin & McCubbin, 2001). Based on the theory and previous studies, the following independent variables were used as measures: family hardiness (The Family Hardiness Index (FHI)), family patterns of communication (Family Problem Solving and Communication Scale (FPSC)) and family time spent together, as well as routines followed together (Family Time and Routine Index (FTRI)). The results show that family resilience characteristics that are significantly correlated with family adaptation are affirming communication in the family; the family’s willingness to accept change as positive; and family time spent together and routines followed in the family. The most important resilience characteristic according to the qualitative data is the support and information received from the paediatric diabetes specialist at the hospital. The family’s religious beliefs, and support received from their church, also play a significant role in their adaptation. This study contributes to the increasing need for and value of positive psychology. The study also creates an opportunity to educate families and medical personnel on the importance of implementing resilience characteristics in families to ensure better adaptation. Recommendations for future studies on resilience in families with a child with type 1 diabetes are made. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: ’n Chroniese siekte soos tipe 1 diabetes het nie ’n enkelvoudige impak op die individu se fisiese en sielkundige welstand nie, maar uiteindelik ook op die gesin se welstand. Die gesin vervul tipies die rol van primêre ondersteuningsnetwerk vir die kind met diabetes. Ongeag die fisiese en sielkundige struikelblokke wat deel is van die siekte, bly ’n groot aantal gesinne steeds veerkragtig. Gesinne beskik oor die vermoë om verstellings te maak en aan te pas by ’n verskeidenheid van lewensstressors. Gevolglik het hierdie studie gepoog om gesinsveerkragtigheidskenmerke te identifiseer en te verken, nadat ’n kind met ’n chroniese siekte gediagnoseer is. Die Resiliency Model of Family Stress, Adjustment and Adaptation (McCubbin & McCubbin, 2001) het gedien as die teoretiese raamwerk vir hierdie studie. Eenen- vyftig primêre versorgers het hul gesinne in die studie verteenwoordig. In elk van die gesinne was daar ’n kind met tipe 1 diabetes wat ’n pasiënt was by ’n groot staatshospitaal in die Wes-Kaap, Suid-Afrika. Die studie het gebruik gemaak van ’n gemengde-metode benadering en het van die deelnemers verwag om ’n oopeinde-vraag te beantwoord, sowel as vier kwantitatiewe vraelyste te voltooi. Die afhanklike veranderlike in die studie was gesinsaanpassing, gemeet met die Family Attachment and Changeability Index 8 (FACI8) (McCubbin & McCubbin, 2001). Gebasseer op die teorie en die bevindinge van vorige studies is die volgende meetinstrumente gebruik om die onafhanklike veranderlikes mee te meet: die Family Hardiness Index, Family Problem Solving and Communication Scale, en die Family Time and Routine Index. Die kwantitatiewe resultate toon die volgende gesinsveerkragtigheidskenmerke: positiewe kommunikasie wat in die gesin beoefen word; die gesin se bereidwilligheid om verandering te aanvaar en dit as positief te beskou; en gesinstyd saam en gesinsroetines wat beoefen word. Die belangrikste gesinsveerkragtigheidskenmerke volgens die kwalitatiewe data is die ondersteuning en inligting verkry vanaf die pediatriese diabetes-spesialis, die gesin se geloof en die ondersteuning wat hulle van hulle kerk verkry het. Hierdie studie dra by tot die toenemende behoefte aan en waarde van positiewe sielkunde. Die studie skep ook die geleentheid om gesinne en hospitaalpersoneel in te lig oor die noodsaaklikheid van die implementering en ontwikkeling van gesinsveerkragtigheidskenmerke vir die beter aanpassing van gesinne. Ten slotte word aanbevelings vir toekomstige veerkragtigheidstudies in gesinne met ’n kind met tipe 1 diabetes gemaak.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2000. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: New changes occur daily, but people cannot absorb the repercussions fast enough to keep pace. The capacity of the human mind for invention far outstrips its ability to assimilate the changes that inventions produce. What can be done? People are not going to stop creating new problems and opportunities. The question that arises from this situation is what role resilience plays in individuals and organisations, and how this can cause people in organisations to assimilate the ever-increasing rates of change, without suffering from its debilitating effects. Resilience can be defined as the capacity to absorb high levels of change, while displaying minimal dysfunctional behaviour. Resilience is the ability to not just survive change, but to actually bounce back stronger than before its challenge (Conner, 1992: 6). In observing how people respond to the stress produced by the crisis of change, Conner (1992: 232) found two common reactions in his research. While one person tends to see primarily dangerous implications, the other typically focuses on the promise of new opportunities. Research shows that Type-O people have the following characteristics: • display a sense of security and self-assurance that is based on their view of life as complex but filled with opportunity (positive); • have a clear vision of what they want to achieve (focused); • demonstrate a special pliability when responding to uncertainty (flexible); • develop structured approaches to managing ambiguity (organised); • engaged change rather than defend against it (proactive) Is it possible to develop a person's or a group's resilience? Given the debilitating results of people who experience dysfunctional behaviour and the effect it has on the organisation's productivity and quality standards necessitates that managers should be able to manage and develop resilience. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Organisasies bevind hulle daagliks binne 'n veranderende omgewing. Die probleem wat onstaan is dat die werknemers nie die gevolge van die verandering vinnig genoeg kan absorbeer ten einde in pas te bly nie. Die kapasiteit van die mens om te innoveer is groter as sy vermoë om die veranderings te assimileer wat as gevolg van die innovasies ontstaan. Wat kan gedoen word? Die mens gaan nie ophou om nuwe geleenthede en probleme te skep nie. Die vraag wat onstaan is wat is die rol wat veerkragtigheid (resilience) kan speel by individuee en organisasies wat veroorsaak dat individuee en organisasies die toenemende verandering kan assimileer sonder om gebug te gaan onder die negatiewe gevolge van die veranderings. Veerkragtigheid (resilience) kan gedefinieer word as die vermoë om hoë vlakke van verandering te kan absorbeer terwyl minimale simptome van disfunksionele gedrag getoon word. Veerkragtigheid word ook gedefinieer as die vermoë om deur die verandering te gaan en sterker anderkant uit te kom. In sy waarneming hoe mense reageer op die spanning wat veroorsaak word deur die krisis wat verandering veroorsaak het Conner (1992: 232) in sy navorsing twee reaksies geidentifiseer. Terwyl die een persoon primêr gevaar sien in die situasie, is die ander persoon geneig om eerder te fokus op die moontlikheid van nuwe geleenthede. Navorsing dui daarop dat geleentheids georienteerde persone vyf basiese kenmerke van veerkragtigheid (resilience) het: • vertoon 'n sin vir sekuriteit en self versekerdheid wat gebaseer is op hulle siening van die lewe as kompleks maar vol geleenthede (positief); • het 'n duidelike visie van dit wat hulle wil bereik (gefokus); • demonstreer 'n spesiale buigbaarheid in tye van onsekerheid (buigbaarheid); • ontwikkel gestruktureerde benaderings om twyfelagtigheid te bestuur (georganiseerd); raak betrokke by verandering eerder as om dit te vermy (proaktief) Is dit moontlik om 'n individu of groep se veerkragtigheid(resilience) te verhoog? Gegewe die vernietigende gevolge van mense wat disfunksionele gedrag ervaar tydens tye van verandering en die effek wat dit het op die produktiwiteit en kwaliteit standaarde van die organisasie, noodsaak dat bestuurders instaat moet wees om verkragtigheid te bestuur en te ontwikkel.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The need for leaders who can cope with the volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity of today’s business world through developing or acquiring specific skills is an absolute necessity. Leaders need a ‘meta-skill of coping flexibility’ and to demonstrate agility in order to survive in the turbulent times that are not likely to settle down for some time. Occupational stress has reached extreme levels due to the pace of life, greater expectations, reduced job security and the ongoing introduction of new technology. Increasingly resilience is mentioned as the necessary competence for leaders of the current and future business world. Resiliency is about having the ability to adapt to changing situations and stressful situations. Executive coaching has many benefits, including providing leaders with a greater ability to deal with change, increased leadership self-efficacy and resilience and a decrease in depression. This study aimed to contribute to the field of Executive Coaching by investigating the current self- perceived levels of personal resilience in executives and designing a coaching process tailored to specific requirements to see whether there is an effect on the self-perceived levels of resilience. These self-perceived levels of resilience in the executives were then investigated after the coaching process to establish whether the coaching had an effect. Thirty-five (35) questionnaires were completed and a coaching participant group of four and a control group of four were selected using a random selection method. The four coaching participants completed four coaching sessions each. At the end of the sessions, the coaching participants and the control group participants were asked to complete the same questionnaire and the results were analysed and compared. The study found that the scores of the second questionnaire of all of the coaching participants increased and in the case of three of the control group participants the score decreased, which indicates that the coaching sessions made a positive impact on personal resilience levels. The coaching methodology used included cognitive behavioural and solution-focused techniques, as well as positive psychology, as suggested by the literature. Recommendations from the study include the need to develop resilience as a foundational leadership skill as well as throughout the leader’s career. Executives should engage in coaching to increase their ability to cope with and grow from business challenges. The genre of executive coaching can be enhanced with specific focus on building resilience skills in a flexible, yet effective way, in order to have a positive impact on the leader and the organisation.

Alternative food networks (AFNs) are the focus of an ‘explosive growth’ of research in Europe (Goodman 2004), and the term covers a wide range of activities, from food banks, community gardens, and farmers’ markets, to community supported or organic agriculture. However, there is an impasse in differing positions over whether AFNs represent an exclusionary place-based ‘quality turn’ (Ilbery and Kneafsey 2000), or whether they contribute to inclusive local communities, sustainability and food security (Tregear 2011, Kirwan and Maye 2013). This research aimed to clarify these debates, through exploration of UK allotments as a benchmark for AFNs, using the case of Plymouth, SW England. A political ecology perspective of social-ecological systems (Ostrom 2008) was used to investigate the activities, relations and governance involved in allotments and AFNs, organised through the concepts of multidimensional capital assets (Bebbington 1999). This research demonstrates how activities on allotments involve human, social, cultural, natural and political capital assets, encompassing both basic food security and a quality turn towards ‘good food’ (Sage 2003). Taking the long view, it is seen that the relative importance of the different asset dimensions are contingent on wider socio-political settings. Relations on allotments illustrate the building of social capital, which extends to wider communities of interest, practice and place (Harrington et al. 2008), and which involves values of social justice that can be explained as diverse or care economies (Gibson-Graham 2008, Dowler et al. 2010). However, the politics and governance of allotments are largely influenced by neoliberal policies that favour oligopolistic and transnational food systems and restrict urban land allocations for place-based food initiatives. Present-day urban population densities are at levels far higher than envisaged for the original garden cities. Nevertheless, alliances at neighbourhood, city, regional, national and transnational scales are coalescing around the values represented in the original setting up of the UK allotment system: of self-reliance, human-scale settlements and the restorative value of the natural environment. Any realization of the potential contribution of allotments and AFNs to the sustainability and resilience of food supplies for urban populations (Armitage et al. 2008, Folke et al. 2010) ultimately depends on multilevel responses to a large range of challenges. Finally, the thesis contends that, in the present day, evidence is building up around the potential of allotments and many other AFN activities, or place-based food systems, to meet multiple policy objectives through aligned values.

Crowded places have been the target of terrorist attacks for many years. Their inherent nature has resulted in a vulnerability to a range of attacks, most notably the threat of vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices (VBIEDs). Government agendas have been seeking to reduce the extent of this vulnerability, by encouraging those who are responsible for the design, construction and operation of such places to incorporate counter-terrorism measures (CTMs) into their designs, and where necessary, retro-fit them into existing places. However, little is known about what measures can be used, as well as their performance and consequences. The aim of the research is therefore to identify the aforementioned range of measures through the development of a typology that also examines their relative performance and consequences for a range of scenarios, in order to inform key decision makers who are responsible for the protection of crowded places. Through the use of a qualitative research strategy and respective research methods, interviews, site visits and document analysis were carried out in both the UK and in the USA. A total of 47 participants were recruited for the research, with the collection of data spanning 16 months. A preliminary study was undertaken that determined a range of influences on whether crowded places are protected, as well as influences on the value of CTMs themselves. A theoretical framework was developed to capture and understand those influences. Conventional data analysis methods and internal validation techniques were used to subject the data to methodological rigour, ensuring the validity and reliability of the research. While the negative consequences of incorporating CTMs can be profound, every CTM that can be used has additional benefits; measures can be incorporated at no cost and can even generate revenue; and designing-in CTMs has a number of advantages over retro-fitting them. This research s contribution to knowledge in relation to methodology, empiricism, theory, industry, and policy has resulted in the creation of a significant amount of guidance for key decision makers who are responsible for the design, construction and operation of crowded places, as well as providing data on the benefits that can be gained from incorporating mitigative measures that is of interest to those who have a role to play in the design, construction and operation of the built environment more broadly. Recommendations for further research posit that greater understanding is needed in relation to the specific monetary costs of CTMs themselves, the experience of users of protected places, the implications of invisible CTMs, and the need for research into the assessment and incorporation of proportionality into the built environment. Practical recommendations put forward the need for clarification of legislation in relation to duties of care, the dissemination of the incentives to protect, and benefits of protecting, crowded places, the need for further debate and transparency regarding proportionality and what constitutes proportionate design, and the need to encourage greater engagement between stakeholders and the means through which this can occur. The research posits that legislative requirements encompassing the mitigation of terrorist attacks are apparent, and that therefore, organisations should incorporate CTMs into vulnerable places, yet as previously indicated, such CTMs do not have to cost anything.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a critical public health problem that has a broad range of negative consequences on not only the individuals in the relationship but also on their children. Although Latino adolescents experience dating violence at a higher rate than White adolescents, little research has investigated the risk and protective factors associated with this group. Witnessing domestic violence has been associated to an increased risk in experiencing dating violence as adolescents. The pattern of IPV exposed youth to later experience violent relationships has been described as the intergenerational transmission of violence (ITV). Although youth exposed to IPV are at an increased risk for experiencing and perpetrating violence in their own relationships, not all do. This dissertation moves research on ITV beyond a deficit focus by using a resilience framework to investigate parenting relationships as protective factors for dating violence. A subsample of data Latino adolescents and their mothers’ were analyzed from a larger Welfare, Children, and Families (WCF) study. This study extends previous cross-sectional research by using longitudinal data to assess risk and protective factors when youth were 10-14 years old and its relationship to their own use of violence seven years later. Latent class analysis was conducted to understand the contextual and cultural factors related to the development of adolescent dating violence: acculturation, gender, and positive parent-child relationships were examined as influencing ITV. Three classes emerged that indicate unique combinations of risk and resilience. Two of these classes predicted differential associations with adolescent dating violence. A class indicating moderate-risk/low-protection and mothers with high acculturation was significantly related to increased odds of adolescents experiencing dating violence, both as victims and as perpetrators. A class indicating low-risk/high-protection and mothers with low acculturation significantly predicted increased odds of perpetrating dating violence but no significant relationship was found with victimization. Findings suggest that holistic family based approach to dating violence and adult domestic violence may be most effective for Latino adolescents and their IPV exposed mothers.

Title:                                   Swedish companies and Russia just changed their                                            relationship status to “It is complicated” ­- A multi-case study about how Swedish B2B companies change commitments towards the turbulent Russian market to remain resilient                     Authors:                             Hannes von Dahn & Viktor Jakobsson   Supervisor:                        Niklas Åkerman   Examiner:                           Susanne Sandberg   Course:                              Business Administration III - Degree Project with specialization in International Business (Bachelor)   Problem:                            The sanctions against Russia and the decline of the oil price have created a complex situation. As a result of this the Swedish export dropped with 50% in just one year. This calls for research concerning how Swedish companies, changes their commitments in order to remain resilient on the turbulent Russian market.   Purpose:                             This study intends to study how Swedish B2B companies change their commitments concerning tangible resources, intangible resources and operation mode, to remain resilient in the Russian market.   Research Question:            How do Swedish B2B companies change commitments to remain resilient in the turbulent Russian market?   Methodology:                    This is a qualitative study, which is following a deductive approach. The research is a multi-case study consisting of four case companies.   Conclusion:                        Swedish B2B companies change their commitments to remain resilient in the turbulent Russian market. The result of this study shows that intangible commitments are both increased and decreased. Tangible commitments meanwhile, are decreased or put on hold, while changes concerning operation modes required less uncertain futures before being conducted.

Despite the fact that swidden agriculture has been the subject of decades of research, questions remain about the extent to which it is constrained by demographic growth and if it can adapt to environmental limits. In this dissertation I analyze ethnographic and ethnohistorical evidence from the Toledo District, Belize, and suggest that Q'eqchi' Maya swidden agriculture may be more ecologically adaptive than previously thought. I use social network analysis to examine farmer labor exchange networks from a chronosequence of five villages where swidden is used. Results suggest that changes in land-use patterns, network structure, and reciprocity rates may increase the system's resilience to changes in the forest's agricultural productivity. I develop a novel interpretation of labor reciprocity that highlights how unreciprocated exchanges, when they occur within the context of a social network, may limit overexploitation of a common property resource. These results are then interpreted in the context of panarchy theory; I suggest that the structural variability observed in labor exchange networks may explain how Q'eqchi' swidden maintains its identity under changing environmental conditions - a definition of resilience. Thus, the resulting picture of Q'eqchi' swidden is one of socioecological resilience rather than homeostasis; dynamic labor exchange networks help maintain a village's social cohesion, ultimately limiting pioneer settlements and slowing overall rates of deforestation. A historical and demographic analysis of market incursions into southern Belize supports this conclusion.

Progress in human development is threatened by the complexities of global environmental change - a defining challenge of our time. Appropriate societal responses are needed to address disturbances and increasing vulnerability of social-ecological systems. This changing context calls current development thinking into question and requires new approaches, policies, and tools to cope with growing uncertainty. With a focus on capacities instead of vulnerabilities, an approach is needed emphasizing the role of communities in planning interventions and strengthening community resilience. This research draws on vulnerability, social-ecological systems and drylands development theory to advance an integrated understanding of resilience at community level and its role towards sustainable development. To develop a general approach for development actors to characterize a community's resilience and plan locally targeted interventions is the overall objective of this research. A participatory approach towards defining and assessing community resilience forms the basis, as it is assumed this would enable development actors to more efficiently address development concerns and empower communities to strengthen their resilience. Underlying factors that determine community resilience in selected dryland communities in Tigray, northeastern Ethiopia are identified. Here, most of the population depends on subsistence agriculture, while food insecurity and poverty persist despite concerted regional development efforts. This research compares and consolidates local perceptions of determinants of community resilience that form the basis for guidelines towards a methodological framework for determining levels of community resilience in Tigray. The guidelines were used to compare levels of community resilience of communities, with implications for operationalizing community resilience in the context of drylands development practice. Findings reflect the importance of recognizing that resilience is not about maintaining a status quo, but about addressing how societies can develop in a changing environment. Prominence of resilience thinking can promote a development practice better suited to address the challenges and opportunities that changes create for poor dryland communities. Resilience thinking does not provide quick solutions, but contributes a long-term, multi-dimensional perspective of building capacities for improved responses to current needs and future change. Resilience is not a solution in itself but can contribute towards developing more resilient trajectories for drylands development.