Thesis (MA (Psychology))--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Suicide is the third leading cause of death of worldwide, and its social ramifications are far-reaching. Due to the stigma associated with suicide, as well as the unique emotional processes that occur during bereavement following this mode of death, suicide bereavement is regarded as different - and more intense - than other grief experiences. While the effects of suicide on the suicide-bereaved have been well-documented using objective measures of outcome, the subjective, and often unquantifiable emotional, familial and social consequences of suicide have been largely under-researched. By using an interpretive approach, this study focuses on the subjective experiences of those who have lost a loved one to suicide. Five suicide-bereaved individuals were sampled from a particular community, and their experiences were elicited using semi-structured interviews. The results indicate a number of emotional as well as social processes that occur after suicide, including intense longing for the deceased; rationalisation, disbelief, and denial; feelings of anger, guilt, regret, and sadness; a search for answers, meaning and closure; and blaming and social isolation. While these processes cannot be said to occur exclusively in suicide bereavement, they appear to be experienced more intensely during this form of grief.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study investigates and describes palliative care patients’ expectations of their homebased caregivers. This paper attempts to expand on the findings of a previous study by Armenis (2006b) that reported a need to determine the occupational responsibilities of home-based caregivers within the Stellenbosch Hospice organization. Three palliative care patients were interviewed individually in unstructured interviews whereby expectations were discussed and recorded. Respondents were from the rural town of Klapmuts which is located within the broader Stellenbosch area. Responses were analyzed by means of the phenomenological methodology approach developed by Giorgi (1997). The findings indicate that patients expect physical and psychosocial care which can be divided into six sub-themes: i) hygiene; ii) feeding; iii) physical assistance; iv) communicate care; v) support; vi) need for community. This study revealed in excess of forty caring activities that study participants expect from their home-based caregivers that may be utilized as future focus areas of home-based caregiver training initiatives. Recommendations for future research include the enquiry into the role of patient relatives’ and members of the community, as essential components of the unit of care. In addition, further investigation is required to determine the specific psychosocial needs of palliative patients, their relatives, and communities located in the outlying regions of South Africa. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie doen ondersoek na en beskryf pasiënte wat palliatief (sorg van pasiënte met ongeneeslike siektes) versorg word se rolverwagtinge van hul gemeenskapsgebaseerde oppassers. Hierdie werkstuk brei uit op ‘n voorafgaande studie deur Armenis (2006b) wat ‘n behoefte geraporteer het dat duidelike beroepspesifikasies vir gemeenskapsgebaseerde oppassers wat in diens van die Stellenbosch Hospice is, bepaal behoort te word. Drie ongestruktureerde onderhoude is gevoer met pasiënte wat palliatief versorg word. Pasiënte se verwagtinge is bespreek en op ‘n oudioband vasgelê. Deelnemers aan die studie is van die dorp Klapmuts wat binne die Stellenboschdistrik geleë is. Antwoorde is geanaliseer deur die gebruikmaking van die fenomenologiese metode soos deur Giorgi ontwikkel (1997). Die bevindings toon aan dat pasiënte ‘n dringende behoefte het aan fisieke en psigo-sosiale sorg. Laasgenoemde kan in ses sub-temas verdeel word: i) higiëne ii) voeding iii) fisiese bystand iv) die komunikasie van sorg v) ondersteuning vi) behoefte aan gemeenskapsbetrokkendheid. Hierdie studie het meer as veertig aktiwiteite vasgestel wat palliatiewe pasiënte van hul gemeenskapsgebaseerde oppassers verwag. Die vasgestelde aktiwiteite mag bydra tot die bevordering van toekomstige navorsing en die opleiding van gemeenskapsgebaseerde oppassers. Hierdie studie het ‘n dringende behoefte vir die opleiding van gemeenskapsgebaseerde oppassers, wat in die Stellenboschdistrik werksaam is geïdentifiseer. Daar is ‘n behoefte aan studies wat die rol van gesinslede en die gemeenskap se verantwoordelikhede uiteensit met betrekking tot die uitvoer van palliatiewe sorg. Die behoefte aan navorsing om die spesifieke psigososiale nood van palliatiewe pasiënte, hulle gesinne, en betrokke gemeenskappe wat in die landelike dele van Suid Afrika gelëe is, vas te stel.

The aim of the thesis is to explore how parents' life experience can become a resource to strengthen teaching about, and for, cultural diversity with the help of homework assignments and teacher feedback. Two of the four articles included are based on data from the Läxprojektet (2004-2006) [The Homework Assignment Project], which was a practicebased, collaborative research project at a multi-lingual and multi-cultural secondary school. The material collected from project and used in this thesis consists of collaborative homework assignments, audio recorded lessons, student texts and interviews with parents, students and teachers. Article A concerns teachers' feedback during classroom discussions. Results consist of seven categories of feedback and show that all feedback, in contrast to previous research, does not support students' learning. Article B show that collaborative lessons that are based on parents' life experience may fulfill the function of boundary objects (Star &amp; Griesemer 1989) between home and school. Article C deals with the relationship between homework and feedback, which is studied in a research review. Article D revealed that issues concerning how cultural diversity was highlighted at the municipal level and in school planning were primarily featured in the municipalities with the highest proportion of multilingual immigrant students. Thesis results suggest that: Feedback is a challenge for teachers when the content of what the students present is unknown. Parents' life experiences can be a resource in a content-based partnership between home and school. Teaching about cultural diversity is facilitated by the existence of cultural diversity among students and parents. In summary, results indicate that there are several factors that influence whether and how content and teaching about, and for, cultural diversity succeeds in schools. These factors affect the individual level, the classroom level and partially also the municipal level. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defence the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 2: In Press; Paper 3: In Press; Paper 4; Submitted.</p>

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Background: Going abroad for a number of years to live and work in a different country and culture is a major change for most people. To make this easier and minimize the risks of facing adjustment difficulties for these people going abroad, companies’ Human resource departments, in particular, have great responsibilities. It is also mainly their responsibility to ensure a smooth re-adjustment for employees returning to home country after a completed international assignment. Today many companies not only underestimate the problems related to an unsuccessful repatriation process, but also do not acknowledge the difficulties that the expatriates face upon return. Moreover, there is evidence showing that only a minority of companies invest substantial resources in the task of creating an Effective Repatriation process, even though researchers have confirmed repatriation to be more challenging than expatriation. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to find out how companies can improve and facilitate the repatriation of their employees. This will be done by examining factors affecting how an expatriate perceives the repatriation process and by identifying the most critical actions in achieving an effective repatriation process. Method: In order to fulfill the purpose of this thesis a qualitative method was chosen. A case study was conducted over Volvo Construction Equipment in Eskilstuna, based upon personal interviews with expatriates as well as representatives of the Volvo International Assignment Management (VIAM) and Human Resource department of Volvo Construction Equipment in Eskilstuna. Further, the case study included a preliminary study based on a question and answer format, answered by 20 expatriates at Volvo CE in Eskilstuna. With support from information gathered through the preliminary study, later 10 personal interviews were carried out with expatriates at Volvo CE. Conclusion: The findings of this thesis propose 10 main factors, which influence how an expatriate perceives the repatriation process. These are; (1) the Purpose for why an expatriate is sent abroad, (2) the Picture of the repatriation process and responsibility areas communicated by the home company, (3) the perceived Communication and support, (4) the utilization of Mentorship, (5) Reverse culture shock issues, (6) Career issues, (7) Organizational issues, (8) Practical issues, (9) Family issues and finally,(10) the existence of an Evaluation. Further, the result of this thesis suggest that there are four critical actions in achieving an effective repatriation process; preplanning, communicating and providing support, proactive repositioning process and finally, applying an evaluation.

The purpose of this study was to, from the teacher's point of view; discover pupils with reading difficulties in connection with text assignments in mathematics, the teacher's support for these students, if difficulties coincide and whether it's the mathematics teacher's responsibility to make sure pupils with reading difficulties develop their reading ability. The study is based on a qualitative method and five semistructured interviews with mathematics teachers and one language support teacher. The result shows there is a strong connection between the pupils' reading ability and their ability to manage text assignments in mathematics. A weak reading ability affects the pupil in a negative way when solving text assignments in mathematics due to wrong reading technique if the teacher is absent. It is not unusual that reading difficulties and mathematics difficulties coincide. The teacher's most important role in the learning process is to teach the pupils understanding about the reading technique in different ways and to give the pupils opportunity to get spoken texts. It is not the mathematics teacher's responsibility to make sure pupils with reading difficulties develop their reading ability, rather it's the responsibility of a specialist and professional reading- and writing support teacher.

Due to increased globalization, MNCs are increasingly relocating employees on international assignments. During their international assignments, expatriates gain a vast amount of knowledge that can be valuable to the firm. This valuable source of knowledge often remains untapped however and MNCs do often not exploit and harvest knowledge from expatriates. Given this problem we have investigated what the process of knowledge transfer looks like and how MNCs exploit knowledge from Swedish expatriates. We also wanted to find out how factors such as knowledge characteristics, corporate culture, debriefing, and post-assignment position effected this process. By conducting qualitative interviews with former expatriates, we could conclude that formal programs or structured mechanisms to harvest knowledge from expatriates were not very common, the corporate culture had a fairly big impact on expatriates’ well-being, and debriefing sessions varied depending on the size of the company, position of the expatriate as well as the number of expatriates a MNC had. Furthermore, we were able to conclude that the MNCs we investigated utilized knowledge from expatriates by giving them suitable post-assignment positions. Given the tacit nature of expatriates’ knowledge, we recommend managers to assign more time for socialization between coworkers.

<p>Background: Going abroad for a number of years to live and work in a different country and culture is a major change for most people. To make this easier and minimize the risks of facing adjustment difficulties for these people going abroad, companies’ Human resource departments, in particular, have great responsibilities. It is also mainly their responsibility to ensure a smooth re-adjustment for employees returning to home country after a completed international assignment. Today many companies not only underestimate the problems related to an unsuccessful repatriation process, but also do not acknowledge the difficulties that the expatriates face upon return. Moreover, there is evidence showing that only a minority of companies invest substantial resources in the task of creating an Effective Repatriation process, even though researchers have confirmed repatriation to be more challenging than expatriation.</p><p>Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to find out how companies can improve and facilitate the repatriation of their employees. This will be done by examining factors affecting how an expatriate perceives the repatriation process and by identifying the most critical actions in achieving an effective repatriation process.</p><p>Method: In order to fulfill the purpose of this thesis a qualitative method was chosen. A case study was conducted over Volvo Construction Equipment in Eskilstuna, based upon personal interviews with expatriates as well as representatives of the Volvo International Assignment Management (VIAM) and Human Resource department of Volvo Construction Equipment in Eskilstuna. Further, the case study included a preliminary study based on a question and answer format, answered by 20 expatriates at Volvo CE in Eskilstuna. With support from information gathered through the preliminary study, later 10 personal interviews were carried out with expatriates at Volvo CE.</p><p>Conclusion: The findings of this thesis propose 10 main factors, which influence how an expatriate perceives the repatriation process. These are; (1) the Purpose for why an expatriate is sent abroad, (2) the Picture of the repatriation process and responsibility areas communicated by the home company, (3) the perceived Communication and support, (4) the utilization of Mentorship, (5) Reverse culture shock issues, (6) Career issues, (7) Organizational issues, (8) Practical issues, (9) Family issues and finally,(10) the existence of an Evaluation. Further, the result of this thesis suggest that there are four critical actions in achieving an effective repatriation process; preplanning, communicating and providing support, proactive repositioning process and finally, applying an evaluation.</p>

Thesis (MPhil (Industrial Psychology))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / The fact that patients on Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) default scheduled drug pick-ups and clinic visits requires attention, because the long-term effect is non-adherence to prescribed regimens and the development of drug resistance, as indicated in the report of the Fourteenth Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections held in November 2007 in Los Angeles. A cross-sectional survey and observational qualitative study was done to identify key factors associated with the fact that patients on antiretroviral therapy fail to pick up drugs and keep scheduled clinic appointments, with a view to suggesting intervention measures. The study focused on Murchison Hospital in Ugu District, Kwa Zulu Natal Province. Data were collected from patient records, telephonic interviews with patients, or patients’ caregivers, treatment supporters and family members of a patient who did not return for follow-up at the clinic, as well as from face-to-face interviews with healthcare workers to understand the reason for default. Observation checklists were used to collect data from systems, structures and processes used in services provision. Thereafter data were analyzed through the various stages of coding and writing up of notes and reported. Of 638 defaulters identified, 205 were contactable, and only 95 patients were reached. The key factors associated with default identified were death (49.5%) and logistics and cost (15%). Other additional factors were travel and migration, religious beliefs, hospitalization, side effects, work schedules and commitments, imprisonment and visiting private practices. Poor relationships with healthcare workers, patients’ financial difficulties and termination of disability grants added to the problem.

In the master’s work “Creative assignments for encouraging music listening in lower school” possibilities of the realization of students’ linking for music listening during the lesson are analyzed. The contemporary pedagogy and artistic training refer to the spread of student’s experience, educators’ competence in varying methods and collaborating. Music listening is a special assumption of a person musical culture’s training, therefore, its stimulation is essential. Starting in the early training, music listening should be encouraged during the lesson and also in socio-cultural environment. For such music listening encouragement an experimental model of creative assignments was used. The aim of the work is to explore the possibilities of music listening encouragement by using creative assignments in lower school. The research shows that the creative assignment model is effective and the assumption of music listening encouragement is potential if creative assignments will be used while music listening. Novelty of the work. The possibilities of music listening encouragement in the lesson and socio-cultural environment by applying creative assignments are shown. The creative assignment model signally changes the efficiency of musical training and influences the student’s musical culture. The creative assignment model in music listening is concerted with E Velicka’s musical training program. Creative assignments in music listening activate students’ expression, give freedom... [to full text]