Examing the antecedents and outcomes of elder care based work-family conflict, - presenting family interference with work and work interference with family as major components.

The problem with which this investigation was concerned was that of the use of parents as therapeutic agents. The purpose of this study was twofold. The first was to determine the effect of filial therapy on parental acceptance, self-esteem, parent-child relationship, and family environment. A second was to analyze the results and make recommendations concerning the effectiveness of filial therapy as a treatment modality for parents and their children. The experimental design of the study was a nonrandomized, pretest-posttest, control group design.The sample (N=47) consisted of the experimental group (parents N=15, children N=9) who received filial therapy and the control group (parents N=12, children N=ll) who did not. The treatment included ten, two hour weekly parent training sessions. During these sessions the parents were taught the principles of client-centered play therapy and were instructed to conduct weekly one-half hour play sessions at home with their own children. Based on the findings of this study, the following conclusions were drawn: 1) Filial therapy does significantly increase the parents' feeling of unconditional love for their children and 2) Filial therapy does significantly increase the parents' perception of expressed conflict in their family. In addition to the statistically significant results, there were some important trends which were mentioned as directional conclusions. These qualitative judgments include: 1) Filial therapy may be an effective treatment for increasing parents' acceptance of their children, especially parents' feelings of unconditional love; 2) Filial therapy may be a somewhat effective treatment for increasing self-esteem, yet more effective in increasing parents' self-esteem than children's self-esteem; 3) Filial therapy may be an effective treatment for increasing the closeness of the parent-child relationship without altering the authority hierarchy; 4) Filial therapy may influence the family environment, especially in the areas of expressiveness, conflict, independence, intellectual-cultural orientation, and control; and 5) Filial therapy may be an effective treatment for increasing parents' understanding of the meaning of their childrens' play.

In this study, the nature of a current social problem is explored: the provision of services to elderly parents by their adult daughters - a part of the informal system of social support for the elderly. In particular, the influence of the caregiver's construction of old age on their assessment of parental autonomy is examined.

This study is an investigation of the long-term care planning entered into by 170 adult children who had independent parents. A decision-making process with four stages was hypothesized. Sons and daughters entered into planning activities primarily at the "consideration" and "discussion" stages. This involvement proceeds along a sequence of stages with lower stage activities being completed before entering into more advanced stages. Minimal involvement from adult children in "preliminary planning" and "making final decisions" suggests the process does not continue unless independence is threatened. Age and family stressors positively influenced the likelihood that respondents gave consideration to future needs of their parents. The likelihood that discussion occurs between the generations was influenced negatively by family stressors and positively by personal authority. No variables were significant for the "preliminary planning" and "final decision" stages. Application is made to educational and clinical practice. / Ph. D.

The motivation of the study was to explore the problems of families in South Africa who struggle to manage their children with autism and to find out whether they were receiving appropriate assistance. This was done by assessing the needs of the parents of children with autism by means of semi-structured interviews. Through these interviews, the parents were given the opportunity to express what information or recommendations they would like to have available to them. How the parents view their experience, their feelings about these experiences, and the strategies and actions that they take in order to cope with raising their child with autism, is important information. The aim of the study was to explore the problems South African families have so that this may form the base of information supplied to professionals such as psychologists, social workers, and educators thereby assisting in improving service delivery to parents of children with autism. / Social Work / M.Diac. (Play Therapy)

The focus of this qualitative study is the way siblings of children with autism experience their nuclear family. Five participants in their middle childhood (6 to 12 years), with a younger sibling with autism, participated in the study. Individual unstructured interviews were conducted with all participants to describe their experience of their family. The interviews were, with the consent of the parents and children, video-recorded and transcribed. Eight recurring themes were identified in the transcriptions and studied relative to the existing literature. True to the qualitative nature of this study, the aim was not to generalize the findings, but to give each of the participants the opportunity to tell his/her story. The result of this study is the detailed description of how siblings of children with autism experience their nuclear family. / Social Work / M.Diac.(Play Therapy)

Thesis (MA (Psychology))--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / The primary aim of this study was to identify the characteristics and resources that families possess that enable them to adapt successfully, and as such, be resilient despite the presence of an autistic child in the family. The study was rooted within the contextual framework of the Resilience Model of Adjustment and Adaptation of McCubbin, Thompson and McCubbin (1996). Self-report questionnaires were completed by the parents of 34 families whose children attend either the Alpha School for Autistic Learners, the Vera School for Autistic Learners, or the Special Needs Adapted Programme. The self-report questionnaires were based on the Resilience Model of Adjustment and Adaptation. In addition, families were required to complete a biographical questionnaire and an open-ended question relating to their experience of factors relating to adaptation. The results pointed towards the importance of resilience factors in adaptation. The most significant resilience factors identified in this study include higher socioeconomic status; social support; open and predictable patterns of communication; supportive family environment, including commitment and flexibility; family hardiness; internal and external coping strategies; a positive outlook; and family belief systems. The clinical utility of the study in facilitating adaptation lies in its ability to provide parents with confirmation of the value of their efforts to improve the quality of life of their autistic child, as well as the family, and in providing all those involved in helping the autistic child, albeit parents or professionals, with insight into ways of creating a family environment, which will enhance the well-being of the autistic child, without detriment to the total family system. Family resilience theory provides a relevant framework within which the process of adapting to an autistic child can be considered. By applying these theories to their specific crisis situation, families of autistic children can work towards identifying, as well as implementing those factors which will lead to better adaptation, and thus increased resilience.

Thesis (M.Phil. (Social Work))--University of Stellenbosch, 1984. / 367 leaves printed on single pages,preliminary pages i - xiv and numberd pages 1-351. Includes bibliography and 3 figures. Digitized at 600 dpi grayscale to pdf format (OCR), using a Bizhub 250 Konica Minolta Scanner. / Please refer to full text.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2002. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The focus of the present review is the quality of life (QOL) of parents caring for a child with epilepsy. The review is informed by published books and articles available on the Psychlit and Medline databases. The paper provides an overview of epilepsy and the problems patients, particularly children, are confronted with. The important roles that parents fulfil in their child's life is followed by a discussion of the stress and burden experienced by parents caring for a child with epilepsy. Descriptions and definitions of the construct QOL are followed by reported research findings on the QOL of patients with epilepsy. The importance of the QOL of parents caring for a child with epilepsy is emphasized and this leads to an examination of existing research on the QOL of these parents. Research on the QOL of parents of children with epilepsy is limited despite the important roles parents fulfil in the life of their child with epilepsy and the potentially negative consequences of these additional roles for the child, the parents and the remainder of the family. Identification and an understanding of the dimensions of QOL of parents that are impacted upon by a child's epilepsy may produce improved treatment outcomes and QOL for children diagnosed and living with epilepsy. Recommendations for future research are included in the present review. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die fokus van hierdie oorsig is die lewenskwaliteit van ouers wat 'n epileptiese kind versorg. Die oorsig is gebaseer op gepubliseerde boeke en artikels wat beskikbaar is op Psychlit en Medline databasisse. Die oorsig voorsien 'n omskrywing van epilepsie asook van die probleme wat pasiente, veral kinders, ondervind. Die belangrike rolle wat ouers in hul kinders se lewe speel word bespreek en dit word gevolg deur 'n bespreking van die stres en druk wat ouers wat epileptiese kinders versorg, ondervind. Beskrywings en definisies van die konstruk lewenskwaliteit word aangebied, gevolg deur 'n opgawe van navorsingsbevindinge oor die lewenskwaliteit van epiletiese pasiënte. Die belangrikheid van die lewenskwaliteit van ouers van 'n epileptiese kind word beklemtoon en dit lei tot 'n oorsig van huidige navorsing oor die lewenskwaliteit van hierdie ouers. Ten spyte van die belangrike rolle wat ouers in die lewe van hul epileptiese kind speel en die moontlike negatiewe gevolge van hierdie bykomende rolle vir die kind, die ouers en die ander familielede, is navorsing oor die lewenskwaliteit van ouers met epileptiese kinders beperk. Identifisering van en insig in die faktore wat 'n impak het op die lewenskwaliteit van ouers met 'n epileptiese kind, kan lei tot verbeterde behandelingresultate en hoër lewenskwaliteit vir kinders wat gediagnoseer word en wat met epilepsie saamleef. Aanbevelings vir toekomstige navorsing word ook in hierdie oorsig gemaak.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Families with a transracially adopted child are confronted with normal family crises, crises due to the adoption as well as challenges specific to a transracial family. When this transracial family is a single-parent family, it could be assumed that the challenges the family faces will be even more. Consequently, the need developed to investigate characteristics and family patterns which contribute to family adaptation in crises in the single-parent family where a child from a different race than the parent has been adopted. The research question in this study was: “What are resilience factors in single-parent transracial families?” The strength perspective formed the basis of this study and the theories of Walsh (2003) and McCubbin and McCubbin (1996) provided the theoretical grounding. An explorative research design was used to address the research question. Data were collected by means of semistructured interviews and conventional content analysis was performed to analyse the data by using the Atlas.ti. computer program. Interviews were conducted with six white women who adopted a child or children from a different race than themselves. These women were all single parents living in the Western Cape, South Africa. At the time of the study, the ages of these transracially adopted children ranged from three to 10 years. A biographical questionnaire and an in-depth interview with each participant were used to collect the data. The results indicated that an important resilience factor in the transracially adopted family is equipping the adopted child with specific skills to cope with crises that may result due to his/her unique situation. Effective preparation of the adoptive mother before adoption, social contact and the support of the extended family were also found to be important resilience factors. Family routines, openness about the adoption and the utilisation of external resources were identified as important sources of resilience for the single-parent transracial family. The results of this study provide important information to the potential transracially adopting parent to prepare him/herself for transracial adoption. The results of this study also provide important information to everyone involved in transracial adoption (for example the social worker) in South-Africa. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Gesinne met ʼn aangenome kind van ʼn ander ras as die ouer(s) word gekonfronteer met alle normale gesinskrisisse, krisisse wat ontstaan weens die aanneming, sowel as uitdagings wat spesifiek aan ʼn transrasgesin gestel word. Indien die transrasgesin ʼn enkelouergesin is, kan daar verwag word dat verdere uitdagings aan hierdie gesin gestel sal word. Gevolglik het die vraag ontstaan watter gesinskenmerke en -patrone ʼn bydrae lewer tot gesinsaanpassing in krisissituasies in enkelouergesinne waar ʼn kind van ʼn ander ras as die ouer aangeneem is. Gevolglik was die navorsingsvraag in hierdie ondersoek: “Wat is veerkragtigheidskenmerke van enkelouer-transrasgesinne?” Die sterkteperspektief het as uitgangspunt vir hierdie studie gedien en die teorieë van Walsh (2003) en McCubbin en McCubbin (1996) is as teoretiese grondslag benut. ʼn Eksploratiewe navorsingsontwerp is gebruik om die navorsingsvraag te ondersoek. Data is deur middel van semi-gestruktureerde onderhoude ingesamel en konvensionele inhoudsontleding is gedoen om ingesamelde data met behulp van die Atlas.tirekenaarprogram te ontleed. Onderhoude is met ses wit vroue wat ʼn kind of kinders van ʼn ander ras as hulself aangeneem het, gevoer. Hierdie vroue is almal enkelouers en woonagtig in die Wes-Kaap, Suid-Afrika. Tydens die ondersoek het die ouderdomme van die transrasaangenome kinders gewissel tussen drie en 10 jaar. ʼn Biografiese vraelys en ʼn diepgaande onderhoud met elke deelnemer is gebruik om data in te samel. Daar is bevind dat ʼn belangrike veerkragtigheidsfaktor in die transrasaangenome gesin is om die transrasaangenome kind toe te rus met vaardighede om potensiële krisisse rakende sy/haar transrasaangenome status effektief te hanteer. Die effektiewe voorbereiding van die moeder voor aanneming, sosiale kontak en die ondersteuning van die uitgebreide familie is ook as belangrike veerkragtigheidsfaktore in die transrasgesin geïdentifiseer. Spesifieke gesinspatrone, openlikheid oor die aanneming en die benutting van eksterne hulpbronne help ook die transrasgesin om krisissituasies effektief te hanteer. Hierdie inligting is ʼn belangrike hulpbron vir potensiële aanneemouers ten einde hulle effektief voor te berei vir die aanneming van ʼn kind van ʼn ander ras as hulself. Die resultate van hierdie studie verskaf ook belangrike inligting aan die ondersteuningspartye (byvoorbeeld die maatskaplike werker) wat betrokke is by transrasaanneming in Suid-Afrika.