Overall, this thesis was designed to explore the nature of adolescent boys' body image, the effects of body image on body change strategies and psychological adjustment, and the factors that influence body image. The first study examined body image in 362 adolescent boys. Body image was considered in terms of attitudes to different body parts and attributes, including, lower, middle and upper body, as well as weight, shape and muscles. The relationships between Body Mass Index (BMI), body image, sociocultural messages, psychological adjustment and body change strategies, including strategies to decrease weight and increase muscles using food and exercise, drive for thinness, bulimic attitudes and behaviour, excessive exercise, food supplements to lose weight, increase muscles and steroids, were also investigated. Multiple regression analyses were used to examine the role of body image, sociocultural messages and psychological adjustment to predict satisfaction with different body attributes and body change strategies. The findings from study one led to the development of a program aimed at preventing the development of unhealthy attitudes and behaviours among adolescent boys. Study two involved the implementation and evaluation of this prevention program. One hundred and twenty one boys participated in the program. The program was based on social-cognitive theory, and included a focus on accepting differences and the development of self-esteem. The boys who participated in the program indicated some change in existing attitudes and showed less development of risk behaviours relative to the control group. The implications of the findings from this thesis in relation to future research, as well as the prevention of adolescent boys' body image problems are discussed.

The thesis reports a follow-up study from eight years of age to adulthood for a group of students with dyslexic problems compared to a matched group of students without such problems. The empirical basis of the thesis is provided by the research project, Reading Development in Kronoberg, which has been supplemented by data from adulthood in the form of questionnaires, test results and interviews. The thesis comprises three studies. In Study I, the aim is to examine how reading and writing disabilities emerge during the first school years. The Simple View of Reading, was used to classify the poor readers into various subgroups. In Study II, the reading development of students with reading disability was examined at group and individual levels. The theme of Study III is a comparison of the living conditions of adults in a group of dyslexics compared to a group without difficulties, and to investigate how the participants in the study have tackled their problems. The results reveal a development pattern among dyslexic students, with early phonological problems persisting into adulthood in spite of substantial special education measures, in school Baseline performance at eight years of age is by far the best predictor of adult skills. No clearly discernible subgroups were found among the dyslexic students. The result profiles indicate a great variation among the participants, both regarding function and degree of impairment. Nevertheless, a number of students in the dyslexic groups have achieved surprisingly good word decoding abilities. In addition to the degree of impairment, factors such as reading development, the teaching of reading demands for reading and writing in adult life, and individual coping ability affect the outcome of the perceived difficulties. It is of the utmost importance that special needs education in the future be guided by a thorough assessment and follow-up program where manifest reading and writing skills as well as underlying cognitive functions are profiled. Moreover, intervention should follow evidence-based methods in order to prevent educational failure and social maladjustment among pupils. The thesis demonstrates that reading and writing disabilities have major consequences for educational achievement and working life outcomes, in addition to many other aspects of adult livelihood.

In an attempt to replicate and extend previous research, the present study conducted a brief psychoeducational intervention through community organisations designed to overcome methodological shortcomings of past studies. The two session intervention (one session with follow-up phone call) sought to establish if a brief community intervention was effective in both improving family members’ knowledge about schizophrenia and various other indicators linked to improved client functioning. People with schizophrenia and their family members (N = 50) were recruited into a controlled trial of a brief educational intervention. Clients and their corresponding key family members were randomly allocated to a treatment group or a wait-list control group. Measures included those reflecting knowledge about schizophrenia, expressed emotion, perceived coping ability, burden of care and distress. Analyses showed that knowledge increased significantly after the intervention and not after the control condition and was maintained at a nine-month follow-up. Family members’ and clients’ expressed emotion ratings significantly decreased from pre- to post-test with changes in total expressed emotion scores improving across treatment by over twice the magnitude compared to the control condition. All gains were maintained at the nine-month follow-up, with continuing improvement seen in family members’ intrusiveness ratings. A similar pattern of findings was reflected on other indices, with significant improvements in burden of care, coping and distress that were more a function of intervention than the control condition. All gains were maintained at the nine-month follow-up. Additionally, assessment of relapse rates at this follow-up interval indicated that no client had relapsed. Overall the results suggested that although knowledge increased as a result of education, the improvements in all indicators other than knowledge appeared to be due to education combined with some non-specific factors. These non-specific factors may have included expectancy effects, setting effects, sampling bias and other possibilities. These issues are considered in terms of implementation of brief programs in supportive community settings and in terms of future research.

O presente trabalho de tese tem como objetivo identificar e compreender os principais fatores que estão subjacentes à formação das situações de vulnerabilidade e de resiliência social entre os agricultores familiares que residem na região do Alto Guaporé, no estado de Mato Grosso, diante das mudanças ambientais contemporâneas. Dentro do quadro teórico aqui desenvolvido, as reações ou os ajustamentos a esses processos, mobilizados e traduzidos pela noção de capacidade adaptativa ou de enfrentamento não são condicionadas a previsões ou respostas comportamentais futuras, mas determinadas pela capacidade que indivíduos ou grupos possuem em mobilizar ou transformar os mecanismos necessários que lhes permite contornar e/ou superar as barreiras que os expõem à uma situação de risco. Isso implica em reconhecer que as iniciativas que buscam garantir a subsistência familiar são o resultado objetivo da ação vinculada à experiência cotidiana na interação que ocorre entre os sistemas natural e social e pressupõe a existência de processos de aprendizagem individual e/ou coletiva. Com isso, a partir da identificação das principais estratégias de subsistência mobilizadas pelos agricultores familiares dessa região, foi possível apontar os principais fatores sociais e/ou naturais que constrangem ou mesmo facilitam a produção de respostas às mudanças ambientais contemporâneas. Como consequência, permitiu que se determinasse quais são os aspectos que caracterizam a vulnerabilidades e como se melhora tanto a capacidade de enfrentamento, quanto a adaptabilidade dos agricultores familiares no Alto Guaporé, num cenário de profunda incerteza e rápida transformação dos fatores que integram os sistemas natural e social. Assim, essa tese trata fundamentalmente da maneira como os agricultores que residem nessa região viabilizam melhores condições de vida e como fazem para garantir o processo de reprodução econômica e assim viabilizar a subsistência familiar. Para tanto, foram realizadas 65 entrevistas com agricultores em cinco diferentes municípios, mas em dois diferentes contextos: aquelas mobilizadas pelos agricultores que se localizam em áreas próximas aos centros urbanos, em distâncias não superiores aos 40 km e as que estão em locais mais distantes, entre 50 e 100 km dos perímetros urbanos. O estudo revelou que alguns aspectos do funcionamento do quadro institucional criam a possibilidade de mobilização de uma diversidade maior de arranjos e formas de produção pelos que integram o primeiro grupo, comparativamente aos que estão submetidos a distâncias maiores. Todavia, essa relação de proximidade não modifica qualitativamente a sua situação de vulnerabilidade e de resiliência. Foram identificadas evidências empíricas que demonstram que em razão da singularidade dos elementos do sistema natural e a experiência passada das famílias em um contexto socioeconômico, elas diferem substancialmente em termos de capacidade de acesso e habilidade de mobilização dos principais fatores que modelam essa competência e exerce uma influência que modifica os fatores que podem expô-los aos riscos e aos perigos que decorrem das transformações no ambiente em sua maneira de garantir a reprodução familiar. Dessa maneira, é possível afirmar que são as condições dos fatores sociais e institucionais que exercem a principal influência na geração de situações que podem implicar numa fragilidade ou mesmo numa incapacidade de enfrentar ou se adaptar às mudanças ambientais contemporâneas. / This thesis aims at identifying and understanding the main factors underlying the formation of the situations of vulnerability and social resilience among farmers living in the Alto Guaporé region in the state of Mato Grosso, in relation to the contemporary environmental changes. Within the theoretical framework developed here, reactions or adjustments to these processes, mobilized and translated by the notion of adaptive capacity and coping are not conditioned to forecasts or future behavioral responses, but are determined by the ability that individuals or groups have to mobilize or transform the necessary mechanisms that allow them to bypass and/or overcome the barriers that expose them to a risk situation. This implies recognizing that initiatives that seek to ensure family subsistence are the objective result of the action linked to the everyday experience in the interaction that occurs between the natural and social systems and requires the existence of individuals an/or collective processes. Thus, taking as our starting point the identification of the main subsistence strategies mobilized by the farmers of this region, it was possible to identify the main social and / or natural factors that constrain or even facilitate the production of answers to contemporary environmental changes. As a result, it was possible to determine the aspects that characterize the vulnerabilities as well as to improve the coping ability and the adaptability of farmers in Alto Guaporé, in a scenario of deep uncertainty and rapid transformation of the factors that integrate the natural and social systems. Thus, this thesis mainly deals with the construction of strategies mobilized by farmers living in this region to ensure family subsistence. For this purpose, 65 interviews with farmers were held in five different cities, but in two different contexts: that mobilized by farmers who are located in areas close to urban centers, within no greater distances than 40 km and that afield, between 50 and 100 km from urban perimeters. The study revealed that some aspects of the functioning of the institutional framework create the possibility of mobilizing a greater diversity of arrangements and forms of production by incorporating the first group, compared to those subjected to greater distances. However, this proximity relationship does not qualitatively change their situation of vulnerability and resilience. Empirical evidences were identified, which show that because of the uniqueness of the elements of the natural system and the past experience of families in a socioeconomic context, they differ substantially in terms of access capacity and mobilizing ability of the main factors that shape such competence and exerts an influence that modifies the factors that may expose them to the risks and dangers that arise from changes in the environment in their manner of ensuring social and material reproduction. Thus, it is possible to assert that the conditions of the social and institutional factors exert a major influence on the generation of situations that may involve a weakness or an inability to cope or adapt to contemporary environmental changes.

O presente trabalho de tese tem como objetivo identificar e compreender os principais fatores que estão subjacentes à formação das situações de vulnerabilidade e de resiliência social entre os agricultores familiares que residem na região do Alto Guaporé, no estado de Mato Grosso, diante das mudanças ambientais contemporâneas. Dentro do quadro teórico aqui desenvolvido, as reações ou os ajustamentos a esses processos, mobilizados e traduzidos pela noção de capacidade adaptativa ou de enfrentamento não são condicionadas a previsões ou respostas comportamentais futuras, mas determinadas pela capacidade que indivíduos ou grupos possuem em mobilizar ou transformar os mecanismos necessários que lhes permite contornar e/ou superar as barreiras que os expõem à uma situação de risco. Isso implica em reconhecer que as iniciativas que buscam garantir a subsistência familiar são o resultado objetivo da ação vinculada à experiência cotidiana na interação que ocorre entre os sistemas natural e social e pressupõe a existência de processos de aprendizagem individual e/ou coletiva. Com isso, a partir da identificação das principais estratégias de subsistência mobilizadas pelos agricultores familiares dessa região, foi possível apontar os principais fatores sociais e/ou naturais que constrangem ou mesmo facilitam a produção de respostas às mudanças ambientais contemporâneas. Como consequência, permitiu que se determinasse quais são os aspectos que caracterizam a vulnerabilidades e como se melhora tanto a capacidade de enfrentamento, quanto a adaptabilidade dos agricultores familiares no Alto Guaporé, num cenário de profunda incerteza e rápida transformação dos fatores que integram os sistemas natural e social. Assim, essa tese trata fundamentalmente da maneira como os agricultores que residem nessa região viabilizam melhores condições de vida e como fazem para garantir o processo de reprodução econômica e assim viabilizar a subsistência familiar. Para tanto, foram realizadas 65 entrevistas com agricultores em cinco diferentes municípios, mas em dois diferentes contextos: aquelas mobilizadas pelos agricultores que se localizam em áreas próximas aos centros urbanos, em distâncias não superiores aos 40 km e as que estão em locais mais distantes, entre 50 e 100 km dos perímetros urbanos. O estudo revelou que alguns aspectos do funcionamento do quadro institucional criam a possibilidade de mobilização de uma diversidade maior de arranjos e formas de produção pelos que integram o primeiro grupo, comparativamente aos que estão submetidos a distâncias maiores. Todavia, essa relação de proximidade não modifica qualitativamente a sua situação de vulnerabilidade e de resiliência. Foram identificadas evidências empíricas que demonstram que em razão da singularidade dos elementos do sistema natural e a experiência passada das famílias em um contexto socioeconômico, elas diferem substancialmente em termos de capacidade de acesso e habilidade de mobilização dos principais fatores que modelam essa competência e exerce uma influência que modifica os fatores que podem expô-los aos riscos e aos perigos que decorrem das transformações no ambiente em sua maneira de garantir a reprodução familiar. Dessa maneira, é possível afirmar que são as condições dos fatores sociais e institucionais que exercem a principal influência na geração de situações que podem implicar numa fragilidade ou mesmo numa incapacidade de enfrentar ou se adaptar às mudanças ambientais contemporâneas. / This thesis aims at identifying and understanding the main factors underlying the formation of the situations of vulnerability and social resilience among farmers living in the Alto Guaporé region in the state of Mato Grosso, in relation to the contemporary environmental changes. Within the theoretical framework developed here, reactions or adjustments to these processes, mobilized and translated by the notion of adaptive capacity and coping are not conditioned to forecasts or future behavioral responses, but are determined by the ability that individuals or groups have to mobilize or transform the necessary mechanisms that allow them to bypass and/or overcome the barriers that expose them to a risk situation. This implies recognizing that initiatives that seek to ensure family subsistence are the objective result of the action linked to the everyday experience in the interaction that occurs between the natural and social systems and requires the existence of individuals an/or collective processes. Thus, taking as our starting point the identification of the main subsistence strategies mobilized by the farmers of this region, it was possible to identify the main social and / or natural factors that constrain or even facilitate the production of answers to contemporary environmental changes. As a result, it was possible to determine the aspects that characterize the vulnerabilities as well as to improve the coping ability and the adaptability of farmers in Alto Guaporé, in a scenario of deep uncertainty and rapid transformation of the factors that integrate the natural and social systems. Thus, this thesis mainly deals with the construction of strategies mobilized by farmers living in this region to ensure family subsistence. For this purpose, 65 interviews with farmers were held in five different cities, but in two different contexts: that mobilized by farmers who are located in areas close to urban centers, within no greater distances than 40 km and that afield, between 50 and 100 km from urban perimeters. The study revealed that some aspects of the functioning of the institutional framework create the possibility of mobilizing a greater diversity of arrangements and forms of production by incorporating the first group, compared to those subjected to greater distances. However, this proximity relationship does not qualitatively change their situation of vulnerability and resilience. Empirical evidences were identified, which show that because of the uniqueness of the elements of the natural system and the past experience of families in a socioeconomic context, they differ substantially in terms of access capacity and mobilizing ability of the main factors that shape such competence and exerts an influence that modifies the factors that may expose them to the risks and dangers that arise from changes in the environment in their manner of ensuring social and material reproduction. Thus, it is possible to assert that the conditions of the social and institutional factors exert a major influence on the generation of situations that may involve a weakness or an inability to cope or adapt to contemporary environmental changes.

O presente trabalho de tese tem como objetivo identificar e compreender os principais fatores que estão subjacentes à formação das situações de vulnerabilidade e de resiliência social entre os agricultores familiares que residem na região do Alto Guaporé, no estado de Mato Grosso, diante das mudanças ambientais contemporâneas. Dentro do quadro teórico aqui desenvolvido, as reações ou os ajustamentos a esses processos, mobilizados e traduzidos pela noção de capacidade adaptativa ou de enfrentamento não são condicionadas a previsões ou respostas comportamentais futuras, mas determinadas pela capacidade que indivíduos ou grupos possuem em mobilizar ou transformar os mecanismos necessários que lhes permite contornar e/ou superar as barreiras que os expõem à uma situação de risco. Isso implica em reconhecer que as iniciativas que buscam garantir a subsistência familiar são o resultado objetivo da ação vinculada à experiência cotidiana na interação que ocorre entre os sistemas natural e social e pressupõe a existência de processos de aprendizagem individual e/ou coletiva. Com isso, a partir da identificação das principais estratégias de subsistência mobilizadas pelos agricultores familiares dessa região, foi possível apontar os principais fatores sociais e/ou naturais que constrangem ou mesmo facilitam a produção de respostas às mudanças ambientais contemporâneas. Como consequência, permitiu que se determinasse quais são os aspectos que caracterizam a vulnerabilidades e como se melhora tanto a capacidade de enfrentamento, quanto a adaptabilidade dos agricultores familiares no Alto Guaporé, num cenário de profunda incerteza e rápida transformação dos fatores que integram os sistemas natural e social. Assim, essa tese trata fundamentalmente da maneira como os agricultores que residem nessa região viabilizam melhores condições de vida e como fazem para garantir o processo de reprodução econômica e assim viabilizar a subsistência familiar. Para tanto, foram realizadas 65 entrevistas com agricultores em cinco diferentes municípios, mas em dois diferentes contextos: aquelas mobilizadas pelos agricultores que se localizam em áreas próximas aos centros urbanos, em distâncias não superiores aos 40 km e as que estão em locais mais distantes, entre 50 e 100 km dos perímetros urbanos. O estudo revelou que alguns aspectos do funcionamento do quadro institucional criam a possibilidade de mobilização de uma diversidade maior de arranjos e formas de produção pelos que integram o primeiro grupo, comparativamente aos que estão submetidos a distâncias maiores. Todavia, essa relação de proximidade não modifica qualitativamente a sua situação de vulnerabilidade e de resiliência. Foram identificadas evidências empíricas que demonstram que em razão da singularidade dos elementos do sistema natural e a experiência passada das famílias em um contexto socioeconômico, elas diferem substancialmente em termos de capacidade de acesso e habilidade de mobilização dos principais fatores que modelam essa competência e exerce uma influência que modifica os fatores que podem expô-los aos riscos e aos perigos que decorrem das transformações no ambiente em sua maneira de garantir a reprodução familiar. Dessa maneira, é possível afirmar que são as condições dos fatores sociais e institucionais que exercem a principal influência na geração de situações que podem implicar numa fragilidade ou mesmo numa incapacidade de enfrentar ou se adaptar às mudanças ambientais contemporâneas. / This thesis aims at identifying and understanding the main factors underlying the formation of the situations of vulnerability and social resilience among farmers living in the Alto Guaporé region in the state of Mato Grosso, in relation to the contemporary environmental changes. Within the theoretical framework developed here, reactions or adjustments to these processes, mobilized and translated by the notion of adaptive capacity and coping are not conditioned to forecasts or future behavioral responses, but are determined by the ability that individuals or groups have to mobilize or transform the necessary mechanisms that allow them to bypass and/or overcome the barriers that expose them to a risk situation. This implies recognizing that initiatives that seek to ensure family subsistence are the objective result of the action linked to the everyday experience in the interaction that occurs between the natural and social systems and requires the existence of individuals an/or collective processes. Thus, taking as our starting point the identification of the main subsistence strategies mobilized by the farmers of this region, it was possible to identify the main social and / or natural factors that constrain or even facilitate the production of answers to contemporary environmental changes. As a result, it was possible to determine the aspects that characterize the vulnerabilities as well as to improve the coping ability and the adaptability of farmers in Alto Guaporé, in a scenario of deep uncertainty and rapid transformation of the factors that integrate the natural and social systems. Thus, this thesis mainly deals with the construction of strategies mobilized by farmers living in this region to ensure family subsistence. For this purpose, 65 interviews with farmers were held in five different cities, but in two different contexts: that mobilized by farmers who are located in areas close to urban centers, within no greater distances than 40 km and that afield, between 50 and 100 km from urban perimeters. The study revealed that some aspects of the functioning of the institutional framework create the possibility of mobilizing a greater diversity of arrangements and forms of production by incorporating the first group, compared to those subjected to greater distances. However, this proximity relationship does not qualitatively change their situation of vulnerability and resilience. Empirical evidences were identified, which show that because of the uniqueness of the elements of the natural system and the past experience of families in a socioeconomic context, they differ substantially in terms of access capacity and mobilizing ability of the main factors that shape such competence and exerts an influence that modifies the factors that may expose them to the risks and dangers that arise from changes in the environment in their manner of ensuring social and material reproduction. Thus, it is possible to assert that the conditions of the social and institutional factors exert a major influence on the generation of situations that may involve a weakness or an inability to cope or adapt to contemporary environmental changes.

No description available.

This study examined the relationship between spiritual intelligence (SI), emotional intelligence (EI), coping ability (CA), and burnout (BO) among humanitarian aid workers in Zimbabwe. A convenience sample of 296 (53% males and 47% females) humanitarian aid workers was used in the study. Correlation and multiple regression analyses were used to explore the contribution of SI, EI, and CA to the burnout. Results indicated that SI, EI, and CA are all significantly related to Burnout and its dimensions of emotional exhaustion (EE), depersonalisation (DP) and personal accomplishment (PA) in humanitarian aid workers. CA and EI significantly contributed to the variation of scores in EE and DP whereas SI did not. However, all the three variables significantly contributed to the variation in PA. Gender, age, employment status and tenure in NGO had no significant relationships with EE, DP, or PA whereas contract type, length of service, educational level and nature of work were associated with statistically significant differences in EE, DP, and PA. The research contributed to the understanding of burnout among aid workers in Zimbabwe. Humanitarian organisations can use the findings to come up with scientifically backed recruitment, selection, training, and staff wellbeing policies and programmes that help to reduce the impact of burnout in the humanitarian aid sector. / Psychology / D. Phil. (Consulting Psychology)