Thesis (MCom)--PU for CHE, 1999.

The purpose of this study was to examine general life stressors and emotion-focused and problem-focused coping strategies as prospective predictors of psychological distress in a sample of 209, low-income, urban, HIV-positive, African-American women. A secondary aim was to determine whether coping strategies mediated the relationship between life stressors and psychological distress. This study involved a secondary data analysis from a longitudinal National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded, randomized, family therapy efficacy study (Structural Ecosystems Therapy [SET]; Szapocznik et al., 2004). Participants completed self-report measures, including the Brief Symptom Inventory, Brief Cope (adapted), and Difficult Life Circumstances, as measures of psychological distress, problem-focused and emotion-focused coping, and general life stressors, respectively. These measures were completed at baseline, and at 3, 6, 9, and 18-month follow-up assessments. Results from longitudinal, cross-lagged, path model analyses provided some modest support regarding the hypothesis relating amount of life stressors to subsequent level of psychological distress symptoms. Results of the coping path models failed to support the hypotheses relating problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping to subsequent distress (Hypotheses 2 and 3). Furthermore, the lack of direct associations between coping strategies and distress prohibited the examination of problem-focused and emotion-focused coping strategies as possible mediators in the relationship between life stressors and psychological distress. Results and implications are discussed.

Since the change in the political dispensation in South Africa in 1994, South Africans are under increasing pressure to accept the new, changing order as a given. The institution where the research was carried out, the South African Secret Service (SASS), has also not escaped these changes and there have been various developments which indicate that some employees are not adjusting to these changes. The purpose of this research has been to determine to what extent a relationship exists between the presence or absence of certain psychological forces in individuals and the coping strategies which they use. The psychological forces were researched and analysed from the fortigenic paradigm, which is aimed at focusing on the origin of certain forces/strengths within man that are of cardinal importance for effective functioning. In the literature study the main focus was on aspects such as coping with change, after which the coping p cess and the various coping types and strategies were addressed. An important element of the literature study consisted of the profiles of copers and non-copers, which focused on the cognitive, emotional and conative fields/areas. Three different psychological approaches, namely pathogenesis, salutogenesis and fortigenesis were addressed, with emphasis on the latter. The fortigenic approach was analysed from the perspective of a number of forces, as identified by Strümpfer. A combination of a quantitative survey design and a qualitative research design (the phenomenological method) was used, with a sample population of 50 persons from the research environment within the SASS. In the research five qualitative measuring instruments (the Locus of Control Questionnaire of Scheepers, the Life Orientation Questionnaire of Antonovsky, the Personal Views Survey of Kobasa, the Self-Efficacy Questionnaire of Sherer & Maddux and the Self-Control Scale of Rosenbaum) and a qualitative instrument (the phenomenological interview) were used to determine the presence or absence of the fortigenic forces in the respondents. The measuring instruments were applied to the whole population, after which a stanine scale was used to identify persons with low and high scores according to the fortigenic construct. An interview based on the phenomenological approach was done with five persons with low and five with high scores. According to the results of the empirical study a statistically significant difference exists between the stanine scores of the five respondents with the highest scores and the five with the lowest scores and it is possible to subject these respondents to the qualitative measuring instrument. According to the qualitative measuring instrument (interview) there is a moderate to strong relationship between the strength of the employees' fortigenic forces and their ability to cope with organisational change. Three of the five employees with low stanine scores showed a strong resemblance to the profile of a non-coper, while two of the respondents showed a moderate resemblance. All five the respondents who achieved high stanine scores showed a strong resemblance to the profile of a coper. Recommendations are made for future study. / Thesis (MCom)--PU for CHE, 1999.

Since the change in the political dispensation in South Africa in 1994, South Africans are under increasing pressure to accept the new, changing order as a given. The institution where the research was carried out, the South African Secret Service (SASS), has also not escaped these changes and there have been various developments which indicate that some employees are not adjusting to these changes. The purpose of this research has been to determine to what extent a relationship exists between the presence or absence of certain psychological forces in individuals and the coping strategies which they use. The psychological forces were researched and analysed from the fortigenic paradigm, which is aimed at focusing on the origin of certain forces/strengths within man that are of cardinal importance for effective functioning. In the literature study the main focus was on aspects such as coping with change, after which the coping p cess and the various coping types and strategies were addressed. An important element of the literature study consisted of the profiles of copers and non-copers, which focused on the cognitive, emotional and conative fields/areas. Three different psychological approaches, namely pathogenesis, salutogenesis and fortigenesis were addressed, with emphasis on the latter. The fortigenic approach was analysed from the perspective of a number of forces, as identified by Strümpfer. A combination of a quantitative survey design and a qualitative research design (the phenomenological method) was used, with a sample population of 50 persons from the research environment within the SASS. In the research five qualitative measuring instruments (the Locus of Control Questionnaire of Scheepers, the Life Orientation Questionnaire of Antonovsky, the Personal Views Survey of Kobasa, the Self-Efficacy Questionnaire of Sherer & Maddux and the Self-Control Scale of Rosenbaum) and a qualitative instrument (the phenomenological interview) were used to determine the presence or absence of the fortigenic forces in the respondents. The measuring instruments were applied to the whole population, after which a stanine scale was used to identify persons with low and high scores according to the fortigenic construct. An interview based on the phenomenological approach was done with five persons with low and five with high scores. According to the results of the empirical study a statistically significant difference exists between the stanine scores of the five respondents with the highest scores and the five with the lowest scores and it is possible to subject these respondents to the qualitative measuring instrument. According to the qualitative measuring instrument (interview) there is a moderate to strong relationship between the strength of the employees' fortigenic forces and their ability to cope with organisational change. Three of the five employees with low stanine scores showed a strong resemblance to the profile of a non-coper, while two of the respondents showed a moderate resemblance. All five the respondents who achieved high stanine scores showed a strong resemblance to the profile of a coper. Recommendations are made for future study. / Thesis (MCom)--PU for CHE, 1999.

The aims of this study were to explore partners' experiences of living with a loved one with bipolar disorder and how they coped with these experiences. Another aim was to explore whether these individuals felt that Counselling Psychologists could play a role with care-giving tasks and their own psychological needs. Five individuals, who were currently living with, or had been living with, a partner with bipolar disorder, volunteered and participated in a semi-structured interview. These interviews were transcribed and analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) as described by Smith, Flowers and Larkin (2009). A table of super-ordinate and sub-ordinate themes was created as a result of this analysis. Partners' experiences are characterised by various phases which partners could move around and between. This was referred to as the 'cycle of changing illness awareness'. This theme adds to the existing literature. As partners moved around and between these phases they experienced different emotions, employed different coping strategies and had experiences of being 'in it together' interchangeably with being 'isolated and alone'. This research concludes that partners' experiences of caring for a loved one with bipolar disorder do not follow a linear, predictable path and as a result, professionals working with caregivers need to be aware of which phases of the 'cycle of changing illness awareness' partners are in when offering interventions. The analysis also suggests that partners cope differently when their loved one is manic and depressed. However, further exploration is still needed.

The present thesis focuses on stress management in conference interpreting. It explains the biological purpose of stress, stressors - aspects inducing a stress reaction, and the physiological, behavioral, emotional and cognitive symptoms and effects. Special attention is paid to occupational stress, namely in relation to interpreting, to the requirements on an interpreter's personality, and to stressors interpreters generally face. The thesis presents a detailed dscription of stress management- and coping styles, strategies and techniques. The empirical part explores the positive and negative expectations of interpreting students in the earliest stage of their studies in terms of stress, and aims at discovering whether students of interpreting as well as professional interpreters consider interpreting a stressful activity, whether they feel that stress management- and coping strategies and techniques should constitute an integral part of interpreter training, and whether this is or is not the case. The research concerned university institutes and departments of selected universities in the Czech Republic and abroad. On the basis of the outcomes of this research recommendations for practice concerning stress management, especially in terms of interpreter training, are outlined. Keywords: stress,...

Il presente lavoro di ricerca si focalizza sul coping diadico, ovvero sulle modalità con cui partner affrontano come coppia, secondo la prospettiva di Guy Bodenmann (1997, 2000, 2005), le situazioni stressanti quotidiane. Primo obiettivo del presente lavoro di tesi è stato analizzare in un campione italiano (N = 778 partecipanti; cfr. Studio 1) la struttura fattoriale di uno strumento self-report messo a punto da Bodenmann (“Dyadic Coping Questionnaire”, Bodenmann, 1997, 2000) allo scopo di misurare la tendenza dei partner a mettere in atto diverse modalità di coping diadico. I risultati del primo studio confermano la struttura multifattoriale della scala, in linea con la teorizzazione di Bodenmann. In particolare si evince una più fine articolazione delle risposte di coping diadico positivo rispetto a quelle di coping diadico negativo. Nonostante l’importanza del coping per il benessere dei partner e della relazione (Bodenmann, Pihet, & Kaiser, 2006), poco si conosce dei possibili precursori di tale competenza relazionale. Secondo obiettivo del presente lavoro è stato dunque esaminare due delle possibili fonti dell’acquisizione del coping diadico da parte dei partner analizzando, in un campione composto da coppie in procinto di sposarsi e dai loro genitori (N = 764 partecipanti) se e quanto i partner fossero simili 1) ai loro rispettivi genitori e 2) tra loro per ciò che concerne la tendenza ad usare il coping diadico. Tali somiglianze sono inoltre state confrontate tra loro alla luce del processo di riallineamento caratteristico della fase della relazione che la coppia giovane sta attraversando (cfr. Studio 2). Due tipi di somiglianza sono stati presi in considerazione: la somiglianza unica e la somiglianza stereotipica, allo scopo di tenere in considerazione come il comune background culturale dei partecipanti possa influire sulle somiglianze esaminate. Somiglianza unica e stereotipica sono state qui considerate entrambe come portatrici di significato e sono state dunque esaminate parallelamente. Lo Studio 3 infine aveva l’ obiettivo di approfondire le somiglianze tra genitori e figli emerse nello studio precedente alla luce del genere del figlio, dal genere del genitore, e dalla valutazione da parte dei figli dei modelli di vita rappresentati dai loro genitori. I risultati hanno mostrato come sia le somiglianze tra figli e genitori sia tra i partner nella tendenza al coping diadico siano significative e come le somiglianze tra genitori e figli varino in funzione della dimensione di coping diadico considerata, del genere del figlio e del tipo di modello di coping diadico che i genitori rappresentano per i propri figli. Quanto emerso è stato inoltre discusso alla luce delle piste future di ricerca e implicazioni per l’intervento. / The present work is focused on dyadic coping, that is the way partners manage as a couple the stress they encounter in their everyday life (Bodenmann, 1997, 2000, 2005). The first objective of the present research was to examine in a sample of Italian couples (N = 778 participants) the factorial structure of a self-report instrument designed to measure partners’ dyadic coping tendency (Dyadic coping Questionnaire by Bodenmman, 1997, 2000). Findings from the first study of the present work confirmed the multidimensional nature of the scale, in line with Bodenmnann’s theory. In particular, it emerged a more detailed definition of positive dyadic coping responses, as compared to negative ones. Despite the importance of dyadic coping for the well-being of the relationship as well as of the partners themselves, little is known on how this competence originates. The second objective of the present research was then to explore two possible sources of dyadic coping acquisition by examining whether and how young adults prior to marriage were similar to 1) their parents and 2) their partners in their dyadic coping tendency (N = 764 participants). Moreover, similarities with parents and with partners were compared in light of the specific stage of the relationship partners were living (cfr. Study 2). Similarity was computed adopting an idiographic approach via intraclass correlations and stereotype adjustment was performed in order to take into account the impact of partners and parents shared cultural background on similarity. For the purpose of the present work both stereotypical and unique similarities were considered meaningful and then examined simultaneously. Study 3 was aimed at further exploring the parent-child similarities emerged from study 2 by assessing whether and how parent-child similarity in dyadic coping differed as a function of parents and children’s gender and whether they were associated with children’s perceptions of the kind of models their parents represented for their lives. Results highlight that both parent-child and partners’ similarities were significant and differently modulated as a function of the different dimensions of dyadic coping considered, children’s gender as well as the kind of dyadic coping models parents represented for their children. Future paths of research and implications for intervention were discussed.

This thesis explored whether haemodynamic responses to psychological stress test predict future blood pressure (BP) levels: the Reactivity Hypothesis. The research included a systematic review and two prospective cohort studies in the UK and Thai samples. In addition, the Blunted Reactivity Hypothesis, which posits that cardiovascular reactivity is inversely related to symptoms of anxiety and depression, was examined in cross-sectional analyses. A systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-regression with 41 prospective cohort studies (from 1950 to 2012) examined whether cardiovascular responses to psychological stress tests predict future BP levels, hypertension status, preclinical coronary heart disease (CHD) and cardiac events. Three possible moderators were included in analyses: type of task (active versus passive coping), age group (children versus adults), and duration of follow-up (short versus long-term follow-up). The review found that systolic BP reactions to psychological stress tests predict future systolic BP levels and that there was better prediction in child samples with shorter follow-up periods. Similarly, diastolic BP reactions to psychological stress predicted future diastolic BP levels. Cardiovascular reactions to psychological stress tests did not predict hypertension, preclinical CHD, or cardiac events. Cross-sectional analysis of two studies conducted in the UK and Thailand provided some evidence that anxiety and depressive symptoms were negatively associated with cardiovascular reactivity: these findings supported the Blunted Cardiovascular Hypothesis. However, these relationships were observed in the UK sample, but not in the Thai sample. Further, Thai participants responded to psychological stress task with large cardiovascular reactions, of a similar magnitude to the UK participants and observed in previous studies of Europeans and North Americans. Finally, prospective analyses revealed that systolic BP responses to mental arithmetic predict future systolic BP levels after one year of follow-up in both UK and Thai individuals, after controlling for baseline cardiovascular activity and traditional risk factors. In contrast, haemodynamic responses did not predict future BP. These results provide support for the “Reactivity Hypothesis” although the effect sizes were relatively small. However, responses to only one of the three stressors, mental arithmetic, predicted future BP implicating beta-adrenergically mediated cardiovascular responses. However, there was no physiologic evidence (i.e., cardiac output responses) that suggested beta-adrenergic mechanisms. Accordingly, future studies should examine alternate mechanisms (e.g., platelet aggregation and endothelial function) and cardiovascular responses in larger samples with a longer follow-up to further clarify the predictive value of reactivity in the development of hypertension, along with potential mechanisms.