Most employers agree that the effectiveness and success of their organisations depend on the effective utilisation of their human resources. Ill health in the workplace is a threat to optimal productivity, reduced absenteeism, provision of sustainable employee benefits, a motivated workforce, staff retention and maximisation of profits. Burnout and engagement are therefore important fields of investigation in the industrial psychology field. The aim of this study was to: test a model of work-related well-being; develop and evaluate a resilience intervention programme for a large financial services institution in South Africa. Article 1 used a cross-sectional survey design. The participants were predominantly in the administrative, call centre and IT divisions (N = 192). Article 2 was the development of a resilience model, which was based on the integration of thinking from an extensive literature review by the researcher. Article 3 used an experimental design, with a control group (n=51) and an experimental group («=55). Information was collected in a longitudinal research. The research method for each of the three articles of this study consisted of a brief literature review and an empirical study. The measuring instruments used in this study were the Maslach Burnout Inventory - General Survey (MBI-GS), Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES), Job Demands-Resources Scale (JD-RS), Health subscales, Organisational Commitment subscales, the ASSET questionnaire, the Life Orientation Test - Revised (LOT-R) and a biographical questionnaire. In both article 1 and article 3, descriptive statistics were computed to describe the data; as were Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients to specify the relationship between the variables. In article 1, multiple regression analyses were conducted to determine the proportion of variance in the dependent variable that is predicted by the independent variables. In article 3, paired-samples f-tests were used to determine the difference in results for year 1 and year 2. Article 1 showed the central role that low optimism plays in contributing to burnout, and high optimism plays in work engagement. Interestingly, high social support was linked to increased cynicism, whilst low social support contributed to dedication. Burnout contributed to both physical and psychological ill health. Dedication and low cynicism contributed to affective commitment, whilst engagement and low cynicism contributed to behavioural commitment. Article 2 was the development of a multidimensional, proactive coping approach which consistently strives to develop and enhance the individual's resilience coping reservoir pools (mental, spiritual, socio-emotional and physical) leading to improved resilience, wellness and quality of life. Each reservoir pool has activities that enhance the fitness of the individual, namely physical (rest and relaxation, exercise and nutrition), mental (stimuli, reflection and empowering thinking), spiritual (coat of arms, pay it forward and gratitude), socio-emotional (breaking destructive relationships and nurturing relationships, responsibility). Article 3's results showed that the resilience intervention resulted in a statistically significant difference decrease in psychological ill health. Recommendations for future research were made. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

Most employers agree that the effectiveness and success of their organisations depend on the effective utilisation of their human resources. Ill health in the workplace is a threat to optimal productivity, reduced absenteeism, provision of sustainable employee benefits, a motivated workforce, staff retention and maximisation of profits. Burnout and engagement are therefore important fields of investigation in the industrial psychology field. The aim of this study was to: test a model of work-related well-being; develop and evaluate a resilience intervention programme for a large financial services institution in South Africa. Article 1 used a cross-sectional survey design. The participants were predominantly in the administrative, call centre and IT divisions (N = 192). Article 2 was the development of a resilience model, which was based on the integration of thinking from an extensive literature review by the researcher. Article 3 used an experimental design, with a control group (n=51) and an experimental group («=55). Information was collected in a longitudinal research. The research method for each of the three articles of this study consisted of a brief literature review and an empirical study. The measuring instruments used in this study were the Maslach Burnout Inventory - General Survey (MBI-GS), Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES), Job Demands-Resources Scale (JD-RS), Health subscales, Organisational Commitment subscales, the ASSET questionnaire, the Life Orientation Test - Revised (LOT-R) and a biographical questionnaire. In both article 1 and article 3, descriptive statistics were computed to describe the data; as were Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients to specify the relationship between the variables. In article 1, multiple regression analyses were conducted to determine the proportion of variance in the dependent variable that is predicted by the independent variables. In article 3, paired-samples f-tests were used to determine the difference in results for year 1 and year 2. Article 1 showed the central role that low optimism plays in contributing to burnout, and high optimism plays in work engagement. Interestingly, high social support was linked to increased cynicism, whilst low social support contributed to dedication. Burnout contributed to both physical and psychological ill health. Dedication and low cynicism contributed to affective commitment, whilst engagement and low cynicism contributed to behavioural commitment. Article 2 was the development of a multidimensional, proactive coping approach which consistently strives to develop and enhance the individual's resilience coping reservoir pools (mental, spiritual, socio-emotional and physical) leading to improved resilience, wellness and quality of life. Each reservoir pool has activities that enhance the fitness of the individual, namely physical (rest and relaxation, exercise and nutrition), mental (stimuli, reflection and empowering thinking), spiritual (coat of arms, pay it forward and gratitude), socio-emotional (breaking destructive relationships and nurturing relationships, responsibility). Article 3's results showed that the resilience intervention resulted in a statistically significant difference decrease in psychological ill health. Recommendations for future research were made. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

Research suggests that the human attentional system is biased towards emotional events in the environment. This attentional bias is believed to be an adaptive function that can provide survival benefits for the organisms that possess it. Dispositional optimism is a trait defined as a general expectation that good things will happen in the future. This trait has received interest as an adaptive trait that has a multitude of psychological and physical benefits for the individuals who exhibit it. The aim of this study is to examine whether there is a difference in the attentional bias towards happy and angry facial expressions based on level of dispositional optimism using the dot-probe paradigm. Thirty-two psychologically and neurologically healthy females (mean age = 26.5, SD = 5.8) participated in the study. They completed a questionnaire measuring dispositional optimism and performed the dot-probe task in a laboratory setting in the University of Skövde. In the dot- probe task a short exposure (100 ms) of photographs depicting happy, angry and neutral facial expressions was used as emotional cues. A general bias towards happy faces across all participants was detected. Also, a clear trend towards an interaction between DO and AB to emotional faces was found in the group high in DO displaying and AB towards happy facial expressions. This study implies that for the psychologically and neurologically healthy population, a fast operating and automatic AB for positive stimuli exists, moreover, this AB may be modulated by individual differences in DO.

The thesis deals with a resistance to a psychological stress at cyclists with disabilities in context of addictive substances use. The theoretical part of the thesis summarizes findings concerning handicapped people cycling, personal characteristics of sportsmen, and also an influence of a sports performance by used substances together with an institutional framework of this issue. In the theoretical part there are described various views of the resistance to the psychological stress with an emphasis on an arousability, dispositional optimism and Sense of Coherence. A score of these three indicators was determined at respondents within an empirical part of the thesis. The aim of the thesis was to define a level of a psychological resistance at cyclists with disabilities and its relation to the addictive substances use. Partial aims of the thesis were focused on respondents´ awareness of effects of addictive substances on the sports performance, particular substances used by respondents, an openness to the addictive substances use to influence the sports performance and views of such a use in the sports environment. Scales of the arousability, Optimism Scale and Sense of Coherence, detecting levels of the arousability, dispositional optimism and Sense of Coherence, were applied in the research investigation. The research sample consisted of men ? cyclists with physical or sense handicaps, participating in cycle racing disciplines in the Czech Republic. Three hypotheses were tested in this investigation. The empirical part of the thesis has led to conclusions concerning a level of the psychological resistance at cyclists with disabilities from aspects of the Sense of Coherence, arousability and dispositional optimism. A frequency of the addictive substances use to influence the sports performance was in accordance with a predetermined hypothesis, the research sample of cyclists with disabilities showed a lower use of addictive substances to influence the sports performance compared to the cyclists without disabilities. Similarly, the openness to the addictive substances use was lower at the research sample.

Dispositional optimism, as a stable outcome expectancy, has been shown to predict health outcomes in several contexts. Research has demonstrated that health-impaired subjects with optimistic outlooks fared better than those with a pessimistic outlook. Choice of coping strategies has been theorized as the mediating factor through which optimism operates. However, the construct of dispositional optimism has been challenged as a polar opposite of neuroticism, thus contending that optimism is not an independent notion. The present study was designed to evaluate further the theoretical underpinnings of dispositional optimism theory. Subjects were selected from a population of cardiac patients who received an automatic implantable cardioverter defibrillator (AICD). This device, designed to save the patient from sudden cardiac death, dispenses an electric shock to the heart should it exhibit sustained ventricular tachycardia or fibrillation. This research project examined the relationship of dispositional optimism, coping, and neuroticism to psychological distress, life satisfaction, health perception, and frequency of prior AICD discharges. Intact data from 50 of the 60 participants were examined in multiple regression analyses. The results of the analyses were diverse. Principal findings were (a) general psychological distress was predicted solely by neuroticism but optimism predicted the majority of unique variance in the "style" with which subjects approach the assessment of distress; (b) optimism was subsumed under neuroticism in predicting health perception; (c) avoidance coping interacted with optimism in predicting a significant amount of unique variance over and above neuroticism in the number of AICD discharges experienced by the patients. In this latter finding, pessimistic patients who did not use avoidance coping received a greater number of discharges. Thus, optimism and neuroticism were not parallel constructs in all dependent variables. Also, the optimism/avoidance coping interaction in predicting an actual medical outcome was unprecedented. Limitations and directions for future research were discussed.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

El docente de educación inicial es un agente importante del desarrollo socioemocional de los niños. La presencia de competencias socioemocionales se convierte en una variable de interés para el profesorado de inicial por un tema de salud personal y su misma labor. El presente estudio tuvo como objetivo relacionar las estrategias de regulación emocional y el optimismo disposicional en una muestra de 210 docentes y auxiliares de instituciones privadas de educación inicial en Lima, con una edad promedio de 34.9 años (DE = 9.78). Se utilizó la Escala de Orientación hacia la Vida-Revisado (LOT-R) y el Cuestionario de Regulación Emocional (ERQ). Los resultados reportaron una correlación positiva, significativa y pequeña entre el optimismo disposicional y la estrategia de reevaluación cognitiva (Rho = .23; p<.01). Sin embargo, no se observó correlaciones significativas entre optimismo disposicional y supresión. Por otro lado, se evidencia una tendencia al optimismo disposicional y una mayor presencia de supresión en el profesorado de inicial. Se concluye que si bien existe una relación entre el optimismo disposicional y la estrategia de reevaluación cognitiva, estos resultados deben tomarse de manera referencial. / Pre-school teachers are an important agent of social-emotional development for children. The presence of socio-emotional competencies becomes a variable of interest for pre-school teachers due to a personal health issue and their own work. The objective of this study was to relate emotional regulation strategies and dispositional optimism in a sample of 210 teachers and assistants from private initial education institutions in Lima, with an average age of 34.9 years (SD = 9.78). The Life Orientation Test- Revised (LOT-R) and the Emotional Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) were used. The results reported a positive, small and significant correlation between dispositional optimism and the cognitive reappraisal strategy (Rho = .23; p <.01). However, no significant correlations were observed between dispositional optimism and suppression. On the other hand, there is evidence of a tendency towards dispositional optimism and a higher presence of suppression in pre-school teachers. It is concluded that although there is a relationship between dispositional optimism and the cognitive reappraisal strategy, these results should be taken as a reference. / Tesis

Thesis (Ph.D. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2007.