The purpose of this study is to evaluate the factor structure of the Emotional Distress Inven-tory (EDI) in a sample of 238 cancer patients. The conceptual framework that guided the development of the EDI, factor structure, internal consistency, and convergent validity are reported. Emotional distress items were developed and administered to cancer patients who initiated chemotherapy and/or radiation treatments at Morton Plant Hospital Cancer Center in Clearwater, Florida, USA. Item responses were examined by factor analyses of principal components with promax rotations. The EDI presents three subscales that assess anxiety/depression, hopelessness, and anger expression as components of emotional distress. We also discuss the important implications of these subscales, particularly the inclusion of anger expression and hopelessness in the assessment of emotional distress in cancer patients. / El propósito de este estudio es avanzar en la construcción del Inventario de Distrés Emocional (IDE) como un instrumento de screening, fácilmente accesible, administrable, ypsicométricamente válido y confiable, en la medición del distrés emocional en pacientes con cáncer. Se llevó a cabo un análisis factorial mediante componentes principales y método de rotación promax en una muestra de 238 pacientes con cáncer que iniciaron sus tratamientos con radioterapia y/o quimioterapia en el Hospital Morton Plant en la ciudad de Clearwater, Florida, EE. UU. Los resultados obtenidos nos indican que el IDE presenta una estructura factorial consistente con el marco conceptual en el cual se basó la construcción del instrumento, como también un elevado nivel de consistencia interna y validez convergente.

Aim: The study aims to explore, in-depth, South Asian bilingual clinical psychologists personal and clinical experiences of conceptualising emotional distress in first and second language. It is hoped that a clearer understanding of these experiences will help emphasise the role of language in the experience of emotional distress, which may be beneficial for working with clients that make sense of emotional distress in multiple languages. An understanding of these processes may also encourage further exploration and critique of the ways in which western psychological models are used to make sense of emotional distress, given many, if not all have been constructed using English language. Method: A qualitative approach was used for this study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six South Asian, bilingual clinical psychologists working in NHS services. The resulting data was analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Results: The analysis highlighted four main themes emerging from participant accounts of conceptualising emotional distress in multiple languages. These were: “Worlds apart in culture and language”, “Oscillating self in language”, Ubiquity of English language and values” and “Challenging and managing difference”. Implications: Whilst much has been written about race and cultural issues in the context of clinical psychology, relatively little attention has been given to the experience and impact of multiple languages on the conceptualisation and experience of emotional distress. A major implication is first language conceptualizations are rarely considered in the development of psychological models of emotional distress, nor are they explicitly considered in the way clinical psychologists are trained and in the majority of current clinical practice guidelines. Participant accounts are dicussed in the wider historical context of psychology, anthropology and sociolinguistics informing further discussions on bilingualism and current psychological practice and theorising.

Background: This grounded theory study explored the views of adolescent boys aged 12 and 13 on the factors that influence their help-seeking decisions for less severe forms of psychological distress. Method: Semi-structured interviews with 12 participants from a local secondary school and a community setting were analysed according to grounded theory methods. The data analysis abstracted categories of data to construct a substantive theory of helpseeking. Results: Participants’ views revealed an interaction of ‘pressures and promoters’ that affected adolescent boys’ help-seeking decisions. These related to relationships with others, mental health support and education, being a boy, and individual factors. Conclusion: Mental health education and awareness should be promoted amongst adolescent boys and the adults and professionals that they encounter so that they may be encouraged to seek help for psychological distress.

The theoretical basis of psychological and emotional distress such as anxiety in individuals with autism is under researched. The present study draws upon a mainstream information processing model of childhood anxiety along with theoretical accounts of autism to investigate some of the possible factors associated with the development and maintenance of anxiety in this population. Adolescents with high functioning autism were compared to two comparison control groups on measures of anxiety and social worries. Comparison groups were children with expressive language disorder and typically developing children. There were 15 children in each group aged between 11-16 years and matched across groups for age and gender. Children with autism were found to be more anxious than typically developing children. There were no significant differences between groups in levels of social worries as reported by the children themselves. Parent ratings showed that children with autism were perceived to have considerably more social worries than both comparison groups. The groups were compared on measures of the recognition and expression of emotion, theory of mind and/or central coherence abilities, social and communication abilities and social competence with peers. The children with autism performed significantly worse than both comparison groups on the measure of social ability. They also perceived themselves to be less socially competence with peers. On the measure of emotional recognition and theory of mind/central coherence, the children with autism performed at a similar level to children with an expressive language disorder. Children with expressive language disorder showed poorer performance than children with autism and typically developing children on the measure of communication. The pattern of between group differences for self perceived social competence with peers was the same as the pattern of difference for anxiety. Social ability was found to correlate negatively with anxiety for the autism group. Therefore social competence with peers and impairments in social ability were highlighted as possible factors associated with anxiety in adolescents with high functioning autism. A simple schematic model of how such factors may be associated with the experience of anxiety in adolescents with high functioning autism is presented, from an information processing perspective. Impaired social ability is considered in relation to the response access or construction stage of the information processing sequence. It is suggested that adolescents with high functioning autism may lack the social skills required for adaptive coping responses to anxiety provoking situations, showing greater reliance on responses directed at escape or avoidance. The selection of escape/avoidant responses at the response selection stage of the information processing sequence is considered in relation to the possible lack of perceived competence and low estimation of coping ability for children with autism. The implications of these findings for clinical practice are discussed and recommendations for future research are made.

Homelessness has become a common phenomenon across the world. And its impact is felt in both the developed and developing countries. The situation in the Kingdom of Swaziland is more devastating due to the inability of the Government and other stakeholders to control and adequately mitigate the constant expansion of the phenomenon as a result of HIV/AIDS, poverty and inadequate care (Baggerly, 2006:162; National Coalition for the Homeless, 2004; Hlatshwayo, 1997). The research problem was about the psycho-social challenges homeless adolescent children go through in a shelter in Manzini, Swaziland. It was deemed necessary and important to find out how they cope without professional and psycho-social support in the shelter. The goal of the study was to explore the psycho-social experiences of homeless adolescent children in a shelter in Manzini, Swaziland. The research approach was qualitative and the research type was applied. Data was collected by means of semi-structured interviews with eight homeless adolescent children in a shelter in Manzini, Swaziland. Based on findings from the study, it has been concluded that homeless adolescent children in a shelter in Manzini, Swaziland suffer from considerable psycho-social problems that need urgent attention. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / lk2014 / Social Work and Criminology / MA / Unrestricted

Worldwide there is concern about the increase in the level of deaths due to coronary heart disease. In accordance with this global picture, coronary heart disease in South Africa signifies a key health problem. Type D Personality (or distressed personality) was developed as an emerging psychological risk factor in coronary heart disease. It is associated with an adverse prognosis, impaired health status, and a wide range of emotional distress symptoms, such as depression. Type D is defined as the tendency to experience increased negative distress such as anxiety, paired with the inhibition of these emotions in social interactions. Hence this exploratory pilot study aimed to determine the relationship between Type D Personality and coronary heart disease. In addition, this research aimed to observe prevalence rates of Type D Personality and coronary heart disease in a group of patients at the Steve Biko Academic Hospital diabetic clinic. A non-probability convenience sample of 104 Caucasian and Black, Afrikaans and English speaking diabetic patients were approached to be participants. Their ages ranged from 55 to 87 and their socio-economic status ranged from low to high. The Type D Scale–14 and a demographic questionnaire were used to assess for Type D Personality and coronary heart disease, respectively. Due to under reporting of coronary heart disease patients and the added possible confounding variable of a diagnosis of diabetes, the findings from this research indicate that no statistically significant results were found. However, 41.4% of participants could be classified as Type D. Interestingly, although 41.4% of participants were classified as Type D, 68.9% were classified as positive for Negative Affectivity. Of the total sample of 104 respondents, 35.6% tested positive for coronary heart disease and 92.3% for hypertension. Only 18.3% of the 104 respondents tested positive for both coronary heart disease and Type D. A total of 38.5% of the participants tested positive for hypertension and Type D. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Psychology / unrestricted

This study aims to ascertain the legal redress available to employees who suffer psychological harm as a result of workplace stress. On a general level, it identifies and assesses some of the available policy options, particularly as they relate to the interaction of statutory workers’ compensation schemes and the common law. On a more specific level, it examines and analyses various issues: the nature and extent of compensable psychiatric harm; the legal duty on employers to protect employees’ health and well being; the role of negligence; requirements specific to the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act 130 of 1993 (COIDA); and the causal nexus necessary to sustain a claim. The conclusion is reached that employees should utilise the workers’ compensation system as the primary vehicle to obtain redress if they suffer from occupational psychiatric harm. However, due to the law’s generally conservative approach to psychiatric harm and intimations that the Department of Labour intends setting strict requirements for claims for psychiatric harm in terms of COIDA, the common law of delict might continue to play an important role in claims for occupational psychiatric harm. The writer recommends that a hybrid system for compensation for stress-related psychiatric harm suffered in the course and scope of employment be adopted, with the statutory compensation scheme providing relatively limited benefits and the common law providing general damages if the claimant can prove negligence on the part of the employer; that the requirement of a recognised psychiatric illness be maintained for both statutory compensation and compensation in terms of the common law; that all parties’ interests are carefully balanced in delineating the employer’s legal duty to employers and that undue weight not be accorded to the terms of the contract of employment; that more attention be paid to factual causation and the development of lternatives/complements to the traditional conditio sine qua non test; that the validity of the circular instruction on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) be tested on administrative-law grounds; and that the stringent prescription requirements set by the circular instruction on PTSD be reviewed.

The outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic has influenced in an unprecedented way society and human health on a global scale. Government policies and recommendations from health authorities across the world have been implemented in the effort to limit the spread of the disease. The aim of this study is to examine the relation of public perceptions on COVID19 with the adoption of behavioural actions focusing on the role of emotion and also to explore whether temporal perspectives regarding the coronavirus pandemic interact with emotional distress. Two sample from Greece (n = 85) and Sweden (n = 85) participated in a web survey. An online questionnaire was used to gather responses during a period of two weeks. Results indicated that the perception of emotion was related positively to infection management behaviour in Swedish and Greeks participants, while trust in authorities was found to be significant different in the two samples. When reflecting on the pandemic situation from a temporal point of view, both samples populations tend to focus more on their ideal future and less in the concrete impact of the pandemic situation. / Utbrottet av coronaviruspandemin har globalt påverkat samhällen och människors hälsa på ett aldrig tidigare skådat sätt. Regeringsbeslut och rekommendationer från hälsomyndigheter världen över har implementerats världen över i syfte att begränsa virusspridningen. Syftet med föreliggande studie är att undersöka sambandet mellan allmänhetens uppfattningar av covid-19 och beteendemönster med fokus på känslors roll och även undersöka eventuella samband mellan tidsperspektiv beträffande coronaviruspandemin och upplevelse av känslomässig nöd. Två populationer fokuseras i studien varav den ena representerar Grekland (n= 85) och den andra Sverige (n= 85). Respondenterna deltog i en webbenkät som fanns tillgänglig på internet under en tvåveckorsperiod. Resultaten visade ett positivt samband mellan känsloupplevelse och beteende för att hantera smittrisken såväl beträffande den svenska populationen som den grekiska. Förtroende för myndigheter skiljde sig däremot signifikant mellan populationerna. Sett i ett temporalt perspektiv verkar båda populationerna såtillvida att respondenterna fokuserade på en ideal framtid och mindre på den konkreta påverkan av pandemisituationen.

Sextortion is a phenomenon that has made an impact on the digital technology domain. Sexting is a transmission of sensual messages or performances, provocation, and schemes exhibited through an array of sexual behaviors. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to examine the psychological effects experienced of sextortion and to uncover the willingness to seek help and report the incident to authorities. Arnett's emerging adulthood theory provided the framework for this study. The sample consisted of N = 27 responders between 18-24 years of age who have engaged in sexting behaviors and may or may not have experienced sextortion. Simple and multiple regressions were performed using convenience samples to test predictor variables, emotional distress, self-esteem, general help-seeking, reasons for calling the police, disclosure expectations, and self-stigma to seek help and outcome variable, sextortion. Statistically significant correlations existed among variables. Overall, the results displayed insignificant effects of the predictor variables on the outcome variable. The effect of sextortion on the difference in the level of emotional distress revealed no significance, F(1, 25) = 1.96, p = .174. The effect of sextortion on self-esteem exhibited no significance, F(1, 25) = .054, p = .818. The effects of sextortion on general help-seeking, reasons for calling the police, disclosure expectations, and self-stigma to seek help collectively uncovered no significance, F(1, 25) = 3.105, p =.109. The sample size used based on the respective predictor variable, presented challenges to achieve significance at acceptable levels. This study provided a foundation for the implementation of mental health services, prevention programs, and support for those who were found to have experienced sextortion.

The psychosocial implications of chronic illnesses (CIs) are an apparent issue as exemplified through the extensive literature put forth on the matter. However, the primary focus of this literature is typically the aging population, and researchers have given less consideration to the experiences of youth. At this point in their life, young adults are already experiencing self-discovery, pursuing anticipated milestones, and defining one’s worth/purpose, therefore, being diagnosed and living with a CI only complicates these matters. Investigating how CIs impact young adults’ mental health (MH) is imperative when trying to understand the various intersecting forces that influence one’s ability to achieve optimal health and well being. This research explores the psychosocial effect of receiving a CI diagnosis using a qualitative, interpretive phenomenological approach ( Van Menen’s viewpoint) in which 12 semi-structured interviews were conducted with university students. Interviews were recorded and transcribed for thematic analysis. Findings indicate that the onset of CIs among young adults adds/perpetuates various types of psychosocial distress, ultimately impacting one’s MH based on their exposure towards such stressors and ability to cope. Irrespective of individualized experiences, all participants unilaterally echoed the need for MH support post diagnosis. Such a finding warrants evaluation of the existing treatment and management of CIs, suggesting that interventions ought to be more holistically designed to include greater MH support. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)