The researcher has since 1996 been involved professionally in the field of Employee Assistance and has been witness to its evolution, growing complexity and potential to make a positive impact on the development of individuals and organizations through employer-employee relationship and workplace dynamics. The motivation for this study came from an interest to gain deeper understanding of the concept and implementation of EAPs by organizations in the researcher’s immediate environment and circle of potential influence. The development of EAPs in South Africa, influenced by various professions, has evolved as a result of different organizational needs which occur in varying forms and levels of sophistication depending on staffing, availability of resources and capacity within organizations. There is limited information available to EAP as a developing profession in terms of how programmes occur in South Africa. This study sought to analyze the prevalence and nature of EAPs in work organizations within the Buffalo City Municipal Area (BCMA) in the Eastern Cape Province, mainly to obtain reliable information on these programmes so that implementation of employee assistance can be evaluated and improved. This investigation provides a critical description of the implementation of EAPs in the BCMA with a view to establish prevalence, critically analyze the nature of EAPs, and to benchmark against existing Employee Assistance Professional Standards. The literature review includes a detailed examination of the history of EAPs in South Africa, contributions of the different professional disciplines, definitions of EAP, models currently in practice with the advantages, disadvantages and factors that influence the organizations choice of model and core technology of EAPs, as well as a critical examination of the 27 EAPA-SA Standards of 2005. The study is quantitative, exploratory and descriptive in nature as it sought to measure prevalence and provide descriptions of implementation methodologies in terms of form, shape, scope, staffing and services offered. These descriptive elements are benchmarked against the Standards for EAPs in South Africa, developed by the EAPA-SA, the official voice of the EAP profession. Questionnaires were administered to respondents that attended the local EAPA Branch and Occupational Health Nurses Association as well as Provincial Forum for Public Sector EAPs meetings. The respondents that were not reached this way were administered questionnaires personally. The population included organizations from both the private and public sector that employed a minimum staff compliment of two hundred. Since there are only 47 such organizations in the BCMA (both public and private sector), the entire population consisted of respondents and no sample was selected. Univariate analysis was used to assess data collected. The findings of the study indicate that EAPs are prevalent in BCMA organizations but they vary considerably in the way they have been developed and implemented. Benchmarked against the EAPA-SA Standards it is evident that while employee assistance programmes have certain basic elements in common, the overall design and implementation is fortuitous at best. Since the EAPA-SA standards have been developed concurrently with EAPs it is hoped that newly established EAPs will be a product of careful design rather than an inadvertent incident. EAPA-SA, educational institutions and business development forums need to collaborate and partner to provide comprehensive support to organizations and EAP practitioners to strengthen their EAPs. Correctly implemented, capacitated and resourced, EAPs can assist organizations to effectively manage their human resource behavior and health risks, maximize productivity as well as support individual employees to optimally manage personal and work challenges and function at their best. Copyright / Dissertation (MSW)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Social Work and Criminology / unrestricted

Magister Commercii (Industrial Psychology) - MCom(IPS) / The current crime rate in the Western Cape plays a crucial role in the exposure of police officers to stressful and traumatic events. The intensity and frequency of this exposure, if not treated, could lead to police officers experiencing comorbid disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This leads to an increased need for trauma intervention strategies to be offered, to assist police officers who are exposed to trauma in the South African Police Service (SAPS). Although trauma intervention programmes are established within SAPS, a difference in perception about their effectiveness and service offering are presented. The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences in perception toward stress and trauma intervention strategies within the SAPS in the Western Cape. In order to achieve the purpose of the study, the researcher, tapped into the lived experiences of current police officers and Employee Health and Wellness (EHW) staff, employed by SAPS through semi-structured interviews. Through a comparative design, the study will add value to the current body of knowledge, as differences and similarities between two of the primary role players in the trauma debriefing process within the SAPS are explored. The research sample, recruited by means of convenience sampling, consisted of seven EHW staff members who had experience with dealing with stress and trauma-related programmes, and eight visible policing police officers who had experienced some form of trauma-related incident. The researcher made use of an in-depth interview guide as the research instrument for this study, which consisted of audio-recorded semi-structured interviews with the participants. The audio recordings were transcribed, and then analysed by means of thematic analysis. The findings showed that a difference in perception exists between police officers and EHW staff members toward the effectiveness of trauma intervention strategies offered in the SAPS. The findings also suggest that the majority of police officers do not make use of the trauma intervention programmes in the SAPS, in comparison to EHW staff reporting on good attendance by police officers at the service offerings. Similarities in perception between the two groups presented itself in the form of how trauma is defined, the different responses to trauma and coping mechanisms employed by police officers. The implications of this study include a contribution toward policy and structural amendments of the Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) framework within the SAPS, as well as a motivation for implementing a compulsory trauma counselling programme for police officers.