Burnout is a prevalent problem in South Africa, affecting individuals and organisations in various industries. The study of burnout in South Africa is important in order to solve the burnout problem. Valid and reliable measurement instruments are necessary to conduct studies on burnout. The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory was developed as a result of criticism against the most popular burnout measure, namely the Maslach Burnout Inventory. The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory measures burnout in terms of three factors, namely personal burnout, work-related burnout and client-related burnout. Although the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory is a unique tool for the measurement of burnout, very little attention has been paid to determining the psychometric properties of this instrument. The purpose of the study was to determine whether the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory can be used as a valid and reliable measure for burnout in South Africa. The research methodology followed a quantitative survey research approach. A non-probability snowball sample of 215 respondents completed the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory. Data obtained was used to conduct an exploratory factor analysis and internal reliability analysis. The study proved that the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory can be used in South Africa to measure two factors with high internal reliabilities, namely exhaustion (á=0.935) and client-related burnout (á=0.913). It is recommended that additional items based on withdrawal should be added to the work-related burnout scale of the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory. Such additional items might possibly lead to confirmation of the original three-factor model in a South African context. / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Human Resource Management / unrestricted

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Traditional software development methodologies are historically used for the creation of software products in separate departments, namely development and operations departments. The development department typically codes and tests the software, whilst the operations department is responsible for its deployment. This siloed arrangement is not aligned to modern practices, which require a timeous response to changes without necessarily delaying the product release. DevOps culture addresses this silos problem by creating an enabling environment for the two departments to collaborate throughout the software development life cycle. The successful implementation of the DevOps culture should give an organisation a competitive advantage over its rivals by responding to changes much faster than when traditional methodologies are employed. However, there is no coherent framework on how organisations should implement DevOps culture. Hence, this study was aimed at developing a framework for the implementation of DevOps culture by identifying important factors that should be included in the framework. The literature survey revealed that open communication, roles and responsibility alignment, respect and trust are the main factors that constitute DevOps collaboration culture. The proposed framework was underpinned by the Information System Development Model which suggests that the acceptance of a new technology by software developers is influenced by social norm, organisational usefulness and perceived behavioural control. A sequential mixed method was used to survey and interview respondents from South Africa, which were selected using convenience and purposive sampling. Statistical analysis of the quantitative data acquired through the questionnaire followed by a qualitative analysis of interviews were undertaken. The results showed that open communication, respect and trust are the key success factors to be included in the framework. The role and responsibility factor was found not to be statistically significant. This study contributes towards the understanding of factors necessary for the acceptance of DevOps culture in a software development organisation. DevOps managers can use the results of this study to successfully adopt and implement DevOps culture. This study also contributes to the theoretical literature on software development by identifying factors that are important in the acceptance of DevOps collaboration culture. / School of Computing / Ph. D. (Computer Science)

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The TPACK framework is becoming increasingly pervasive in teacher education. Researchers and practitioners have been seeking reliable and valid ways to measure the constructs associated with the TPACK framework. This study describes the results of both an item review and the reliability and construct validity investigation of the scores from an instrument measuring self-efficacy for the constructs in the TPACK framework. Content-matter experts and the literature were used in order to perform the item review, while both an exploratory and a confirmatory factor analysis were performed in order to assess construct validity. Cronbach's alpha and Raykov's rho were used to assess the reliability. While the reliability was high, the validity was weak. Specific changes to the instrument were suggested as a means of improving validity.

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<p>Decentering can be defined as one’s ability to detach from emotional thoughts and adopt a non-judgmental view. Prior studies on 8-week mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) courses have demonstrated that as the ability to decenter increases, anxiety levels decrease. Our recent work has demonstrated that a higher ability to decenter is associated with lower arterial stiffness, however, it is unknown how decentering affects blood pressure patterns. The purpose of this study was to observe if decentering has an effect on nocturnal blood pressure dipping. Twenty- eight adults (age 25±1 years; BMI 26±1 kg/m2) volunteered for this study. All participants had a BMI <30 kg/m2, and reported no history of diabetes, smoking, or taking cardiovascular medication. Participants completed an 11-item decentering questionnaire that quantified their ability to disconnect from their emotions, then were asked to wear an ambulatory blood pressure monitor (ABPM) and actigraphy watch for 24-hours. Brachial blood pressures were measured by the ABPM every 20 minutes while awake and every 30 minutes while asleep. Systolic arterial pressure (SAP) and diastolic arterial pressure (DAP) dipping percentages were calculated by Spacelabs software from the mean values of both daytime and nighttime arterial blood pressure recordings, after adjusting sleep and wake times based on actigraphy data. Questionnaire data was analyzed using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and a reliability analysis. This revealed a three-factor structure that explained 71.53% of the variance, consisting of meta-awareness, disidentification, and nonreactivity. Nine items remained in the final questionnaire, after deleting two items which cross-loaded. Multiple linear regression analyses indicate disidentifcation as a significant predictor of SAP dipping (𝛽𝛽 = 3.333, p = 0.032) and DAP dipping (𝛽𝛽 = 3.898, p = 0.049). Preliminary results suggest that greater disidentifcation, as a component of decentering, may be associated with lower cardiovascular risk (greater SAP and DAP dipping). These findings provide promising insight into the benefits of MBSR and decentering on ambulatory blood pressure patterns, with the potential benefits of lowering overall risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD).</p>

Previous research has individually assessed parallel analysis and minimum average partial for factor retention in exploratory factor analysis using ordinal variables. The current study is a comprehensive simulation study including the manipulation of eight conditions (type of correlation matrix, sample size, number of variables per factor, number of factors, factor correlation, skewness, factor loadings, and number of response categories), and three types of retention methods (minimum average partial, parallel analysis, and empirical Kaiser criterion) resulting in a 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 3 × 4 × 5 design that totals to 5,760 condition combinations tested over 1,000 replications each. Results show that each retention method performed worse when utilizing polychoric correlation matrices. Moreover, minimum average partials are quite sensitive to factor loadings and overall perform poorly compared to parallel analysis and empirical Kaiser criterion. Empirical Kaiser criterion performed almost identical to parallel analysis in normally distributed data; however, performed much worse under highly skewed conditions. Based on these findings, it is recommended to use parallel analysis utilizing principal components analysis with a Pearson correlation matrix to determine the number of factors to retain when dealing with ordinal data.

Writing apprehension is a writing difficulty that can impair the writing experiences of students. While researchers have proposed many interventions that teachers can implement to assist their students who struggle with writing apprehension, there has not been an instrument that is designed to measure teacher self-efficacy to help these same students. This study created such an instrument, entitled the Self-efficacy to Teach Apprehensive Writers Scale (STAWS), using Tschannen-Moran and Woolfolk Hoy’s (2001) Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale and Daly and Miller’s (1975) Writing Apprehension Test as model instruments. The new instrument was designed to measure writing instructor self-efficacy to teach their students who struggle with writing apprehension. Results from an exploratory factor analysis indicate that the STAWS represents a two-factor construct, measuring teacher self-efficacy to (a) engage apprehensive writers (α = .80), and (b) identify and meet the needs of apprehensive writers (α = .79). This two-factor solution explains approximately 58% of the variation in responses from instructors of first-year writing. While the instrument still needs to be validated, preliminary analysis indicates that instructors of first-year writing may experience moderately high self-efficacy to teach their apprehensive writers. First-year writing instructors appear to feel slightly more confident in their ability to identify and meet the needs of apprehensive writers than they are to engage these writers. Future research should focus on validating the instrument and using it to explore different types and demographic groups of teachers, including different levels of experience with sources of self-efficacy.

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