The purpose of this research was to establish the feasibility of delivering a 6-week long adapted Mindfulness for Academic Success (MAS) program to post-secondary students who were experiencing difficulties with their academic performance. Feasibility was established based on recruitment success (70%), program attendance (70% of participants attending at least four sessions), and homework compliance (70% homework completed). In addition, we hoped to establish the MAS program’s preliminary efficacy in improving executive and academic functioning and reducing mind wandering, inattention, symptoms of ADHD, and psychological distress. Forty participants from Carleton University were randomized to the MAS program (n = 20) or waitlist (WL) condition (n = 20). The overall dropout rate in this study was 38 %. Forty-five percent of the MAS program and 80% of the WL condition participants completed the study. MAS program completers complied with 32% of the overall homework during the five week reporting period and no student completed individually more than 57% of the assigned homework tasks. Accordingly, we did not meet the session attendance or homework completion feasibility requirements. Our preliminary efficacy results indicated significant improvements in some program outcomes in the intent-to-treat sample and results were more robust for MAS completers. Specifically executive functioning—self-management to time, self-organization, self monitoring, self-regulation of emotions, and executive function (EF) related ADHD symptoms—improved and ADHD symptoms decreased in the intent-to-treat sample and results were more robust in the completer sample. Psychological distress symptoms (depression and stress) and mind wandering decreased only in MAS program completers, but no changes were noted in students’ ability to pay attention to presented information during the mind wandering task. Academic functioning as measured by selecting main ideas, the use of study aids, and time management improved in both the intent-to-treat and completer samples. Changes in concentration and information processing were only evident for MAS program completers, however, changes were also noted in academic anxiety, motivation, and the use of test strategies, although effects were small. No changes were observed in participants’ self-restraint (EF), generalized anxiety, attitude toward school, and the use of self-testing in exam preparation. Although efficacy results suggest the MAS program may be beneficial, low program compliance and lack of change in students’ levels of mindfulness compromise the internal validity of this study and make drawing causal conclusions about the program’s efficacy difficult. Furthermore, while program attendance and homework compliance were correlated with some program outcomes, the lack of correlation between formal practices of mindfulness and program outcomes suggest that non-specific factors may have contributed to observed improvement in study outcomes.

Research shows that there is a gap between interest and experience in the area of sexuality for individuals with autism. Also, although these individuals have unique learning requirements pertaining to their sexuality, there is no consensus on the provision and content of such education. Using a socially inclusive theoretical lens founded on existing models of disability and competence, this bilingual study (a) developed a conceptual framework of sexuality education, as understood by adolescents living in Ontario with a diagnosis of high-functioning autism and their caregivers; (b) used extant texts to support the conceptualization provided by youth and caregivers; and (c) identified personal strengths and barriers, as well as societal supports and barriers that impact sexuality education for these youth. Using a qualitative orientation, this study employed in-depth interviews, surveys, and a literature review to better understand the topic under investigation. Twenty participants from 8 families took part in these interviews, including 9 adolescents and 11 caregivers. Survey and extant textual-analysis data were used to support the findings. Sexuality education content was conceptualized as a combination of facts and sociosexual norms, with emphasis on outcomes. Additionally, safety and pleasure were identified as important content areas, including the historically absent aspect of shared enjoyment. Some content areas were part of a greater discourse of normalization. Sexuality education was seen as a combination of formal and informal activities that are developmentally appropriate, proactive, and take place across various settings and groupings. Caregivers were cited as the primary providers of informal education, whereas schools and other community partners were seen as formal providers of education. Various supports and barriers were identified, some of which were viewed as both. Themes related to media and technology pervaded all findings. This study provides further emic and etic understanding of the subject with implications for practice, policy, and theory.

This study explores the ways in which young people orient themselves as moral/political beings to contemporary contexts. It sets out to understand the nature of these contexts, with a particular focus on the ideological challenges produced by globalisation and postmodernity. In equal measure, it sets out to examine the ways in which young people inhabit this context, drawing on a blend of Activity and Narrative Theory to expose the strategies that they employ to achieve such engagements. As such, it offers contributions which connect together existing literatures from divergent fields in a coherent way, and which place these amongst data reflecting lived experience. The research fundamentally conceptualises its subject matter as concerned with a process of learning (about oneself, and the world in which one inhabits). As such, though it is not concerned directly with the institution of schooling, or the practice of teaching, it contributes broadly to the field of education.The methodology of the research places equal emphasis on literature and empirical work, generating its key contributions by fostering interplay between the two. It operates by bringing together disparate aspects of theory, and holding these against a lived context, as represented by the perspectives of participants. Empirical data was generated this data through two waves of interview. In the first, sixteen teenage participants were asked in pairs to respond to a series of stimulus images. Follow-up interviews with three sets of these pairs sought responses to initial analysis and commentary on its data. Analysis combined content and critical discourse analysis, examining both what participants’ said of their experience in the world, whilst also interrogating the how those responses were constructed.Through this exploration, I demonstrate that the partiality, ambiguity and contradiction borne of processes of globalisation and postmodernity contort moral/political being. These trouble our moral impulses, perceptions and usual mechanisms of response. As a result, usual theoretical frameworks that attempt to describe to moral being are often unsatisfactory. In particular, these tensions problematise the sense of moral functioning as a rational response to known experience, and the modernist portrayal of development as the gradual development of the cognitive mechanisms necessary to do this. Rather, I represent moral/political existence (what I call ‘ideological being’) as a more organic and reflexive process, by which individuals must import meaning and subjectivities, in order to ‘anchor’ partial experience in something amenable to evaluation. In doing so, I draw heavily on existing work on socially mediated being (particularly that of Wertsch and Tappan), and demonstrate the useful and cogent ways in which it might be integrated with a broader ‘narrative’ turn in social theory.

The aim of this study is to identify perceptions and attitudes of uniformed military personnel towards organizational transformation. This would enable the researcher to determine the impact on employees’ level of functioning. Transformation as a concept is currently of great significance in South Africa specifically in the military setting. It involves changes to the philosophy and mission of the military unit. Organizational transformation in the military unit appears to be an intense process that may have a significant impact on the social functioning of the employees in the particular setting. The orientation to the study in Chapter 1 gives an overview of the Military history prior and just after the first South African democratic elections. The goal and objectives, the role of the Social Worker, motivation and limitations towards the execution of the study are further discussed. The definition of important concepts used in the study is outlined in this chapter. The literature review in Chapter 2 theoretically examines the concepts central to the military transformation processes. It has been identified that organizational change is mainly barred by individual resistance factors as well as organizational intervention factors. Change strategies contributing towards positive organizational transformation forms part of Chapter 2. Chapter 3 describes the research methodology followed in this in study. The qualitative and quantitative data collection methods which also involve the designing of the questionnaire utilised as a selected instrument for data gathering and statistical analysis is discussed. A full description of the study sample will also be offered in this third chapter. An integrated research methodology of both qualitative and quantitative approach will be followed in this study. A suitable interview schedule (Questionnaire) will be developed out of the focus group conducted as a pilot study for data collection purposes. The study will be descriptive in nature. Chapter 4 describes and evaluates the data collected from respondents. Results and interpretations are provided. The conclusion is reached that certain sectors, specifically staffed members and personnel who were previously employed by the SADF and are were expected to transform and integrate new members from outside forces. Afrikaans and English members are also more negative about transformation than African language groups. From these results it appears that transformation has benefitted the new “incoming” personnel who are significantly more optimistic about integration and transformation than the old permanent force members. Chapter 5 outlines conclusions indicating practical and theoretical implications of this study. Recommendations regarding possible strategies to improve the management of the transformation process are made in this chapter. / Dr. W. Roestenburg

Researchers are recognizing the importance of examining underlying family functioning in order to understand the varying influences of parental divorce on offspring. The current study investigated the relations among young adults’ attachment styles, their reported family-of-origin functioning and parents’ marital status (divorced or non-divorced), and their current feelings about and attitudes towards marriage, in a sample of 537 young adults, half of whom experienced the divorce of their parents. The results demonstrate that knowledge of divorce status alone does not tell the whole predictive story for a child’s later relational connections and attitudes. In fact, parental marital status may, at times, act as a proxy for lower intimacy, fewer democratic parenting practices, and higher conflict in the family. Family-of-origin functioning, and, in particular, higher levels of intimacy, was the best predictor of the young adult’s secure attachment in close relationships. Although adult children from divorced households did report more negative feelings and opinions of marriage, parents’ marital status, attachment style and family-of-origin functioning variables were all important in explaining their feelings about and attitudes towards marriage. Notably, those with higher levels of attachment avoidance were more likely to express negative feelings and opinions about marriage. It may be that the role of family functioning on attitude towards marriage includes an indirect pathway: Family-of-origin functioning predicts a young adult’s attachment style in close relationships, which, in turn, can have an important influence on their feelings about and attitudes towards the institution of marriage. Ultimately, we document that if a family-of-origin is experienced to be cohesive and close – even if parents do divorce – it appears that young adult children can still feel securely attached in their close relationships and still feel positively towards marriage. Therefore, the “intergenerational transmission of divorce,” is neither automatic nor inevitable and this term should no longer be utilized in the divorce literature. / Graduate

Orientador: Alessandro Ferrari Jacinto / Resumo: Introdução: A população idosa cresce no Brasil e com a transição demográfica ocorrem muitas alterações, algumas no âmbito da saúde, como o aumento do aparecimento de Doenças Crônicas Não Transmissíveis (DCNT) como, por exemplo, as neoplasias. Estas têm sido cada vez mais responsáveis pelos óbitos e frequente causa de preocupação e estudos. A radioterapia é uma possibilidade de tratamento para as neoplasias e em geral, sua população atendida é principalmente composta por idosos. É comum observarmos durante o adoecimento por câncer, bem como durante os períodos de tratamento, a presença de alterações na capacidade funcional e sofrimento psíquico, neste estudo tratado como transtorno mental comum (TMC). Objetivos: O presente trabalho teve como objetivo principal avaliar uma população de idosos em radioterapia quanto ao sofrimento psíquico e à capacidade funcional. E como objetivos secundários observar e descrever a população estudada bem como rastrear alterações cognitivas nesta população. Métodos: Foi realizado um estudo observacional, analítico e transversal com uma população de indivíduos com 60 anos ou mais que estavam em tratamento no Serviço de Radioterapia do Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina de Botucatu - UNESP .O período de inserção de sujeitos na pesquisa foi de 1 de abril de 2017 a 31 de agosto de 2017.Os instrumentos utilizados foram o “Self-Reporting Questionnaire” (SRQ-20) para rastreamento de transtornos mentais não psicóticos, e o Questionário de Ati... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Introduction: Old age does not grow in Brazil and with a series of classes that undergo many changes, such as in the health field, such as the increase in the appearance of Noncommunicable Chronic Diseases, such as neoplasia. This was the reason why they are costed and their frequencies cause the studies. Radiotherapy is a possible treatment for neoplasms and the population served is mainly composed of elderly people. It is common to observe during cancer sickness as well as during the treatment periods the presence of alertness in the Functioning and Psychological Suffering, in this study named as Common Mental Disorder. Objectives: The present study aimed to evaluate a population of elderly people in radiotherapy treatment with regard to psychic suffering and functional capacity. And as secondary objectives to observe and describe the studied population as well as to track cognitive alterations in this population. Methods: An observation and cross-sectional analytical study was carried out. Data collecting was carried out through Self – Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ-20) for tracking mental disorder non- psychotic, Functional Activities Questionnaire (FAQ) for evaluating functional capacity of subjects. Subjects were 60 years or older and were under radiotherapy treatment during the research period from April to August, 2017. Results: The sample consisted of 82 elderly patients in radiotherapy treatment, the most present neoplasia in the participants of the study was breast n... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

Brain injuries are one of the leading causes of disability and death globally, and prevalence numbers indicate an increase of injuries each year. Brain injuries significantly burden the individual afflicted; the effects of brain injuries are felt across families and relationships, and society at large. Brain injuries are often complicated by co-morbid socially significant health disorders, from mental health to financial and challenging behavior (i.e., aggression). The presence of these can severely limit access to community and rehabilitative opportunities. Some common characteristics underlying these socially significant problems are executive dysfunction and impulsivity. The literature broadly points to the role of executive functioning in impulsivity, indicating that when these processes are inadequate, impulsivity is more severe. To complicate, impulsivity research within brain injury is not broad. Additionally, little consensus exists on the concept and how stable this behavior is, and whether impulsivity can be improved. An area of impulsivity research, delay discounting, has gained increased attention from behavior scientists in the past 30 years because of its pragmatic approach to impulsivity. Delay discounting is a trans-disease process and various clinical populations discount delayed rewards at a high rate. The few studies that exist indicate that brain-injured people also discount at a higher rate compared to controls. Furthermore, high delay discounting have well-established connections with other socially significant health disorders. Due to the lack of breadth of the discounting literature in brain injury research, one exciting area is temporal stability and clinical interventions to decrease discounting. In a set of two studies, the aim was to expand the current knowledge on temporal stability, connections to socially significant behavior and deficits, and the effects on clinical interventions to reduce discounting. Study 1 examined the relationship between responses on discounting tasks at two different times and the relationship between discounting and measures of challenging behavior and executive functions. This study indicates that discounting was stable, that challenging behavior is related to higher rates of discounting yet did not find a relationship with executive functioning. Study 2 investigated the effects of computerized cognitive training and mindfulness training on discounting, executive functioning, and challenging behavior in multiple baseline research design across three participants. Results indicated that a small and transient improvement in delay discounting was observed for two of three participants during the computerized cognitive training. The improvement increased once the mindfulness training was introduced for the same two participants. Improvements were observed on executive functioning measures for all participants, and limited improvements were observed from measures of challenging behavior. Together these findings add to the body of literature on delay discounting and brain injury by demonstrating temporal stability and to the literature on clinical interventions to reduce high rates of delay discounting

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disorder associated with dysfunction of the basal ganglia, which contributes to a range of motor, cognitive, and affective symptoms. Striatal dopaminergic deficits are one of the core pathological mechanisms thought to contribute to the extra-motor (i.e., cognitive and affective) symptoms in early PD. The present study investigated the relationship between striatal dopaminergic integrity and cognition in 21 patients with PD and 21 age and education matched controls. Each individual underwent dopamine transporter (DaT) imaging with single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) (i.e., DaTscan) and standardized neuropsychological testing. Strong positive associations were found between DaT availability in the striatum and verbal memory (r = .52-.61) and problem solving/set-shifting (r = .55) in patients with PD. Additional moderate to strong positive associations (r = .49-.56) between DaT concentrations and visuospatial functions in patients with PD were found. However, similar significant associations between DaT and cognition were observed in age and education matched controls. Clinically, it is important for health care professionals to consider the role of both striatal and extra-striatal mechanisms as they relate to cognition in PD. Future studies examining the full range of pathological mechanisms that contribute to cognitive dysfunction in PD over time are warranted in order to inform more effective and targeted interventions.

The SASII which is a measure of social axioms, a concept based on an understanding of the core construct of general beliefs, was investigated in this study. The objective was to determine whether the SASII model fits the data collected in a South African context and whether it measures the same social axiom constructs of the a priori five-factor model. Secondly, the study tested the SASII for configural, metric, scalar and full invariance. Thirdly, social axioms' nomological network was investigated by relying on personality factors to validate social axioms. This study also tested the linkages between social axioms and the Big-Five personality factors. Finally, social axioms' ability to predict personality across cultures was investigated. Beliefs are social in nature and are universally shared amongst individuals within cultures. Shared beliefs represent how people organise their world and make sense of and interpret social realities. Values are widely used in the conceptualisation of cultures as this allows comparisons of the value profiles of individuals socialised into different cultures. Personality represent self-views and is related to culture. Establishing the relationship between social axioms and the constructs of personality and values is an important area for research and intervention. The first article on generalised beliefs, often referred to as social axioms, was published in 2002. It described the axiomatic nature of beliefs based on truth assumptions, personal experience and socialisation. The article sparked a global research interest on social axioms designed to evaluate the universality and meaning of the structure of beliefs across cultures. This interest has resulted in an array of articles, chapters and even a book on the subject. South Africa is ideally positioned for cross-cultural research because of its 11 official languages, diversity in educational levels and unemployment rates, inequality and a divided society due to the historical legacy of apartheid. Language differences create specific environments, defined in terms of culture, race, ethnic grouping, values and attitudes. Globalisation has accelerated the rate of intercultural contact, guiding research attempts to comprehensively describe the emerging cross-cultural dynamics. Recent research findings indicate that South Africans exhibit extreme social axiom scores that are similar to trends in other developing countries. Social axioms research also seeks to assess overlap with other constructs such as values and personality. Efforts to refine social axioms and to expand their nomological network are therefore the main focus of this study. This study aims to contribute towards previous research efforts to improve the validity and expand the nomological network of social axioms through assessing the relationship between generalised beliefs, namely social axioms (labelled Social Cynicism, Reward for Application, Social Complexity, Fate Control and Religiosity) and personality factors (i.e., Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism and Intellect) in the South African context. A cross-sectional survey design was used to collect data regarding these constructs as experienced by students and their family members and friends. A convenience sample (N = 1567) of university students and their family members and friends participated in this study. The measuring instruments used were the Social Axioms Survey (SASII), Mini-International Personality Item Pool (Mini-IPIP) and a biographical questionnaire. The results of Study 1 indicated that the SASII five factor structure exhibited an unacceptable model fit within the South African context when conducting a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). However, as an exploratory step, and by creating a parsimonious model, the improved CFA of the SASII presented a fit that improved on previous research findings, suggesting a reasonable fit, taking into account the complexity of the SASII model. Study 2 assessed the measurement invariance (configural, metric, and scalar invariance) of the five factor structure of the SASII parsimonious model across male and female groups in a South African sample. Evidence was obtained through multi-group confirmatory factor analyses, which supported a baseline configural model. This finding indicated that the number of factors and factor structure of the SASII parsimonious model are considered equivalent across male and female groups. Proof for partial metric invariance was found and scalar invariance could not be achieved. Results thus indicated that male and female respondents did not exhibit the same understanding of certain latent constructs and that some items did not have the same meaning for both groups. Males and females also differed in terms of their levels of trust on the SASII's scales of Social Cynicism, Social Complexity and Religiosity. Because scalar invariance could not be achieved, comparisons of the SASII five factors' means across groups could not be computed. This study provided support for previous research findings and indicated that some items and latent factors of the SASII need refinement. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Human Resource Management / PhD / Unrestricted

Bilingual language control refers to how bilinguals are able to speak exclusively in one language without the unintended language intruding. Two prominent verbal theories of bilingual language control have been proposed by researchers: the inhibitory control model (ICM) and the lexical selection mechanism model (LSM). The ICM posits that domain-general inhibition is employed in order to suppress the unintended language’s activation. The LSM posits that inhibition is not used; rather a lexical selection mechanism targets only the intended language’s words. In order to better test the theories’ hypotheses, I developed computational models to estimate participants’ reaction times when naming in blocks of semantically related pictures and in blocks of semantically unrelated pictures. For these tasks, the ICM model predicts that semantic interference will be abolished when bilinguals switch languages, while the LSM model does not. In Experiment One, English-Spanish bilinguals named pictures that were either semantically related to the previous four trials, or semantically unrelated to the previous four trials. Research indicated that language switching did not abolish priming effects, supporting the ICM. These results contradict conclusions found in previous literature. To reconcile this, another experiment was conducted. It was similar to Experiment One, except filler trials separated semantically related trials. Results showed that each time a semantically related neighbor was presented, naming latency increased by ~10ms regardless of language switching or number of filler items. It suggests that the existing literature mistook incremental learning effects as priming effects, and it demonstrates a need to incorporate theories of incremental learning into theories of bilingual language control.