The general aim of this study was to research the relationship between psychosocial functioning and emotional intelligence in a sample of 69 employees in different organisational settings in South Africa. Each respondent completed the Personal Multi-Screening Inventory (PMSI) and the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT). The research findings indicated that there are significant relationships between subscales of the PMSI and subscales of the MSCEIT, in that the ability to manage emotions is associated with low levels of Helplessness, Stress and Frustration, and high levels of Expectation, Satisfaction and Achievement, whereas the ability to perceive emotions is associated with low levels of Satisfaction and Achievement. A relatively high level of the ability to perceive emotions is also associated with Helplessness. It is recommended that employee wellness interventions in the workplace be enhanced through emotional intelligence mediation of negative psychosocial functioning. The study is concluded with recommendations for further research. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M. A. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

A questão que permeou este trabalho de tese consistiu em interrogar em que medida os grupos terapêuticos Projetos de Vida, oferecido às mulheres em sofrimento psíquico, dão suporte à sua (re) inserção social, sobretudo no que diz respeito à vida laborativa. Os referenciais teóricos adotados para a contextualização desta temática abrangeram as determinações do Ministério da Saúde quanto à perspectiva psicossocial dos atendimentos aos usuários dos CAPS e as elaborações teóricas de Hannah Arendt sobre ação humana no contexto da vida ativa. Este trabalho teve como objetivo compreender como as usuárias dos CAPS de transtorno mental de Recife-PE experienciam os grupos terapêuticos Projetos de Vida e de que modo tais experiências repercutem no seu viver cotidiano. Teve como objetivos específicos: descrever o trabalho realizado no grupo; contextualizar o ambiente sociofamiliar e laborativo vivenciado pelas usuárias participantes da pesquisa; descrever a experiência prática cotidiana das usuárias a partir das vivências nesse grupo e a repercussão no seu cotidiano. Trata-se de uma pesquisa qualitativa, cujas narrativas foram realizadas através de entrevista aberta, questionário sociodemográfico e consulta a documentos (prontuários e livro de registro de grupos). Para a compreensão das entrevistas, utilizou-se o Interpretativismo de Wilhelm Dilthey, buscando-se compreender os sentidos dados a estes grupos terapêuticos em suas vidas laborativas. No processo de desvelamento, os relatos obtidos abrangeram aspectos comportamentais e emocionais, com destaque a: melhor preparação e conscientização para a convivência sociofamiliar; melhorias no âmbito pessoal de bem-estar e sentimentos de acolhimento, valorização e oportunização de conforto e segurança emocional no convívio interpessoal. Houve, também, relatos de que as vivências contribuíram para o retorno à vida laborativa profissional e para o fornecimento do resgate da reabilitação e reinserção social. As narrativas indicam, ainda, que a maioria dos processos interventivos realizados nos referidos grupos é voltada para o estímulo e incentivo a outros aspectos da vida, que não o laborativo, com destaque para o enfrentamento ao estigma da doença mental e a autoconfiança para a reinserção social. Os relatos sobre as abordagens terapêuticas mencionam um razoável espectro de recursos técnicos para o alcance do que se propõe: discussões temáticas sobre saúde e doença mental; reflexões sobre comportamento; passeios terapêuticos e emprego de artes. Os desejos manifestos se voltam para pretensões de retomada de atividades e aquisição de novos projetos, o que reflete a mudança no papel social da mulher na contemporaneidade. Sobretudo, as narrativas apresentadas corroboram a importância do cuidado às pessoas em sofrimento psíquico, bem como reafirmam o pressuposto de Hannah Arendt sobre vida ativa, qual seja, a ação humana torna-se sem sentido se não for voltada para alguma forma de realização. / The question that pervaded this thesis was to examine to what extent the therapeutic groups Life Projects, offered to women in psychological distress, give support to their social (re) integration, particularly with regard to the working lives. The theoretical framework adopted to the contextualization of this thematic covered the determinations of the Ministry of Health regarding the psychosocial perspective of care to users of CAPS and the Hannah Arendt theoretical elaborations on human action in the context of active life. This study aimed to understand how users of mental disorder CAPS in Recife-PE experience the therapeutic groups Life Project and how such experiences impacting their daily lives. The project has as specific objectives: to describe the work realized in the group; contextualize the social-family and occupational environment experienced by the women participating users of research; describe the everyday practical experience of users from the experiences in this group and how it impacted on their daily lives. This is a qualitative research, whose narratives were made through open interview, sociodemographic questionnaire and consultation documents (records and group record book). For understanding the interviews, it was used the Wilhelm Dilthey interpretivism, seeking to understand the meanings given to these therapeutic groups in their occupational lives. In the process of unveiling, the obtained reports covered behavioral and emotional aspects, especially to: better preparation and awareness of the social-family conviviality; improvements in the personal level of welfare and feelings of acceptance, appreciation and facilitation of comfort and emotional security in interpersonal living. There were also reports that the experiences contributed to the return to professional working lives and for the supply of the rescue of rehabilitation and social reintegration. The narratives also show that most interventional procedures performed in these groups is aimed at stimulating and encouraging other aspects of life, excluding the working lives, especially to face the stigma of mental illness and the self-confidence for the social reintegration. The reports on the therapeutic approaches mention a reasonable range of technical resources for the achievement of what is proposed: thematic discussions on health and mental illness; reflections on behavior; therapeutic riding and arts application. The manifested desires turn to intending of the recovery of activities and acquisition of new projects, which reflects the change in women's social role in contemporary society. Above all, the narratives presented corroborate the importance of caring for people in psychological distress and reaffirm the Hannah Arendt assumption on active life, namely, human action becomes meaningless if it is not directed to any embodiment.

This study originates from experiences which led me to question the way pharmacists are equipped to advise and support the medicine-taking practice of patients using chronic medication. The study offers a critical theoretical consideration of underlying perspectives informing pharmacy education. I propose following a critical realist ontological perspective, a social realist understanding of social structure and human agency, and a sociocultural epistemology. Based on these perspectives, I consider a sociological critique of ‘health’, ‘disease’, ‘illness’ and ‘sickness’ perspectives on medicine-taking, and of pharmacy as a profession. I then propose an experiential learning approach, with an emphasis on developing reflexivity through affective learning. I follow this with an illustrative case study. Following a critical discourse analysis of student texts from the case study, I conclude that there is evidence that experiential learning may prove useful in developing pharmacy students’ reflexive competency to support the provision of pharmaceutical care to patients using chronic medications.

Introduction: Resilience is an important trait and mechanism for older adults facing adversity in their later life. Physical activity has been established as an important determinant of mental health among older adults, in which relationship of resilience may play a mediating role. In order to examine the relationships among resilience, physical activity, and mental health in older adults, the current project is designed to conduct three studies. Study-1 aims to use qualitative method to identify the characteristics that contribute to resilience in a group of community-dwelling older adults in Hong Kong. Study-2 aims to develop and validate an age-specific resilience scale, named as "Resilience Scale for Chinese Older Adults (RSCOA)". Study-3 aims to test a model in which physical activity is hypothesized to influence mental health in path mediated by resilience. Methods: Twenty-five Chinese older adults (2 males, 23 females) aged 69 to 100 years (M=80.00, SD=39.08) were included in Study-1. Interviews were conducted to collect information about the adverse events in their lives, as well as their attitudes towards adversity and the beliefs underlying their approaches to overcoming adversity. The transcripts were analysed using qualitative content analysis. In Study-2, a sequential approach was used to develop the RSCOA in three stages. In stage 1, scale candidate items were generated and initial content validity of the RSCOA were explored. In stage 2, the factorial structure of the RSCOA was extracted using exploratory factor analysis. In stage 3, exploratory structural equation modeling was conducted to test the structure. The reliability and validity of the RSCOA were also examined. In Study-3, cross-sectional data was collected from a sample of 293 Chinese older adults [60 males, 233 females; age from 65 to 95 years old (M=76.58, SD=7.02)] from eight community senior centres located in three districts in Hong Kong. Correlation analyses were performed and path analysis was employed to assess the associations among physical activity, resilience and mental health variables. Results: In Study-1, 7 themes were emerged from the interviews: 1). Equanimity- the realisation that life has both joys and sorrows. 2). Positive attitudes towards life. 3). Meaningfulness- the realisation that life has a purpose and is full of hope. 4). Self-reliance- a belief in one's capabilities and the realisation that each person's life path is unique. 5). Social support- which comes from family and friends, health care professionals, staff in the senior centres and others' appraisal. 6). Environmental support- which includes the support from neighbours, community senior centres and government. 7). Spirituality and faith- which can take the form of a belief in destiny, gratitude or religious faith. For the scale development and validation, a pool of 70 candidate items for RSCOA was established with good content validity in stage 1. In stage 2, seven factors, namely perseverance, self-reliance, spirituality, social support, living in the moment, environmental support, and meaningfulness, reflecting internal, external and existential dimensions, were identified and reflected in 27 items in the construct of resilience. In stage 3, the 27-item RSCOA was further examined, by which 3 items were deleted to achieve acceptable internal consistency (α= 0.87) and good concurrent as well as construct validities, and finally a 24-item RSCOA was confirmed. The measurement model displayed satisfactory model fit and proven invariant across gender. Building on the three path models, it was found that significant mediation effects of resilience on the relations from physical activity to depression (β =-.54, p=.002), from physical activity to loneliness (β=-.25, p=.005), as well as from physical activity to psychological well-being (β=.37, p=.008). In sum, the results confirmed that resilience mediates relationship from physical activity to mental health among the older adults. Conclusion: The qualitative analysis found that resilience of the Hong Kong older adults is characterised by internal, external and existential factors. A reliable and valid age-specific instrument for measurement of resilience in Chinese older people was developed. Older adults who are more physically active reported greater psychological well-being and less mental health problems, and the effects were mediated by resilience. The results may be useful for developing interventions that aim at assisting older adults to enhance the positive experiences and mental health in their lives.

COVID-19 exacerbated a pre-existing and well-documented mental health crisis on college campuses in the United States. During COVID-19, more college students than ever before in recorded history reported feelings of anxiety and depression, among other mental health issues. There are myriad possible causes for the decline in mental health among college students. One clear cause is the introduction of the smartphone, its widespread adoption, and its frequent use by college-age people. Research also revealed that an unprecedented number of college students are completely disconnected from religion and spirituality. Studies demonstrated that cultivating a religious or spiritual life can be beneficial for one’s mental well-being. The efforts on college campuses to provide mental health resources for students would benefit from additional support. This care should be accessible to more students and should combat the unfortunate stigma around receiving help for mental health. Undergraduate introductory philosophy courses taken as a requirement by various majors can serve as responses to this call for additional care. These classes are inherently accessible and can offer students an engaging experience with self-care by implementing exercises inspired by philosophy as the art of living. Although philosophy as the art of living does not necessarily have to replace religion or other forms of mental health care, it can offer an experience that is of therapeutic value in the classroom. This tradition has a rich, ancient history of intending to serve this purpose. The objective of this research was to present and examine self-care exercises from philosophy as the art of living and to evaluate how these can be taught in the college classroom in response to the mental health crisis on college campuses. It also aimed to render the experience of teaching these exercises. The research was executed through a hermeneutical and phenomenological approach. The phenomenological methodology was performed by a teacher in the form of a self-study. It was also conducted with the teacher as a witness to what transpired in introductory philosophy classes with thousands of students in dozens of individual classes in a diverse metropolis. A college introductory philosophy course in this epoch of mental health crisis on campuses should abide by philosophy as the art of living’s imperative to decrease suffering. There is a vital need for additional resources to respond to the decline in mental wellness among students. The results of this research demonstrated that philosophy as the art of living and its emphasis on exercises can be successfully applied to the college classroom. In this research, students were given time on a regular basis during class to be in silence, confront Socratic-style questions that encouraged them to examine and care for themselves, practice self-writing to heighten their ability to think and pursue the aim of self-care, and then read to engage with philosophical texts to support their self-care. Students consistently and rigorously engaged with these exercises. Their time spent in silent practice provided an opportunity for therapeutic, meditative, and peaceful reflection. Educators should consider implementing these exercises in introductory philosophy classes and beyond as ways to offer self-care to students who may be struggling with their mental health, as so many are.

Career decision-making is complex and dynamic. Cognitive factors that influence career choice are of interest to researchers. In particular, negative career thoughts and career self-efficacy have been found to influence career decidedness. Similarly, cognitive expectancy has been linked to career decidedness through the locus of control construct. Where locus of control has demonstrated salutogenic stress reducing properties in health literature it has also been widely used in career research. Other cognitive expectancies could contribute to the literature pertaining to career choice. In particular, sense of coherence has begun to make inroads to career psychology. Where career decision-making research has been universally conducted with student populations, little has been conducted with adults. Because of developmental factors, student based research may not readily generalize to non-student adult based populations. Researching the career indecision of non-student adults could broaden the literature. Establishing the relationship between career thinking (negative career thoughts & career decision-making self-efficacy) and salutogenic functioning (locus of control & sense of coherence) would provide initial research into the nature of career indecision in non-student adults. A survey design assessed the relationship between career thinking and salutogenic functioning in an adult, career decision-making milieu. Two hundred and twenty five unemployed career undecided adults were sampled from community based career exploration programs. Correlative and regression analysis were conducted on career thinking and salutogenic functioning measures. Data analysis indicated statistically significant findings between career thinking and salutogenic functioning. In particular, negative career thoughts, career decision making self-efficacy, locus of control and sense of coherence were all found to have significant correlations between each other. Career thinking and sense of coherence strongly correlated with level of education, while locus of control negatively correlated with age. Regression analysis indicated that sense of coherence demonstrated stronger relationships to career thoughts than locus of control. Further, sense of coherence significantly predicted negative career thoughts and career decision-making self-efficacy. Locus of control maintained a weak and non-significant predictive relationship with negative career thoughts or career self-efficacy. Results suggest that sense of coherence may contribute to further understanding of career decidedness in adults. Implications for Industrial/Organisational psychology are discussed. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / D. Litt. et Phil.(Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

Career decision-making is complex and dynamic. Cognitive factors that influence career choice are of interest to researchers. In particular, negative career thoughts and career self-efficacy have been found to influence career decidedness. Similarly, cognitive expectancy has been linked to career decidedness through the locus of control construct. Where locus of control has demonstrated salutogenic stress reducing properties in health literature it has also been widely used in career research. Other cognitive expectancies could contribute to the literature pertaining to career choice. In particular, sense of coherence has begun to make inroads to career psychology. Where career decision-making research has been universally conducted with student populations, little has been conducted with adults. Because of developmental factors, student based research may not readily generalize to non-student adult based populations. Researching the career indecision of non-student adults could broaden the literature. Establishing the relationship between career thinking (negative career thoughts & career decision-making self-efficacy) and salutogenic functioning (locus of control & sense of coherence) would provide initial research into the nature of career indecision in non-student adults. A survey design assessed the relationship between career thinking and salutogenic functioning in an adult, career decision-making milieu. Two hundred and twenty five unemployed career undecided adults were sampled from community based career exploration programs. Correlative and regression analysis were conducted on career thinking and salutogenic functioning measures. Data analysis indicated statistically significant findings between career thinking and salutogenic functioning. In particular, negative career thoughts, career decision making self-efficacy, locus of control and sense of coherence were all found to have significant correlations between each other. Career thinking and sense of coherence strongly correlated with level of education, while locus of control negatively correlated with age. Regression analysis indicated that sense of coherence demonstrated stronger relationships to career thoughts than locus of control. Further, sense of coherence significantly predicted negative career thoughts and career decision-making self-efficacy. Locus of control maintained a weak and non-significant predictive relationship with negative career thoughts or career self-efficacy. Results suggest that sense of coherence may contribute to further understanding of career decidedness in adults. Implications for Industrial/Organisational psychology are discussed. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / D. Litt. et Phil.(Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

Intimate partner violence is endemic in the United States. According to the American Medical Association (1992), one-fifth to one-third of women will sustain violence from a partner or ex-partner in their lifetime. The relevant literature was organized by ICD-9-CM categories. This study examined the health consequences of partner abuse in a sample of community women using a sample consisting of 564 women in three ethnic groups. Because prior research has failed to account for variations by type of abuse on health consequences, this study assessed psychological abuse, violence and sexual aggression by women's partners. To determine whether or not different types of abuse had an effect on women's health, hierarchical regression analyses were conducted. The regression equations were calculated for women within each ethnic group to facilitate identification of similarities and differences and to control for ethnic differences in risk for specific diseases. The results were consistent with past research on health consequences of abuse and extended the prior literature by showing that psychological abuse had a pervasive effect on health conditions, distress and use of health care resources. Additionally, ethnic differences emerged. As expected, ethnicity appeared to function as a moderator. Clinical implications and recommendations are made for future research, suggesting the development of a new assessment tool for partner abuse screening.

Made available in DSpace on 2017-06-01T18:29:30Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 moema_luzia_barros_moura.pdf: 819033 bytes, checksum: 5936dd6d2174a801c37418e648851d88 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-06-02 / The question that pervaded this thesis was to examine to what extent the therapeutic groups Life Projects, offered to women in psychological distress, give support to their social (re) integration, particularly with regard to the working lives. The theoretical framework adopted to the contextualization of this thematic covered the determinations of the Ministry of Health regarding the psychosocial perspective of care to users of CAPS and the Hannah Arendt theoretical elaborations on human action in the context of active life. This study aimed to understand how users of mental disorder CAPS in Recife-PE experience the therapeutic groups Life Project and how such experiences impacting their daily lives. The project has as specific objectives: to describe the work realized in the group; contextualize the social-family and occupational environment experienced by the women participating users of research; describe the everyday practical experience of users from the experiences in this group and how it impacted on their daily lives. This is a qualitative research, whose narratives were made through open interview, sociodemographic questionnaire and consultation documents (records and group record book). For understanding the interviews, it was used the Wilhelm Dilthey interpretivism, seeking to understand the meanings given to these therapeutic groups in their occupational lives. In the process of unveiling, the obtained reports covered behavioral and emotional aspects, especially to: better preparation and awareness of the social-family conviviality; improvements in the personal level of welfare and feelings of acceptance, appreciation and facilitation of comfort and emotional security in interpersonal living. There were also reports that the experiences contributed to the return to professional working lives and for the supply of the rescue of rehabilitation and social reintegration. The narratives also show that most interventional procedures performed in these groups is aimed at stimulating and encouraging other aspects of life, excluding the working lives, especially to face the stigma of mental illness and the self-confidence for the social reintegration. The reports on the therapeutic approaches mention a reasonable range of technical resources for the achievement of what is proposed: thematic discussions on health and mental illness; reflections on behavior; therapeutic riding and arts application. The manifested desires turn to intending of the recovery of activities and acquisition of new projects, which reflects the change in women's social role in contemporary society. Above all, the narratives presented corroborate the importance of caring for people in psychological distress and reaffirm the Hannah Arendt assumption on active life, namely, human action becomes meaningless if it is not directed to any embodiment. / A questão que permeou este trabalho de tese consistiu em interrogar em que medida os grupos terapêuticos Projetos de Vida, oferecido às mulheres em sofrimento psíquico, dão suporte à sua (re) inserção social, sobretudo no que diz respeito à vida laborativa. Os referenciais teóricos adotados para a contextualização desta temática abrangeram as determinações do Ministério da Saúde quanto à perspectiva psicossocial dos atendimentos aos usuários dos CAPS e as elaborações teóricas de Hannah Arendt sobre ação humana no contexto da vida ativa. Este trabalho teve como objetivo compreender como as usuárias dos CAPS de transtorno mental de Recife-PE experienciam os grupos terapêuticos Projetos de Vida e de que modo tais experiências repercutem no seu viver cotidiano. Teve como objetivos específicos: descrever o trabalho realizado no grupo; contextualizar o ambiente sociofamiliar e laborativo vivenciado pelas usuárias participantes da pesquisa; descrever a experiência prática cotidiana das usuárias a partir das vivências nesse grupo e a repercussão no seu cotidiano. Trata-se de uma pesquisa qualitativa, cujas narrativas foram realizadas através de entrevista aberta, questionário sociodemográfico e consulta a documentos (prontuários e livro de registro de grupos). Para a compreensão das entrevistas, utilizou-se o Interpretativismo de Wilhelm Dilthey, buscando-se compreender os sentidos dados a estes grupos terapêuticos em suas vidas laborativas. No processo de desvelamento, os relatos obtidos abrangeram aspectos comportamentais e emocionais, com destaque a: melhor preparação e conscientização para a convivência sociofamiliar; melhorias no âmbito pessoal de bem-estar e sentimentos de acolhimento, valorização e oportunização de conforto e segurança emocional no convívio interpessoal. Houve, também, relatos de que as vivências contribuíram para o retorno à vida laborativa profissional e para o fornecimento do resgate da reabilitação e reinserção social. As narrativas indicam, ainda, que a maioria dos processos interventivos realizados nos referidos grupos é voltada para o estímulo e incentivo a outros aspectos da vida, que não o laborativo, com destaque para o enfrentamento ao estigma da doença mental e a autoconfiança para a reinserção social. Os relatos sobre as abordagens terapêuticas mencionam um razoável espectro de recursos técnicos para o alcance do que se propõe: discussões temáticas sobre saúde e doença mental; reflexões sobre comportamento; passeios terapêuticos e emprego de artes. Os desejos manifestos se voltam para pretensões de retomada de atividades e aquisição de novos projetos, o que reflete a mudança no papel social da mulher na contemporaneidade. Sobretudo, as narrativas apresentadas corroboram a importância do cuidado às pessoas em sofrimento psíquico, bem como reafirmam o pressuposto de Hannah Arendt sobre vida ativa, qual seja, a ação humana torna-se sem sentido se não for voltada para alguma forma de realização.

A doença de Alzheimer é responsável por mais da metade dos quadros de demência e ainda não se conhece a sua cura. Portanto, quando se levanta esta hipótese diagnóstica, os pacientes e as famílias se confrontam com as implicações desta doença, que apresenta um curso com declínio progressivo e global das funções cognitivas. A presente pesquisa teve como objetivo geral estudar as repercussões psicossociais que ocorrem na família de pacientes com a doença de Alzheimer. Especificamente, pretendeu-se identificar os sentimentos vivenciados e as necessidades sentidas pela família. Trata-se de uma pesquisa qualitativa e a amostra pesquisada foi composta por seis familiares de pacientes portadores da Doença de Alzheimer, que foram atendidos no Ambulatório de Neurologia Cognitiva e do Comportamento (ANCC), do Hospital Geral de Areias, em Recife. O instrumento foi um roteiro de entrevista contendo questões relacionadas aos objetivos e aos dados sóciodemográficos dos familiares. A técnica utilizada para análise dos dados foi a Análise de Conteúdo Temática. Os resultados apontaram que o ato de cuidar de um familiar com a doença de Alzheimer acarreta sentimentos de ansiedade, perplexidade, impotência e tristeza, os quais se intensificam com o agravamento do quadro. As principais repercussões ocorridas no contexto familiar referem-se a uma mudança na sua rotina e na relação estabelecida entre o paciente e os demais membros da família. Quando o cuidado é assumido por uma única pessoa, o desgaste físico e mental interfere na saúde, na vida social e, conseqüentemente, na qualidade de vida do cuidador. Neste estudo, percebemos a importância de que se ampliem a discussão e o conhecimento sobre a doença de Alzheimer, focalizados na família e, especialmente, no cuidador. Espera-se que ele possa oferecer respostas úteis aos profissionais que lidam com o tema, para elaborarem intervenções mais direcionadas e efetivas, assim como às famílias que buscam orientação e ajuda para minimizar seu sofrimento psíquico