This thesis focuses on the development of an operational and theoretically eclectic concept of psychological well-being. A comprehensive research strategy was employed to examine various personality factors thought to be components of psychological health (i.e., the basis of the proposed concept). The general approach involved four major phases: (1) the clustering of various variables and identification of underlying key factors purported to be related to psychological health based on the writer's clinical experience and review of the mental health literature, (2) the formulation of an ~ priori concept of psychological well-being based on the operational definition of those factors, (3) the construction of an inventory designed to examine the proposed concept, and (4) the interpretation of the results and their implications for the development of the overall concept based on the examination of the factorial structure, validity and reliability of the inventory. The"a posteriori concept" evolved out of this process. The results of the present study indicate that the most valid and reliable factorial components of psychological well-being are self regard,interpersonal relationship, independence, problem-solving, assertiveness,reality testing, stress tolerance, self-actualization and happiness; social responsibility and flexibility emerged as questionable components of the a posteriori concept. The inventory which was designed to study the concept was successful in significantly differentiating various levels of psychological health. This way of conceptualizing and assessing psychological well-being has potential applicability for mental health practitioners and researchers.

published_or_final_version / Community Medicine / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

No description available.

Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

No description available.

Background: Coronary heart disease can have a long lasting impact on affected individuals in terms of both physical and psychological adjustment and quality of life. It is, therefore, important to investigate determinants of outcome in these patients. The thesis has four main aims; (i) to investigate predictors of outcome (adherence, quality of life, functional impairment, psychological distress and benefit finding) post-myocardial infarction (MI); (ii) to determine the prevalence and stability of Type D personality in the UK; (iii) to determine if personality predicts outcome after controlling for mood, demographic and clinical factors, and (iv) to investigate potential mechanisms which may explain the link between personality and poor prognosis in cardiac patients. Method: Five studies were conducted. In Studies 1-3, participants completed measures of Type D personality, health-related behaviour, social support and neuroticism. In Study 4, participants completed an experimental stressor with cardiovascular monitoring. Study 5 was a prospective study in which 131 MI patients completed measures of personality, illness cognitions and outcome at two time points, 3-5 days post-MI, then again 3 months later. Results: The prevalence of Type D personality in the UK is 39% in the healthy population, and 34% in the cardiac population. In addition, Type D is predictive of adherence, quality of life, and functional impairment in post-MI patients after controlling for mood, demographics, and clinical factors. Five possible mechanisms (health-related behaviour, adherence, social support, cardiovascular reactivity, and illness perceptions) by which Type D may lead to adverse outcome in cardiac patients were identified. Mood predicted quality of life and functional impairment post-MI, illness perceptions predicted quality of life post-MI, and future thinking predicted quality of life, functional impairment and depression post-MI. Discussion: These findings have important therapeutic and theoretical implications for understanding the role of personality and illness cognitions in the short-term recovery of post-MI patients.

The purpose of the present study was to ascertain if environmentally sensitive patients would demonstrate different memory deficit patterns than psychiatric patients on objectively measurable memory tasks. One-hundred sixteen patients were surveyed; 56 environmentally sensitive patients were compared to 60 psychiatric patients. All subjects were administered a Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised screen, the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised and the Harrell-Butler Comprehensive Neurocognitive Screen after history of head injury was ruled out. Results indicate a significantly different pattern of memory dysfunction between the environmental patients and the psychiatric patients, indicating two different etiologies. A screening device derived from the coefficients from a Canonical Analysis is proposed to distinguish between the two populations in the absence of blood serum levels of environmental toxins or poisons. The detrimental effects of misdiagnosis and the beneficial effects of accurate diagnosis of environmental illness are discussed.

A multivariate model of health self-perceptions was postulated based upon a comprehensive set of health related variables suggested by previous bivariate research. Components of the model included measures of health attitudes, health practices, health locus of control, a measure of stress/ coping, and a physical health measure. A stratified random sampling technique was used to select 10 8 subjects based upon the external measure of physical health which included categories ranging from disability-severe to symptom free-high energy level. All subjects completed a health questionnaire comprised of measures of the model components, two measures of health self-perceptions, and the Health Resource Task, an author designed instrument measuring a subject's ability to generate flexible health alternatives/resources. Bivariate correlational analysis revealed that the physical health, stress/coping, health practices, and locus of control measures and certain of the health attitude subscales were significantly correlated to general health self-ratings. A multivariate model including these variables accounted for almost 50 percent of the variance in one of the general health self-ratings measures and approximately 38 percent of the variance in the Health Resource Task. Suggestions for refining the proposed model were made.

Thesis (M. A. (Psychology)) -- University of Limpopo, 2018 / Upon entering the university environment, first year students encounter what could be described as a “foreign culture”, and have to reconcile conflicting transitional spaces of their home and university identities. This adjustive demand can lead to some considerable levels of psychological distress. This study examined the level of psychological health in first year students. It also evaluated whether factors such as monetary background, residential area, race and the availability of bursaries affect students’ transition into “university life”. First year students (N = 300; male = 135; female = 165) completed the General Health Questionnaire-12 at the University of Limpopo. A substantial percentage (that is, 30.33%) of the participants was found to have or is prone to psychological health problems. This finding is consistent with the results of previous studies which have found that some students may be susceptible to mental health problems predating their entry into university. There was no significant difference between the levels of psychological health between males and females and bursary users and those that are funded by their parents or guardians. There was also no significant difference between those that live in the rural areas and those from the cities. However, the figures between those that are poor and rich were strikingly noteworthy.

Chronic heart failure (HF) affects one in five Americans over age 40. It is the leading cause of emergency room visits and hospitalizations. More Medicare dollars are spent for the diagnosis and treatment of HF than any other condition. This study examined emotional representation of HF symptoms after a five-minute verbalization of feelings about these symptoms: 1) What are the characteristics of language used by participants in a verbalization of feelings related to HF symptoms? 2) How does positive affect, negative affect, heart rate (HR), blood pressure (BP), salivary alpha-amylase (sAA), and salivary cortisol (sC) vary over time after verbalization of feelings related to HF symptoms? And 3) What are the significant relationships between emotional word usage, positive and negative affect, HR, BP, sAA, and sC after verbalization of feelings about HF symptoms? A sample of sixty-adults (46 males) with symptomatic HF had a mean age of 71.99 years (SD 9.40), mean education 14.14 (SD 2.86), and Mini-Mental State Exam mean of 29.10 (SD 1.64). They were primarily Caucasian (85%) and married (56.67%) and had a mean time since diagnosis of HF of 104.75 months (SD 106.01). Participants' positive and negative emotional words usages were similar to samples with cancer, HIV/AIDES, and caregivers of chronically ill children. Positive and negative affect, BP, and HR were stable over time. Negative affect scores nearly doubled the reported means for healthy older adults. After speaking about HF symptoms, pulse pressure (F= 5.42, p= .007) and cortisol decreased (t=2.27, p= .027), whereas sAA was elevated (t= -4.31, p< .001). This finding was unexpected in a sample where 90% of the participants were treated with [beta]-blocking medications. Activation of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) occurred after speaking about feelings related to HF in 70% of this sample. This is relevant given the role of the SNS in HF progression. This was the first study to explore relationships between a description of symptoms, hemodynamic measures, and neurohormonal responses from a verbal description of HF symptoms. This study has demonstrated that human emotions are a representation of the daily health experience of older adults with symptomatic HF. / text