Purpose: Depression in older females is a significant and growing problem. Females who experience life stressors across the life span are at higher risk for developing problems with depression than their male counterparts. The primary aim of this study was (a) to examine gender-specific differences in the correlates of depression in older primary care patients based on baseline and longitudinal analyses; and (b) to examine the longitudinal effect of biopsychosocial risk factors on depression treatment outcomes in different models of behavioral healthcare (i.e., integrated care and enhanced referral). Method: This study used a quantitative secondary data analysis with longitudinal data from the Primary Care Research in Substance Abuse and Mental Health for Elderly (PRISM-E) study. A linear mixed model approach to hierarchical linear modeling was used for analysis using baseline assessment, and follow-up from three-month and six-month. Results: For participants diagnosed with major depressive disorder female gender was associated with increased depression severity at six-month compared to males at six-month. Further, the interaction between gender and life stressors found that females who reported loss of family and friends, family issues, money issues, medical illness was related to higher depression severity compared to males whereas lack of activities was related to lower depression severity among females compared to males. Conclusion: These findings suggest that gender moderated the relationship between specific life stressors and depression severity similar to how a protective factor can impact a person’s response to a problem and reduce the negative impact of a risk factor on a problem outcome. Therefore, life stressors may be a reliable predictor of depression for both females and males in either behavioral health treatment model. This study concluded that life stressors influence males basic comfort, stability, and survival whereas life stressors influence females’ development, personal growth, and happiness; therefore, life stressors may be a useful component to include in gender-based screening and assessment tools for depression.

Change in educational settings is a complex and multifaceted process that commonly implies change in teaching practices. Different initiatives have shown the significance of teachers and their perceptions when change in teaching practices is intended. Additionally, various factors may influence change in teaching practices at three different moments: before it happens, during, and after its implementation. Considering teachers' perceptions, I studied different factors that may be related to positive change in teaching practices. I studied the relationship between three groups of factors and positive change in teaching practices: motivational factors, including teachers' self-efficacy and autonomy; learning opportunities that include professional development, feedback, and leadership; and the academic and community domains as part of the school climate factor. In particular, I answered the following research question: To what extent do learning opportunities, teacher motivational factors, and school climate predict positive change in teaching practices? In this study I posited that teacher factors such as self-efficacy and school factors such as leadership influence positive change in teaching practices. I also posited that school factors influence the relationship between teacher factors and positive change in teaching practices. To study these relationships, I analyzed data from the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS). This survey provides clustered data: teachers are clustered by schools and schools by countries. I used multilevel modeling statistical methods (i.e., a two-level hierarchical linear model) to examine the Colombian and United Stated datasets. Before estimating the hierarchical linear models, I conducted an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to identify the teacher-level variables. One follow-up EFA focused on teacher self-efficacy yielded three variables that allowed me to focus on three specific teaching tasks: managing student behavior, motivating students, and varying instructional strategies. I found that learning opportunities, motivational factors, and school climate predict positive change in teaching practices. Learning opportunities, such as feedback from the principal has a stronger effect than feedback from colleagues. The impact of feedback from the principal has significant unnoticeable variability across schools, and it is negatively influenced by the feedback received by the teachers at the same school. Additionally, teachers' self-efficacy in different teaching tasks predicts positive change, however, these relationships differ by country. Finally, distributed leadership as part of school climate is a significant predictor of positive change that also affects it by influencing teacher interactions positively. Implications of these findings are also discussed as it relates to the existing literature and the educational system in each of the two countries. / Doctor of Philosophy / Over many decades there have been different initiatives in education to improve teaching. Unfortunately, many of those efforts have had unsuccessful results, although they are solid proposals. Thus, change itself has become a focus of study. My study focuses on factors that may influence positive change in teaching practices. I focus on three groups of factors: learning opportunities, motivational factors, and school climate. For learning opportunities, I studied the participation of teachers in professional development, feedback to teachers from different educational community members, and interactions between teachers. For motivational factors, I focused on teachers' autonomy and self-efficacy. Finally, for school climate, I studied factors associated with leadership, interactions between teachers at the same school, and participation of teachers from the same school in professional development. I analyzed data from the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS). TALIS is an international survey administered to teachers and principals worldwide. I considered TALIS data from Colombia and the US. Within each country, teachers are grouped by schools, that is, teacher are nested within schools. In this study, teachers are considered the level-one unit, and schools, the level-two units. Therefore, I analyzed the data using a statistical method known as Hierarchical Linear Modelling. This method allowed me to identify different relationships: between teacher-level factors and positive change, between school-level factors and positive change, and between school-level factors and the relationship between teacher factors and positive change. I was also able to partition the variance associated with these relationships between teachers and between schools. I found that learning opportunities, motivational factors, and school climate are predictors of positive change in teaching practices. This means that teachers are more likely to implement changes in their teaching practices if they: participate in professional development, interact with their colleagues, receive feedback from the principal and their colleagues, have a high level of self-efficacy for different teaching tasks, and belong to a school where leadership is well distributed among different stakeholders. In particular, feedback could have a stronger impact if it is based on different sources of information. Finally, I discuss the implications of these findings and conclusions that lead to a better understanding of these relationships.

No description available.

Neighbourhood stressors have an incubating effect for a variety of health-related disorders involving children. It is of interest is to determine if asthma prevalence is greater amongst school children at age 7-8 resident of chronic stress neighbourhoods in Winnipeg, after adjusting for family history of asthma and socioeconomic status. The urban component of children (1472 entire; 698 birth home) extracted from the Study of Asthma, Genes and the Environment (SAGE) Survey administered in 2002-2003 to a birth cohort from 1995 in Manitoba. Dichotomous parent report of child asthma from the SAGE Survey nested within birth cohort was geocoded by postal code, which allowed designation of neighbourhood in hierarchical linear modelling. Children living in census tracts assigned low SES scores by compositional stressors were found to have a decreased odds of parent report of asthma, while those inhabiting profiles with high contextual crime rates were at increased risk.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The educational landscape in South Africa is unique and has also seen many changes since the dawn of democracy more than 20 years ago. The apartheid education system was marred by severe inequalities between schools and, for this reason, the democratic government post 1994 established a number of policies and interventions in an attempt to improve access, equity and quality between schools. The country has made significant advances in improving access to education. This is reflected in the Millennium Development Goals progress indicators showing that, as of 2013, almost all learners between the ages of 7 and 15 were enrolled in schools. While great strides have also been made with regard to equity, evidence shows that many schools in South Africa are still largely inequitable. Education quality, however, is an area that is still of grave concern and the matter requires much attention from educational stakeholders. International studies, such as the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), use learner performance to measure the quality of the system. Such studies consistently report that South Africa is performing poorly and that large inequalities still exist between schools in the country. Improved quality is associated with effective schools and, in South Africa, only 20% of schools have been found to be functional or effective. Much of research focussed on school effectiveness, both nationally and internationally, however has been explained by factors in the school, including the appropriateness of curriculum content, infrastructure, resources in the school and teacher content knowledge. These factors have been found to be strongly correlated with effective schools.

Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy (EFT; Johnson, 2004) addresses relationship distress by facilitating the development of new patterns of interaction between partners. These new patterns of interaction are based on partners' vulnerable acknowledgement and expression of attachment needs. Partners' engagement in these new patterns of interaction is thought to improve their relationship-specific attachment bond. Although previous studies have shown EFT to result in excellent relationship satisfaction outcomes (Johnson, Hunsley, Greenberg & Schindler, 1999), research had yet clearly to demonstrate if and how EFT facilitates increases in partners' relationship-specific models attachment security over the course of therapy. To address this research gap, the current study employed Hierarchical Linear Modelling (HLM; Singer & Willet, 2003) to investigate the pattern of change in couples' (n=32) self-reported relationship satisfaction and relationship-specific attachment over the course of EFT. Couples reported significant linear increases in their relationship satisfaction and significant linear decreases in their relationship-specific attachment avoidance over the course of therapy. Couples who completed the blamer-softening therapeutic change event (n=16) demonstrated significant linear decreases in their relationship-specific attachment anxiety after completing this event. Decreases in relationship-specific attachment anxiety predicted increases in couples' relationship satisfaction over the course of therapy. Couples also demonstrated significant increases in the security of their pre-post-therapy relationship-specific attachment behaviour, as coded Secure Base Scoring System (Crowell, Treboux, Gao, Fyffe, Pan & Waters, 2002). The current study also used HLM (Singer & Willet, 2003) to examine how the completion of blamer-softening impacted softened couples' relationship-specific attachment anxiety, and whether the completion of blamer-softening had a similar impact on softened couples' relationship-specific attachment avoidance and relationship satisfaction. Softened couples reported an immediate increase in relationship satisfaction and immediate decrease relationship-specific attachment avoidance at the softening session. Further, softened couples' post-softening decreases in relationship-specific attachment anxiety were initially preceded by an increase at the softening session. These results provided an understanding of how EFT leads to increases in couples' relationship-specific attachment security. These results provide support for the use of attachment theory in the treatment of relationship distress, and also provide an illustration of how attachment can shift over the course of a therapeutic intervention.

Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy (EFT; Johnson, 2004) addresses relationship distress by facilitating the development of new patterns of interaction between partners. These new patterns of interaction are based on partners' vulnerable acknowledgement and expression of attachment needs. Partners' engagement in these new patterns of interaction is thought to improve their relationship-specific attachment bond. Although previous studies have shown EFT to result in excellent relationship satisfaction outcomes (Johnson, Hunsley, Greenberg & Schindler, 1999), research had yet clearly to demonstrate if and how EFT facilitates increases in partners' relationship-specific models attachment security over the course of therapy. To address this research gap, the current study employed Hierarchical Linear Modelling (HLM; Singer & Willet, 2003) to investigate the pattern of change in couples' (n=32) self-reported relationship satisfaction and relationship-specific attachment over the course of EFT. Couples reported significant linear increases in their relationship satisfaction and significant linear decreases in their relationship-specific attachment avoidance over the course of therapy. Couples who completed the blamer-softening therapeutic change event (n=16) demonstrated significant linear decreases in their relationship-specific attachment anxiety after completing this event. Decreases in relationship-specific attachment anxiety predicted increases in couples' relationship satisfaction over the course of therapy. Couples also demonstrated significant increases in the security of their pre-post-therapy relationship-specific attachment behaviour, as coded Secure Base Scoring System (Crowell, Treboux, Gao, Fyffe, Pan & Waters, 2002). The current study also used HLM (Singer & Willet, 2003) to examine how the completion of blamer-softening impacted softened couples' relationship-specific attachment anxiety, and whether the completion of blamer-softening had a similar impact on softened couples' relationship-specific attachment avoidance and relationship satisfaction. Softened couples reported an immediate increase in relationship satisfaction and immediate decrease relationship-specific attachment avoidance at the softening session. Further, softened couples' post-softening decreases in relationship-specific attachment anxiety were initially preceded by an increase at the softening session. These results provided an understanding of how EFT leads to increases in couples' relationship-specific attachment security. These results provide support for the use of attachment theory in the treatment of relationship distress, and also provide an illustration of how attachment can shift over the course of a therapeutic intervention.

Doctor of Philosophy(PhD) / The main aim of this thesis was to examine whether learning processes occur in fluid intelligence (Gf) tasks, whether it is essential for them to occur for induction to take place and whether they contribute to individual differences in performance. In mainstream differential research, Gf is conceptualised as a factor important in induction tasks that are considered novel and context-free (Cattell, 1963, 1987). Thus, performance has typically been assumed to be uninfluenced by previous acquisitions of knowledge structures. Sources of individual differences in Gf task performance have been attributed to working memory capacity (WMC), particularly individual differences in the ability to combat proactive interference. In contrast, the cognitive reasoning literature associates induction with the use of prior conceptual knowledge. A middle-ground position is that Gf tasks may require learning to occur across the task, which would draw upon WMC. That is, individual differences in Gf task performance may be due to knowledge learnt across the task, rather than knowledge brought to the task. Gf items have traditionally been presented in easy-to-hard order but easier items may unintentionally provide learning opportunity for harder items. This would contradict both classic and modern test theories which make the assumption that items within a task are independent of each other. The learning hypothesis was explored in the current work along with the issue of whether it is possible to reliably solve complex Gf items without some relevant, prior knowledge. Also, the distinction between within-item induction and across-item learning was investigated, along with the relationship between across-item learning and proactive interference. An experimental-differential approach was used to manipulate learning opportunity within Gf tasks in four experiments. The first experiment examined whether learning takes place in Raven’s Advanced Progressive Matrices (Raven, 1962) and if so, to what extent this learning is a source of individual differences. Specifically, whether rule learning within the task is necessary for abstraction to take place and whether those of higher Gf ability learn faster than those of lower Gf ability. The next three experiments examined the distinction between knowledge that may be brought to the task, learning that occurs across multiple items in the task and induction within a single item that may be independent of any prior knowledge including knowledge learnt across the task. The effect of proactive interference as a consequence of learning and knowledge was also investigated. The experiments examined which of these are relevant to general performance (i.e., common to everyone) and which contribute to individual differences. Learning-opportunity was manipulated in a task from the cognitive reasoning literature – the Modified Sweller and Gee (MSG) Task. Traditional Series Completion tasks were used as Gf markers and data analyses employed Hierarchical Linear Modelling (HLM). The advantage of the MSG Task is that it has qualities typical of Gf tasks but unlike conventional Gf tasks, it is able to assess within-item induction in isolation from any potential influences from across-item learning. This is because it involves multiple attempts within each item with feedback, allowing single items to be administered reliably. When across-item learning opportunity is absent, the MSG Task is able to provide an estimate of participants’ within-item induction success through the number of attempts they need within a single item. The amount participants learn across items can be approximated by comparing performance on items preceded by learning opportunity (i.e., easier items with similar rule-types), with items not preceded by learning opportunity. Lastly, the effects of proactive interference can be evaluated by comparing performance on items preceded by interference (i.e., items with different rule-types) with those that are not preceded by interference. Overall, it was found that with no learning opportunity leading up to novel items (to provide relevant prior knowledge), solution was nearly impossible for all participants. When learning opportunity was provided, all participants were able to greatly improve their performance but those of higher Gf improved more. It was concluded that while Gf tasks appear visually novel, they must contain a combination of familiar elements in earlier items (which make use of knowledge that participants bring to the task) and novel elements in later items (which require the use of knowledge that must be learnt from earlier items); and those of higher Gf perform better on Gf tasks, at least partly because they are able to benefit more from the learning opportunity provided by earlier items. It was found that proactive interference affects all participants when they learn from prior items. However, insufficient evidence was found to suggest that the ability to combat proactive interference contributes to individual differences in performance.

Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy (EFT; Johnson, 2004) addresses relationship distress by facilitating the development of new patterns of interaction between partners. These new patterns of interaction are based on partners' vulnerable acknowledgement and expression of attachment needs. Partners' engagement in these new patterns of interaction is thought to improve their relationship-specific attachment bond. Although previous studies have shown EFT to result in excellent relationship satisfaction outcomes (Johnson, Hunsley, Greenberg & Schindler, 1999), research had yet clearly to demonstrate if and how EFT facilitates increases in partners' relationship-specific models attachment security over the course of therapy. To address this research gap, the current study employed Hierarchical Linear Modelling (HLM; Singer & Willet, 2003) to investigate the pattern of change in couples' (n=32) self-reported relationship satisfaction and relationship-specific attachment over the course of EFT. Couples reported significant linear increases in their relationship satisfaction and significant linear decreases in their relationship-specific attachment avoidance over the course of therapy. Couples who completed the blamer-softening therapeutic change event (n=16) demonstrated significant linear decreases in their relationship-specific attachment anxiety after completing this event. Decreases in relationship-specific attachment anxiety predicted increases in couples' relationship satisfaction over the course of therapy. Couples also demonstrated significant increases in the security of their pre-post-therapy relationship-specific attachment behaviour, as coded Secure Base Scoring System (Crowell, Treboux, Gao, Fyffe, Pan & Waters, 2002). The current study also used HLM (Singer & Willet, 2003) to examine how the completion of blamer-softening impacted softened couples' relationship-specific attachment anxiety, and whether the completion of blamer-softening had a similar impact on softened couples' relationship-specific attachment avoidance and relationship satisfaction. Softened couples reported an immediate increase in relationship satisfaction and immediate decrease relationship-specific attachment avoidance at the softening session. Further, softened couples' post-softening decreases in relationship-specific attachment anxiety were initially preceded by an increase at the softening session. These results provided an understanding of how EFT leads to increases in couples' relationship-specific attachment security. These results provide support for the use of attachment theory in the treatment of relationship distress, and also provide an illustration of how attachment can shift over the course of a therapeutic intervention.

This research aims to identify and evaluate the systemic factors which may be related to decrease in Grade 6 learner’s achievement in Mozambique between 2000 and 2007, looking for possible changes in Educational Effectiveness over that period. SACMEQ III learner results from Grade 6 Reading and Mathematics showed an overall mean decrease from 2000 to 2007. The main research question addressed in this study is: What are the systemic contextual factors associated with decrease in achievement in Reading and Mathematics between 2000 and 2007 in Mozambique? The conceptual framework underpinning this research presents the education system in terms of inputs, processes and outputs (Howie, 2002). Hierarchical Linear Models, based on trend design approach (Nilsen, & Gustafsson, 2014) was used to assess the variation in learner achievement decrease associated with changes in schools inputs and processes. The findings suggest that school-level factors linked to inputs and antecedents have a strong effect on the decrease in learner’s achievement, compared to the processes and practices. Moreover, learners’ background factors, specifically parent’s education and use of language of instruction at home, seem to be the crucial factors associated with learner achievement decrease. When school level variables related to parent’s education, use of language of instruction at home, are included in the model, the amount of variation accounted for, showed an increase (from 23.5 % to 37.7 %,). One can argue that the variation accounted for variables such as parents’ education, whilst use of language of instruction could be indicative of changes in learner’s intake composition between 2000 and 2007. Implications of these findings on the assumptions for large scale assessment studies in developing countries, such as Mozambique, are key issues. For instance, a question could be raised about the “trend” assumption of large scale assessment: To what extent can the trend level of achievement be measured where the learner’s intake composition is changing over the time? In the SACMEQ studies a stronger longitudinal design is needed to investigate how both school and intake factors influence achievement. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Science, Mathematics and Technology Education / PhD / Unrestricted