This doctoral study examines whether MFIs in Ethiopia have developed the managerial readiness to face emerging threats and seize the opportunities within the context of unpredictable changes and turbulences. The interpretative phenomenological approach (IPA) has been used to collect, shape, and interpret the lived experiences, intuitions, and insights of 10 CEOs of MFIs. The data were interpreted using the double hermeneutic and analysed through the lenses of the theory of organisational agility and the Cynefin framework to make decisions. The premise of this study is that MFIs without agile organisational capability may fail to prepare and respond to changes in the external environment. The study results show multiple impediments that restrict MFIs from being adaptive towards achieving double bottom lines, i.e., the creation of social and financial value. MFIs in Ethiopia suffer from “pain points” such as inflation, illiquidity, and turbulences. The challenges include: the weak governance practice of nominal shareholders, outdated decision-making processes causing delays, staff turnover reducing enterprising capacity, and MFIs lacking sufficient digital and technological infrastructure. The study found most MFIs are incapable of responding quickly and innovatively to seize opportunities or to overcome adversities. The conclusion is that MFIs in Ethiopia have inadequate agile organisational capability to make strategic choices and execute operational processes during multiple and complex changes. The findings of the research are important, and pertinent for a better understanding of the organisational agility of social enterprises. The study has provided five recommendations to enhance policies and practical actions to build the agile organisational capabilities of social enterprises.

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Abstract EXPLORING SUBSTANCE USE DISORDERS COMMUNITY OUTPATIENT COUNSELORS’ EXPERIENCES TREATING CLIENTS WITH CO-OCCURRING MEDICAL CONDITIONS. AN INTERPRETATIVE PHENOMENOLOGICAL ANALYSIS Lauretta Anne Cathers, Ph.D. A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2013 Major Director: Amy Armstrong, PhD, Chair, Rehabilitation Counseling The Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis study presents the findings from a qualitative study examining substance use disorders (SUD) community outpatient treatment counselors’ experiences treating clients with co-occurring medical conditions. Interviews from five SUD community outpatient treatment counselors resulted in four emerging super-ordinate themes. The findings illustrate the relationships between SUDs, medical conditions and other predisposing, enabling and need factors. In order to assist clients in focusing on therapy, counselors work to identify resources to treat the basic needs of the clients, including medical care. Challenges included limited resources, complex system processes, and client fear and apathy. In addition, various unique challenges related to medical conditions treated by potentially habit forming medications and traumatic brain injury were identified. Counselors discussed how their roles and responsibilities have expanded to include case management and additional responsibility for the overall well-being of the clients they serve. They encouraged SUD educators to include more education on counselor self-care, trauma, pain conditions and the assessment process. Implications from the study highlight the need for integrated behavioral and physical health care.

Correctional officers work in a coercive environment and as such they are confronted with various challenges on a daily basis. Research found that the unique stressors that correctional officers experience result in stress which can negatively impact their physical and psychological health as well as their family life. However, limited research has been conducted to identify the stressors that are relevant to the South African correctional officer. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate South African correctional officers’ lived experiences of their work and work environment and the Employee Assistance Programme and the meaning they attached to them. Purposive and snowball sampling techniques were utilised to select the 20 participants from the two correctional centres of the Department of Correctional Services in Worcester, Western Cape. The sample consisted of 11 male and 9 female correctional officers between the ages of 26 and 56 years with a mean age of 43.4. A qualitative approach was utilised to obtain in-depth insights into the lived experiences and attributed meanings of participants. Individual interviews were conducted with the participants by utilising a semi-structured interview guide. A demographic questionnaire was completed by each participant after the interview. The interviews were audio-recorded with the written permission of each participant and transcribed for analysis. Through the use of Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) 7 themes were identified namely: (a) confronting various challenges on a daily basis (b) various dimensions of correctional officers life affected (c) neglect of correctional officers’ well-being (d) coping mechanisms (e) barriers preventing corrections officers from utilising the EAP (f) a recognition of the positive value of the EAP (g) personal meaning derived from work. In addition, the themes consist of various subthemes. The findings of the study suggest that correctional officers are confronted with various challenges on a daily basis, which include lack of input into decision making, lack of support from management, lack of trust in management, pressure caused by staff shortages, lack of resources, inadequate training opportunities and a lack of promotion system. Furthermore, participants revealed that their work and work environment had a negative impact on their physical and psychological health as well as their family life. In addition, participants reported that aspects of their well-being are neglected which include a lack of interest from management in their problems, a lack of recognition and motivation from management as well as a lack of team-building opportunities. Various coping mechanisms were utilised by the participants which seems to act as a buffer against the negative effects of their stressful work and work environment. These coping mechanisms include conflict resolution and communication skills, religion, sport, positive thinking, resilience as well as family and co-worker support. A variety of barriers that prevent participants from using the EAP service that are offered at work were identified. These barriers indicated by the participants included a lack of trust in the EAP, the stigma attached to using the EAP, difficulty relating with the EAP practitioner, a negative perception of the EAP, and insufficient marketing of the EAP. Despite the barriers, participants recognised the overall positive value of the EAP service in the Department of Correctional Service. Participants appear to find meaning in their work. Some participants expressed the satisfaction that they experienced from their job while others expressed the sense of reward that they experience from their job. Recommendations for further research include the evaluation of the EAP programme to determine its effectiveness on a national level, more involvement from management in ground floor correctional officers, providing additional teambuilding oppertunities and reintroducing Wellness Days. A limitation of the study is that only a small sample of correctional officers limited to two correctional facilities in Worcester, Western Cape, was used. Therefore, the findings of the study could not be generalised to the whole population of South African correctional officers. / Psychology

Youth sex offenders are not a homogenous population. They differ in terms of race, social class, victim preferences (both in terms of age and in terms of whether the victim is known to the offender or not), their modus operandi to gain compliance, levels of aggression and physical violence, the types (“hands on” or “hands off”) and levels (level 1, 2, or 3) of offences and lastly their motivations for committing a sex offence. The motivations are linked to the risk factors to which an individual is exposed, for example, a youth that was previously sexually victimised could sexually act out his experiences. A qualitative approach was used in this study. The researcher aimed to gain a holistic comprehension of the risk factors that youth attribute to their sex offending behaviour and thus this was the most appropriate approach to use. A semi-structured interview schedule was used as the data collection method as this allowed the researcher the freedom to change the sequence and forms of the questions in order to follow up on responses. The function of this interview schedule was to direct the researcher to ensure that she covered all the themes needed to obtain the necessary data. The interview schedule was made up of nine categories, namely: biographic characteristics, academic performance, extramural activities, substance use, family substance use problems, family and community violence, emotional status, caring and attachment to family and peers, sexual abuse and knowledge about sex. After the interviews were conducted, the data was transcribed, analysed and interpreted. The researcher made use of interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) to determine the emergent themes. The researcher eliminated the emergent themes that were impossible to label, or those deemed to be irrelevant to the study. Thereafter, the researcher clustered the emergent themes into sub-ordinate themes and validated these main and sub-ordinate themes. The researcher then provided a textural description to depict the experience and a structural description to depict the possible explanation of the experience of the respondents. Finally, a composite description provided the structure for the interpretation of the data. The researcher interpreted the main and sub-ordinate themes with relation to the literature review and the theories deemed useful in explaining the risk factors associated with youth sex offending, namely: Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, Erik Erikson’s psychosocial theory of personality development, Albert Bandura’s social cognition theory, William Marshall and Howard Barbaree’s integrated theory, and Neil Malamuth’s confluence model of sexual aggression. The analysis and interpretation of the data revealed certain possible risk factors that could contribute to the phenomenon of youth sex offending in South Africa. The researcher provided possible methods of addressing these risk factors. The dearth of knowledge regarding the phenomenon of youth sex offending highlights the need for further research and the researcher made several recommendations regarding future research prospects in order to address this social problem and to give youth sex offenders the best chance of adopting pro-social behaviour. Copyright / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Social Work and Criminology / unrestricted

This research study explored the effects of a public servants‟ strike on psychiatric patients. This is achieved through investigating the subjective lived experiences of events prior to, during and ensuing a public servants' strike. In addition, strike action within the health care sector as a worldwide phenomenon is discussed. This provides a conceptual understanding of strike action within the health care sector, as well as critical issues raised around the use of strikes as a medium of communication. During the public servants' strike of August 2010, 446 patients were discharged from a specialized psychiatric facility in the greater Gauteng region. The sample for this research was taken from this population and comprises of three (n=3) psychiatric patients, two Afrikaans speaking males and one Sotho speaking male. At the time of the interview, all three participants had been hospitalized and received further psychiatric treatment. The researcher made use of Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) as the method to gather and interpret the raw data. The data is discussed within three subordinate themes, namely the subjective experiences prior to, during and ensuing the strike. In addition global themes throughout the patient‟s subjective lived experiences are discussed without sequential significance. The results from this study support current literature that strikes have a direct impact on the treatment of psychiatric patients. In addition the subjective accounts of the patients did not indicate any significant deterioration in functioning during the strike. However in subsequent months following their discharge, all of the participants experienced some form of conflict which contributed to their rehospitalisation. Copyright / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / Psychology / unrestricted

The categories of 'ethnicity' or 'Roma' could obscure the whole topic, as they may suggest an idea that the socially excluded are somehow special or unrecognizable. It is therefore very important to use these categories clearly and specifically. That is what I am trying to do in this thesis. The theoretical part is divided into three main parts: the dynamic model of practice, culturally sensitive social work and the chapter entitled Roma. In the first part, the dynamic model, I try to have a look at the practical implementation of social work as described by Karen Healy (from page 10 onwards). I also explore the areas that influence the interactions between the social worker and their client. The dynamic model is focused on professional goals, which are made up of four areas: the institutional context, the needs and expectations of the service users and the community, the professional foundation, and an emerging framework for practice that develops through critical reflection on professional experience. These four elements further interact within the framework of the professional goal. I have also included a subsection where I attempt to define social work and its relationship to social services (p. 19). In the next chapter, I describe the culturally sensitive social work (from p. 25) on which the...

Little is known about how residents of rapidly growing cities are impacted by the loss of natural environments. Large cities are expanding at an exponential rate, reducing the presence of, and access to, natural environments for urban dwellers. Many benefits to human health regarding the presence of natural environments near where people live and work are known, but impacts of the loss of natural environments for urban dwellers are unknown. The purpose of this qualitative investigation was to understand residents' experiences regarding the loss of natural environments and related impacts. Attention restoration theory and place attachment were the theoretical lenses used to examine this problem. Data were collected via in-depth interviews from a purposive sample of 20 San Antonio residents. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis procedures, 7 themes emerged: (a) environment (b) health (c) safety (d) finance (e) community and culture (e) factors related to deprivation of nature, and (f) recommendations for improvements. Residents expressed concerns for their health, mental health, the environment, wildlife, byproducts of urbanization, social well-being, personal safety, and finances. Other possible key factors related to the process of deprivation of nature included experiencing a loss of freedom, associated with emotional impacts similar to sadness. Residents of San Antonio, city planners, and policy makers could benefit from understanding these impacts on residents. Data from this study may contribute to possible implications for social change and new knowledge and insights in the areas of health, mental health, social responsibility, urban planning, land conservation, and environmental psychology.

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