When a fault develops in a chemical plant process, the plant operator must identify the fault rapidly and take immediate corrective action. The interaction of process factors varies from fairly to highly complex (in extreme cases, this interaction is not yet fully understood even by chemical engineers) and consequences of faults can occur in chainreactions. The operators task is to control all process parameters until the plant is brought back to normal conditions. Doing this, he is fully aware of the fact, that the consequences of wrong corrective action or failure to bring the plant under control can be grave in economic terms, extremely serious (lethal) in terms of the operator's hazards and potentially catastrophic. Thus a considerable amount of stress can be built up, which is potentially interfering with the "cool" required to succeed in overcoming the emergency as quickly and efficiently as possible. This project attempts to explore presumed correlations between personality factors and performance under stress. Where such correlations exist in significant manifestation, their rank of magnitude was established and their predictive value investigated. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, 1977.

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Over the past two decades, Taylor (1983; Taylor & Brown, 1988) has explored the tendency of individuals to develop positive illusions in coping with stressful, or traumatic events. These illusions consist of unrealistic positive self evaluations, exaggerated perceptions of control or mastery, and unrealistic optimism. According to Taylor, illusions are important in accomplishing several tasks associated with successful adaptation, namely, search for meaning, regaining a sense of mastery, and restoring self-esteem through processes of social comparison. The purpose of the study was threefold: (a) to explore the construct of positive illusions (PI), (b) to explore employees' use of PI in coping with a stressful work event, and (c) to discover how PI, temporal distance, level of perceived stress, and a priming manipulation affect the type and frequency of inferences made while responding to items taken from a coping inventory. / The study was conducted in two phases. In Phase I, 209 nurses responded to a questionnaire which identified their level of PI, perceptions of occupational climate, and job satisfaction. They were also asked to describe a stressful work situation, and their appraisals and coping strategies used to manage the event. Results demonstrated that the PI construct for this population was best identified by enhanced self-perception, high dispositional optimism, and low internal locus of control. PI were associated with high self-efficacy for resolving the stressful event, appraisals of challenge, positive reappraisal and self-controlling coping, and the nonuse of escape-avoidance coping. / In Phase II, 36 nurses "high" and "low" in PI were assigned to two priming conditions. Nurses participated in a think-aloud procedure during which time they rated 16 coping items in relation to their previously identified work event and gave reasons for their ratings. After protocol analysis, results demonstrated that, (a) the type of prime used affected the consistency of recall even after controlling for temporal distance, and (b) positive illusions, prime, and time interact to produce significantly different patterns of self-statements and contextual inferences for the four groups. The results demonstrate that measures which rely on the recall of coping strategies need to be treated with considerable caution.

Stress has been a concern all over the world. The study of teacher stress is not a new area of research. However, most of the research studies have been oriented around secondary and high school teachers. Teaching in primary schools differs from secondary and high schools. Therefore, their experiences differ. This project has been conducted with the purpose of investigating teachers' experiences of stress in a primary school and what they think the school is doing to help them cope if it does. The study was conducted in one primary school in Lesotho which was selected because of its accessibility to me as I was a teacher in this school. Twelve teachers were interviewed as participants. The case study methodology based on semi-structured interviews and observations were employed. These methods were used to help me gain understanding of the teachers' experiences of stress and for the validation of the data. Ethical issues were considered in this study as permission was requested from the authorities and informed consent letters for the participants were also sought. Pseudonyms were used for confidentiality. The interview questions were formulated in themes. As a result, data presentation and findings was done in accordance to those themes. The findings of this study revealed that teachers' experiences of stress are: teachers' interaction with the principal; teacher-learner relationships, inadequate resources; workload; role demand. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

The purpose of this research was to establish what the major stressors of black High school teachers in the Kimberley Area, Northern Cape, were. At the same time the research had to establish whether gender and number of years teaching made any difference to the stress experienced. A list of 16 stressors had to be rank ordered, too. Finally, the researcher wanted to know why, if teaching is so stressful, were the teachers still doing it. This information would then be used to advise education administrators as to what to attend to in order to reduce the stressful effect of these stressors, thereby enabling the teacher to do a better job. The literature confirms the need for stress, saying that a life without stress is death. We need an amount of stress that will motivate us to achieve. When this amount becomes too much, and the stressed person feels that he/she is being stressed beyond his/her ability to cope, then distress takes over. If the person cannot cope then the person is at risk. This would be manifested physiologically, psychologically or emotionally. It is critical that coping skills are given to teachers to enable them to handle their stress well. It is very important to remember that any stressor is neutral - it depends on how the person perceives the stress. This gives rise to the fact that the same stressor will affect different people differently at different times of their life. However, stress is manageable! A survey was conducted wherein questionnaires were sent to High Schools in the Kimberley Area, some were mailed and others were hand delivered, depending on the school's geographic proximity to the researcher. The returns were analysed question by question, separating the responses of the male from the female teachers as well as the responses from each experience group. An average per question combining all experience groups but separating the male and female groups, was computed. Rank ordering of the stressors was made taking the average responses per group of questions per stressor. Finally, the main reasons for staying in teaching were also rank ordered. The key findings, guided by the research questions, were the following: (a) the top ranking stressors were not significantly different between the genders nor between the groups of experience in teaching; (b) teachers are still teaching because they "love to teach". Some suspected stressors investigated were found not to be stressors at all. The areas that will need to be addressed by the authorities so as to reduce the harmful stress effects on the teachers are: teacher unions, students' involvement in politics, time management, class composition, parent/teacher relations and promotions. When these are addressed, the teachers will be less stressed and thus able to do a good job. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Durban-Westville, 1996.

The aim of the study was to investigate flexitime as a potential moderator to reduce the administrative employee stress, and to reduce the negative aspects associated with stress through the use of flexitime programmes. This exploratory study was conducted in a tertiary environment. The literature review explores the core areas of the main and sub-variables. A literature review was conducted relating to the key variables of the study, that is, flexitime and stress. In terms of flexitime, emphasis was placed on the benefits of flexitime, flexible work practice and the drawbacks of flexitime. In terms of stress, emphasis was placed on stress reduction, work/life balance and employee commitment. This study was conducted with a sample of 97 subjects from a tertiary environment. The data was collected using questionnaires, and reliability was also determined. Various statistical techniques were used to test the hypotheses. Data was analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics and the results were presented using tabular and graphical representations. Furthermore, comparisons were made with studies of other researchers who have embarked on this area of the study or studies close to this research topic. The study shows correlations and significant associations with employee stress and flexitime. The findings also indicate that stress can be reduced through the moderator, that is, flexitime. / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2011.

It has been suggested that a unique feature of some mental health nurses' work is exposure through their role as therapists to clients' descriptions of, and reactions to, trauma, and that these experiences may actually indirectly cause distress and traumatization to the nurse. This proposed phenomenon has been termed "secondary traumatic stress" and is the focus of the current study. Aim: The aim of this study was to explore secondary traumatic stress experienced by nurses working in mental health services in Rwanda. Methods: The research was conducted in Ndera Psychiatric Hospital. The questionnaire consisted of items of the Trauma Attachment Belief Scale (T ABS), demographic characteristics of participants, personal trauma history, work related aspects and support systems. A convenient sampling of 50 nurses who provide a mental health care to trauma survivors and mentally ill patients in the Ndera Psychiatric Hospital was adopted. Results: Results of the study indicate that there is belief disruption in the respondents. The mean scores of most of the respondents were high in all areas of cognitive believe. Of the respondents, 98% (n=49) had T -score of 80 for other-safety which was extremely high. The nurses identified the psychiatric nurses and a psychiatrist as their main support systems in dealing with secondary traumatic stress and generally believed in the usefulness of supervision. Conclusion: In summary, this study expanded on knowledge into the effects of secondary traumatization, particularly with concern to mental health clinicians, a population often ignored. This study was considered to be a contribution to trauma literature as it provides much needed empirical evidence. / Thesis (M.Cur.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2008.

The problem of the study was to determine the effect of a progressive muscle relaxation program on secretaries' self-reported job stress. It was hypothesized that there would be no difference in post-test scores of the control group and the experimental group on the Personal Strain subscale of the OSI-R questionnaire. It was also hypothesized that there would be no difference between the groups in post-test scores on the Occupational Stress subscale of the OSI-R questionnaire.The population of prospective subjects for the study consisted of Ball State University secretaries who were randomly selected and then randomly assigned to one of two groups. The experimental group received a multi-activity intervention which included: 1) a progressive muscle relaxation training session; 2) reminder sheets with the steps on how to do progressive muscle relaxation in case they forgot; 3) e-mail messages to remind them to do progressive muscle relaxation; and 4) the keeping of logs of their progressive muscle relaxation activities. The design of the study was a post-test only control group design. All subjects were asked to complete the OSI-Rquestionnaire at the end of the three-week intervention period. Descriptive statistics and two-tailed paired t-tests were used to analyze the data.The results indicated that there were no significant differences between the two groups on both the Personal Strain subscale and the Occupational Stress subscale of the OSI-R questionnaire. Based upon the results of this study, it was concluded that 15 minutes of progressive muscle relaxation did not make a difference in job stress levels of the subjects. Also, a three-week intervention period may not have been a sufficient amount of time to see results from the stress management technique used.Some of the recommendations for future study include using a larger sample size and using logs as a covariate for data analysis. Using a larger sample size could help create more variance in subjects and their responses. Having a covariate could help account for those individuals not complying with the intervention requirements. / Department of Physiology and Health Science

The purpose of the present research was to provide ideas for positive stress management in the orchestra world to help achieve high-level performances. The author developed the Orchestral Performance and Stress Survey and distributed it to 230 musicians of three orchestras that comprised full-time and part-time professional as well as community orchestra musicians. The survey sought to identify stress-causing and performance-enhancing factors in the orchestra environment. Questions on the musicians' background allowed for comparisons to identify groups with particular needs. Results show that musical training often does not include stress management training. Playing-related injuries are common. Two-thirds of full-time musicians who responded have suffered injuries that forced them to stop playing for more than one week. On average, musicians reported that stress neither detracts from, nor enhances performances. The most stressful concert types were classical concerts. Highly critical audiences are the most stressful. / School of Music

The research was aimed at investigating the effects of teacher burnout in community junior secondary schools in the Southern Region of Botswana. The research question focused on investigating the effects of teacher burnout on teacher performance, physical wellbeing and social interaction with colleagues and community. To investigate these effects the researcher started by identifying the causes of teacher burnout and then obtained responses from school teachers on how teacher burnout is affecting them. Some possible remedies and preventative/control measures were also suggested. A sample of l 00 teachers and administrators was chosen at random from both rural and urban-based schools in the Southern District of Botswana. The findings revealed that the majority of teachers (96%) indicated that teacher burnout is caused by poor career opportunities in the teaching field. 92% cited work overload as another cause of teacher burnout. The same proportion blame poor work relations as another cause of teacher burnout. The findings also revealed how teacher burnout can be prevented/controlled. The majority of teachers agreed (92%) that teacher burnout can be prevented/controlled by discussing problems with professional colleagues whist 89% agreed that teacher burnout can be prevented by organizing time and setting priorities. All (100"/o) of respondents agreed that school administrators can assist teachers prevent/control burnout by providing more paraprofessionals/support staff/clerical assistants and 99% agreed that providing more educational opportunities to learn about students with behavioural disorders and program action. 64% of respondents agreed that if left unattended, teacher burnout can lead to low productivity of the teacher. 75% of respondents agreed that if teacher burnout is left unattended it can lead to poor performance in terms of school results. The majority of teachers agreed that parents have a role to play on the issue of teacher burnout. / (M. Ed.) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2006