This study explores the concepts of adversity, the facets of adversity and the nature of adversity and how teachers cope under these adversarial conditions. Adversity is a phenomenon that is challenging to grasp yet it affects people daily. In this study, “those people” are the teachers whom I have engaged with. Adversity comes in different forms and under different circumstances and is very much a part of every persons life. These forms include physical structures, emotional inter-relationships and social interaction with teachers, learners and the community. Adversity in the context of this study means to have a great measure of misfortune, hardships, difficulty, danger, harsh conditions and hard times as these have negative connotations to it. The participants in this study share, impart, reveal and disclose both their personal experiences at home, with their families and professional experiences at school with the main stakeholders being the learners. The professional experience of adversity includes teacher intensification, for example, more administrative work, large class sizes, teaching second and third language learners, lack of promotion opportunities, educators with HIV/ AIDS, lack of educational resources such as computers and overhead projectors, changing curriculum, multicultural educational challenges, more meetings during school time and school fund raising. Educators salaries and their qualifications were another issue that needed to be addressed. Teachers reflect on their efforts to pursue tertiary studies, the cost they have incurred and the sacrifices they have made to achieve their diplomas and degrees. With this in mind teachers find that the remuneration they receive for the sacrifices they have made certainly do not match the efforts of their endeavors. Years of studying and the intellectual capacity needed to acquire a teaching diploma and degree remain unrewarded. Teachers continue to compare the salaries of employees in the private sector to those of the public sector. Teaching therefore, seems to more of a service than that of a ‘job’. The financial rewards for teachers continue to allude them. The state does not provide sufficient incentives for teachers to remain in the profession. Therefore, many teachers look for ‘greener pastures’ .Teachers find employment outside the teaching profession in the private sector or even x emigrate to cities like London to seek better financial rewards. Teachers acknowledge that to teach, one requires passion and dedication and zeal for it. This study concentrates on how teachers cope, manage, handle and deal with such conditions in the school setting. These conditions include high volumes of administration, learner apathy, miscommunication with senior management and the employer, handling difficult learners and parents and coping with limited resources. This study reveals how teachers survive these difficult conditions. It further explores the reasons and factors that motivate these teachers to continue teaching. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Edgewood, 2011.

<p>The aim of this paper was to identify the sources of stress for teachers involved with inclusive education as well as whether there is a statistically significant difference in stress experienced by teachers based on their biographical details. In this research the focus was on intellectual disability.</p>

Thesis (MMed)--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / Aim: This study investigated burnout and depression among medical doctors in the context of work-related conditions and the role of resilience as a modifiable factor. Methods: A cross-sectional, observational study was conducted on all consenting medical doctors (N=132) working at Cape Town metropole primary health care facilities of the Provincial Government of the Western Cape. Data were collected from doctors at 27 facilities by means of a self-administered questionnaire battery containing socio-demographic information, the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC). Results: Of 132 doctors included in the analysis, 76 % experienced burnout, as indicated by high scores on either the emotional exhaustion or depersonalisation subscales. In addition, 27% of doctors had cut-off scores on the BDI indicating moderate depression, while 3 % were identified with severe depression. The number of hours, work-load, working conditions and system-related frustrations were ranked as the most important contributing factors to burnout. More experienced doctors and those with higher resilience scores had lower levels of burnout as evident by lower scores on the emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation domains of the MBI. Conclusion: Both burnout and depression are prevalent problems among doctors working at district level and in communities. Resilience appears to be protective and may be a useful target for future intervention.

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the Master’s Degree in Health Sciences in Radiography, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2017. / Introduction Work related stressors are identified as the main reason for the decline in patient care in Radiography in public hospitals. Radiographers opt to leave the public sector because of stressful experiences. Research has shown that the scarcity of qualitative studies on the phenomenon makes it difficult to understand work related stress in relation to radiography as a profession. Aim of the study The aim of the study was to explore and describe work related stressors in Radiography at a public hospital in Gauteng, South Africa. Methodology This study was a qualitative, exploratory, descriptive study. An interview guide was used to elicit information from 10 participants through semi-structured interviews. All the interviews were one-on-one and were audio-recorded. The data were analysed through Tesch’s eight steps of thematic analysis. Findings The following three themes emerged during data analysis, namely: personal well-being of Radiographers; decline in quality patient care and impaired radiography service; and, environmental enablers. The findings of the study revealed that the participants’ general health was compromised by various factors pertaining to work related stress. Conclusion Interventions necessary for dealing with work related stressors are highlighted as a way of enabling improvement of the working environment conditions. The participants in the study felt that hiring more staff could alleviate their work related stressors. The study has shown that it is also imperative that staff and management are constantly communicating well. / M

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In South Africa the extraordinary high levels of violence and crime, escalating execution and killings of police officers, large number of murders, hijacking, robberies and shootings have created an unusually dangerous and stressful working environment for the members of the South African Police Services (SAPS). An overview of the literature on the nature of work in the SAPS indicates that these working conditions might have a detrimental effect on the coping resources and sense of coherence of police officers. This study aimed to explore and describe the coping resources and sense of coherence of male police officers in the SAPS. It employed a quantitative exploratory descriptive research design, making use of non-probability convenience sampling. The sample consisted of 70 male police officers who have been in the service of the SAPS for at least two years. All police officers that were included in the sample were also shift workers defined by the SAPS as police officers who work unsociable hours and who are likely to be exposed to violence, risks, danger, and traumatic situations. A further inclusion criterion was that the police officers must not be subjected to possible relocation or transfer as stipulated in Resolution 7/2002. The Coping Resources Inventory (CRI) was employed to identify the coping resources used by the participants and the Sense of Coherence Questionnaire (SOC- 29) was utilised as a measure of the participants’ sense of coherence. A biographical questionnaire collated important demographic and background information. The data was analysed by computing descriptive statistics. To examine the relationship between the sense of coherence and coping resources of the participants, a multiple correlation xv between the total score of the SOC-29 and the subscales of the CRI was conducted. Following this, a Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient was utilised to intercorrelate the total score of the SOC-29 and the individual subscales of the CRI. The results of the present study indicated the followings: The SOC-29 revealed relatively low scores for the current sample. Results on the CRI revealed low average scores for both the total and all five scales. The correlational analysis revealed a significant positive relationship between the two measures for the current sample.

M.A. / Stress related problems within the South African Police service have escalated in recent years. Symptoms that can be identified are the high number of suicides, alcohol abuse, family violence, aggression, depression, emotional blunting, lack of motivation and decreased interest in the outside world. The amount of diverse tasks that are expected of a police officer are multiple. Some of them are confronted with life threatening situations on a daily basis and are often exposed to death and its gruesome aspects. This study maintains that there appears to be a gap between the police officer in need and the psychological unit which is supposed to look after his mental well being. It seems as if the support rendered is predetermined by those in the helping professions and police management, without taking the unique needs and expectations of police officers into account. This study then focuses on such experiences in an attempt to bridge this gap. The study makes use of the narrative research method within the framework of social constructionism. This research attempts to co-constuct the meaning attached to the working experiences of members of a flying squad unit. This unit was specifically selected on the basis of members' broad exposure to life threatening and traumatic situations. Informal interviews were conducted with six members of the flying squad and their narratives may be found in the following pages. Themes identified from their interviews include: feelings of isolation, work circumstances, perceived lack of support, relationships, views of life and encounters with death. The researcher hopes that these stories will be heard.

M.A. (Psychology) / The present study was undertaken in an attempt to understand and ascertain the nature of PTSD in the South African Police leading to chronic illness and work-related dysfunctions as well as to investigate the possibility of triggering events leading to the loss of latency in PTSD. The specific hypothesis for this study was that a significant proportion of members of the SAP who report for medical treatment of stress-related physical or psychological complaints, will show PTSD in conjunction with a triggering stimulus event prior to the manifestations of the first clinical signs of PTSD. The testing of the hypothesis, entailed utilizing an experimental group. consisting of a number of police officers, who had been referred for psychological and/or medical treatment for work-related disorders. None of these subjects had previously been diagnosed with PTSD. A control group was used that consisted of police officers who had not seen active duty in an area where a traumatic stress disorder event could take place. These subjects were subjected to assessment of PTSD by means of the Mississippi Scale for Combat-Related PTSD, and concomitant stress-related events by means of the Life Experiences Survey. Alienation was assessed by the means of the VSVA. Indices of psychophysiological reactivity were obtained by means of galvanic skin response deviation and heart rate deviation to specific stimuli, including neutral stimuli, war-related stimuli and stimuli with political content.

M.Cur. (Psychiatric Nursing Science) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.Cur. (Nursing Education) / Although all students planning to do the B.Cur.-degree at the Rand Afrikaans University are subjected to a selection procedure, the attrition rate for the course is considerable. In 1975, only nine of the original 23 students graduated, and in 1976 only ten of the original 31 students were able to complete the course. An attempt was made to evaluate the present selection process which consists of a slidingscale and a structured interview. The sample consisted of all students registering for the B.Cur.-degree from 1975 to 1980. Findings are based on data gathered from selection records and records of academic achievement as well as a structured interview with all applicants. The findings consist of the following - if the slidingscale is to be used in future, students in the catagories 50-59 and 60-69 may be reconsidered for entrance - in the catagories 90-99 and 100+, 46,9 per cent of the students resigned in their first year and research in this connection would be of value the fact that a course is selected as a major, does not seem to be related to academic success, especially during the first year of study - there seems to be a significant positive relationship between the structured interview and academic success. Although research of this specific nature has not yet been replicated, the findings could, however, be seen as representative of B.Cur. students in the Republic of South Africa.