Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 2005. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

Thesis (MEdPsych)--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / Bibliography. Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.) University of Missouri-Columbia, 2006. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on August 9, 2007) Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Georgia State University, 2006. / Title from title screen. Catherine Y. Chang, committee chair; Kenneth B. Matheny, Roy M. Kern, Catherine J. Brack, Brain J. Dew, committee members. Electronic text (74 p.) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed May 29, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 66-74).

The purpose of this study was to examine adults’ perceptions of how extramusical knowledge and skills they learned in high school orchestra have transferred to their adult lives. Barnett and Ceci’s (2002) taxonomy served as a model for studying the perceived impact of orchestral participation on life skill development and transfer to adulthood. Eight former high school orchestra students participated in an in-depth, standardized, open-ended interview of approximately 90 minutes in length. Each participant reflected on their orchestral experience and responded to specific questions pertaining to what extramusical skills they might have developed and what knowledge and skills they perceived to have used as adults. Data analysis revealed that participants perceived participation in orchestra as valuable. In particular, participants’ perceptions suggested that involvement in high school orchestra helped them develop life skills that they employed as adults. Results were organized according to a life skills framework established by the World Health Organization (1994). The participants perceived that effective communication, interpersonal skills, coping with stress, and teamwork were skills that were developed through participation in orchestra. Several other skills, including leadership, multitasking abilities, and taking responsibility, found moderate support among the participants. The participants did not regard the skills of critical and creative thinking as being developed through participation. The majority of participants cited effective communication, interpersonal skills, teamwork, and coping with stress as the chief skills that transferred from participating in high school orchestra. These findings are discussed in light of the current literature and suggestions for further research are presented.

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston University / It is the purpose of this survey to discover the answers to three important local educational questions: 1. What are the characteristics and abilities Manchester employers consider most desirable for an employee? 2. What calibre of student is the employer now meeting in Manchester graduates who become job-applicants? 3. What factors may be brought to light which might influence the elementary school?

The purpose of this Master’s thesis was to evaluate coaches’ program delivery in Golf Canada’s national youth programming, Learn to Play, regarding two components: (a) the consistency of teaching life skills and (b) the quality of program delivery. The Learn to Play program has recently been updated to include an explicit approach to teaching life skills through golf. Data collection included a pre-season interview, three in-season observations, a post-season questionnaire, and a post-season interview. Two articles were written. Using the implicit/explicit continuum of life skills development and transfer (Bean, Kramers, Forneris, & Camiré, 2018), Article One qualitatively explored coaches’ (N = 13; Mage = 38) consistency of life skills delivery across the season. The findings revealed five profiles, with coaches categorized as being either inconsistent (i.e., progressive, overenthusiastic, unaware) or consistent (i.e., non-intentional, intentional) in their approach to teaching life skills. Using the Program Quality Assessment in Youth Sport observational measure (Bean, Kramers, Camiré, Fraser-Thomas, & Forneris, 2018), Article Two quantitatively examined program quality with two groups of coaches (N = 14; Mage = 40) for two purposes: (a) to examine whether implementation of the original (n = 5) versus the updated (n = 9) program led to differences in program quality and (b) to assess whether there was consistency or discrepancy between researcher observation scores and coach self-report scores of program quality. The findings revealed that coaches using the updated program delivered higher quality programming than coaches using the original program. Coaches also reported higher program quality scores than the researchers observed, identifying discrepancies between coach self-perceptions and researcher observations. Collectively, the findings from this Master’s thesis are a novel contribution to the literature by providing a nuanced exploration into the teaching of life skills and quality of delivery of Golf Canada’s Learn to Play programming.

The general aim of this research was to investigate the phenomenon of non coping among individuals on middle management level, directed by the paradigm of salutogenesis, and more specifically, the concept of Sense of Coherence. The Sense of Coherence questionnaire of Antonovsky (1987) was applied as a measuring instrument in order to determine the various levels of respondents regarding Sense of Coherence. This was followed by semi-structured interviews with an identified case series, followed by an integration of results. Research information derived from the total scores indicated an even distribution along the continuum of the instrument's scale. During the qualitative study, all individuals representing the case series experienced similar levels of stress, though various coping strategies apply. Although all individuals representing the case series attempt to cope, a tendency towards non coping or maladaptive coping occurred due to the influence of various sources Of managerial stress such as insufficient training. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M.A. (Industrial Psychology)

M.Ed. / HIV/AIDS needs to be treated as a national emergency and all organs of the society must be fully engaged in the struggle against it, learners in particular. Some are nursing their dying parents, while others are taking care of their siblings as they face death. So it will be the schools that can and must play an important role in helping to empower the learners with the necessary skills to be ready to meet whatever challenge they may have to face in life. Of all the learning areas, it is through the Life Orientation learning area that learners can be best empowered. Most of the problems can be faced and solved with effort. Learners need to have information about HIV/AIDS presented to them in a way which is appropriate to their age in the context of Life Orientation. Children generally know very little about HIV/AIDS and parents do not, or cannot give their children the necessary information and guidance about the disease (van Niekerk, 1991:80). Thus it is the duty of the school to fill the gap. Women and girls are the most vulnerable, as most of them are exposed to abuse and violence, particularly sexual abuse. They are financially and materially dependent on men, which means that they often cannot decide when, with whom and in what circumstances to have sex (Nursing Update, 2000). Schools can make an important contribution towards the prevention of HIV/AIDS. In the absence of a cure, education is the only defence we have (van Niekerk, 1991:80). Almost every young person attends the school, so education offers a great opportunity to discuss the disease, and help the young people to protect themselves from becoming infected, getting sick and dying. / Dr. M.C. van Loggerenberg

Researcher was introduced to the Keirsey instrument during 1996 and has since done evaluation and training of numerous people. The Keirsey instrument is a well-known self-assessment tool in America to help people understand themselves and those around them better – hence the name of the books “Please Understand Me” and “Please Understand Me II” For many years, it was accepted that all psychometric measuring had to be done by psychometrists and that Social Workers were not qualified to do any testing. In 1995, “a new concept “ecometrics” was defined and contextualized ….. The concept is of particular value in social work theory and practice …….. Ecometrics should be developed as a sub-discipline in social work …….” (Van Zyl 1995:30) The Main goal of this study is to do a critical evaluation of the Keirsey instrument of assessment from an ecometric perspective for use in South Africa. The objectives of the study would then be • To evaluate the Keirsey instrument in terms of the social work literature. • To explore the user value of the Keirsey instrument by means of the inputs of other frequent users. • To evaluate the Keirsey instrument against the most important ecometric development methodology. It is proposed to evaluate not only the original English Questionnaire, but also researchers’ own Afrikaans translation of the questionnaire. “That people are highly formed at birth, with fundamentally different temperaments or predispositions to act in certain ways, is a very old idea. Hippocrates first proposed it in outline around 370B.C., and Plato was more interested in the individual’s contribution to the social order than in underlying temperaments. Sigmund Freud claimed that we are all driven from within by instinctual lust and was followed by many others……. Then, in 1920, a Swiss physician named Carl Jung disagreed………… He claimed that people have a multitude of instincts, what he called ‘archetypes’ ……. and presented what he termed the ‘functional types’ or ‘psychological types’” (Keirsey 1998:2-3) It is important to note that social workers are familiar with the concept of ‘social functioning’ and researcher would like to address this aspect as part of the problem formulation. “It is the social context that determines which kind of personality will be more effective,” says Keirsey. (Keirsey 1998:3). This is exactly what researcher will be trying to establish in this study – the social context that influences the way a person react to certain incidents or issues. According to Faul and Hudson, “social work is a unique profession that operates within a specific value base. It is also a profession that is mainly involved with the enhancement of social functioning and the importance of the adaptation of the individual in his environment. Because of this, scale development in social work form part of certain unique processes that must be followed to distinguish them from other professions. (Faul & Hudson 1999:8). It would thus be important to evaluate the validity and reliability of the Keirsey instrument (although the original developer is of the opinion that it is a nearly impossible task to validate any questionnaire) for use as an ecometric–scale by the social work-profession in South Africa. If ecometry is the methodology of measurement of all aspects of social work, and focuses on the manner in which people adapt in their environments as Van Zyl claims (Van Zyl 1995:30), then it seems appropriate to help all individuals to function as effective as possible – taking their character and temperament into consideration – within their own frame of reference. The client can be empowered to understand his- or herself better and thus taking responsibility for his or her own functioning by enhancing their self-esteem. Faul and Hudson state that “ecometrics does not seek to diagnose or classify, but to measure social functioning, with the emphasis on behavioural strengths and positive coping skills” (Faul & Hudson 1999:21). The objective of this research project would be to try to argument that by using the Keirsey instrument, clients can be helped to overcome their own feelings of helplessness and lack of self-confidence that often lie at the root of their dysfunctional behaviour within their social context. It is also important to note in this regard, that Fauls’ study has been established as an accepted methodology in the field of ecometrics – a methodology that would be used in this research project. The South African Council for Social Service Professions (SACSSP) also realised the need for social workers to be empowered to assess clients’ functioning in their ecological context, and started a process for the accreditation of social work assessment instruments early in 2001. The SACSSP currently have a subcommittee to evaluate and accredit ecometric scales for use by social workers. Mouton and Marais defines a research design as “an exposition or plan of how the researcher decided to execute the formulated research problem. The objective of the research design is to plan, structure and execute the project concerned in such a way that the validity of the findings are maximized.” (Mouton & Marais 1996:193) According to De Vos et al, the developmental research and utilization model (also described as intervention research) can be used very effectively in the South African context. (De Vos et al 1998:384). This study will utilise the developmental research design as an existing tool will be evaluated for use in an ecometric context by social workers. Instead of “re-inventing the wheel”, knowledge acquired by Jung, Myers, Briggs, Keirsey and Bates amongst others, can be utilized to empower qualified social workers, in an ecometric context. / Dr. Wim Roestenburg