M.A., Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatwersrand, 2011 / Posttraumatic growth has been an ongoing area of interest in the field of positive psychology. In recent years posttraumatic growth has been linked with the presence of posttraumatic stress symptomatology. The existence of posttraumatic growth has been validated in a number of cultures. There are certain domains that have been implicated in the construction of the phenomenon which taps into different aspects of people’s lives like relating to others, personal strength, new possibilities and appreciation of life. Particular interest has risen with regard to whether this phenomenon develops as a function of ethnic and cultural influences. This study aimed to investigate whether there are differences in posttraumatic growth and posttraumatic stress symptoms as a function of ethnocultural identity. This was investigated by the use of self-report measures of MEIM (Phinney, 1992), Traumatic Stress Schedule (Norris, 1990), Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (Tedeschi & Calhoun, 1996) and the Impact of Events Scale Revised (Weiss & Marmar, 1997). The sample consisted of 80 students from the Faculty of Humanities and the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, at the University of Witwatersrand. Results of the multivariate analysis showed that ethnocultural identity interacts with ethnicity to moderate posttraumatic stress symptoms. Specifically, findings suggested that Black South African and Indian students who identified with their ethnocultural heritage, reported fewer PTSD symptoms. Whereas the converse was true for White South Africans and Black Africans from other countries. The more they adopted ethnoculturally informed beliefs, the more likely they were to report symptoms of PTSD. There were no significant findings regarding ethnocultural identity in relation to posttraumatic growth. Implications for further research and clinical intervention are discussed.

The aims of this thesis were to increase the knowledge about the long-term psychological consequences in parents of children diagnosed with cancer, including parents of childhood cancer survivors (CCSs) and bereaved parents, and to take the first steps towards developing a psychological treatment for parents of CCSs. Study I was a systematic review synthesizing the literature on psychological long-term consequences in parents of CCSs. Study II had a longitudinal design assessing posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) from shortly after the child’s diagnosis (T1, N=259) up to five years after end of the child’s treatment or death (T7, n=169). Study I and II concluded that while most parents show resilience in the long-term, a subgroup report high levels of general distress and/or PTSS. In Study III, interview data from the last assessment in the longitudinal project (T7, n=168) was used. Participants described particularly negative and/or positive experiences in relation to their child’s cancer, and results pointed to the wide range of such experiences involved in parenting a child with cancer. In Study IV and V, parents of CCSs reporting cancer-related psychological distress were included (N=15). In Study IV, a conceptualization of this distress was generated by aggregation of individual behavioral case formulations. The conceptualization consisted of two separate but overlapping paths describing development and maintenance of symptoms of traumatic stress and depressive symptoms. In Study V, cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) based on the individual case formulations were preliminarily evaluated in an open trial. The CBT appeared feasible, and at post-assessment participants reported significant decreases in PTSS (p<.001), depression (p<.001), and anxiety (p<.01) with medium to large effect sizes (Cohen’s d=0.65-0.92). Findings indicate that psychological long-term consequences in parents of children with cancer consist of a broad range of negative as well as positive experiences, and that while most parents show resilience in the long-term, a subgroup report high levels of psychological distress. For parents of CCSs this distress is suggested to primarily consist of symptoms of traumatic stress and depression, and a preliminary evaluation of CBT targeting hypothesized maintaining mechanisms showed promise in terms of feasibility and treatment effect. / Behandling av traumatisk stress hos föräldrar till cancerdrabbade barn med kognitiv beteendeterapi via internet / Förekomst, utveckling och behandling av posttraumatiskt stressymptom hos föräldrar till barn med cancer / Utveckling och utvärdering av ett webbaserat psykologiskt självhjälpsprogram för föräldrar till barn som tidigare behandlats mot cancer

Hurricane exposure places youth at risk for psychological distress such as symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and depression, while social support may contribute to resilience following disasters. This study examined associations among family and peer social support, level of hurricane exposure, and psychological distress using both a large single-time assessment sample (N = 1098) and a longitudinal sample followed over a six-month period (n = 192). Higher levels of hurricane exposure were related to lower levels of social support from family and peers as well as to higher levels of psychological distress. Higher levels of family and peer social support demonstrated both concurrent and longitudinal associations with lower levels of psychological distress, with associations varying by social support source and psychological distress outcome. Findings suggested that the protective effects of high peer social support against the development of PTSD symptoms may be diminished by high hurricane exposure.

The objective of this study is to undertake research regarding Posttraumatic Growth and its relationship with Sense of Coherence, within the South African context. In addition, the associations between the three domains of SOC, in particular Meaningfulness, and the five domains of PTG, will be investigated. A further aim of this study is to explore whether the relationship between posttraumatic stress symptoms and Posttraumatic Growth is moderated by Meaningfulness. Sample: The sample consisted of tertiary education students, 18 years and older, and who have experienced a traumatic event as defined by the Traumatic Stress Schedule (N=79). Measures: In addition to a demographic questionnaire, the following measures were administered: the Sense of Coherence Scale (SOC), the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI), the Impact of Event Scale - Revised (IES-R), and the Traumatic Stress Schedule (TSS). Results: Participants reported moderate scores on overall PTG with lower SOC scores relative to similar samples in the literature. Age was found to be associated with PTG, and PTG was associated with subjective distress as measured by the IES-R. In addition, those reporting PTG, particularly in the areas of Relating to Others, New Possibilities and Appreciation of Life, evidenced lower levels of Comprehensibility, and those low on Comprehensibility tended to report higher levels of subjective distress. High levels of subjective distress also appeared to be associated with lower levels of Manageability. Findings further suggested that participants who had been exposed to multiple traumas, as well as those who reported higher subjective distress, generally evidenced lower SOC. Multiple trauma exposures were strongly associated with increased subjective distress. Implications of the findings and recommendations for future research are discussed.

Having a child diagnosed with cancer is stressful and many parents of children on treatment for cancer report symptoms of posttraumatic stress (PTSS). The overall purpose was to, among parents of children on treatment for cancer, investigate the factor structure of PTSS; investigate the relationships between experiential avoidance (EA), rumination, PTSS and depression; and to develop, test, and evaluate a guided self-help intervention provided via the internet. In a longitudinal study with three assessments (n = 249-203) results indicated that a four-factor solution of PTSS including the factors re-experiencing, avoidance, dysphoria, and hyper-arousal provided best fit and that the pattern and size of factor loadings were equivalent across the three assessments (Study I). In a case study with pre-, post-, and follow-up assessments a guided self-intervention was well received with clinical significant and reliable improvements in PTSS, depression, and quality of life (Study II). Furthermore, in cross-sectional analyses (n = 79) EA and rumination were positively associated with PTSS and depression and provided incremental explanation in depression while controlling for demographic characteristics, anxiety, and PTSS. In longitudinal analyses (n = 20), EA but not rumination predicted PTSS and depression while controlling for initial levels (Study III). Finally, in a randomized controlled trial with parents fulfilling the modified symptom criteria on the PTSD-Checklist allocated to guided self-help via the internet (n = 31) or to a wait-list control condition (n = 27) there was a significant intervention effect with a large effect size for the primary outcome PTSS. Similar results were observed for the secondary outcomes depression and anxiety, but not for EA and rumination. Exploratory analyses suggested that the relationships between EA and PTSS and between EA and depression were weakened in the intervention group (Study IV). The studies included in the current thesis suggest that a four-factor solution should be used when assessing PTSS in parents of children on cancer treatment. Furthermore, rumination and EA in particular seem to be important constructs to consider when understanding PTSS and depression in this population. Finally, guided self-help via the internet shows promise in reducing PTSS and depression among parents of children on cancer treatment who report a high level of PTSS.

The present investigation evaluated whether dispositional use of emotional approach coping partially accounts for the association between parental response to emotional expression and posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) in a sample of 252 trauma-exposed individuals drawn from a pool of college students and college-age members of the community at-large. An online survey assessed parental reactions to participants' negative emotions during childhood (i.e., offspring retrospective report), as well as participant trauma history, PTSS, and use of emotional approach coping. Findings complement literature illustrating the long-lasting implications of the parent-child relationship, such that both supportive and unsupportive parenting were related to PTSS. Supportive parental reactions also were related to emotional expression, but not emotional processing, and unsupportive reactions did not significantly relate to either aspect of emotional approach coping. Notably, emotional approach coping strategies were unrelated to PTSS in the full sample, and thus the indirect effects models were not supported. Post hoc analyses indicated preliminary support for the indirect effect of emotional expression on the relation between supportive parenting and PTSS in the local college student sample (n = 117). Limitations and implications for future research are discussed.

No description available.

No description available.

People all over the world do experience some kind of trauma during their lives. Some may experience more than one trauma, and some may experience more intense trauma, but sooner or later we all experience trauma. Sadly, our children are not excluded. The first aim of this study, was to investigate the influence of trauma on the lives of children in their mid childhood years. The following questions were asked: · What are the specific developmental tasks for middle childhood, regarding their physical, cognitive, affective, social, religious, moral and esthetical development? · What about trauma is so traumatic? · Are there any recognisable and predicted effects, present in children who experienced trauma? · And last, but not least, how do children understand and experience a traumatic death? The second aim of this study was to develop a trauma counselling program for children who experienced a trauma. The program had to focus on the specific needs of children in their mid childhood years. In order to do this, the following points were looked at: · What is the current understanding of trauma? Are there any counselling programs for children available, and how do they work? · There are a vast majority of intervention techniques available, the most popular techniques – playtherapy, bibliotherapy, grouptherapy, arttherapy and narrative therapy, were briefly discussed. · Finally a graphic presentation of a new trauma counselling program was included. To see whether this trauma counselling program could help children to overcome posttraumatic symptoms and prevent posttraumatic stress-disorder, it was implemented during two case studies. · The first case study was a girl that had been bitten by dogs twice. As a result of this trauma, she developed an unnatural fear of dogs. The trauma counselling program was implemented, and after a few weeks the girl was able to conquer and control her fear of dogs. · The second case study was a boy who needed to accept his father’s suicide. The trauma counselling program was adapted to suit his specific needs, and once again the program helped the boy to understand and accept his father’s suicide. The success of these two case studies, lead to the acceptance of this study’s hypothesis, namely, that if one developed a trauma counselling program that are compatible with the needs of children in their mid childhood years, it will help children to accept and overcome trauma. Therefore posttraumatic stress symptoms will be reduced and post-traumatic disorder will be prevented. / Dissertation (MEd (Learning Support, Guidance and Counselling))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Educational Psychology / unrestricted

Submitted by Caroline Xavier (caroline.xavier@pucrs.br) on 2017-06-30T17:24:36Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DIS_JULIA_LUIZA_SCHAFER_PARCIAL.pdf: 1950516 bytes, checksum: d087e3b380f5026a78af786f693a37b3 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-06-30T17:24:36Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DIS_JULIA_LUIZA_SCHAFER_PARCIAL.pdf: 1950516 bytes, checksum: d087e3b380f5026a78af786f693a37b3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-03-08 / Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento Cient?fico e Tecnol?gico - CNPq / Introdu??o: A literatura sugere que respostas emocionais est?o associadas ao desenvolvimento e manuten??o de sintomas do Transtorno de Estresse P?s-Traum?tico (TEPT). A capacidade de influenciar a experi?ncia e express?o emocional, conhecida como regula??o emocional (RE), pode ser cr?tica ao lidar com n?veis significativos de estresse. Especificamente, a RE atrav?s de cogni??es, ou pensamentos (ou seja, Regula??o Emocional Cognitiva, REC), ajuda os indiv?duos a manter o controle sobre sua experi?ncia emocional durante, ou depois de serem expostos a eventos estressores, ou traum?ticos. O Question?rio de Regula??o Emocional Cognitiva (CERQ), foi desenvolvido para medir nove diferentes estrat?gias de REC que se referem ? maneira consciente e atencional de lidar com eventos de vida amea?adores, ou negativos. Objetivos: Os objetivos gerais desta disserta??o foram desenvolver e investigar as evid?ncias de validade da vers?o brasileira do CERQ (Estudo 1) e investigar a rela??o entre a exposi??o a traumas, estrat?gias cognitivas de RE, afeto e Sintomas de Estresse P?s-Traum?tico (SEPT) atrav?s de um modelo de media??o dupla (Estudo 2). M?todo: Uma amostra de 445 estudantes universit?rios completou um Question?rio S?cio-Demogr?fico, a Life of Events Checklist (LEC-5), a vers?o brasileira do CERQ, a Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) e a Posttraumatic Symptoms Checklist (PCL-5) em uma plataforma de pesquisa on-line. Para o Estudo 1, o processo de adapta??o da vers?o brasileira do CERQ incluiu tradu??o, retro-tradu??o, avalia??o de ju?zes e teste em 30 participantes da popula??o-alvo. As evid?ncias de validade de construto foram avaliadas atrav?s de an?lise fatorial confirmat?ria, da consist?ncia interna atrav?s dos alfas de Cronbach e de correla??es com as vari?veis afetivas mensuradas pelo PANAS. Para o Estudo 2 foram realizadas an?lises preliminares de correla??o e de regress?o linear m?ltipla para investigar associa??es entre tipo de trauma, estrat?gias cognitivas de regula??o emocional, afeto e severidade de SEPT. Em seguida, um modelo com rumina??o e afeto negativo como mediadores do efeito da exposi??o ao trauma les?o moral causada por outros sobre os SEPT foi testado usando o macro PROCESS para o SPSS. Resultados: As an?lises de validade mostraram que a estrutura original do CERQ possui boa validade fatorial na amostra e alta confiabilidade, com ? de Cronbach variando entre .71 e .88. An?lises preliminares de associa??o entre tipo de trauma, estrat?gias de regula??o emocional cognitiva, afeto e SEPT mostraram que o tipo de trauma de les?o moral causada por outros, rumina??o e afeto negativo s?o preditores significativos da gravidade de SEPT. Ao testar o modelo de media??o dupla, os resultados sugerem que a rumina??o ? um mediador forte e independente entre o tipo de trauma de les?o moral causada por outros e SEPT, enquanto afeto negativo ? um mediador apenas quando a rumina??o est? presente no modelo. Discuss?o: Nossos resultados indicam que a vers?o brasileira do CERQ ? uma ferramenta v?lida e confi?vel para avaliar as estrat?gias cognitivas de regula??o emocional e que os indiv?duos expostos ao tipo de trauma de les?o moral causada pelos outros utilizam rumina??o como uma estrat?gia de regula??o emocional cognitiva com mais frequ?ncia. O uso aumentado dessa estrat?gia amplifica os n?veis de afeto negativo que acaba levando a n?veis mais elevados de SEPT. Em geral, esses resultados podem influenciar pesquisas e auxiliar no desenvolvimento e melhoria de interven??es cognitivas para indiv?duos expostos a eventos traum?ticos. / Background: Literature suggests that emotional responses are associated to the development and maintenance of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms. The ability to influence emotional experience and expression, known as emotion regulation (ER), can be critical when dealing with significant levels of stress. Specifically, ER through cognitions, or thoughts (i.e. Cognitive Emotion Regulation; CER), helps individuals to maintain control over their emotional experience during, or after being exposed to stressful, or traumatic events. The Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ) was developed to measure nine different CER strategies that refer to the conscious and attentional way people deal with threatening, or negative life events. Objectives: Therefore, the general purposes of this thesis were to develop and evaluate validity evidences of the Brazilian version of the CERQ (Study 1) and to investigate the relationship between trauma exposure, cognitive emotion regulation strategies, affect and Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms (PTSS) testing for a double mediation model (Study2). Method: A sample of 445 university students completed a Socio-Demographic Questionnaire, the Life of Events Checklist (LEC-5), the Brazilian version of the CERQ, the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) and the Posttraumatic Symptoms Checklist (PCL-5) on an on-line research platform. For Study 1, adaptation process of the Brazilian version of the CERQ included translation, backtranslation, expert committee?s evaluation, and testing on 30 participants from the target population. Validity evidence was assessed through confirmatory factor analysis, internal consistency through the Cronbach?s alpha analysis, and correlations with the affective variables measured by the PANAS. For Study 2, preliminary correlation and multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to investigate associations among trauma type exposure, cognitive emotion regulation strategies, affect and PTSS severity. Next, a model positing rumination and negative affect as double mediators of the effect of trauma type of moral injury by others on PTSS was tested using the PROCESS macro for SPSS. Results: Validity analyses showed that the original structure of the CERQ has good factorial validity in the sample and high reliabilities, with Cronbach?s ? ranging between .71 and .88. Preliminary analyses of the association among trauma type, cognitive emotion regulation strategies, affect and PTSS showed that trauma type of moral injury, rumination and negative affect were significant predictors of PTSS severity. When testing for the double mediation model, results suggested that rumination is a strong and independent mediator between trauma type moral injury by others and PTSS, while negative affect is a mediator only when rumination is also included. Discussion: Our results indicate that the Brazilian version of the CERQ is a valid and reliable tool for assessing cognitive emotion regulation strategies, and that individuals who are exposed to trauma type of moral injury by others engage more frequently in rumination as a cognitive emotion regulation strategy, which in turn amplifies levels of negative effect that ends up leading to higher levels of PTSS. Overall, these results can influence further researches and aid the development and improvement of cognitive treatment interventions for individuals exposed to traumatic events.