No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

The present study compared the effects of two types of preretirement programs, a traditional and a lifestyles, on attitude toward retirement, attitudes toward planning for retirement, and interest levels for the content of the two programs for employees varying in age, gender, and occupational status at a large university in the Southeastern United States. The primary focus of the traditional program was on describing consequences to expect following retirement, such as income decline, health care costs, and alterations in social and leisure activities. In contrast, the primary focus of the lifestyles approach was on describing how one could plan ahead to address potentially undesirable consequences in the areas of financial stability, health care, or social/leisure lifestyle which might affect adjustment to retirement. Prior to participation in the planning seminars, which contained both traditional and lifestyles program formats, males in the younger age group perceived themselves as less prepared for retirement and exhibited a more negative attitude toward retirement than did those in the older age group. Males in the younger age group demonstrated significantly more positive attitude changes following participation in the planning seminars, while males in the older age group did not. After attending these programs, younger age group males felt more prepared for retirement, perceived retirement more positively, and felt preretirement planning was more useful than they had prior to participation. Analysis of female employees’ responses indicated that participation in the planning programs had no impact on their attitudes toward retirement and preretirement planning, regardless of their age or perceived level of preparedness. The study also found that, as predicted, older participants were more interested in the traditional presentation than they were in the lifestyles format. In contrast, younger participants were equally interested in the traditional and lifestyles formats. As females did not change in their attitude toward retirement or perception of how well prepared they were for retirement, the possibility was supported that current programs may not be adequately addressing the preretirement planning needs of female participants. Implications for future preretirement planning efforts are discussed. / Ph. D.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among the factors identified in the McCubbin ( 1993) Resiliency Model of Family Stress, Adjustment, and Adaptation (MRM) to determine the applicability of the model to caregivers for a family member with Alzheimer's Disease (AD). The MRM was developed to describe the factors that influence the family's ability to adapt to a stressful situation over time. The applicability of the MRM to family caregivers in which a family member suffers from progressive dementia, or AD, has not been evaluated. Data were collected through a mail survey sent to 300 family caregivers of persons with AD on the mailing list of a local AD service organization. An anonymous random sample of 43 family caregivers was obtained. Participants completed a demographic tool and two interval level scales developed by McCubbin and colleagues; the Family Index of Regenerativity and Adaptation General (FIRA-G) and the Family Member Well-being Index (FMWB). The instruments measured the association between MRM's independent variables (Stressors, Strains, Social Support, Coping, Coherence, Relative and Friend Support, and Hardiness) and MRM's dependent variables (Family Member Well-Being and Distress). The relationships between the scores of the FIRA-G and the FMWB were determined by Pearson Product Moment Correlation. Significant relationships were found between the factors identified in the MRM. The findings in this study suggest that significant relationships exist among the factors identified in the MRM and that the MRM maybe useful in studying AD populations. Ultimately, the use of the MRM may improve healthcare providers' ability to recognize and treat caregiver stress, which will in turn improve the home care of patients with AD.

No description available.

This study investigated the psychological effects and coping strategies of women who were raped in the Gauteng province. The study aimed to dete1mine the effects that rape has on the victims and to determine the coping strategies that the victims employ to deal with their ordeal. Using a quantitative methodology the study was conducted among I 00 female rape victims that were sampled from selected rape crisis centres in the Gauteng province. The researcher used the Trauma Symptom CheckJ ist (TSC-40), as well as the Coping Strategies Inventory Short Form (CS I-SF) which are both standardised and validated instruments. The responses of the participants were analysed to determine which of them were more traumatised than others. To come to the conclusion of who was more traumatised than the other, a comparison of the rating of the Trauma Symptom Checklist (TSC) was done and consideration of all questions was taken. It was then dete1mined how the more traumatised and the less traumatised used the coping strategies to deal with the negative emotions due to rape. This was done by analysing the coping strategies of each participant according to how they responded on each question on the Coping Strategies Inventory (SF). Using means, standard deviations and regression analysis, the results revealed that a high number of rape victims had higher levels of trauma. This was indicated by their high scores on the dissociation, anxiety, depression, sexual abuse trauma index, sleep disturbance and sexual problems subscales of the TSC. Higher percentages of those, rarely engaged in problem focused coping and resorted to emotion focused coping instead. Those who had less trauma were found to be engaging more in problem focused coping. The victims that had less trauma were found to be communicating effectively with other people and were engaging in positive thinking. Those who had high levels of trauma were found to be not interacting effectively with people in their immediate environment which may have influenced their emotion focused coping strategies. The results also revealed that emotional reactions and coping strategies are not affected by age and marital status of rape victims. / Thesis (M. Soc Sci (Clinical Psychology) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2012

Divorce in the United States is so widespread that it touches the lives of every citizen in some way. Divorcing adults face a multiplicity of problems including emotional, physical, and economic factors. The literature overwhelmingly suggests evidence of stress associated with this transition process. This study surveyed the feelings and opinions of 84 recently separated or divorced adults, 23 men and 61 women, in Pima County, Arizona, through a questionnaire designed to identify current life stressors, sources of support, and the quality of that support. The two stressors that were identified most often for both men and women were loneliness and anger. The source of support listed most often for both sexes was friends. There was strong evidence to support the hypothesis that it is a universal response for people faced with stress and trauma to turn to others for help and nurturance. It would appear that support networks do help to ameliorate some of the stress and pain, and that individuals have a multisource network.

This thesis illuminates the phenomenon of the emergent needs post-grief experienced by Adventitiously Visually Impaired (AVI) adults following loss of sight. The research focuses on specific experiential areas related to the phenomenon; the perspectives the AVI adults have of their loss of sight; their experience of grief as a resolvable or chronic process; the emergent psychological, emotional and practical needs they experience; and the support from society, families and rehabilitation in meeting their needs. The influence of the length of time of the impairment on these experiences is also considered. The literature survey indicates that most research on Adventitious Visual Impairment (VI) concentrates on the period before and immediately after rehabilitation, and emphasises practical, technological and technical needs and issues. This focus is limited in acquiring insight and understanding about the psychological and emotional reactions and needs of AVI adults throughout the time course of their impairments. This study applies an adapted phenomenological research strategy using 10 case studies of adults, AVI within and beyond 6 years, to understand the researched phenomenon. Essential insight gained from the study is that loss of sight is an unique experience which is inextricably linked to the degree of vision loss, that many unique but also common psychological, emotional and practical needs are experienced, and that length of time of the VI has a profound impact on these needs and the experience of the grief process. This research challenges the traditional resolvable grief theory and emphasises a chronic, recurrent and episodic grief process. These contrasting processes impact on experienced needs. The research challenges the linear and invariant notion of Maslow's (1987) Need Hierarchy, and emphasises both ascent and descent and simultaneous experiences of unsatisfied needs on different levels of the hierarchy. The research highlights the need for society to know and understand the complex real world of Adventitious VI with all its diverse implications, limitations and needs. As always, there are more questions than answers, but this research provides further insight into the complex real world of Adventitious VI. / Psychology / D. Litt. et Phil. (Psychology)

Studies in the perceptual identification of emotional states suggested that listeners seemed to depend on a limited set of vocal cues to distinguish among emotions. Linguistics and speech science literatures have indicated that this small set of cues included intensity, fundamental frequency, and temporal properties such as speech rate and duration. Little research has been done, however, to validate these cues in the production of emotional speech, or to determine if specific dimensions of each cue are associated with the production of a particular emotion for a variety of speakers. This study addressed deficiencies in understanding of the acoustical properties of duration and intensity as components of emotional speech by means of speech science instrumentation. Acoustic data were conveyed in a brief sentence spoken by twelve English speaking adult male and female subjects, half with dramatic training, and half without such training. Simulated expressions included: happiness, surprise, sadness, fear, anger, and disgust. The study demonstrated that the acoustic property of mean intensity served as an important cue for a vocal taxonomy. Overall duration was rejected as an element for a general taxonomy due to interactions involving gender and role. Findings suggested a gender-related taxonomy, however, based on differences in the ways in which men and women use the duration cue in their emotional expressions. Results also indicated that speaker training may influence greater use of the duration cue in expressions of emotion, particularly for male actors. Discussion of these results provided linkages to (1) practical management of emotional interactions in clinical and interpersonal environments, (2) implications for differences in the ways in which males and females may be socialized to express emotions, and (3) guidelines for future perceptual studies of emotional sensitivity.