D.Ed. / The overall objective of this research is the description of an educational psychological therapeutic approach for the use of educational psychologists in private practice in the treatment of adolescents with emotional and behavioral problems.Two research questions arose out of the need for the development of an integrated educational psychological therapeutic approach, namely: In what way can the educational psychological perspective, existentialphenomenological psychology, transpersonal psychology and Medical Hypnoanalitical approach be integrated in order to develop a holistic view of humanity through which conscious and subconscious meanings in a person's experience world (psychodynamic, perinatal and transpersonal experiences) could be described to reflect the personal, unique, unrepeatable and original qualities of the individual? Based on the description of a holistic view of human nature which serves as the foundation for the development of a therapeutic approach through which the client with emotional and behavioral problems could be understood within the referential framework of his own experiences, the researcher poses the question: What constitutes the therapeutic approach through which the therapist could gain insight into the conscious and subconscious meanings in the experience world (psychodynamic, perinatal and transpersonal experiences) of a person in order to address the true causes underlying the pro lematic symptoms?

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.A. / In this study it is assumed that psychological factors are playing an increasingly important role in the success of rugby teams in a professional era. One such a factor is that of group dynamics and specifically that of group cohesion. In this study, the use of another psychological construct, personality, in the improvement of cohesion is investigated. The personality profiles of the players in a particular team are analysed to determine the possible effects that the personalities of the players could have on the cohesion in the team. In this regard, the Jackson Personality Inventory —Revised is used to plot the personality profiles of all the players. Only scales of the inventory, that are relevant to cohesion, are being used. The relevancy of these particular scales are determined by the literary review of the cohesion construct, which includes the definition and essence of cohesion. Correlation studies would have to determine the true correlation between cohesion and the selected scales of the inventory. General tendencies in the team regarding the profiles and consequent influence on cohesion are discussed as well as the individual profiles of each one of the members of the team. In this regard, the possible influence that a particular player's personality profile could have on the cohesion in the team, is indicated and discussed. It is concluded that the use of personality profiles could be seen as a framework from which coaches and managers of rugbyteams could make use of in order to improve the cohesion in the team.

M.A. / This research has been undertaken against the background of Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) as being one of the major causes of death in South Africa. An indepth literature study made it evident that, despite intervention programs that have been successful in reducing the CHD rate, it still remains a number one killer. This could possibly be attributed to CHD prevention programs that historically have focused on biologically related lifestyle factors, and neglected a very important adjuvant risk factor for CHD, namely Type A behaviour. The aim of this dissertation was to study the viability of changing Type A behaviour in childhood through group sport participation in view of the fact that the Type A behaviour pattern (TABP) already present in childhood, has to date not been addressed as a primary preventative possibility. Group sport was chosen as an intervention by nature of it being co-operative, socially supportive and successful in the improvement of a number of relevant factors. Sport has also been demonstrated to be an appropriate outlet for aggressive impulses apparent in Type A behaviour. Twenty subjects participated in the intervention program that took place over a period of eight weeks. A second group of ten Type A subjects served as a no-treatment control group. The intervention was carried out at a primary school in Johannesburg. The results of the study revealed that Type A behaviour (TAB) was not reduced, save for the impatience component, by participation in group sport. Aggressive potential and anxiety in the Type A child, were also not reduced. It is concluded that the intervention of group sport in the reduction of TAB was not successful, and that future studies should investigate an intervention that is successful for the reduction of the TABP in childhood.

D.Litt.et Phil. (Psychology) / According to Cunningham (1978) there is a fair amount of controversy that surrounds the possible causes of auto-immune diseases. According to him there are two conflicting categories of causes of which psycho-social causes is one and abnormalities of the immune system is the other. Although a substantial amount of studies concerning the relationship between psychological factors and immune functioning have been done, the results have been inconclusive. The reason for this seems to be that there is a vast amount of mediating factors. A further aspect that needs to be taken into account is that psychoneuroimmunological research has focused mainly on adults. Schleifer, Scott, Stein and Keller (1986) is of the opinion that extensive research is required to study the effects of the central nervous system and behaviour during the early development of a person. The study attempted to identify possible psycho-social factors that could contribute to pediatric diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. In order to identify factors that are unique to auto-immune diseases four groups were compared i.e, emotional disorders, behavioral disorders, auto-immune diseases and a "normal" group.

M.Sc. / With the changes in the South African political and economic climate in the past years, an increase in violent crime has become one of the most significant issues affecting the people of this country. Among them is car hijacking, which has reached epidemic proportions. As a result of this traumatic experience, many of the victims of hijacking develop posttraumatic stress disorder or symptoms thereof. From the literature it would seem that certain . variables may increase the vulnerability for the development of this disorder. This study sought to investigate a number of these variables, namely, demographic information, attributional style, personality style, and both premorbid depression and anxiety. The purpose was to establish whether pre-existing risk factors, that were found in the literature to play a role in the development of PTSD, also apply to the South African population, as well as to victims of car hijacking specifically. As this situation is unique to South Africa, there is a great need for information in this area. If these risk factors could be isolated, more effective treatment may be developed for victims. A sample of 38 hijack victims was approached to complete a battery of psychometric tests to assess the above mentioned variables as well as a measure of posttraumatic stress syrnptomology. The Revised Impact of Events Scale, Attributional Style Questionnaire, Millons Clinical Multiaxial Inventory, State- Trait Anxiety Inventory and Beck Depression Inventory were used as psychometric instruments for this study. Inferential statistical analyses as well as descriptive statistical analyses were performed on the data. In general, no specific constellation of premorbid factors contributing to the impact of the event were found. Depression and state anxiety showed significant contribution to the impact of the hijacking but these variables measured current symptoms rather than premorbid. No other variables proved to be significant. This result may have been strongly influenced by the fact that the sample was very homogenous. The findings therefore offer difficulties as far as generalizability is concerned. It is recommended that this study be performed on a larger, more representative and diverse sample in the future.

M.A. (Psychology) / The present study was undertaken in an attempt to understand and ascertain the nature and influence of psychological variables on the longevity of people who are infected withHN. The specific postulate of this study was that depression is the most important psychological variable that influences the longevity of people with my, either directly or indirectly. A number of variables were hypothesized to playa concomitant role with depression as factors that mediate longevity in people with my. These factors include learned helplessness, self-efficacy, sickness impact, sexual risk behaviors and substance use. The testing of these hypotheses involved an experimental group consisting ofHN positive, gay men who suffered from depression and a control group that consisted ofmv positive gay men who did not suffer from depression. None of the subjects had previously been diagnosed with depression. The subjects were subjected to testing of the mentioned psychological variables by means of the Hamilton-Depression Scale, the Attributional Style Questionnaire, the Coping Self-Efficacy Scale, the Biweekly Record of Sexual Behavior, the Substance Use Behavior Questionnaire and the Sickness Impact Profile. It was found that the experimental group differed significantly from the control group in terms of self-efficacy, sexual risk behavior, substance use and sickness impact. It has been speculated that the lack of significant difference between the experimental and control groups on learned helplessness could imply that equal amounts of learned helplessness was present in both groups.

M.A. / This phenomenological study was designed to explore the victim's lived experience of undergoing a motor vehicle hijacking. The aim of the study was to add to the knowledge and understanding of this complex phenomenon. The design of the study was qualitative. Data was collected through in depth unstructured interviews with four people who had very recently been hijacked. The interviews were recorded on audio tape and transcribed verbatim for each subject. An intra-individual analysis of each subject's account rendered an understanding of the experience in context for that individual, while an inter-individual analysis of the accounts permitted a discussion of common and contrasting themes and patterns. The nature of the subjects' experiences during, immediately after and in the days following the hijacking trauma is elucidated in detail. Based both on the literature reviews of trauma and hijacking, and the findings of this study, suggested contributions towards a theoretical framework for understanding the victim's experience of motor vehicle hijacking are proposed. The findings of this study will hopefully increase understanding of what it is like to be hijacked, provide relevant information and guidelines to clinicians working with these trauma victims, and provide suggestions for future research in this field.

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