by Oi-Man Kwok. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 43-52). / Abstract also in Chinese.

The purpose of this study was to explore the potential link between quality of life and social support networks, among clients with mild to borderline intellectual handicaps. This study also explored differences between how the clients assess their quality of life and support networks and how primary caseworkers asses the quality of life and support networks of their clients. / Thirty intellectually handicapped adults (18 men & 12 women) and their primary caseworkers were randomly selected to participate in the study. Significant differences were found between client and primary caseworker evaluations of clients' quality of life and their social support networks. Friends as support providers was strongly associated with better quality of life. The findings also indicated that there were significant differences in female and male client satisfaction with quality of life.

No description available.

Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Alagoas / Esta pesquisa tem por objeto refletir sobre a expressão da vida psíquica do sujeito acometido pela Esclerose Lateral Amiotrófica (ELA), compreendida na vivência do seu corpo silenciado. Por esse termo designamos a peculiar condição do sujeito que, com o avanço da doença, tende a perder tanto a articulação da fala quanto dos movimentos, com um grave prejuízo em sua capacidade de se comunicar. Pretendemos compreender a expressão psíquica de tal sujeito a partir da interação dos cuidadores, familiares e profissionais de saúde no convívio com esse sujeito na fase avançada da doença. Utilizamos o método clínicoqualitativo de investigação (Turato, 2005), cuja pertinência à pesquisa humana em saúde está em buscar interpretar significados psicológicos e socioculturais trazidos por sujeitos afetados por doença, bem como dos cuidadores, familiares e profissionais. O número de participantes foi determinado pelo critério de saturação (Minayo, 1994), em que o pesquisador fecha o grupo quando determinado número de entrevistas já alcança o nível de informações esperadas. Coletamos depoimentos livres de oito participantes, sendo quatro profissionais de saúde com experiência no atendimento a casos de ELA: um neurologista, uma psicóloga, uma fonoaudióloga e uma fisioterapeuta, e quatro cuidadores e/ou familiares de pessoas acometidas pela ELA: uma filha de paciente, uma cuidadora contratada, uma esposa e uma viúva de paciente. Os participantes foram questionados a partir de dois aspectos de sua interação com o sujeito acometido pela ELA; em primeiro lugar, perguntamos de que modo, no convívio com o sujeito, conseguiam captar, interpretar e compreender suas vicissitudes. Em seguida, questionamos quais os recursos utilizados para o estabelecimento de uma comunicação intersubjetiva entre este profissional de saúde, familiar ou cuidador e o sujeito acometido pela ELA. Consideramos, finalmente, que a expressão-compreensão de vida psíquica do sujeito com ELA abrange uma gradação que vai desde elementos pragmáticos a posições relacionais por parte cuidadores, cuja complementaridade tem por efeito a apreensão dos conteúdos subjetivos dos pacientes

This study used photovoice methodology to explore how people with early-stage dementia use their perceived strength and resources to cope with the illness. Purposive sampling was used to recruit participants. Thirteen women and seven men age 57 to 90 (mean 73.4) with MMSE scores ranging from 20 to 28 (mean 25.6) participated in the project. Participants were provided with a disposable camera and invited to take photographs relevant to their well-being. The photographs provided the means for participants to take the lead in dialogue sessions about their coping response. Grounded theory analysis revealed that initially, early-stage dementia precipitated a disruption in well-being. For the participants in this study, learning to live with the illness was an ongoing, continually shifting process of adjustment, where the participants moved from a familiar sense of well-being to an alternative sense of well-being. In this process the participants used a variety of strengths and resources ranging from those that supported them in reconstructing identity, regaining control, and rebuilding relationships to those that assisted them in reestablishing a healthy lifestyle and restoring meaning and purpose. Striving toward well-being while acknowledging the inconceivable notion of losing one's cognitive abilities was the central strength that the participants brought to this process. It captured the paradox the participants faced in living with early-stage dementia, which was to relegate the illness to the background of their lives while managing its symptoms in the foreground.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Chronic pain, defined as pain lasting more than 3 months, is a common and costly health condition. Thirty-three percent of adults and upwards of 35% of children report experiencing pain due to various diseases, disorders, or accidents. Recent research has identified perceived injustice and anger as important constructs in an adult’s pain experience and a possible focus for intervention efforts. The present study explored the extent to which perceived injustice and anger expression operate similarly in children with chronic pain as in adults. This was a retrospective analysis of data from 122 patients seeking treatment at a pediatric pain clinic. Results supported anger expression as a mediator in the relationship between perceived injustice and pain intensity but not psychological distress, suggesting that anger expression operates similarly in children as in adults with chronic pain. Unlike previous findings in adults with chronic pain, injustice did not moderate the relationship between pain intensity and psychological distress, suggesting that injustice operates differently in children with chronic pain compared to adults. The strong association between injustice and pain outcomes (i.e. pain intensity, quality of life, functional disability) suggests that injustice is an important construct to explore in the chronic pain experience of children.

Text in English / The aim of the current study is to provide detailed information regarding individuals’ turning-point experiences, in order to understand the psychological and spiritual aspects involved in moving beyond a significant low point towards a significant high point in one’s life. It seems that inadequate information regarding formal studies about this phenomenon exists in literature, which this study endeavours to address. Thereby, a qualitative phenomenological study was conducted amongst nineteen South African citizens, who were purposefully and conveniently selected from the diverse population of South Africa. Individual participants confirmed that they had experienced significant low points from which they had been able to move to reach a significant high point. Through interviews, River-of-life (RoL) drawings and a short background information questionnaire (SBIQ), participants were able to provide information on their experiences. The participants’ stories, obtained during the interviews, were transcribed, and then triangulated with information obtained from the RoL drawings, completed SBIQ’s, researcher notes and other additional sources, during the analysis phase. Thematic analysis was performed on individuals’ stories to obtain the research participants’ themes, which provided the aspects involved in their turning-point experiences. In-depth analysis of all participants’ stories produced a theme-model consisting of main and unique themes. Unique themes identified by the study supported the main themes. Themes highlighted through the study included minding oneself, support from and to, doing something, religion/faith in God, positive attitude and meaning. The positive psychology theoretical framework was applied in interpreting the findings. This study suggests that a combination of themes is relevant in one’s ability to move beyond a low point experience towards a high point experience. The application of the theme-model could assist others in similar situations to create change or a turning-point experience in order to move away from or transcend a low point. The study was linked to the subjective measuring of Quality of Life (QOL). It is recommended that more subjective indicators of QOL, including spirituality indicators, be investigated. While this study focussed on the internal influences affecting change in a person’s life towards fulfilment, further studies may investigate the external influences. / Psychology / Ph. D. (Psychology)

Made available in DSpace on 2017-06-01T18:08:32Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 dissertacao_everton_calado.pdf: 1245040 bytes, checksum: f1b176f7ece749c7ff2460c71f70682e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-02-17 / Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Alagoas / This research aims to reflect on the expression of the psychic life of the subject affected by Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), understood the experience of his "body silenced." By this term to designate that peculiar condition of the subject, with the advancement of the disease, tends to lose as much as the articulation of speech movements, with a severeimpairment in their ability to communicate. We want to understand the psychic expression of this subject from the interaction of caregivers, family members and health professionals in contact with this guy at an advanced stage. The method of clinical-qualitative research (Turato, 2005), whose relevance to human health research is to seek to interpret psychological and sociocultural meanings brought by individuals affected by disease as well as the caregivers, families and professionals. The number of participants was determined by the criterion of saturation (Minayo, 1994), in which the researcher closed the group when a number of interviews already reaches the level of expected information. Free collect testimonies of eight participants, four health professionals with experience in caring for ALS patients: a neurologist and a psychologist, a therapist and a physiotherapist, and four caregivers and / or relatives of people affected by ALS: a daughter of patient, a hired caregiver, wife and widow of a patient. Participants were questioned from both aspects of their interaction with the subject affected by ALS, first, ask how, when living with the subject could perceive, interpret and understand their vicissitudes. Then we question what resources used to establish an intersubjective communication between the health professional, family or carer and the individual affected by ALS. Finally, we consider that the expressionunderstanding of the subject's psychic life with ALS encompasses a gradient ranging from the pragmatic elements relational positions by caregivers whose complement has the effect of the seizure of the subjective contents of the patients / Esta pesquisa tem por objeto refletir sobre a expressão da vida psíquica do sujeito acometido pela Esclerose Lateral Amiotrófica (ELA), compreendida na vivência do seu corpo silenciado . Por esse termo designamos a peculiar condição do sujeito que, com o avanço da doença, tende a perder tanto a articulação da fala quanto dos movimentos, com um grave prejuízo em sua capacidade de se comunicar. Pretendemos compreender a expressão psíquica de tal sujeito a partir da interação dos cuidadores, familiares e profissionais de saúde no convívio com esse sujeito na fase avançada da doença. Utilizamos o método clínicoqualitativo de investigação (Turato, 2005), cuja pertinência à pesquisa humana em saúde está em buscar interpretar significados psicológicos e socioculturais trazidos por sujeitos afetados por doença, bem como dos cuidadores, familiares e profissionais. O número de participantes foi determinado pelo critério de saturação (Minayo, 1994), em que o pesquisador fecha o grupo quando determinado número de entrevistas já alcança o nível de informações esperadas. Coletamos depoimentos livres de oito participantes, sendo quatro profissionais de saúde com experiência no atendimento a casos de ELA: um neurologista, uma psicóloga, uma fonoaudióloga e uma fisioterapeuta, e quatro cuidadores e/ou familiares de pessoas acometidas pela ELA: uma filha de paciente, uma cuidadora contratada, uma esposa e uma viúva de paciente. Os participantes foram questionados a partir de dois aspectos de sua interação com o sujeito acometido pela ELA; em primeiro lugar, perguntamos de que modo, no convívio com o sujeito, conseguiam captar, interpretar e compreender suas vicissitudes. Em seguida, questionamos quais os recursos utilizados para o estabelecimento de uma comunicação intersubjetiva entre este profissional de saúde, familiar ou cuidador e o sujeito acometido pela ELA. Consideramos, finalmente, que a expressão-compreensão de vida psíquica do sujeito com ELA abrange uma gradação que vai desde elementos pragmáticos a posições relacionais por parte cuidadores, cuja complementaridade tem por efeito a apreensão dos conteúdos subjetivos dos pacientes

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Background: Research has repeatedly shown that individuals with severe mental illness desire interpersonal and romantic relationships and that social support (including spousal relationships) is beneficial. In addition, social deficits in mental disorders can often get in the way of developing fulfilling relationships. However, there is little currently available to help clinicians and researchers assess romantic relationship functioning in those with mental illness. The aim of this pilot study was to examine reliability and validity of a new measure of functioning in romantic relationships, the Romantic Relationship Functioning Scale (RRFS). Method: The RRFS was constructed based on theory proposed by Redmond, Larkin, and Harrop (2010). In an analog study, we tested the measure in a sample of college students (N=387), examining reliability, stability over time, factor structure, and relationships with measures of psychopathology and related measures of social functioning to assess convergent validity. Results: The RRFS exhibited a hierarchical four-factor structure, supporting the use of a total score. Although subscales were supported in the factor analysis, other psychometric evidence was weaker, and the use of a total score is advocated. Internal consistency and test-retest reliability were acceptable for the total scale (>.8). The RRFS had moderate to large correlations in the expected direction with all psychopathology measures. In predictive models, overall mental health, social functioning, and fewer interpersonal difficulties predicted higher romantic relationship functioning. Conclusions: The RRFS total score shows preliminary evidence of reliability and validity. The RRFS has potential to be of use in treatment centers for undergraduates and for individuals with diagnosed mental disorders. Future research should further investigate the RRFS subscales and the measure’s performance in clinical samples.