The main purpose of the study was examining the predictive role of patients' readiness to change drinking behaviour, in drought from treatment for problem drinking. The predictive role of patient demographic factors, socioeconomic factors, personal history and drinking factors in drought from treatment for problem drinking was also examined. A subsidiary interest of the study was to examine the differences between patients who completed their treatment and patients who did not complete their treatment for problem drinking. The study was conducted at Avaloo Treatment Centre, an alcohol treatment centre in Cape Town, South Africa. The subjects consisted of all inpatients and daypatieots who were admitted to the Avalon Treatment Centre Rehabilitation Programme over a period of five consecutive months (n == 62). Information for the study was elicited from the subjects by means of an interview schedule designed for the study, and the Readiness to Change Questionnaire (Treatment Version) which was developed by Heather, Luce, James, Peck and Dunbar (1996). The interview schedule consisted of four main sections that requested information about patient demographic characteristics, socioeconomic characteristics, personal and drinking history factors, and information regarding discharge from treatment at Avalon Treannent Centre. The researcher conducted the interviews and administered the Readiness to Change Questionnaire (Treatment Version) to all the subjects. Information relating to patient discharge was obtained from the patients' folders, the patients themselves, the patients' families, and from the Avalon Treatment Centre therapeutic staff. The results of the study are described. The data was analysed statistically by means of bivariate analyses (such as chi square tests) and multivariate statistical analyses (namely, discriminant function analysis). The findings indicated that statistically, significantly more daypatieots ~ped out of the Rehabilitation Programme than did inpatients. The discriminant function analysis suggested that six patient factors contributed significantly to the discrimination between dropouts and completers of treatment for problem drinking of alcohol. The patient factors were wine, the alcoholic beverage consumed most frequently; drinking alcoholic beverages daily; living alone at the time of the admission for treatment via the Rehabilitation Programme; being separated from spouse at the time of admission; the Preparation-Action stage of change; previous treatment for problem drinking. These results indicated that dropout from treatment for problem drinking could be reliably predicted from patient characteristics. The results also suggested that there are significant differences between dropouts and completers of treatment for problem drinking. The results are discussed 111 the light of related research: findings, and possible explanations for the: findings are offered. Recommendations for the implementation of the findings and their implications for future research are suggested.

Energization can be described as a form of integrated energy delivery. In the case of the KwaBhaza Pilot Project, PV and LPGas were combined. in a package and offered to rural households. While the approach to off-grid electrification and distributed energy services tends to emphasise the technical aspects of delivery (Kotze 1998), this work provides some insight into the anthropological aspects that hinder the implementation of such initiatives. In this context, 'anthropological aspects' do not refer to cultural conditions in the field but rather the anthropology of development, expressed as a holistic examination of the project and a critical assessment of the development framework within which it operates. It is with this in mind that the objectives of energization, as a development initiative, are thoroughly explored.

Bibliography: leaves 123-137. / The main objective of this study was to identify the coping strategies used by successful women in dealing with work-family interaction strain. The study also investigated cognitive appraisal as a key antecedent of coping with a hypothetical description of a work-family interaction strain situation. A survey was conducted with a sample comprising 110 women in the public, corporate and self-employed sectors of the economy. All the participants were married with at least one child of pre school or school going age. The women worked in positions from middle- management and higher in corporate and public sector organizations or were business owners with at least four employees. Quantitative and qualitative data were obtained by means of a self-report questionnaire. Interaction strain was measured using the Home and Employment Role scale (HER scale), developed by Parry and Wart (1980). Cognitive appraisal and coping was measured from within the framework of the transactional approach, which defines coping in terms of the person-environment relationship and emphasises the dynamic and interactive nature of the stressful transaction. Cognitive appraisal was measured using the items devised by Folkman, Lazarus, Dunkel-Schetter, DeLongis and Gwen (1986) and coping was measured using, the Ways of Coping Questionnaire (WCQ), developed by Folkman and Lazarus (1988). Qualitative data was obtained via a request to the respondents asking them to describe what it was like to have work and family responsibilities. The main finding of the study showed that the participants in this project used both emotional and problem-focused coping strategies in dealing with the hypothetical work-family interaction strain situation. These strategies were positive reappraisal; planful problem solving; self-controlling; and seeking social support. Not one of these coping strategies, however, was significantly favoured above the others. The study did not find evidence of a relationship between the participants' cognitive appraisal of the hypothetical situation and their choice of coping strategy in dealing with this situation, except with regards to cognitive appraisal, control and the coping strategy, escape-avoidance; the higher the participant scored on cognitive appraisal, control, the less likely they were to choose escape-avoidance as a coping strategy in dealing with the situation. Overall, the results of the study showed that this sample of successful business women chose emotion-focused and problem-focused coping strategies in an integrated manner to deal with a hypothetical work-family situation.

Twenty-seven HIV-infected homosexual men participating in an experimental drug trial were included in a psychoneuroimmunological investigation of the association between levels of short-term emotional distress, methods of coping, hopelessness, loneliness, joy, and CDS-cell counts, CD4-cell counts, and the cumulative rate of CD4-cell decline since infection. A survey of needs was included. The sample (n = 27) was significantly more depressed (p < 0.01), angry (p < 0.001), confused (p < 0.05), and lonelier (p < 0.01) than normative groups. There were no significant differences in emotional distress between asymptomatic subjects (n = 16; CDC II and Ill) and symptomatic subjects (n = 11; CDC IVa, IVcl and 1Vc2). Secondary analyses indicate that the asymptomatic subjects were significantly more distressed than comparable American asymptomatic HIV-infected men, while the symptomatic subjects were not more distressed than comparable American subjects. A survey of needs revealed that financial concems related to HIV-infection were found to be a greater source of distress than symptom status. The sample scored significantly lower than college student norms for coping by means of seeking social support for emotional reasons (p < 0.05), and significantly higher on all scales pertaining to avoidance coping (0.02 > p < 0.001), as well as acceptance coping (p < 0.001). No significant differences (p > 0.05) were found for all problem-focused coping and emotion-focusing coping scales, nor for coping by means of focusing upon and venting of emotions. Five subjects who had been infected for less than two years were excluded from analyses regarding immune functioning. For the remaining 22 subjects, no significant associations between psychosocial factors and CDS-cell counts were found (p > 0.05), nor were there any significant associations between measures of short A regression model containing the coping scales of suppression of competing activities and mental disengagement predicted 33.3 percent of cross-sectional CD4-cell counts (f = 4.737, df = 2, 19, p < 0.05). Both factors were negatively associated with CD4-cell counts. A regression model containing the coping methods of focusing upon and venting of emotions and mental disengagement predicted 29 percent of CD4- rates of decline over time (f = 3.874, df = 2, 19, p < 0.05). The venting of emotions scale was associated with slower rates of CD4-cell decline over time (r = -0.433, df = 21, p < 0.05), while mental disengagement coping was associated with faster rates of CD4-cell decline (r = + 0.314, df = 21, p = 0.16). A median-split of scores on the focusing upon and venting of emotions coping scale and CD4-rates of decline reveals that high venting scores are found in 77 percent of subjects with slow rates of decline, while low scores are evident for 78 percent of those with fast rates of cumulative CD4-cell decline since infection. It was concluded that these results are consistent with previous research concerning with the immunosuppressive effects of habitual repression of emotions and the long-term maladaptive effects of avoidance coping. -term POMS scales of emotional distress and CD4-cell counts and rates of decline over time.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.