Continuous changes in the security systems around the world, along with the increased pressure to perform may result in feelings of distrust, strain in interpersonal relations, psychological strain, fatigue and tension, all affecting the well-being of employees, especially among protection services members. Work wellness becomes an important aspect when focusing on the safety of people to whom the protection services delivers a service, as well as when the focus is on the safety of these members. Burnout and work engagement are specific focus areas in this regard. To measure burnout and work engagement, it is important to use reliable and valid instruments. Along with burnout and work engagement there are other focus areas that can have a direct influence on these dimensions, namely the perception of organisational politics. The impact of perceptions of organisational politics on burnout and work engagement can be moderated or mediated by sense of coherence. The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between work wellness, organisational politics and sense of coherence through the development of a model of work wellness for protection services members comprising of burnout, work engagement, organisational politics and sense of coherence. The research method consists of a literature review and an empirical study. A cross-sectional survey design was used to collect the data. An availability sample (N = 341) from protection services members was taken. The Maslach Burnout Inventory - General Survey (MBI-GS), Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES), Perceptions of Organisational Politics (POPS), Orientation to Life Questionnaire (OTLQ) and a biographical questionnaire were administered. The statistical analysis was carried out with the help of the SPSS-programme and AMOS. The statistical methods utilised in the article consisted of descriptive statistics, Cronbach alpha coefficients, exploratory factor analysis, Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients and structural equation modelling methods. vii Exploratory factor analysis confirmed a two factor model of burnout, consisting of burnout (exhaustion and cynicism) and professional efficacy which represented the data quite well after certain items were left out. In previous research among protection services members two factors in the UWES could also be extracted namely vigour/dedication and absorption. The MBI-GS and UWES both showed acceptable internal consistencies. The analysis of Pearson correlations in this study showed that burnout is negatively related to Vigour/dedication and sense of coherence. Professional efficacy is positively related to Vigour/dedication and absorption. Vigour/Dedication is positively related to absorption and sense of coherence. Prolonged exposure to things like criminal aspects, life-and-death decision making and general political behaviour at organisational level, can result in feelings of burnout. Negative perceptions of organisational politics resulted in higher levels of burnout experienced by protection services members. Sense of coherence mediated the effect of organisational politics on work wellness. Recommendations for future research were made. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2005.

The aim of this research was to determine the way in which informal caregivers of HIV/AIDS patients experience their task as caregivers as well as to identify factors, or general resistance resources, which exercise an influence on their psychological well-being, and more specifically on their sense of coherence. The stressors encountered by informal caregivers of HIVIAIDS patients have previously been investigated thoroughly in a number of studies. The tasks of informal caregivers very often encompass much more than what would be, for example, included in the nursing context and therefore exceed the limits applying to the formal sector. Stressors to which caregivers are exposed include physical, financial and emotional aspects. It has been proved that this state of affairs has a negative impact on their physical health conditions as well as their psychological well-being. Caregivers do, however, at times report a certain extent of growth experienced by them which can be related to the care giving situation. The salutogenic perspective allows for a study of the origin of health and has, for the purposes of this study, been applied to obtain an alternative description of the caregivers' experiences. According to this perspective health does not merely mean the absence of disease, but also refers to health being influenced by an individual's management of stressful events. When an individual, even if confronted with stressful circumstances, has adequate general resistance resources at his/her disposal, a strong sense of coherence can develop and this will have a positive influence on his/her psychological well-being. In the South African context little if any literature can be found on the salutogenic factors that may affect informal caregivers of HIV/AIDS patients. The investigation of this study was based on an availability sample consisting of 8 informal caregivers of HIVIAIDS patients. A one shot cross sectional design with triangulation of data assessment techniques was used. The researcher obtained data with regard to the caregivers' sense of coherence by means of the Sense of Coherence Scale (SOC) (Antonovsky, 1987). Semistructured interviews were conducted with all the caregivers involved and a qualitative analysis followed. The results revealed that informal caregivers' sense of coherence was much lower than- that of a group of nurses (formal caregivers) as described by Cilliers (2003). One of the reasons for this significant difference could be the lack of a structured setting or environment in which caregivers still have to perform their duties and responsibilities. According to the results a variety of factors exercising a negative impact on informal caregivers' sense of coherence could be identified. These included (a) stress, (b) exposure to unfamiliar situations, and (c) a lack of counselling skills. Within the framework of the salutogenic perspective there were, however, different factors also known as general resistance resources, that exercised a positive impact on the caregivers' sense of coherence. Among these the following could be counted: (a) spirituality, (b) insight into interpersonal situations, (c) utilisation of social support systems, and (d) multi-disciplinary cooperation. It would therefore seem that informal caregivers do possess general resistance resources which enable them to persevere with their tasks as caregivers in spite of the stressors they encounter on a daily basis. One of the recommendations that can be posed after having carried out this study and after having analysed the results, is the compilation as well as the evaluation and implementation, of a psycho-education training programme for informal caregivers, with special emphasis on such general resistance resources. / Thesis (M.A. (Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.

In the final paper for master’s degree the peculiarities of correlations between educators’ sense of coherence and well-being are discussed. The pedagogical characterization of educator’s profession and conception of coherence is tendered after thorough analysis of papers and researches of Lithuanian and foreign authors. The course, methods and data of research on educators’ coherence and well-being are discussed in the paper. The sense of coherence of educators is analyzed according to their social–demographic data, way of live and psychological well-being. The statistical analysis was accomplished to estimate the peculiarities of well-being. The typology of educators’ who took part in a survey and results of cluster analysis are presented in the paper. The peculiarities of correlations between educators’ sense of coherence and well-being are discussed in various aspects. After summarizing all the data conclusions and propositions are presented.

The purpose of this work is indentify adults diabetic people sense of coherence ,psichological feel,and self esteem.Received reseach results confirmed first hipothesis, that sense of coherence to diabetic importantly lower than to healthy individuals.Received research results confirmed second hipothesis ,that psychological well being to diabetics adult individuals is importantly worse than to healthy individuals.Received research results confirmed third hipothesis ,that self esteem to diabetics adult individuals importantly smaller than to healthy individuals.

Darbo tikslas: Ištirti žindančių motinų vidinę darną, motinos su kūdikiu darną ir šių veiksnių sąsajas su žindymo trukme. Uždaviniai: 1. Įvertinti žindančių motinų vidinę darną; 2. Išanalizuoti motinos darną su kūdikiu; 3. Nustatyti motinos vidinės darnos ir motinos darnos su kūdikiu sąsajas. 3. Nustatyti darnos veiksnių ryšį su žindymo trukme. Tyrimo metodai: Tyrimo objektas – ką tik pagimdžiusios motinos ir auginančios kūdikius iki 6 mėn. Tyrimo metodas – anoniminė anketinė apklausa. Tyrimas susidėjo iš dviejų etapų. Pirmasis tyrimas vyko pirmąją savaitę motinai pagimdžius kūdikį, antrasis – 6 mėn. po kūdikio gimimo. Tyrimui buvo atrinktos motinos, gimdžiusios KMUK, Pr. Mažylio ir Krikš��ioniškuose gimdymo namuose. Pirmojo tyrimo metu buvo apklaustos 493 motinos. Antrajame tyrime pakartotinai apklausta 141 motina. Atsako dažnis sudarė 35,6 proc. Rezultatai: Tyrimo duomenimis, motinoms kurioms kūdikis buvo planuotas, visų darnos skalės sričių ir visos skalės, balų sumos vidurkis buvo didesnis negu toms motinoms, kurioms kūdikis buvo neplanuotas (p<0,001). Išsimokslinimas statistiškai reikšmingai veikė vidinės darnos suprantamumo (p=0,006), kontroliavimo jausmų sritis (p=0,038) ir visą skalę (p=0,005). Šeimyninė padėtis siejosi tik su motinos vidinės darnos prasmingumo jausmu (p=0,003). Motinos darna su kūdikiu statistiškai reikšmingai siejosi su gimdymo eiliškumu. Motinos kurios pagimdė antrą ar trečią vaiką, turėjo stipresnį prasmingumo (p=0,055), suprantamumo jausmą (p=0,0... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Objective: To study mother‘s sense of coherence (SOC), the mother‘s coherence with a baby and influence of these factors to the duration of breastfeeding. Tasks: 1. To evaluate sense of coherence of the mothers; 2. To analyze the mother‘s coherence with a baby; 3. To evaluate relations between mother‘s sense of coherence and mother‘s coherence with a baby. 4. To assess the influence mother‘s sense of coherence and mother‘s baby coherence to the duration of breastfeeding. Methods of the study: Object of the research – mothers after their delivery and after six months. Method of the research – anonymous questionnaire survey. The research consisted of two stages. The first research was performed in the first week after the mother gave a birth to her baby, the second one – the same mothers 6 months after the baby was born. For the research, the mothers giving birth in Kaunas Medical University Hospital, Pr. Mazylis and Christian maternity home were chosen. In the first research, 493 mothers were surveyed. In the second research, 141 mothers were surveyed one more time. The response rate was 35.6%. Results: According to the data of the research, the average sum of points of the ranges of the SOC and the total SOC was higher of the mothers who had planned a baby than of these ones who had not planned a baby (p<0.001). The education influenced the ranges of comprehensibility of the SOC (p=0.006), the ranges of manageability (p=0.038) and the total scale of SOC (p=0.005). The... [to full text]

Den salutogena modellen beskriver hälsa som ett kontinuum mellan ytterligheterna total ohälsa och total hälsa. En persons placering på kontinuumet kan förklaras av dennes ”känsla av sammanhang” (KASAM) - en skyddande resurs som hjälper individen att hantera livets stressorer. Mental ohälsa ökar bland unga vuxna i dagens samhälle och studenter är en utsatt grupp. Forskning visar att höga grader av KASAM bidrar till god självupplevd hälsa. I studien undersöktes, utifrån tre frågeställningar med tillhörande hypoteser, relationen mellan KASAM och mental ohälsa hos 273 högskolestudenter, varav 62 män. Deltagarna besvarade en enkät bestående av KASAM-formuläret och General Health Questionnaire. Data undersöktes med korrelations-, varians- och regressionsanalys.  Resultatet påvisade ett negativt samband mellan KASAM och upplevd mental ohälsa. Slutsatsen gav att KASAM tycks fungera skyddande mot mental ohälsa hos urvalets deltagare varpå diskussionen bland annat berör hur skolans miljö kan tänkas främja studenternas KASAM. Framtida forskning av organisationsstrukturers inverkan på KASAM föreslås.

Under vårterminen 2014 har vi arbetat kontinuerligt med ämnet långtidsarbetslösa unga vuxna. Detta forskningsområde är en aktuell debatterad fråga i dagens samhälle, och har varit intressant som fenomen att undersöka. Härmed vill vi tacka och rikta vår uppskattning till er som har bistått oss under studiens gång och gjort det möjligt för oss att genomföra samt färdigställa denna kandidatuppsats. Ett stort tack till Arbetsförmedlingen i Trollhättan, som stod för ett varmt mottagande och ett gott samarbete. Vi vill här särskilt rikta ett stort Tack till samtliga intervjudeltagare som så fint ställt upp och berätta om deras personliga erfarenheter gällande långtidsarbetslöshet. Vi anser att utan er hjälp, hade inte denna uppsats blivit av. Sist, men inte minst, ett varmt tack till vår handledare Yngve Mohlin, för hans positiva inställning och inspiration, samt för all konstruktiv kritik och pedagogiskt vägledande under hela processen. Vi har noggrant övervägt för- och nackdelar med att skriva denna studie tillsammans. Det framkom att vi tänker lika varandra, utifrån att båda vill ha en hållbar struktur och en given framförhållning. De olika delarna har gemensamt utarbetats och korrigerats. Studiens intervjuer delades dock upp mellan oss och transkriberades av den motsatta kollegan, för att kunna ta del av informationen i respektive intervjuer. Vi satte upp delmål innehållande slutdatum för att kunna få bra flyt i skriv- och materialinsamlandet. Vår utgångspunkt har varit att vi sätter oss ned och utför samtliga delar tillsammans, då vi har diskuterat och sammanställt materialet till en helhet. Vi känner också att det totala arbetet har varit ömsesidigt och där båda har tagit ansvar för samtliga moment i studien.

Suicide ideation is a growing phenomenon that can be observed in stressful environments such as those of a correctional official, and it is a cause for concern. Suicide ideation is seen as the first step of suicidal behaviour and refers to thoughts, cognitions and overt intent to kill oneself. The root causes for correctional officials experiencing such a severe state of hopelessness that they feel death must be the only escape, can be ascribed to different factors. The objective of this research is to establish the relationship between psychological strengths, stress and suicide ideation of employees of the Department of Correctional Services (DCS). Three concepts of psychological strength namely locus of control, sense of coherence and affect as independent variables, were compared, with suicide ideation as a dependant variable. The relationship between suicide ideation and stress as an independent variable was also established. A cross-sectional design was used. A simple random sample (n=157) was taken from correctional officers from a management area in the Freestate Province. The Work Locus of Control Scale, Orientation to Life Questionnaire, Affectometer 2, and the Adult Suicide Ideation Questionnaire were administered. In addition, the Correctional Officer Stress Inventory was developed and administered. Principal component and factor extraction with Oblique rotation, Cronbach alpha and inter-item correlation coefficients, factor analysis, a discriminant analysis and a stepwise multiple regression analysis were used to analyse the data. Results showed that positive affect and external locus of control were associated with suicide ideation. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2004.

Continuous changes in the security systems around the world, along with the increased pressure to perform may result in feelings of distrust, strain in interpersonal relations, psychological strain, fatigue and tension, all affecting the well-being of employees, especially among protection services members. Work wellness becomes an important aspect when focusing on the safety of people to whom the protection services delivers a service, as well as when the focus is on the safety of these members. Burnout and work engagement are specific focus areas in this regard. To measure burnout and work engagement, it is important to use reliable and valid instruments. Along with burnout and work engagement there are other focus areas that can have a direct influence on these dimensions, namely the perception of organisational politics. The impact of perceptions of organisational politics on burnout and work engagement can be moderated or mediated by sense of coherence. The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between work wellness, organisational politics and sense of coherence through the development of a model of work wellness for protection services members comprising of burnout, work engagement, organisational politics and sense of coherence. The research method consists of a literature review and an empirical study. A cross-sectional survey design was used to collect the data. An availability sample (N = 341) from protection services members was taken. The Maslach Burnout Inventory - General Survey (MBI-GS), Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES), Perceptions of Organisational Politics (POPS), Orientation to Life Questionnaire (OTLQ) and a biographical questionnaire were administered. The statistical analysis was carried out with the help of the SPSS-programme and AMOS. The statistical methods utilised in the article consisted of descriptive statistics, Cronbach alpha coefficients, exploratory factor analysis, Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients and structural equation modelling methods. vii Exploratory factor analysis confirmed a two factor model of burnout, consisting of burnout (exhaustion and cynicism) and professional efficacy which represented the data quite well after certain items were left out. In previous research among protection services members two factors in the UWES could also be extracted namely vigour/dedication and absorption. The MBI-GS and UWES both showed acceptable internal consistencies. The analysis of Pearson correlations in this study showed that burnout is negatively related to Vigour/dedication and sense of coherence. Professional efficacy is positively related to Vigour/dedication and absorption. Vigour/Dedication is positively related to absorption and sense of coherence. Prolonged exposure to things like criminal aspects, life-and-death decision making and general political behaviour at organisational level, can result in feelings of burnout. Negative perceptions of organisational politics resulted in higher levels of burnout experienced by protection services members. Sense of coherence mediated the effect of organisational politics on work wellness. Recommendations for future research were made. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2005.

The aim of this research was to determine the way in which informal caregivers of HIV/AIDS patients experience their task as caregivers as well as to identify factors, or general resistance resources, which exercise an influence on their psychological well-being, and more specifically on their sense of coherence. The stressors encountered by informal caregivers of HIVIAIDS patients have previously been investigated thoroughly in a number of studies. The tasks of informal caregivers very often encompass much more than what would be, for example, included in the nursing context and therefore exceed the limits applying to the formal sector. Stressors to which caregivers are exposed include physical, financial and emotional aspects. It has been proved that this state of affairs has a negative impact on their physical health conditions as well as their psychological well-being. Caregivers do, however, at times report a certain extent of growth experienced by them which can be related to the care giving situation. The salutogenic perspective allows for a study of the origin of health and has, for the purposes of this study, been applied to obtain an alternative description of the caregivers' experiences. According to this perspective health does not merely mean the absence of disease, but also refers to health being influenced by an individual's management of stressful events. When an individual, even if confronted with stressful circumstances, has adequate general resistance resources at his/her disposal, a strong sense of coherence can develop and this will have a positive influence on his/her psychological well-being. In the South African context little if any literature can be found on the salutogenic factors that may affect informal caregivers of HIV/AIDS patients. The investigation of this study was based on an availability sample consisting of 8 informal caregivers of HIVIAIDS patients. A one shot cross sectional design with triangulation of data assessment techniques was used. The researcher obtained data with regard to the caregivers' sense of coherence by means of the Sense of Coherence Scale (SOC) (Antonovsky, 1987). Semistructured interviews were conducted with all the caregivers involved and a qualitative analysis followed. The results revealed that informal caregivers' sense of coherence was much lower than- that of a group of nurses (formal caregivers) as described by Cilliers (2003). One of the reasons for this significant difference could be the lack of a structured setting or environment in which caregivers still have to perform their duties and responsibilities. According to the results a variety of factors exercising a negative impact on informal caregivers' sense of coherence could be identified. These included (a) stress, (b) exposure to unfamiliar situations, and (c) a lack of counselling skills. Within the framework of the salutogenic perspective there were, however, different factors also known as general resistance resources, that exercised a positive impact on the caregivers' sense of coherence. Among these the following could be counted: (a) spirituality, (b) insight into interpersonal situations, (c) utilisation of social support systems, and (d) multi-disciplinary cooperation. It would therefore seem that informal caregivers do possess general resistance resources which enable them to persevere with their tasks as caregivers in spite of the stressors they encounter on a daily basis. One of the recommendations that can be posed after having carried out this study and after having analysed the results, is the compilation as well as the evaluation and implementation, of a psycho-education training programme for informal caregivers, with special emphasis on such general resistance resources. / Thesis (M.A. (Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.