An exploratory study was conducted to discover significant events and feelings attached to those events during the experience of unemployment for university graduates under 25 years of age. Twelve university graduates of mixed sex, under the age of 25 were interviewed. The phenomenological/critical incident methodology adapted by Amundson and Borgen (1984) was utilized. The experience was found to be comprised of two segments: the initial holiday period, and the downward trend. Idiosyncratically occurring positive and negative critical incidents were identified. Job search activities were found to be most closely aligned with middle class professionals rather than less educated youth findings. The subjects were found to channel their energy into new areas of interest and activity, particularly further education in spite of feelings of disillusionment. These results may aid counsellors in understanding the experience of unemployed university graduates, and lead to more effective therapeutic interventions for this population. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

This study investigated the effect of participation in a 14-day career redirection program on the reemployment, explanations for unemployment, and levels of depression and self-esteem of 44 unemployed adults who had recently become physically disabled. The career redirection program was delivered using an extended Solomon four-group design. The subjects’ explanations for their unemployment, and their levels of depression and self-esteem were measured on at least two of four possible occasions: (a) before participating in the program, (b) after completing the program, (c) after waiting to participate in the program, or (d) eight weeks after completing the program. The researcher contacted the subjects who completed the program after eight weeks to determine their employment status and to request the completion of the final questionnaire battery. A random sample of the subjects who finished the program were also interviewed in-depth to obtain detailed information about their experiences of: (a) becoming disabled, (b) being confronted with the need to change jobs as a result of their disabilities, and (c) participating in the career redirection program. All the incidents reported by the subjects that related to their emotional reactions to these three experiences were identified from transcripts of the interviews. Incidents describing similar reactions to components of these experiences were grouped into categories. Six stages were discerned from the analysis of the categories of emotional reactions. Taken together, these six stages described a career redirection process. The results of the study demonstrated the effectiveness of the treatment program in assisting the subjects through the career redirection process. Eight weeks after finishing the program, 60.5% of the subjects were involved in reemployment activities (11.6% working; 28% independent in job search; 20.9% taking training). Contrary to the researcher’s expectations, the subjects did not exhibit the effects of long-term unemployment documented in the literature, possibly because they.... / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

This grounded theory study investigated the experiences of 18 middle class, middle aged men who lost long term employment because of organizational restructuring. Limited research had previously been conducted in this area and this study extends our understanding about the impact of job loss on people who have lost long term employment. The purpose of the study was to explicate the lived experiences of these men and generate an explanation and model of how they reconstructed their understanding of career following job loss from long term employment. The men's experience of job loss and how they constructed career after the loss of long term employment were explained through a dynamic and interacting four stage process model of the dissolution of career. Stage 1, establishing career, explained how the men came to understand career as a relationship. For these men, career, as a relationship, was based on trust and was comprised of reciprocal terms believed to exist between the "good employee" and the "good employer." Over time, by fulfilling the terms of reciprocity, a psychological contract was established between the men and their employers. This contract contained mutual obligations, such as, employment security in exchange for employee commitment, loyalty, hard work, and sacrifice. Stage 2, the termination of employment, revealed how the experience of job loss signified a violation of the psychological contract. The men believed they had complied with the psychological contract; however, the employer's failure to provide employment security represented a violation of the psychological contract. This violation was a highly emotional experience, tantamount to a betrayal. Although compensation could represent the employer's effort to honour the employer/employee relationship, compensation in the form of severance pay was not adequate. Stage 3, disengaging from career, signified the period of time during which the men attempted to come to terms with the loss of career. The men attempted to secure new employment in a world of work different from the world in which they had begun their careers. Although the men sought employment that promoted the employer/employee relationship of career, seeking work revealed career as they had known it was unlikely in the new world of work. Past experience and educational upgrading had little effect on their ability to secure employment. Employers favoured inexpensive labour, immediate skills, and short term working relationships with employees. Generally, the men found themselves working in unstable jobs for less money. The men who secured stable work, gained job security through union membership or self employment instead of relying on the employer/employee relationship. The men's experiences during this stage underscored the experiences of the second stage. Stage 4, the dearth of career, represented the outcome of the men's experiences of the preceding stages. Although the men maintained previous definitions of career, they stated they had lost career and that career is no longer possible in the context of the new world of work. They were less trusting of employers. They favoured a transactional orientation towards work and stressed self interest in work relationships. Whereas, career provided a major source of purpose and meaning in the past, they constructed new purpose and meaning in life by reprioritizing other relationships in their lives, that is, with self, family, and friends. One wonders, however, whether life seemed less meaningful for the men who participated in this study because they maintained their definitions of career. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

Psychologists have begun to assess the effectiveness of interventions focused on assisting unemployed subjects to find work. One of the most comprehensive of these is the Job Club (i.e., Azrin et al., 1980, 1981), a multi-component treatment package which has proven effective in helping various populations to gain employment. The present study utilized three treatment groups to assess the efficacy of the group component of the Job Club program. Subjects (N=32), present or former psychiatric patients, were assigned to either a Job Club (group), a Job Bank (individualized Job Club), or a Standard Treatment (control) condition. It was hypothesized that Job Club condition subjects would show the greatest improvements over treatment on self-report measures of job-hunting assertiveness, self-efficacy, anxiety, depression, and hostility, on measures of interview skills, and on job-finding and rehospitalization related outcome measures. The Job Club condition was also predicted to be the most cost-effective. The Standard Treatment group was hypothesized to show the least improvement on the self-report, interview, and outcome measures and to be least cost-effective. It was predicted that Job Bank condition results would be intermediate between those of the other two groups on these measures. Finally, it was hypothesized that attendance at Job Club or Job Bank sessions would correlate positively with job-finding. Partial support was found for the hypothesis that Job Club subjects would show the greatest improvements in interview behavior. None of the other hypotheses was supported. Possible reasons for the present findings were discussed, including constraints external to the program itself, indicating the importance of a systems analysis approach to interventions such as this. It was concluded that future research should.focus on developing an assessment methodology so that treatment programs appropriate to particular situations may be formulated. / Ph. D.

Summaries in Afrikaans and English / Text in Afrikaans / Die doel van hierdie studie was om vas te stel hoe vaderlike werkloosheid die leefwereld van die adolessent beinvloed. In 'n poging om die adolessent se leefwereld te verstaan, was dit nodig om die adolessent-in-totaliteit aan te spreek. Daar is aangedui hoe emosionele trauma soos die skielike werkloosheid van die vader nie net die adolessent se fisieke-, kognitiewe-, affektiewe-, sosiale- en normatiewe wording rem nie, maar dat dit ook 'n negatiewe invloed op skolastiese prestasie het. Vaderlike werkloosheid het 'n besondere invloed op die relasies binne die gesin. Die adolessent se leefwereld, wat die Gestalt is van al die relasies wat hy/sy gevorm het, word beduidend deur die vader se werkloosheid geraak. Die empiriese studie toon dat die adolessent wie se vader werkloos geraak het, se betekenisgewing, belewing en betrokkenheid negatief is en derhalwe word sy selfaktualisering gerem en is hy uiteindelik op terapeutiese ingryping aangewese. / The aim of this study was to determine the effect of fathers unemployment on the adolescent's life world. In an attempt to understand the adolescent's life world, it was necessary to address the adolescent in totality. It has been shown how emotional trauma, such as the unexpected unemployment of the father, not only impairs the adolescent's physical-, cognitive-, affective-, social- and normative development but also has a negative influence on scholastic performance. The unemployment of a father has a particular influence on the relations within the family. The adolescent's life world, which is the Gestalt of all the relations that he or she formed, is also particularly influenced by the father's unemployment. The empirical research reveals that the adolescent who's father is unemployed is much more inclined to negative meaning, involvement and experience. Thus this adolescent is restraint on his way to self - actualisation and becomes receptive to therapeutic intervention. / Psychology of Education / M.Ed. (Psychology of Education)

M.A. / South Africa is currently experiencing a process of transformation impacting on the welfare, economical, physical and political areas. This process of transformation and socio-economic change has created a number of problems for example - unemployment. During the past decade the South African economy has been unable to provide opportunities for its economically active population. Unemployment in South Africa has undergone a transformation and, currently, the problem cannot, as in the past, be attributed to irresponsibility and instability. External factors are currently causing a situation where stable and self supporting individuals and families are becoming unemployed. Unemployment does not only have socio-economic implications for the country but also psycho-social implications for individuals, the family and the community. Retrenchment can lead to poor self-image, the loss of confidence, limited or even no future vision, internal struggle, depression, tension in the family and other psycho-social conditions...

Young people are often expected to find employment after completing their tertiary qualifications but they often face various challenges in finding employment. These challenges may be due to a variety of factors such as the type of qualification that they hold, structural changes in the economy, lack of skills and experience and the lack of relevant social networks. Furthermore, the current economic climate is characterised by low absorption rates of labour in the economy, poverty and inequalities. As such young graduates may experience various negative effects as a result of their unemployment, such as isolation, depression, decreased self-esteem, dependency, discontentment, loneliness, loss of social status and poverty. Social support has been found to have a buffering effect on people experiencing adverse life events such as unemployment. The focus of this current study was therefore to explore the social support experiences of graduates in the township of Mamelodi. This research study was a qualitative, interpretative phenomenological study. Snowballing sampling and purposive sampling were used to obtain research participants who attained tertiary qualifications. Smaller samples of between 6 and10 participants are commonly used in interpretative phenomenological studies. As such, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 participants. The interviews were audio recorded and transcribed. Thematic analysis was then used to extract themes from the participant interviews. The participant interviews indicated that the participants experienced a lack of finance as the most significant challenge during their unemployment, as they could not support themselves and their families. The participants experienced social support in the form of encouragement and information about possible employment opportunities from their family, friends, intimate partners and their community. Moreover, the analysis of the participants’ interviews demonstrated that social support, especially from the family, was essential for the unemployed graduates to cope with the negative effects of unemployment, even though they did not want to burden their families with the responsibility of providing them with social support. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)

The research study was conducted in Mazakhele, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The aim of the study was to understand the impact of unemployment on the inhabitants of Mazakhele. The primary question of this study was: How does unemployment affect the jobless in Mazakhele? The sample consisted of five females and five males aged between 25 to 55 years who were unemployed. Purposive sampling was used. In-depth interviews were used to collect the data that were analysed using the five steps of qualitative analysis. The findings of the study revealed that unemployed people (a) felt a lack of purpose in life that resulted in them experiencing difficulties in structuring their time, (b) generally spent their time with passive and purposeless activities and (c) experience frustration and anger that may lead to violence, substance abuse, prostitution, drug trafficking and sometimes even suicide. In addition, the participants indicated that unemployed people lose not only their jobs, but also their sense of social identity and self-worth. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)

Summaries in Afrikaans and English / Text in Afrikaans / Die doel van hierdie studie was om vas te stel hoe vaderlike werkloosheid die leefwereld van die adolessent beinvloed. In 'n poging om die adolessent se leefwereld te verstaan, was dit nodig om die adolessent-in-totaliteit aan te spreek. Daar is aangedui hoe emosionele trauma soos die skielike werkloosheid van die vader nie net die adolessent se fisieke-, kognitiewe-, affektiewe-, sosiale- en normatiewe wording rem nie, maar dat dit ook 'n negatiewe invloed op skolastiese prestasie het. Vaderlike werkloosheid het 'n besondere invloed op die relasies binne die gesin. Die adolessent se leefwereld, wat die Gestalt is van al die relasies wat hy/sy gevorm het, word beduidend deur die vader se werkloosheid geraak. Die empiriese studie toon dat die adolessent wie se vader werkloos geraak het, se betekenisgewing, belewing en betrokkenheid negatief is en derhalwe word sy selfaktualisering gerem en is hy uiteindelik op terapeutiese ingryping aangewese. / The aim of this study was to determine the effect of fathers unemployment on the adolescent's life world. In an attempt to understand the adolescent's life world, it was necessary to address the adolescent in totality. It has been shown how emotional trauma, such as the unexpected unemployment of the father, not only impairs the adolescent's physical-, cognitive-, affective-, social- and normative development but also has a negative influence on scholastic performance. The unemployment of a father has a particular influence on the relations within the family. The adolescent's life world, which is the Gestalt of all the relations that he or she formed, is also particularly influenced by the father's unemployment. The empirical research reveals that the adolescent who's father is unemployed is much more inclined to negative meaning, involvement and experience. Thus this adolescent is restraint on his way to self - actualisation and becomes receptive to therapeutic intervention. / Psychology of Education / M.Ed. (Psychology of Education)

In this research project the research participants and I embarked on a journey through the "desert" of unemployment. I was introduced to the research participants at Jacob's Well, a ministry for people "between jobs" The effects of unemployment on a male's identity were explored, as well as the pastoral response of caregivers to people "between jobs". A phenomenological study was undertaken in which interviews with the participants formed the basis of the research. The structured section of the interviews was guided by the research questions, but the largest part of the interviews was about the participants' personal journeys "between jobs." The role of a ministry like Jacob's Well, catering for people "between jobs", was highlighted and recommendations for practical theology and pastoral praxis were made. / Practical Theolgy / M.Th. (Practical Theology with specialiisation in Pastoral Therapy)