Working in the police service can be very demanding on a physical and emotional level. Many police offers often experience stress, trauma and anxiety which even sometimes leads to suicide. In order to deal with the stressors they face, officers have to use various coping methods. This present study aims to analyse the coping strategies used by police officers in the SAPS and whether these coping strategies change over a period of time. The main purpose is to investigate which coping responses are used most by police officers in the SAPS and to determine how the prominence of these coping responses change over a period of time. This study has a longitudinal approach and will add value to the body of research since no longitudinal study has previously been conducted on coping within the SAPS. Three samples, collected at three different points in time, were used in this study. The first sample (n = 1277) was collected while the officers were newly enrolled, the second sample (n = 463) was taken whilst they were undergoing practical training in the college and the last sample (n = 120) was collected when the police officers had spent two years in the field. The Ways of Coping (WoC) questionnaire was used as measuring instrument. The results of this study suggest that police officers predominantly use seeking social support, planful problem solving and positive reappraisal to deal with their daily stress. These responses are mainly seen as adaptive ways of dealing with stress. The coping responses used least includes escape avoidance, accepting responsibility and confrontive coping. There are clear indications that the way in which police officers use coping responses change over time spent in the SAPS. Over time, police officers accepted significantly less responsibility, and made less use of confrontive coping. Police officers also relied more on planful problem solving, positive reappraisal and escape avoidance. On a practical level it is suggested to conduct interventions in all units, divisions and on all levels to reinforce and refresh positive coping strategies in order to enhance the emotional well-being throughout the SAPS. / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2016. / Human Resource Management / MCom / unrestricted

Bakgrund: Alzheimers sjukdom medför många förändringar som inte bara påverkar de drabbade utan även de anhöriga. Dessa förändringar hanteras med hjälp av olika copingstrategier. Syfte: Att beskriva vilka copingstrategier anhöriga till personer med Alzheimers sjukdom använder sig av. Metod: Studien genomfördes som en kvalitativ studie med en deduktiv ansats, där materialet samlats in från självbiografier. Det insamlade materialet analyserades och delades in med hjälp av formuläret “Ways of Coping”. Resultat: Anhöriga använde sig av copingstrategier så som att till exempel “sätta ner foten” (konfronterande coping), skylla på annat (avståndstagande), dölja sina känslor (självkontrollerande) samt hjälp och stöd från omgivningen (söka socialt stöd), att lägga skulden på sig själva (accepterande av ansvaret), distraherande tankar och aktiviteter (undkommande och undvikande), informationssökande (planerande problemlösning) och positiv självförändring (positiv omvärdering). Slutsats: Kunskap om copingstrategier hos vårdpersonal kan hjälpa anhöriga i sin roll som vårdare till personer med Alzheimers sjukdom. / Background: With Alzheimer's disease comes many changes that affect not only the affected but also their families. These changes are managed using a variety of coping strategies. Aim: To describe coping strategies among informal caregivers of people with Alzheimer's disease. Method: The study was conducted as a qualitative study with a deductive approach, where the data is collected from autobiographies. The data was analyzed and sorted with help from the instrument "Ways of Coping". Result: The caregivers of the study used coping strategies such as, for example, putting the foot down (confrontive coping), blame others (distancing), hiding emotions (self-controlling) and help and support from the surroundings (seeking social support), to blame oneself (accepting responsibility), distracting thoughts and activities (escape-avoidance), information seeking (planful problem solving) and positive personal change (positive reappraisal). Conclusion: Knowledge of coping strategies among health care workers could help families in their role as caregivers of the person with Alzheimer's disease.

Marital satisfaction is one of the main characteristics of a healthy family, and is known as an important predictor of overall quality of life. Stress is unavoidable in everyday life and it can affect marital relationships. Furthermore, employed married individuals encounter more stressors than do unmarried ones, especially when their jobs are demanding and stressful, such as working as medical professionals in hospitals. Applying effective coping strategies and receiving social support, especially from emotionally close persons, are protective factors which can help individuals deal with stress and buffer the negative effects of life stress on marital and life satisfaction. In the present cross-sectional investigation, marital satisfaction was studied in relation to socio-demographic variables, social support, ways of coping, and quality of life in medical staff in Tehran. Data were collected from 653 medical staff who worked in 12 hospitals affiliated with Tehran Medical University using socio-demographic questions, the ENRICH marital satisfaction questionnaire, the SF-36 questionnaire, the Social Support questionnaire, and the Ways of Coping questionnaire. The results indicated that marital satisfaction, quality of life and spousal support were significantly higher in men than women. Spousal support was significantly associated with marital satisfaction especially in women. Multiple regression analyses indicated that marital satisfaction, social support, and job satisfaction combined with socio-demographic variables explain between 12% and 28% of the variance in quality of life domains. Analysing the data with special focus on females revealed a significant negative relationship between subscales of marital satisfaction and using “seeking social support”, “confrontive coping”, “escape avoidance”, “distancing”, and “self-controlling” as ways of coping. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that job satisfaction, social support, and ways of coping explained between 24% and 38% of the variance in seven of the nine subscales of marital satisfaction. Therefore, focusing on the study findings could be helpful in promoting marital satisfaction and quality of life in married medical staff.

ABSTRACT FIRST YEAR COLLEGE ADJUSTMENT: THE ROLE OF COPING, EGO-RESILIENCY, OPTIMISM AND GENDER Yalim, Desen M. S. Department of Educational Sciences Supervisor: Assist. Prof. Dr. Oya Yerin G&uuml / neri June 2007, 68 pages This study investigated the relationship between ways of coping, ego-resiliency, optimism, gender and adjustment of first year students. Participants of the study were 420 Department of Basic English students (173 female, 247 male) from Middle East Technical University in Ankara. The results of multiple regression analysis for the total sample indicated that all the predictor variables (ways of coping, ego resiliency and optimism) were found to be significant predictors of college adjustment. The study found that participants who reported high resilience, optimism and fatalistic and helplessness/self blaming coping scores had better adjustment to college. In addition, the results of the multiple regression analyses conducted for female and male students showed that whereas ego resiliency, optimism, and seeking social support coping, helplessness/self-blaming coping predicted adjustment of female students / ego resiliency, problem solving coping, seeking social support coping, fatalistic coping and helplessness/self-blaming coping were significant predictors of male students&rsquo / college adjustment.

This study aimed to explore the relationship among self-esteem, problem solving ability, ways of coping, social support and suicidal ideation of patients with schizophrenia and the differences between these variables according to the existence of suicide attempt of the patients with schizophrenia. In order to analyse the relationship and find out the differences among patients who did and did not attempt suicide, Rosenberg&#039 / s Self Esteem Scale, Problem Solving Inventory, Turkish Ways of Coping Inventory, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support and Suicidal Ideation Scale were conducted to 90 patients with schizophrenia. The results of the study indicated that there was not a significant main effect for suicide attempt on self-esteem, problem solving,problem focused coping, emotion focused coping, indirect coping, social support and suicidal ideation of patients with schizophrenia. The only variable that significantly predict suicidal ideation found to be self-esteem. The results of the study evaluated and implications of the study were discussed. Finally, limitations of the study and recommendations for future research were explained.

A nonexperimental descriptive study was conducted to determine the interrelatedness among coping strategies, humor and burnout among nursing education faculty. The conceptual framework of this study was based on the constructs of coping strategies and humor which were conceptualized as having a direct relationship to burnout. Areview of the literature concerning coping, humor and burnout supported this proposition and emphasized the need for empirical testing. Coping Humor Scale. Wavs of Coping Questionnaire and Maslach Burnout Inventory were the instruments used to measure the constructs. Academic history and demographic data sheets were also used. Hie instruments were mailed to 285 nursing faculty teaching in programs of nursing in the Dallas /Fort Worth, Texas area. The return rate for the mailing was 70.07%. Burnout among nursing education faculty showed a low degree of emotional exhaustion (54.8%), a low degree of depersonalization (84.7% and a low degree of personal accomplishment (60.7%). The findings did not reveal a high or low degree of burnout but rather a pattern of burnout suggestive of a different stage. Humor as a coping mechanism during stressful events was not frequently used. The highest proportion of nursing education faculty used distancing (46.53%) as a coping strategy. The second strategy used was planful problem solving (11.3%) with escape-avoidance used the least (3.34%). Multiple regression was used to test the research questions related to the predictor variables of coping, academic history and demographic data as they relate to each criterion variable of burnout. The use coping strategies (including humor) to predict various stages of burnout revealed only weak variable predictors. Academic history and demographic were also weak predictors for burnout.

This study aimed to examine the association between specific maternal characteristics (i.e., parents&rsquo / personality, depression, anxiety, affective state, and coping strategies) and childhood ADHD, Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), and Conduct Disorder (CD) symptoms in children with and without the diagnosis of ADHD. Method: Data was obtained from 231 subjects including mothers of 77 children who were just diagnosed by Child Mental Health Departments of Hacettepe University or IMGE Child Mental Health Center and 154 children without any psychiatric diagnosis, who were receiving education from Nebahat Keskin Elementary School. Among 154 non-diagnosed subjects the ones who match best with the 77 ADHD group participants were chosen, considering ages of the children, income of the family, and education of the mother. Results and Discussion: (1) Psychometric Characteristics of the TBFI and CARSS were examined. The internal consistency coefficients of the TBFI varied from .51 (for Agreeableness) to .75 (for Neuroticism) and all subscales of CARSS had moderate to high degree of internal consistencies ranging from .65 (Conduct Disorder) to .92. (e.g., Attention Deficit). Additionally, concurrent validity of TBFI and criterion validity of CARSS were studied. Results revealed that TBFI had sufficient internal consistency and validity, and also revealed that CARSS was a highly reliable and valid measure, successfully differentiating the diagnosed group from the non-diagnosed group on each subscale. (2) Group differences on maternal characteristics were examined. Compared to non-diagnosed children, children with ADHD had mothers with higher Depression symptoms, higher Negative Affect, higher Neuroticism, lower Positive Affect. (3) Regression analyses, which were conducted separately for each group and the whole group, revealed that different maternal characteristics were associated with symptoms of diagnosed and non-diagnosed children. In general while symptom levels of children, who have ADHD diagnosis, was associated with higher maternal Negative and lower Positive Affect and higher Depression and Anxiety symptoms, and lower Extraversion scores / symptom level of Comparison children was associated more with Conscientiousness. These differences were explained by means of the fit between maternal characteristics and vulnerability, lower tolerance, lower adaptation, and compensation skills of children with ADHD (when compared to Comparison group). Results addressed the importance of maternal factors regarding its association with presence, and the severity of ADHD and comorbid symptoms of children.

Researchers have neglected to focus on understanding the relationships between stress, coping, and social support among single mothers versus mothers who are not single. Knowledge regarding how single mothers' lives are affected by stress, social support, and coping is important, and such information can help readers better understand how effectively single mothers raise children compared with mothers who are not single. A convenience sample of 173 mothers completed this study. Participants in this study consisted of mothers who were (a) raising at least one child ages 18 and under who lives in the home and (b) who were between the ages 20 to 55 years old with a 12th-grade education or greater. Participants were classified into single mothers (those who reported their status as single, to include never married, separated, divorced, in a committed relationship, and widowed; n = 75) and those who were not single (those who reported their status as married, n = 98). Data were scored based on 3 measurement scales: (a) the Perceived Stress Scale, (b) the Ways of Coping Questionnaire, (c) and the Social Support Scale. An independent samples t test determined that mothers who were not single had higher social support than did single mothers, whereas single mothers had higher perceived stress than mothers who were not single. There were no significant differences on measures of coping. An analysis of covariance revealed no significant difference between stress and coping strategies among the mothers when social support was held constant. This study contributes to social change by providing awareness of the importance of social support to professionals and for single mothers. The findings of this quantitative study can thus guide single parenting research and interventions.

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