D.Cur. / The purpose of this study was to generate an interpersonal communication skills approach for adolescents. Through this approach adolescents will be given an opportunity to formulate new stories on their interpersonal communication skills in the form of stories about constructive communication skills. This will enable adolescents to maintain their important interpersonal relationships. Adolescence is a period characterised by the occurance of many adjustments and changes. Continually higher demands are made from adolescents in terms of career choices, the choice of friends, release from parents and parental homes, development of autonomy and the successful completion of the adolescent developmental phase. The climate of reconciliation in the post apartheid South Africa pressurise adolescents even more. Sources of support is consequently of great importance to adolescents during this phase of change. Sources of support for example the families of adolescents, members of the community and especially the peer group plays a significant role. interpersonal relationships with the aforementioned groups of persons and individuals must be maintained in order to ensure continued support during and in order to successfully complete the developmental phase of adolesence. This requires constructive interpersonal communication skills. It is however evident that adolescents do not posess all of the required constructive communication skills which would enable them to maintain these important interpersonal relationships. The abovementioned lead to the following questions which were addressed in phase one, -two and -three of this research: Over which interpersonal communication skills do adolescents posess? Which specific interpersonal communication skills needs to be addressed in the interpersonal communication skills approach in order to maximise adolescent's ability to communicate interpersonally with a view to improve, maintain and restore their mental health? Which guidelines can be given for the operationalising of the interpersonal communication skills approach for adolescents? A qualitative, investigative, descriptive and contextual design was followed. The research was conducted in three phases with a pre-phase which preceeded phase one of the research. A topical scenario to be utilised in the course of the research was established in the pre-phase of the research through group interviews with adolescents. In phase one of the research role play was conducted and written dialogue was obtained based on the scenarios identified in the pre-phase. An interpersonal communication skills approach was generated in phase two of the research. In phase three of the research certain guidelines were described for the operationalising of the approach. The researcher concluded from the results obtained in phase one of the research that the interpersonal communication of adolescents included in this research were characterised by an entanglement within four repetative circular interpersonalcommunication patterns. These four repetative circular interpersonal communication patterns are initiated and maintained by certain feelings, thoughts and behaviour. The four repetative circular interpersonal communication patterns are the following: Recurrent circular interpersonal patterns of defocusing and externalizing the topic under discussion; Recurrent circular interpersonal patterns of struggling for power between the adolescent and the other conversationist; Recurrent circular interpersonal patterns of not listening to the other conversationist; and Recurrent circular interpersonal patterns of not focusing on feelings while conversating.

M.A. / Little is known about how police officers who are exposed to daily traumatic stressors in their working environment cope with these experiences, or how the coping strategies that they utilize mediate the levels of psychological distress and possible development of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Focusing on 109 Brixton Flying Squad members of the South African Police Service, this exploratory study assessed the coping strategies and levels of psychological distress reported by these officers following traumatic exposure. The study examined the relative frequency of using eight ways of coping (as assessed by the Ways of Coping Checklist-Revised) with traumatic policing experiences and the association between the use of those coping strategies and subsequent development of symptomatologies and PTSD. Consistent with previous studies with combat veterans, police officers predominantly used emotion-focused coping strategies to cope with traumatic stressors. Nearly a third of the police officers met psychometric criteria for a positive screening diagnosis for PTSD. Results indicated that PTSD positive subjects tended to use relatively more escape –avoidance in coping with trauma, as opposed to PTSD negative subjects. Significantly higher levels of psychological distress, especially depression were also found for PTSD positive subjects, and the use of emotion-focused strategies was positively related to greater PTSD symptom severity and elevated levels of psychological distress. Findings demonstrated the mediating role of coping strategies that have the potential to become either adaptive or maladaptive to occupational and psychological functioning. These preliminary findings are discussed in-relation to methodologic and clinical issues.

O presente estudo teve como objetivo avaliar se as mães de crianças com cardiopatia congênita utilizam a espiritualidade/religiosidade como estratégia de enfrentamento e se utilizam de forma negativa ou positiva. Também avaliou a qualidade de vida destas mães e suas associações com as estratégias de enfrentamento além das variáveis: idade, estado civil, profissão, primeira cirurgia e já ter realizado outras cirurgias, tempo de internação, conhecimento sobre a data da cirurgia e grau de escolaridade. Foi aplicado um questionário semi estruturado com o objetivo de obter dados referentes à religiosidade/espiritualidade, o instrumento que avalia a qualidade de vida WHOQOL-bref (World Health Organization Quality of Life - versão abreviada) e o instrumento CRE (Coping Religioso Espiritual) que avalia aspectos relacionados à: religiosidade/espiritualidade. A amostra foi composta por 48 mães de crianças portadoras de cardiopatia congênita que encontravam-se internadas aguardando procedimento cirúrgico. O presente estudo demonstrou através dos achados descritos que ser mãe de uma criança portadora de doença crônica, assim como a cardiopatia congênita, é um fato estressante devido às freqüentes internações, mudança na rotina, ansiedade com a cirurgia, medo da perda, entre outros. Estas mães diante desses eventos utilizam estratégias religiosas positivas e que estas estão correlacionadas com qualidade de vida / The present study aimed to evaluate whether mothers of children with congenital heart disease use spirituality or religiosity as a coping strategy and are used negatively or positively. We also evaluated the quality of life of these mothers and their associated coping strategies besides their variables: age, marital status, occupation, first surgery and other surgeries that were already performed, length of stay, knowledge of the date of surgery and schooling . We applied a semi-structured questionnaire in order to obtain data on religiosity or spirituality, the instrument that assesses the quality of life WHOQOL- BREF (World Health Organization Quality of Life - short version) and the instrument CRE (Religious Coping Spiritual) which evaluates aspects related to: religiosity or spirituality. The sample consisted of 48 mothers of children with congenital heart disease who were hospitalized awaiting surgery. The present study demonstrated by the findings reported to be a mother of a child with chronic illness, as well as congenital heart disease, it is a stressful fact due to frequent hospitalizations, change in routine, anxiety with surgery, fear of loss, among others. These mothers before these strategies use positive religious events and these are correlated with the quality of life

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to explore the life experiences of multiparous teenage mothers at selected communities in the Eastern Cape Province. The population for this study was pregnant teenage mothers aged 12-18 years having at least one previous pregnancy, living in the catchment areas of the provincial hospital of Bizana in the Alfred Nzo District of the Eastern Cape Province. Data were collected through 12 semi-structured individual interviews using a selfdeveloped interview schedule. The transcribed interviews were analysed by means of thematic analysis, using the five stages according to Terre Blanche, et al. (2006), namely familiarisation, inducing themes, coding, elaboration, and checking. Subcategories were grouped into 12 categories and five main themes. Findings on the life experiences of the multiparous teenage mothers are described according to the main themes, namely the everyday life of the teenage mothers, cultural practices leading to pregnancies, factors contributing to pregnancies, challenges experienced by teenage mothers, and messages from the teenage mothers. Recommendations focus on the role of social services to engage the multidisciplinary team and the community to assist in the empowerment of young mothers to break the cycle of multiparous teenage pregnancies and the negative impact thereof on the lives of young mothers. / Health Studies / M. P. H.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Prospective epidemiologic evidence indicates that both stressful life events (SLEs) and depression are associated with an increased risk of subclinical atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease (CVD) events. Even though stressful life events (SLEs) and depression co-occur and may act together to influence cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, these psychosocial factors have been mainly examined in isolation. For instance, depression may moderate the relationship between SLEs and CVD outcomes. I hypothesized that depressive symptoms would potentiate the deleterious effect of SLEs on subclinical atherosclerosis. This hypothesis is plausible, given that depressed adults exhibit exaggerated and prolonged sympathetic nervous system, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, and inflammatory responses to stress, which in turn could promote atherosclerosis. As compared to their nondepressed counterparts, depressed individuals may also be more likely to engage in maladaptive methods to cope with SLEs (e.g., increased tobacco use, alcohol use, and consumption of low-nutrient, energy dense foods), which could also promote atherosclerosis. I examined cross-sectional data from 274 to 279 (depending on the outcome measure) older, African American adults (mean age = 66 years, 67% female) with no evidence of clinical CVD or dementia who participated in the St. Louis African American Health-Heart study (2009–2011). Number of SLEs was assessed using the Life Events Calendar, a structured interview. From this interview, a continuous SLEs variable was computed (number of adult SLEs: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, or 11+). Severity of depression symptoms was measured using the 17-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D). Two measures of subclinical atherosclerosis were obtained: carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT; assessed by ultrasonography) and coronary artery calcification (CAC; assessed by multi-detector computerized tomography). I conducted linear (CIMT) and logistic (CAC) regression models, first adjusted for demographics (age, sex, education) and then fully-adjusted (demographics; mean arterial pressure; low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C); hemoglobin A1c; BMI; tobacco use; diabetes diagnosis; and use of antihypertensitve, lipid lowering, antidiabetic, and antidepressant medications). No main effects of SLEs or HAM-D were found for CIMT or CAC. There were also no SLEs by HAM-D interactions for CIMT or CAC. Because the current results are largely inconsistent with prior literature and there is a paucity of studies utilizing African American samples, future research is needed to examine the independent and interactive associations of SLEs and depressive symptoms with measures of subclinical atherosclerosis. If the present results are replicated, it may suggest that SLEs, depressive symptoms, and their interactive effect are not cardiotoxic among African American adults.

This article builds upon previous theoretical work on job loss as a status passage to help explain how people's experiences of involuntary unemployment affected their mental well-being during the 2009-2010 economic recession. It proposes a middle-range theory that interprets employment transitions as status passages and suggests that their health and well-being effects depend on the personal and social meanings that people give to them, which are called properties of the transitions. The analyses, which used a thematic approach, are based on the findings of a qualitative study undertaken in Bradford (North England) consisting of 73 people interviewed in 16 focus groups. The study found that the participants experienced their job losses as divestment passages characterised by three main properties: experiences of reduced agency, disruption of role-based identities, for example, personal identity crises, and experiences of 'spoiled identities', for example, experiences of stigma. The proposed middle-range theory allows us to federate these findings together in a coherent framework which makes a contribution to illuminating not just the intra-personal consequences of unemployment, that is, its impact on subjective well-being and common mental health problems, but also its inter-personal consequences, that is, the hidden and often overlooked social processes that affect unemployed people's social well-being. This article discusses how the study findings and the proposed middle-range theory can help to address the theoretical weaknesses and often contradictory empirical findings from studies that use alternative frameworks, for example, deprivation models and 'incentive theory' of unemployment.

Violent cnme is among the most prominent distinguishing characteristics of South African society, it has a severely traumatising effect on the populations concerned. Based on research :findings and existing literature, this study explores traumatic effects of violent crime on the most intimate associate of the victim (the partner). Accordingly, this study deals with the much-neglected topic of secondary trauma, by focusing on the following aspects of or conditions associated with violent crime and the secondary victim: cognitive, emotional and relational effects the experience of trauma, loss, vulnerability, depression and acute stress. It reveals that, depending on the severity of the incident, its consequences for the partner of the victim may range from post-traumatic stress to acute stress or secondary traumatic stress. From the similar results returned for primary and secondary victims, it is apparent that in the future, both victim and supporter should have their needs addressed with equal emphasis. / Educational Studies / M.Ed. (Specialisation in Guidance and Councelling)

The prevalence of divorce within society is reflected in the rising divorce rate worldwide. Consequently, divorce has become more accepted, although adolescents from divorced families are considered at risk for maladjustment. The aim of this study is to give a voice to adolescents who have experienced their parents' divorce and to highlight their resilience despite the challenges they faced. The epistemological framework is social constructionism. In-depth interviews with two adolescents who have experienced the divorce of their parents were undertaken. The method of analysis used was `Thematic content analysis'. The participants' stories were recounted through the lens of the researcher in the form of themes. Recurring themes in these stories were elucidated and linked with the literature. This study allowed rich and detailed descriptions about adolescents' experiences to emerge, which the researcher hopes will broaden the therapeutic understanding of the complexities of divorce for the adolescents who survive it. / Psychology / MA (Clinical Psychology)

This study investigated the relationship between specific psychosocial factors and susceptibility to the common cold in a sample of 124 distance runners. A cross-sectional survey design was used to assess the role of life events, coping, hardiness, training workload and competition frequency in the athlete's risk of infection. Using correlational statistical techniques, it was found that the magnitude of recent life changes and the avoidance coping strategy of denial were positively related to self-reported symptoms of the common cold. Furthermore, a significant inverse correlation was observed between hardiness and symptom duration scores. However, approach coping, training workload and competition frequency were not significantly related to the dependent measures. The results of this study suggest that certain stress-related psychosocial factors are associated with susceptibility to the common cold in distance runners. Several strategies for the prevention and treatment of upper respiratory tract infections in this group are implied by these findings. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)