The social work profession requires the accumulation of theory, knowledge, skills and their integration into practice. The department of social work at UNISA trains students according to the person-centred approach (PCA). The question thus arises whether the social workers trained in PCA at UNISA are able to integrate theory into practice in their different areas of employment. Exploring this would give the department of social work an opportunity to re-visit the teaching of PCA and make some improvements if necessary. The qualitative study was conducted with social workers employed in different welfare organizations in Pretoria. The following themes emerged from the analysis: the perceived significance of building relationship with clients, the organizational influence in counselling, unique experiences with regard to colleagues who graduated from other institutions, challenges in handling a conflict or crisis situation, and lastly the nature of statutory cases. The conclusions were drawn and recommendations were presented. / Social Science / M.A. (Mental Health)

abstract: This exploratory qualitative study is the first to examine secondary trauma experiences among capital trial defense practitioners, including attorneys, mitigation specialists, paralegals, and investigators, who work as a team in representing indigent clients facing a charge of capital murder which may result in the death penalty. Death penalty jurisprudence has been critically examined in numerous ways, and the negative psychological effects on those who are involved in the process is one of the issues that limited studies have documented. However, no systemic investigation of secondary trauma associated with capital trial defense practice for indigent clients has been conducted to date, and this dissertation aims to address this gap in knowledge. Data were collected through semi-structured individual interviews using an interview guide, which allows participants to express their experiences in their own words in depth, while the researcher can stay focused on the research questions of the study. Data were analyzed using a constructivist phenomenological approach, and thematic identifications were conducted under overarching categories that were closely related to research questions including (1) motivation to engage in capital trial defense practice for indigent clients, (2) challenges in defending clients who face the death penalty, (3) emotional reactions to clients receiving death verdicts, (4) effects of the stress on the practitioners, (5) coping strategies, and (6) support system. The findings indicate that a significant number of the participants had secondary traumatic experiences because of their engagement in capital trial defense practice for indigent clients. A death verdict for clients was perceived as a traumatic experience by the participants because of their long-term empathetic engagement with their clients and their family members as well as the dehumanization against their clients in death penalty jurisprudence. The participants often experienced stigmatization in their communities that was associated with their work, while organizational support in recognizing their emotional pain and attendance to psychological needs was unavailable. The findings of this study suggest that the human cost of the death penalty should be re-examined and organizational effects be made to address the negative psychological effects associated with capital trial defense practice for indigent clients. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Social Work 2016

The study whose theme is the marketing strategies for the fidelization of the clientele, had the objective to verify the degree of satisfaction of the clients with the quality of the relationship practiced in the women's clothing stores in Santa Rosa - RS. The methodology was a research involving strategical attributes of relationship: confidence, sympathy, friendship/kindness, recognition and emotional dimension dispensed to the clients of women's clothing stores in Santa Rosa - RS, with assertives that were analysed by the SERVQUAL method. That method measures tangible items, reliability, receptivity, safety and empathy, and in this study, it was used of relative subjects the dimensions trust, empathy, friendship and human warmth, recognition and emotional dimensions.The study allowed to conclude that the women become faithful to the companies from the relationships with managers and employees of them. The clients value the strategical attributes: confidence, sympathy, friendship and kindness, recognition and emotional dimensions in the relationships established with the companies. The companies that pay attention to these strategical attributes provide the satisfaction of the clients in the relationships and, consequently, the clients fidelization to the companies. The research realized with the clients of women's clothing stores in Santa Rosa, also allowed to conclude that the women's clothing companies are in an upward movement in the scale of quality in relationships, the general average of frequency of 3,37. This index indicates an upward movement to the agreement to the strategical attributes of relationship in focus. It is suggested that the managers notice the improvements required and mentioned by the clients, paying attention to the minimum and maximum degrees of disagreement and agreement in each assertive of the study, to rise the increasing of the satisfaction with the quality of relationships as a return for the action of the applicability of companies strategies. / O estudo com o tema as estratégias de marketing para fidelização da clientela, objetivou verificar o grau de satisfação das clientes quanto à qualidade do relacionamento praticado nas lojas de vestuário feminino de Santa Rosa RS. Para tanto, realizou-se uma pesquisa utilizando-se de atributos estratégicos do relacionamento: confiança, empatia, amizade/calor humano, reconhecimento e dimensão emocional, dirigida às clientes das lojas de vestuário feminino de Santa Rosa RS, contendo assertivas que foram medidas através do método SERVQUAL. Esse método mede itens tangíveis, confiabilidade, receptividade, segurança e empatia, sendo que neste estudo, utilizou-se de questões relativas as dimensões confiança, empatia, amizade e calor humano, reconhecimento e dimensões emocionais. O estudo permitiu concluir que as mulheres se tornam fiéis às empresas a partir dos relacionamentos que mantém com gestores e funcionários das empresas. As clientes valorizam os atributos estratégicos: confiança, empatia, amizade e calor humano, reconhecimento e dimensões emocionais nos relacionamentos que estabelecem com as empresas. As empresas que se atentam a esses atributos estratégicos promovem a satisfação das clientes nos relacionamentos e, por conseqüência, a fidelização das clientes às empresas. A pesquisa realizada com as clientes das lojas de vestuário feminino de Santa Rosa permitiu concluir, também, que as empresas de vestuário feminino se encontram em movimento ascendente na escala de qualidade nos relacionamentos, obtendo a média geral de freqüência de 3,37. Índice este que indica movimento de ascensão à concordância aos atributos estratégicos de relacionamento destacados. Sugere-se aos administradores que busquem atentar para as melhorias desejadas e citadas pelas clientes, observando os graus mínimos e máximos de discordância e concordância em cada uma das assertivas do estudo, para que a ascendência na satisfação/fidelização quanto à qualidade dos relacionamentos amplie-se como retorno da ação da aplicabilidade de estratégias das empresas.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:06:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DissMAS.pdf: 1097300 bytes, checksum: 0523c552783284a2613a52f0ce2a4cc1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005-08-19 / In this work the problem of the multimedia content distribution to a large number of computers is addressed. Specifically, we consider the problem of the server overloading that occurs due to the increase of the volume of requests to receive content. The consequence is the increase of response time and denial of service. As solution a communication model complementing the traditional client-serve is presented. It is based on the cooperative networks, where the clients cooperate to distribute the media, where they act as a kind of temporary server, until the server come back to a normal stage. Using such redirectioning scheme, the data networked traffic on server is decreased which alleviates its load. The proposed solution is shown in detail, pointing the modifications in the traditional model. / Neste trabalho discutimos o problema da distribuição de conteúdo multimídia para um grande número de computadores. Especificamente, consideramos o problema da sobrecarga do servidor, que ocorre devido ao rápido aumento do volume de requisições para receber conteúdo. Como conseqüência tem-se o aumento do tempo de resposta e até negação de serviço. Apresentamos como solução um modelo de comunicação para complementar o tradicional cliente-servidor. Ele é baseado nas redes cooperativas, onde os clientes cooperam para distribuir a mídia, fazendo com que eles atuem como uma espécie de servidor temporário a novos clientes. Com esse redirecionamento, reduz-se o tráfego no servidor, o que alivia a sua carga. A solução proposta é apresentada em detalhes, mostrando as modificações no sistema tradicional.

This extended essay deals in more detail with the organizations which give only health home care for their clients. It is a special form of the health care given to a patient at his home and paid by the state within the framework of public health insurance. During the visits, the patient is treated or rehabilitated by a gualified nurse. All the treatments are put into effect according to the treating doctor´s indications who has called for this care form. Although the questions is a health services, we can see a social influence here, too when the patient and his relations to the people round him are influenced as well. Nowadays. great numbers as state in the Czech Republic. In the first theoretical part, the attention is paid to a history of home care, a definition of basic words and a detailed specification of agency activities. Basides, the clients the services was inicated for are noticed here, too. It also concerns their state of health and social relations to the people around them and the surroundings. The data obtained from my own research are stated in the practical part. This research was carried out by a quntitative method with several techniques of a run interview and a secondary analysis of data in a set of some chosen patients living in the northern part of the Pilsen Region and agencies being situated in that area. The aim of my extended essay is to evaluated a social influence of home care on a patient and to point out the most frequent diagnoses it has been indicated for.

The aim of this work is to map out the scale and quality of hippo therapeutic and therapy dog services in the Czech Republic, and to evaluate the level of education and professional courses and the level of professional exams needed to provide good quality animal-assisted therapy. Special attention was paid to the financial side of the services provided and to the start-up costs involved including the acquisition of the animals, their training, aids, food and veterinary care.

Microfinance, the provision of financial services to the poor, has been celebrated for its win-win proposition of reducing poverty while operating on a financially sustainable or even profitable basis. However, the industry has recently experienced several crises that have challenged both its financial sustainability and its social reputation. As a result, the focus of the microfinance sector on commercialization has given way to a new emphasis on client-focused products and services and on customer protection as the industry’s current priorities. Given the risks it implies both to the social impact of microfinance and to institutional sustainability, the main focus of the current client protection efforts in microfinance is on protecting borrowers against over-indebtedness. <p><p>However, customer protection efforts are struggling with a significant gap of knowledge about the prevalence, causes and consequences of over-indebtedness. There is no agreed definition or measurement of personal over-indebtedness. Especially, there is no appropriate definition for customer protection purposes and for the specific circumstances of microfinance. Existing over-indebtedness definitions mostly centre on default, thus avoiding portfolio quality problems for the lending institutions. They do not take into account that borrowers already experience severe consequences of over-indebtedness before reaching the stage of default. Findings on the empirical prevalence of over-indebtedness and on its causes and consequences may differ based on a definition that takes the borrowers’ over-indebtedness experiences and thus the customer protection perspective into account.<p><p>The first paper of this PhD develops an over-indebtedness definition that is suitable for customer protection purposes in the microfinance context. The definition is based on the sacrifices that microborrowers experience related to their loans. Working with the economics, psychology, and sociology literatures on both microfinance and consumer finance, the paper provides a conceptual analysis of the demand and supply side factors that cause over-indebtedness as well as the role of adverse economic shocks. The second paper reveals the broad spectrum of consequences that over-indebtedness can have on borrowers and on MFIs. It then reviews the empirical studies on over-indebtedness in the microfinance industry to date to shed light on the prevalence of over-indebtedness in microfinance. <p><p>In an empirical field research supported by the Independent Evaluation Department of KfW Entwicklungsbank and the Smart Campaign at ACCION’s Center for Financial Inclusion, the PhD applies the customer protection definition of over-indebtedness that results from the first paper to the microfinance market of Accra in Ghana. The third paper uses this unique database to pinpoint the prevalence of over-indebtedness in this market and analyse the debt experiences of microborrowers. In a second step, by means of a logistic regression of alternative measurements on the customer protection measurement of over-indebtedness, it provides empirical confirmation for the important differences between the risk management perspective on over-indebtedness and the customer protection point of view. <p><p>Finally, the fourth paper of the PhD tests socio-demographic and economic factors on the borrower level for their relationship to over-indebtedness. It sheds light on how the potential over-indebtedness causes that emerge from the analysis of paper 1 relate to the likelihood of a borrower being over-indebted. It also works with the primary database from Ghana and uses econometric regression methods to confirm to what extent theses potential causes of over-indebtedness relate to over-indebtedness in the given microfinance setting.<p> / Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

The aim of this study was to examine how clients who have or have previously had a drug- and/or alcohol addiction experienced interchanges with social workers. In this study, eight semi-structured interviews were made with respondents from an out-patient clinic in a small town in Sweden. Questions were asked regarding clients’ experience of the social workers' attitudes during the initial meeting as well as all continuing meetings. Other possible variables that affected the interchanges, either positively or negatively, including how the clients wanted to be treated, were also explored. Theories used in the interpretation of the results were power and an interactional perspective. The power at the social bureau is unevenly dispensed in favor of the social worker and they should use that power in a non-offending way. Good communication is essential to avoid misconceptions and to make the interaction work well between social workers and clients. The results showed that concepts such as being listened to, mutual trust between client and social worker, and that the clients felt respected, were all important. Aspects that had a negative effect were mistrust from the social worker, lack in professionalism as well as the clients’ attitudes. Most respondents were satisfied with the way they were being treated. / Syftet med föreliggande studie var att undersöka hur klienter som har eller har haft en alkohol- och/eller drogproblematik upplever bemötandet på socialkontoret. För att få svar på syftet undersöktes klienters upplevelser av bemötandet vid sitt första möte och under fortsatta möten. Även faktorer som påverkar bemötandet positivt eller negativt samt hur de skulle vilja bli bemötta undersöktes. För att få svar på syftet gjordes åtta semistrukturerade intervjuer med respondenter från en öppenvårdsmottagning i en liten ort i Mellansverige. Teorier som använts vid tolkningen av resultatet var makt och interaktionistiskt perspektiv. Makten på socialkontoret är ojämnt fördelad till handläggarens fördel, det är viktigt att makten används enligt socialtjänstens riklinjer för att inte kränka klienten. Bemötandet uppstår i interaktionen mellan människor, och det är viktigt att kommunikationen mellan handläggare och klient fungerar för att inte missförstånd ska uppstå. Resultatet visade att det som var viktigt för ett bra bemötande var att respondenterna blev lyssnade på, att det fanns ett ömsesidigt förtroende mellan klient och handläggare och att de blev respekterade. Det som kunde påverka bemötandet negativt var misstro från handläggaren, brister i professionaliteten och klientens egen attityd. De flesta var dock i stort sett nöjda med bemötandet på socialkontoret.

[pt] A presente dissertação teve como objetivo principal testar a aplicabilidade do Modelo de Hiatos para identificar diferenças de percepção entre os clientes e os gestores de uma empresa não orientada pelos princípios de marketing, em relação à reputação de sua marca e de seus serviços. O trabalho apresenta a empresa focal no detalhe e descreve os principais conceitos de marca, serviços e marketing de serviços, além da relação entre eles. O método é baseado na mensuração das percepções dos clientes da empresa em relação aos atributos de sua marca e de seus serviços, as quais são contrastadas com as percepções de seus gestores. Neste sentido duas pesquisas de campo são utilizadas, sendo uma de natureza global e outra restrita aos clientes da empresa no Brasil. O foco principal deste trabalho é a pesquisa local. Os resultados das duas pesquisas serviram de base para apurar o nível de similaridade das percepções levantadas, segundo mensuração feita com base em escalas quantitativas. O modelo de hiatos adotado contribuiu para demonstrar que, apesar da boa reputação da empresa no tocante à sua marca e aos serviços prestados, a percepção dos clientes estudados difere em vários quesitos daquela imaginada pelos gestores da empresa. Este resultado confirma a importância da pesquisa de mercado para o devido monitoramento da marca e do nível de serviços de uma instituição. Objetivando minimizar essa lacuna entre a percepção presumida e a obtida, são apresentadas algumas sugestões para os praticantes e gestores, além de sugeridas novas pesquisas sobre o tema. / [en] This dissertation`s main objective was to test the applicability of the Gaps Model to identify differences in perception between the clients and the managers of a company not driven by the marketing principles, in relation to the reputation of its brand and services. The paper presents the focal firm in detail and describes the main concepts of brand, service and marketing services and the relation between them. The method is based on the measurement of the customers’ perceptions related to the attributes of the company`s brand and services, which are contrasted with the perceptions of its managers. In this regard two field surveys are used, one being global and the other restricted to the firm’s clients in Brazil. The main focus of this work is the local research. The results of both surveys were the basis for determining the level of similarity of the raised perceptions, according to measurements based on quantitative scales. The adopted gaps model helped to demonstrate that, despite the company s good reputation in terms of its brand and the provided services, the researched customer`s perception differs in many areas on that envisioned by the enterprise’s managers. This result confirms the importance of market research for the proper monitoring of the brand and the services level of an institution. In order to minimize the gap between presumed and obtained perceptions, some suggestions are presented for practisers and managers, and further research on the topic also suggested.

Objective: to investigate awareness of customers of Prague pharmacies about the possibilities of treatment of tobacco dependence, including interventions by pharmacists. Methodology: the sample of around 200 respondents will consist of customers of selected Prague pharmacies who are currently smokers. To meet the research objectives, the following research questions were chosen: 1: How often in pharmacy are smokers interviewed about smoking? 2: What kind of smoking cessation support do them pharmacists offer? 3: Where would smokers search professional help with smoking cessation? 4: How much informed are smokers about professional help with quitting smoking in pharmacy? Data collection methods: data will be collected through anonymous questionnaires during an interview; data analysis will take place in MS Excel. Results and recommendations: the results of the questionnaire survey should identify smokers' experience with quitting smoking, including their knowledge of where to go for help to this end. The thesis can help to increase awareness among customers of pharmacies about the possibilities of quitting smoking offered in pharmacies and to increase confidence in pharmacies staff. As for recommendations, specific proposals and comments may be provided to pharmacies concerning smoking cessation advice.