Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / Bibliography. Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (M. App. Psych.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Psychology, 1994? / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 69-74).

This thesis is focused on conflicting divorce and the working methods of social workers in this context. The thesis is divided into theoretical and practical part. The thesis aims to inform about what divorce can mean in a person's life, what the consequences might cause to divorcing parents and a child. The theoretical part is concerned with divorce, its stages and possible types of divorce. It also discusses how children can perceive divorce and what impact it may have on them. Other chapters describe a "conflict" and the way how can be manipulated with child in connection with divorce. At the end of the theoretical part is outlined how social workers should do inquiries in the family in connection with adjustment of relationship to underaged child. The practical part is dedicated to research, which was accomplished with semi-structured interviews with social workers of Department of Social and Legal Protection of Children. The research has investigated what social workers examine in family in connection with divorce and whether they act upon methodological recommendations formed by Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and also whether is the best interest of the child protected sufficiently by their opinion.

Titel: “You can tell us and we will listen, but it is not certain that it is you who makes the final decision” A study about the best interest of the child and the child´s participation in high-conflict families in custody investigations from a family law socialworkers point of view.   This study examined how four social workers at municipal social service section responsible for family law issues interpret the concepts of children's best interests, the child's participation and high conflict families concerning issues of child custody investigations, from a qualitative perspective. The study was performed using semi-structured interviews based on fictitious case studies on these themes. The main results regarding the child's best interest was the perceived lack of accepted knowledge base to assess the current interests of the child and the presence and severity of various risks children may face in the company of their parents. The main results regarding the child's involvement was, according to the interviewed social workers at the municipal social service section responsible for family law issues, that they generally follow the National Social Board of legislative interpretations and recommendations but that the protection aspect outweight the expense of the degree of participation of the child. The conclusion was in accordance with the indication from children's rights organizations the children will often be heard but do not always get their views listened to. The concept high- conflict families was not an established concept, even if the problem was well known. / Denna studie undersökte hur fyra familjerättssekreterare tolkar begreppen barns bästa, barnets delaktighet och högkonfliktfamiljer gällande umgängesfrågor i vårdnadsutredningar utifrån ett kvalitativt perspektiv. Studien gjordes med hjälp semistrukturerade intervjuer som byggde på fiktiva fallstudier kring dessa teman. Ett huvudresultat utifrån intervjuerna gällande barnets bästa var att det saknas vedertagen kunskapsbas att utgå ifrån för att bedöma förekomsten och allvaret i de olika risker barnet kan utsättas för i umgänget med sina föräldrar. Ett tydligt resultat gällande barnets delaktighet var utifrån de intervjuade familjerättssekreterare att familjerätten generellt följer Socialstyrelsens lagtolkningar och rekommendationer men att skyddsaspekten ofta väger över på bekostnad av graden av delaktighet för barnet. Slutsatsen blev att precis som barnrättsorganisationer uppgett, får barnen ofta komma till tals men blir inte alltid lyssnade på och deras synpunkter underordnas ofta ett vuxet barnperspektiv. Begreppet högkonfliktfamilj var inte ett använt begrepp bland familjerättssekreterare, även om problematiken var välkänd.

Thesis (M. A.)--University of Notre Dame, 2005. / Thesis directed by E. Mark Cummings for the Department of Psychology. "July 2005." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 77-82).

This thesis deals theoretically as well as in the scope of application practice with the issue of the children participation in the divorce disputes of parents as basic for the work of the social employee of an authority for the social and legal protection of children. The main target of the thesis was to describe, through the case studies, the course and specifics of the work with the family of a child endangered by the divorce of the parents from the point of view of the social employee of the authority for the social-legal protection of children (OSPOD). The partial target was, based on work with families, to formulate the recommendation for the consulting and activity of a social worker of OSPOD in the family of a child endangered by the divorce conflict of parents. In the scope of qualitative research by means of a case study I applied the method of participating observation, non-structured interview and the analysis of documents to acquire data. Based on the data acquired by these methods I made up four case studies. In three case studies, a more or less developed parental alienation syndrome, each time as a consequence of the alienation syndrome partner. In the four case studies the problems in the relation of the parent and the child after the divorce, originally interpreted by the father as the parental alienation syndrome, appeared as consequence of the non-sensitive involving of the child into the non-settled partner relationships between the parents from the part of parents and grand-parent. The work of a social employee of OSPOD in the investigated families had a consulting aspect, preventive aspect, it was done mainly on the level of individual and group interventions towards parents; that should respect and carry out the rights and duties following from the parental liability; partly the activity was carried out on the level of mediation work. Based on the comparison of individual case studies I formulated in the discussion part of the thesis the recommendation for the consulting work and activity of a social employee of OSPOD in the families of children the rights and interests of whom are endangered by the divorce dispute of parents.

Behavioural and emotional problems in children have been linked with a number of deleterious effects for the child, their family and the community at large. Research has demonstrated that targeting parents through behavioural family interventions is an effective way of ameliorating the negative long term effects of early behaviour problems. A number of evidence-based interventions have been shown to be effective in reducing dysfunctional parenting practices and reducing the severity and intensity of behaviour problems however less than 10% of parents’ access parenting services and even fewer access evidence-based interventions. Some researchers now advocate that a population approach that emphasizes prevention rather than treatment and considers parenting in its broader ecological context is required to increase parental access to evidence-based parenting interventions and reduce population levels of disruptive behaviour problems. One important context that affects parenting is the workplace. Changing economic and demographic climates mean the majority of parents are now employed and must balance the competing demands of work and family commitments leading to increased levels of work and family conflict as functioning in one domain invariably effects functioning in the other. High levels of work and family conflict have been shown to increase psychological distress and dysfunctional parenting and are associated with a range of negative organisational outcomes such as increased turnover and absenteeism. Additionally, levels of work and family conflict are highest in parents of young children indicating that balancing work and parenting is particularly difficult at a point in a child’s life where there is greatest development plasticity. This thesis argues that one way to improve parents’ access to services and to reduce work and family conflict is to provide support to working parents in the form of a workplace parenting intervention. Such an intervention has the potential to ease the burden on working parents, increase parental access to evidence-based parenting support and reduce population levels of disruptive behaviour problems. This research comprises of a randomised controlled trial of Workplace Triple P, a variant of Triple P- Positive Parenting Program that is tailored to the specific needs of working parents. Two studies are presented. Study 1 examined the utility of a model that posits that the relationship between parental exposure to disruptive behaviour problems and occupational stress is mediated by family-work conflict. Data analyses supported the hypothesised model. The relationship between parental exposure to disruptive behaviour problems and occupational stress was fully mediated by family-work conflict. The results of this study provide a rationale for examining parenting in a workplace context by demonstrating that disruptive behaviour problems in the children of employees are related to higher levels of occupational stress and that reducing disruptive behaviour and family-work conflict should result in reductions in occupational stress. Study 2 built on the findings of Study 1 by evaluating the effectiveness of Workplace Triple P, a workplace parenting intervention that aims to assist parents to more effectively manage work and family demands. Using a sample of teachers balancing work and parenting commitments, a randomised controlled trial was conducted comparing Workplace Triple P to a waitlist control condition. Results indicated that participants who completed the Workplace Triple P intervention reported improvements in five key outcome areas: disruptive behaviour problems, parenting style and satisfaction, personal adjustment, work and family conflict and occupational wellbeing. Specifically, compared with participants in the waitlist control condition participants in the intervention condition reported that their child displayed lower numbers of disruptive behaviours and engaged in problem behaviour less frequently, that they themselves engaged less in verbose, over-reactive and lax parenting styles, that they felt more confident in dealing with a range of behaviour problems across a range of home and community settings and enjoyed parenting more. Participants in the intervention condition also reported lower levels of personal anxiety and depression. The intervention was also effective at improving work-related variables. Participants who completed the Workplace Triple P intervention reported lower levels of work-family conflict, family-work conflict and occupational stress, as well as reporting increased levels of occupational efficacy. No changes were reported for participants in the waitlist control condition. Participants in the intervention condition were reassessed at 4-months post intervention. Results indicated that all intervention gains were maintained. Together these studies contribute significantly to our understanding of work-family interface by providing insight into the mechanisms by which family life exerts an influence on occupational stress and by demonstrating that a workplace parenting intervention has the potential to improve functioning both family and occupational domains. The findings have significant implications for assisting parents more effectively manage work and family demands, for increasing parental access to services, and informing family-friendly policies and practices. Research, clinical and policy implications are discussed.

Cette thèse de doctorat porte sur « La vie de couple : Étude comparative entre les couples syriens, français et franco-syriens ». Cette étude met en évidence l’importance d’une relation qui forme le coeur de la première cellule dans la société qui est la famille. C'est la première étude qui tente d’explorer ce sujet à fond. La thèse s'intéresse à l’analyse de la construction du couple dans deux sociétés et deux cultures (France-Syrie). Elle permet de mieux cerner le rôle de l’environnement social et familial dans la stabilité ou les difficultés que traversent parfois les couples. L’échantillon de la recherche est composé de 55 couples (110 sujets). Il est réparti en quatre groupes : 30 couples syriens vivant en Syrie, 13 couples syriens vivant en France, 7 couples franco-syriens vivant en France ainsi que 5 couples français vivant en France. Les outils de la recherche sont les entretiens semi-directifs, le questionnaire de l’entente conjugale et le T.A.T. Les résultats de cette étude sont que les variables étudiées démontrent une différence significative et importante entre les quatre groupes de l’échantillon de la recherche sauf pour deux variables : l’entente conjugale et les activités partagées dans le couple qui ne montrent pas de différence significative. En conclusion, cette étude contribue à déterminer les facteurs de la réussite du mariage, de convergence dans le couple, de la mésentente et les causes de tension et de conflit. Elle fournit des bases afin d’élaborer un programme de consultation visant à améliorer la relation au sein du couple. / This thesis focuses on « the life of couples: comparative study between Syrian couples, French and Franco-Syrian ». This study highlights relationship of the family which is considered as a crucial cell that builds society. This study is the first of its kind that attempts to explore this issue thoroughly. This thesis is interested in analyzing the structure of couples in two diffrent societies and two cultures in both Syria and France. This study focuses on the importance of the role of the family and social environment in either stability or instability cases and in the difficulties that couples are passing through sometimes. The research sample consists of 55 couples (110 sujets), which was divided into four groups as the following : 30 Syrian couples living in Syria, and 13 Syrian couples living in France, 7 Franco-Syrian couples living in France, and 5 French couples living in France. The reserch is based mainly on undirected interviews containing questions about couples life, marital understanding, and projective test TAT. Search results : The studied variables shows a quiet signifiant difference between the four groups in the sample, while there are two variables which are the marital understand and the joint activities between the couple that did not show any differences. In conclusion, this study helps in defining the marriage success factors in terms of matching and agreement between the couple and disagreement between them. Also defining the causes of tension and conflit and provides bases to develop a consultation program to improve the relationship between the couple.

The diploma thesis deals with the impact of family conflicts on the child from the viewpoint of social work. The thesis is divided into two parts, i.e. theoretical and practical. The theoretical part consists of three main chapters. The first chapter generally defines the family and its context. The second chapter is a fundamental one dealing with conflict in general, family conflict as such, the consequences of unresolved family conflicts, as well as methods and approaches to family conflict resolution, including family counselling and family therapy. The chapter also includes an approach of a social worker to a family where a conflict occurs or where a child is being neglected. The third chapter complements the two previous ones, briefly discusses the family in divorce, especially the role of a social worker in divorce proceedings. Furthermore, the development of the divorce rate in the Czech Republic and its family policy. The practical part deals with research focusing on experiences and views of social workers in the area of the social and legal protection of children. The research is directly related to the theoretical part of the thesis as the topic is the impact of family conflicts on the child. A quantitative method was used to carry out the research where the data collection technique was...