A significant proportion of worldwide research concerning adult refugees has investigated clinical perspectives and emphasised the impact of pre and post-migration experiences as key factors affecting their mental health status. Nevertheless, a clear understanding of their mental health problems and psychiatric morbidity is difficult to obtain due to major prevalence variations and discrepancies between studies. Further, recent studies in New Zealand have underlined the limitation of health providers' abilities to meet refugees' mental health needs. On the other hand, despite the acknowledgment of refugees' endurance abilities to overcome traumatic events during both their pre-migration flight and in their first asylum countries, relatively less is known about their capacities to show positive adaptation to life's tasks in the course of resettlement in a final host country and how this impacts on preventing mental health problems. The current study, therefore, was undertaken to develop a theoretical understanding to describe and explain adult refugees' coping processes in overcoming resettlement difficulties and adjusting to life in New Zealand. This was achieved by using the grounded theory methodology where qualitative data were collected from twenty-six former refugees coming from war torn countries namely Afghanistan, Burma (Myanmar), Ethiopia, Kurdistan region and Somalia who are now living in Christchurch and Nelson. Participants described the basic social process of obtaining a social position as being the main goal which motivated them to develop their coping skills and behaviour. They explained that this was underpinned by the inter-relationship of their personal resources and gradual personal achievements which were influenced by encouraging external support from resettlement services providers and "caring" New Zealanders. Data collected during this study suggest that this dynamic process, in which personality and environmental factors interacted in a reciprocal and transactional relationship, appeared to be the condition sine qua non to negotiate and manage resettlement challenges. Indeed, participants frequently emphasised that if this interaction was not activated they faced greater difficulties in coming to terms with their new environment and in their adjustment to life in New Zealand, thus leading potentially to adverse mental health outcomes. Additionally, quantitative socio-economic data were collected so as to describe participants' characteristics. The study’s findings underline the complexity of adult refugees’ coping processes as well as some of the institutional constraints hindering their adaptation progress which can result in mental distress. These issues require responses which are beyond the health sector on its own. The implications of supporting the development of personal abilities so as to guide pragmatic support and encourage multisectoral collaboration are outlined and discussed. Areas for further research are highlighted as well as strategic issues which need to be addressed for improving the current situation of refugees resettled in New Zealand.

This study tested the relationship of the personality variable of hardiness to the organisational outcomes of job satisfaction, performance and intention to turnover. These relationships were also tested via two alternative transactional models, with a sequential and simultaneous structure for the appraisal and coping processes. Employees (N = 297) from a range of large New Zealand organisations completed a questionnaire on hardiness, appraisal, coping, affect and the three distal outcomes. Bivariate correlations revealed significant positive relationships between hardiness and job satisfaction, hardiness and performance, and a significant negative relationship with intention to turnover. Structural equation modelling results revealed that the direct relationship between hardiness and job satisfaction was the strongest path, which indicates that the higher an employees level of hardiness the higher their likely level of job satisfaction. The simultaneous model provided best fit to the data, revealing a positive path from hardiness through challenge appraisals to positive affect, and a negative path through threat appraisal and emotion-focused coping. This study concludes that higher levels of hardiness are associated with more positive situational appraisals and more effective coping responses.

This thesis is focused on the current concept of coping with stressful situations and the concept of posttraumatic growth of healthy siblings of disabled children. The first part of this thesis deals with stressful situations throughout the life of healthy sibling. The work describes the ways of coping with difficult life situations as well as coping strategies oriented to the future (proactive coping). It also focuses on the positive effects of this experience within the concept of posttraumatic growth. The empirical part presents the data obtained from nine respondents. There were used these methods: interview, narrative inspired by life-story, questionnaire PTGI-CZ and PCI questionnaire. The data were elaborated by means of qualitative and quantitative methods. The aim of the thesis was to identify the coping strategies used by siblings and identify potential posttraumatic growth. The most considerable development was reflected in the areas of "appreciation of life" and "personal growth". The most helpful coping strategies were considered to be positive thinking and positive reappraisal of a situation. We believe that these research findings might be helpful in counselling for siblings or in the area of psychotherapy.