No description available.

No description available.

The presented thesis discusses an investigation conducted into the improvement of employee experiences of stress in the workplace. It is estimated that 11.4 million working days were lost in 2008-2009 due to stress-related outcomes, and that stress was described as the top cause of long-term sickness absence in 70% of all public-sector organisations in 2010-2011 (CIPD, 2011a). Indeed major studies have associated chronic stress with individual outcomes such as increased cardiovascular disease, depression and burnout. The work, conducted within one department of a borough council organisation in the East of England, had two main objectives: the discovery of 'daily hassles' that comprise organisational stressors for staff and the intervention design aimed at improvement of stress. A novel mixed-methods approach combining quantitative surveys with Appreciative Inquiry (AI) was utilised, with five phases of inquiry conducted. The surveys (Stages 1 and 5) were utilised to assess the experience of work-related stress and Burnout. Stages 2, 3 and 4 were employee completion of daily logs, semi-structured interviews and focus groups. The ultimate aim of the qualitative work was to design a number of interventions for the improvement of stress. A local stress theory, designed via the mixing of convergent qualitative and quantitative outcomes, found that professional efficacy, relationships and creativity buffered the impact of three major stressors: (too many) demands, (lack of) managerial support and (poorly communicated) organisational change. These translated into concrete examples of procedural 'hassles' and a number of organisational interventions were designed with staff and subsequently implemented into the organisation. It is concluded that the methodology used was fruitful without being largely resource-demanding for either employees/participants or the organisation. Also while the mixing of AI methodologies with quantitative surveys can appear contradictory, it is demonstrated that the pragmatic approach taken led to strong research and practitioner-based outcomes. Lastly the work has demonstrated both originality and new knowledge in a variety of areas, as well as opening a number of future research questions and avenues.

Student Number : 9805453M - MA research report - School of Human and Community Development - Faculty of Humanities / In recent years, there has been increased interest among multidisciplinary researchers in looking at the relationship between religion and health, with the bulk of the literature indicating that religion has largely positive effects on mental health (Masters, Hill, Kircher, Benson & Fallon, 2004; Pieper, 2004; Smith, McCullough & Poll, 2003). Hence this study has chosen to focus on the relationship between undergraduate students’ perceptions of religious orientation, as defined by Allport and Ross (1967), and their perceptions of pressure – a form of stress identified by Weiten (1988). Questionnaires comprising of the Religious Orientation Scale, the Pressure Inventory and demographic information in terms of age, gender and religious affiliation were administered to undergraduate engineering students at the University of the Witwatersrand to explore religious orientation and pressure respectively. The sample consisted of 76 undergraduate engineering students at the University of the Witwatersrand. The results revealed that in this sample religious orientation had no influence on perceptions of pressure. In terms of the demographic variables, neither age nor gender was found to influence students’ perceptions of religious orientation or pressure, respectively. However a significant difference was found between religious affiliation and both religious orientation and pressure. More specifically religious affiliation showed a significant difference in terms of intrinsic religious orientation, selfimposed pressure, pressure in intimate relations and total pressure.

Student Number : 9604621R - MEd (Ed Psyc) research report - School of Education - Faculty of Humanities / The Adolescent Stress Identification Inventory (ASII) was developed specifically to identify stress in South African adolescents. It consists of structured questions in response to which the subject is required to rate a statement according to a given scale. The purpose of this research was to assess the usefulness of the ASII as a structured inventory for identifying stress in adolescent girls who attend a private high school in Johannesburg. The sample of adolescents used in this research comprised only of English speaking girls but with the added dimension of the different race groupings namely White, Black, Chinese, Indian and Coloured. This allowed the researcher to compare the stressors identified by Kruger (1992) with the comparative female age cohort selected in this sample and identify and compare the stressors amongst the different racial groups. Understanding what types of things adolescents find stressful in relation to their stage of development is important in helping the adolescent cope with their “daily hassles” and assists teachers, parents and psychologists in treating and preventing the symptoms of stress. Erikson’s psychosocial theory of development is used as a basis for understanding the complex interaction and integration of physical, psychological and social factors that characterize adolescence as a period of development. The findings from this research suggest that the stressors identified by grade 10 and grade 11 girls, can be viewed in terms of the factors associated with the ASII, namely societal demands, self-concept, future expectations, relations and positive experience. The ASII was able to identify stressors and detect the similarities and differences of the types of concerns that the adolescents from the different race groups perceived as stressful. It is recommended that the ASII is used in conjunction with a qualitative means of acquiring more information about the respondents stress experience.

Suicide risk is increased for previous suicide attempters, who may be vulnerable to exacerbating factors such as daily hassles; yet, individual-level, adaptive characteristics may ameliorate risk. We examined the influence of daily hassles on suicidal ideation and the moderating role of spiritual well-being and its subscales of religious and existential well-being. In our cross-sectional study, 148 African-American female suicide attempters were recruited from a large, urban hospital and completed the Survey of Recent Life Events, Spiritual Well-Being Scale, and Beck Scale for Suicide Ideation. Religious and existential well-being moderated the association between hassles and suicidal thoughts; this relationship was weaker for individuals with greater levels of spiritual well-being. Historically, spiritual beliefs have been important to the African-American community and their promotion may effectively prevent additional thoughts of suicide by attempters experiencing hassles of daily life.

En hög känsla av sammanhang (KASAM) har kopplats till flera positiva aspekter av livet, exempelvis god hälsa, hög livskvalité, bättre prestationer samt mindre psykisk ohälsa. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka den relativt outforskade relationen mellan KASAM och hur studenter hanterar dagliga förtret, hur många dagliga förtret de rapporterar samt könsskillnader gällande dessa. Deltagare var 274 högskolestudenter från två högskolor i mellansverige, varav 60 var män. Data samlades in via en enkät som bestod av 3 bakgrundsfrågor, 64 frågor om dagliga förtret samt 29 frågor som mätte KASAM. Analysen bestod av två tvåvägs ANOVOR för oberoende mätningar. Resultatet visade att studenter med en högre KASAM både hanterar dagliga förtret bättre samt rapporterar färre dagliga förtret. Resultaten tyder även på att kvinnor rapporterar fler dagliga förtret än män, speciellt i den låga KASAM gruppen. Inga könsskillnader gällande KASAM och hantering av dagliga förtret hittades.

No description available.

U.S. working mothers experience frequent daily hassles, yet little is known about how working mothers have disproportionate abilities to handle stress. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to determine the extent to which coping self-efficacy mediated the effect that cumulative daily hassles had on working mothers' health outcomes (i.e., physical functioning, role-physical, bodily pain, general health, vitality, social functioning, role-emotional, and mental health). The transactional model of stress and coping, social cognitive theory, and self-efficacy theory provided the theoretical foundations for this study. Daily hassles were used for this study as an additional theoretical approach for measuring stress. A total of 235 working mothers completed the Daily Hassles Scale, Coping Self-Efficacy Scale, and Short Form 36 version 2 (SF-36v2) on a secure online website. The respondents reported moderate confidence in their abilities to cope with life despite experiencing an average of 44 daily hassles per month. Simple regressions confirmed repeated exposure to daily hassles was significantly associated with reduced coping self-efficacy and health outcomes. Mediation with multiple regression analysis revealed that coping self-efficacy partially mediated the relationship between cumulative daily hassles and health outcomes, suggesting coping self-efficacy was a protective psychosocial factor for working mothers. This study contributes to positive social change by aiding practitioners in identifying protective psychosocial factors and helping working mothers to implement the findings with the intention of reducing daily hassles and improving health outcomes.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Industrial Psychology) )--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.