Thesis (Ph.D. (Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Clinical Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.

Objective: The purpose of the present study is to examine whether level of written emotional expression (EE) and emotional/cognitive processing (ECP) for traumatic events predict health status (CD4 and VL), Category B symptoms, depression and anxiety in an HIV+ population over four years. Specifically, two different scoring methods of two variables within ECP (cognitive appraisal and self-esteem) will be compared to see if a change score (SMCHANGE) or a final score (SMFINAL) better predict outcomes. The possible mediating role of ECP in the relationship between EE and outcomes will also be explored. Methods: This longitudinal study assessed 169 HIV+ and diverse men and women in the midrange of illness as indicated by a CD4 number between 150 and 200 and no previous AIDS-defining symptom. EE/ECP data was gathered during baseline assessment and participants attended follow-up assessments every 6 months for a period of 4 years. Hierarchical Linear Modeling was used to examine change over time in CD4, VL log, Category B symptoms, depression and anxiety controlling for age, gender, ethnicity, education, anti-HIV medication and baseline values for each outcome. In addition, analyses for CD4 and VL log were rerun controlling for medication adherence. Results: Positive EE was found to be significantly related to only CD4 and Category B symptoms slopes. Negative EE was not related to any outcome. ECP was found to be related to CD4, VL log and Category B symptoms slope. No relationships were found between EE/ECP and depression and anxiety. SMFINAL scores on ECP subscales were found to predict CD4 and VL log slope better than SMCHANGE, but SMCHANGE scores predicted Category B symptoms slope better than SMFINAL. Within meditational analyses, ECP was found to mediate the relationship between positive EE and CD4 slope controlling for adherence. Positive EE mediated the relationship between ECP and Category B symptoms slope. Conclusions: Higher engagement in positive EE and ECP within emotional writing about a trauma contributes to beneficial changes in health outcomes over time within HIV+ individuals. SMFINAL seems to be more related to CD4 and VL log slope while SMCHANGE seems to be more related to Category B symptoms slope, indicating that both scoring methods within ECP seem to be valuable. Findings support the meditational role of ECP between EE and CD4, and provide new evidence that positive EE plays a meditational role between ECP and Category B symptoms. These findings can be used to help improve health for patients in future studies or in CBT therapies.

The current study examined the roles of emotional intelligence (attention, clarity, and repair) and coping styles (reactive and suppressive) in the relationship between adult attachment and interpersonal and psychological distress. Participants were 233 undergraduate students from a Southeastern university who completed a battery of self-report questionnaires, including the Outcome Questionnaire-45.2 and the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems. This study utilized latent structural equation modeling in order to explore the well-established link between adult attachment and distress. Results support the notion that both emotional intelligence and coping styles are important variables to include when conceptualizing the relationship between attachment style and psychological and interpersonal distress. Whereas avoidant attachment was found to distinctively relate to emotional intelligence, anxious attachment uniquely related to coping style. Lastly, emotional intelligence and coping styles directly related to psychological and interpersonal distress. Research and clinical implications are discussed.

This study explored the relationship between attachment quality and school connectedness in a high school sample of adolescents. Although there is a literature related to adolescent attachment quality and its effects on adjustment and development, relatively little attention has been paid to the relationship between parent and peer attachment and school connectedness. Further, these attachments and connections have yet to be examined among general and special education populations. Attachment quality has been correlated with identity development, self-esteem, competence, and psychopathology and has been investigated as a mediator in the relation between risk and resilience. School connectedness centers around the theory that when adolescents perceive consistent personal power, attention, and praise, they develop a sense of attachment to their school environment. Further, school connectedness, attachment to family, and positive peer bonds, respectively, have been viewed as protective factors, i.e., preventing adolescents from engaging in health risk behaviors (i.e., violence, risky sexual behavior, drug use, and dropping out of school) (U.S. Department of Education, 2006). The present study included 157 students, aged 15 to 18 years who participated in a longitudinal study (The Longitudinal Study of Co-morbid Disorders in Children and Adolescence). Using quantitative methodologies, analyses examined the relationships among gender, ethnicity, risk status and parent attachment, peer attachment, and school connectedness. Measures included self-report questionnaires of attachment quality and school connectedness in adolescence. Several major findings from the present investigation include: (1) higher ratings of attachment to parents were associated with higher ratings of school connectedness; (2) higher ratings of attachment to peers were associated with higher ratings of school connectedness; (3) students at risk reported less school connectedness than not at risk students; and (4) the effects of peer attachment on school connectedness were moderated by risk group.

The intent of this study was to determine whether implementation of the Collaborative Problem Solving (CPS) model, that has proven successful in psychiatric settings, was equally effective in reducing restrictive practices in public school settings. Many peer-reviewed, published reports suggest that educators are poorly prepared to manage the extremely challenging behaviors of aggression and non-compliance, which are common in students classified with an emotional disturbance (ED). Too often educators rely on ineffective, potentially harmful interventions such as seclusion and restraint, which adversely impact students as well as staff. The nonrandom sample was comprised of students enrolled in two segregated special education schools located in large communities in northwestern Pennsylvania. The enrollment was 69 students in School A and 26 students in School B. The schools serve students, kindergarten through twelfth grade. All students were evaluated and classified as ED by their referring home school district as per Chapter 14 Regulations of the Pennsylvania Department of Education and received one-hundred percent of their special education program in this restrictive school-based environment. This study used a quasi-experimental, pre-test-post-test research design and used two separate existing electronic data sources to test for relationships between the implementation of the CPS model and identified variables (standardized measures of externalizing maladaptive behaviors, incidents of aggression, noncompliance, and disruption, as well as incidents and duration of seclusion and restraint). The analyses included frequency comparisons, a series of Wilcoxon Signed Rank Tests, a series of dependent samples T-tests, and two-way repeated measures analyses of variance. Implementation of the model reduced the incidents of aggression, noncompliance, and disruption, as well as incidents and duration of seclusion and restraint. However, only one of the schools in the study demonstrated a statistically significant reduction of aggression incidents and the use of restraint procedures. The results suggest that when implemented with fidelity, the research-based CPS model is a promising, preventative behavior approach for students classified with ED in a segregated special education school. / School of Education / Interdisciplinary Doctoral Program for Education Leaders (IDPEL) / EdD / Dissertation

Thesis (MSc)--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / Bibliography. Also available via the Internet.

<p><font face="Times New Roman"> <p align="left">The aims of the study were to: (1) explore the education support services required by three learners who were integrated into the mainstream, (2) determine the level of support required by these learners to function maximally in the mainstream, (3) specifically explore the socioemotional ability of these learners to adjust to the mainstream setting. Three cases were explored within an eco-systemic approach. Each case consisted of a learner with a physical disability, the learner&rsquo / s mother and the educator/s who first taught the learner at the mainstream school. Interviews were conducted with all of the participants and subsequently transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis was then conducted to extract themes from the transcriptions.</p> </font></p>

<p>The study aimed to examine how motherhood is constructed by married working mothers and the impact thereof on their working lives. This qualitative study explored the individual experiences of 7 working married mothers with preschool aged children who reside in the Western Cape, South Africa. Individual semi-structured interviews were&nbsp / onducted and analysed using thematic analysis. The study was situated within a social constructionist theoretical framework which holds that it is through our interactions with others that we create, maintain and verify our ideas and perceptions of the world. The literature revealed that despite the advances made by women in society, the notion that women are still the primary nurturers and care-givers is still in existence. This view is largely dictated by the social and cultural expectations in society and further perpetuated by images portrayed in the media. The results of this study revealed that the social and cultural context of the participants holds a view of motherhood that is gendered, comprises ideals of a caring, nurturing and ever-giving mother and links motherhood to womanhood and the female identity.</p>

The present study examines six young men’s, born in the 1980’s, experiences of their relationships with their fathers. The focus of the study lies on the son’s evaluations of their fathers’ influence on them, the men’s emotional language and the experience of the fathers’ presence versus absence. The relationship with the fathers and the fathers’ emotionality are also being discussed. The method used is semistructured interview. The interviews lasted circa 40 minutes. The results show that half of the men experienced their fathers as present during their childhoods and half, as absent. This shows a more present father than previous studies have shown. All the interviewed men feel that their fathers have influenced them in some way, either positively, negatively or both. This result differs from a previous study which shows a primarily negative influence of the father. A majority of the men experiences their fathers’ emotionality to be similar to the male stereotype. Anger is prominent, whereas sadness is a less prominet emotion of the fathers’. The results further showed that the men in the present study verbally expresses emotions mainly through distansing constructions. Keywords: Fatherhood, Father Son relationship, men´s emotional language, men’s emotions