Thesis (M. A. (Sociology)) University College of the North, 1973 / Refer to the document

This qualitative and quantitative study focused on exploring hospice patient’s perceptions of family support. Family support was conceptualized as which family member they expect to receive support from, types of support provided, frequency of support, family communication about medical illness, and type of support that is perceived to be most helpful. Fifteen partcipants between the ages of 70 to 98 were interviewed using purposive sampling. Findings showed that although participants found both physical and emotional support helpful, more than half reported perceiving emotional support as the most helpful. Recommendations for social work practice and research were discussed.

We live together in society that is composed of individuals who have normal development and individuals who have some developmental delays or disabilities. Therefore, it is important to know and understand what disability is and how it affects the lives of the family members individually also a mother and family as whole. O&#039 / Connor (2002) indicates that being a parent of a child who has a developmental delay is a challenge for the parents. This qualitative, mother-focused study examines the experiences of a mother who is rearing multi-disabled children consisting of mental disabilities, a hearing impairment and physical disabilities / and the effects of having more than one child with multi-disability on mother&rsquo / s psychological well-being. Another objective of the study is to explore how a mother copes with this issue in a family setting and the kind of coping strategies the mother uses to manage the difficulties. Case study design was conducted with the mother of multi-disabled children. Qualitative in-depth interviews are conducted with the mother, and information was gathered in the areas of daily stress, coping, family reactions and well-being. Family Systems Theory provides the theoretical framework of the study. The experience, reaction and communication of the mother with both her disabled children and other family members are examined with the light of the family systems theory in order to understand the interrelation among the family members.

ill this study the interpersonal relationships and especially problematic communication within the family context is of paramount concern. The focus on communication, specifically in the family system, with a view to Biblically restoring communication in problematic interpersonal relationships gives the present study validity and value; this is especially true in the context of family systems in SOllth Africa. The family system in South Africa is under pressure and the. pastoral care giver is, subsequently, also under pressure to provide accurate counselling and intercession when needed to the family as a whole. This study aims to satisfY that need in focusing on restoring communication in problematic interpersonal relationships in the family system from a Bible-centred (Christian) perspective. The areas that the researcher investigated centred on communication in problematic interpersonal family relationships and the way in which communication problems in a particular family system may contribute to the potential problems that the family as a unit may have to cope with. The researcher worked with the hypothesis that problematic communiCation in interfamilial relationships may severely impede the family system in functioning as an allied unit against the pressures of life (for instance fmancial challenges, work stress). If family communication patterns were healthy or at least functional, the hypothesis is that all other problems that a family might face could be handled more easily by a family as an allied unit. The research question of this study is: How can families, with problematic interpersonal familial relationships, be counselled from a Biblical perspective with the primary objective of restoring communication in the family system? Can effective Bible-centred counselling guidelines be set down and developed from a study of family systems as depicted in Scripture, the human sciences and an empirical study in order to restore communication in problematic interpersonal relationships in the family system? This study shows that problematic communication in interfamilial relationships does impede the family system from functioning effectively. Interpersonal relationships in the family system is often complex and communication is only one element present in those relationships which can have a detrimental effect on good family relationships if communication is strained. The overarching research aim of the study was to obtain, develop and put forth Bible-centered praxis-theoretical guidelines on restoring communication in family systems caught up in problematic interpersonal relationships. The conclusion of this study is that families with problematic interpersonal familial relationships can be effectively counselled from a Biblical perspective with the aid of material from the human sciences with the primary objective of restoring communication in the family system. / Thesis (M.A. (Pastoral))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010

Traditional socialization theories suggest that parents shape their children, and parents’ socialization strategies are decided upon largely independent of the children. These ideas, however, have received criticism. In this dissertation, I focus on how children and adolescents influence their parents’ behaviors. Specifically, I examine parents’ reactions to problematic behaviors in their adolescents. In the three studies, I presented theoretical models that offered explanations why parents react as they do to problematic behaviors in their adolescents. In these models, parents’ cognitions worked as mechanisms to explain their subsequent reactions. The overall pattern in the studies was that parents tended to shift in cognitions about their own role as parents and their adolescents’ behaviors when they were faced with problematic behaviors, which influenced their behaviors toward their adolescents. In Study I, parents became less strictly opposed to adolescent drinking when they encountered their adolescents intoxicated. This reaction was explained by a reduction in dissonance between their attitudes to adolescent drinking and their knowledge of their own adolescents’ drinking. In Study II and Study III, parents of adolescents with hyperactivity, impulsivity, and attention problems (HIA) reported that their adolescents did not respond to their attempts to correct their behaviors. This cognition made them feel powerless and, as a consequence, they increased in negative behaviors and decreased in positive parenting strategies. In these two studies, parents decreased in their thoughts of being able to deal with their adolescents’ misbehaviors. In addition, as was shown in the third study, these cognitions seem to be influenced by parents’ earlier experiences with their first-born children. In sum, the results of this dissertation suggest that adolescents influence their parents’ cognitions and behaviors. Further, the results highlight the importance of focusing on how parents’ ways of thinking influence their parenting strategies.

本研究為瞭解女性罹患憂鬱症及復原的歷程，與家庭系統的相互影響關係；及其復原歷程中有助於復原的因素，採質性的研究設計，以深度訪談法訪問三位20至30歲曾罹患憂鬱症、目前已復原的女性。 研究結果發現：在其生病前，家庭中皆有不穩定的夫妻次系統，充滿衝突且關係疏離的父女次系統，受訪者心理層面感到不被支持的母女次系統，疏離的手足次系統，僵化三人組的出現，以及過於糾纏或僵化的界限。她們的自我分化過低，與家中其他成員的連結薄弱，心理距離疏遠，處於一個不被支持的位置。同時，在她們心中都有很深刻、覺得難以原諒的情緒，而這些情緒在這樣的家庭互動型態中，更加無法抒解。 在她們復原後，家庭結構中不穩定的夫妻次系統，及僵化三人組的情形沒有很大的改變。而家庭系統中有助於復原的因素有：(1) 開放的系統：家庭與外界的連結增強，不論是教會或醫療體系的資源都能協助減輕家庭中的壓力。(2)個人良好的自我分化帶動系統的轉變：從生病到復原的過程中，她們經由與其他成員的互動、對話、及嘗試獨立過程，自我分化增強，開始能體會父母的心情，放下原本難以諒解的情緒，與父親的關係變得緩和，與母親或手足的連結增強。(3) 清楚的界限：與其他成員的心理距離調整到較適當的位置，不再過於疏離而無法得到支持，或過於糾纏而直接承擔太多其他次系統而來的壓力。 / The purpose of this research is to understand the process that begins from a woman having depression disorder to her recovery, the relationship between her and her family, and the factors which are good for her recovery. The method of qualitative research and in-depth interviewing are adopted to collect data. Interviewees are three unmarried women who are twenty to thirty, and they have already recovered from their depression. The results show that: Before the women get depressed, their family suffers from the unstable spouse subsystem; the father-child subsystem is distressed; the mother-child subsystem can not get support; the sibling sub-system is estranged; the rigid triad evolves, and the boundary of the family is over enmeshment or disengagement. The degree of the interviewees’ self-differentiation is low; the link between their family and they is weak. They are psychologically distant from their family so they would be unsupported in their family. At the same time, their complex emotion is even harder to be released in this family interacting pattern. After they recovered, the unstable spouse subsystem and the rigid triad would not disappear. However, the family system does change. Factors associated with recovery are: (1) open system: the link between the family and the environment are stronger. Resources from churches or medical system can moderate the pressure from the family system. (2) individual’s self-differentiation urges the change of the family structure: interacting with their family members and endeavoring to seek their independence , they undergo more complete process of self-differentiation. They began to relieve their bitter; they improve their relationship with their father; the link with their mother gets stronger. (3) clear boundary: the psychological distance between the family members and they adjust to a proper situation. The interviewees stop overly disengaging from their family, so they can get support. Meanwhile, they also don’t overly entangle with their family, so they no longer bear directly the pressure from other subsystems.

La transmission des entreprises familiales d’une génération à l’autre est la principale difficulté à laquelle se heurtent les familles qui cherchent à assurer la pérennité de leur patrimoine. Il s’agit pourtant, pour ces organisations, d’un moment stratégique. La plupart des travaux consacrés à ce processus de succession intrafamiliale, se sont intéressés à des entreprises installées dans les pays anglo-saxons ou en Europe, et, dans une moindre mesure, en Asie. Les PME marocaines, familiales dans leur immense majorité, sont confrontées aujourd’hui à un phénomène de succession de grande ampleur, qui se transforme en enjeu national. Pourtant, les modèles de succession, élaborés à partir de la littérature existante, ne sont pas nécessairement en adéquation avec la culture nationale et le système familial dominant au Maroc, un système communautaire endogame (Todd, 1999), dont le fonctionnement est très différent de celui qui prévaut dans les sociétés anglo-saxonnes ou européennes. Cette recherche cherche à combler ce vide. A partir de neuf études de cas, construites sur la base de récits de vie de successeurs, elle élabore un ensemble de propositions, destiné à tenir compte des caractéristiques de ce système familial sur les dynamiques de succession, qu’il s’agisse du processus lui-même, de la gouvernance, de la gestion des émotions ou de la transmission de la propriété psychologique. Elle montre que l’autorité patriarcale, l’égalité entre frères et sœurs, et l’endogamie sont des dimensions critiques de la réussite du processus de succession. Cette recherche cherche à combler ce vide. A partir de neuf études de cas, construites sur la base de récits de vie de successeurs, elle élabore un ensemble de propositions, destiné à tenir compte des caractéristiques de ce système familial sur les dynamiques de succession, qu’il s’agisse du processus lui-même, de la gouvernance, de la gestion des émotions ou de la transmission de la propriété psychologique. Elle montre que l’autorité patriarcale, l’égalité entre frères et sœurs, et l’endogamie sont des dimensions critiques de la réussite du processus de succession. / Family firms’ transmission from one generation to the next is the main challenge families are facing as they intend to ensure the sustainability of their heritage. For such organisations, it is however a strategic turning point. Most of the research dedicated to successions within the family, deal with Anglo-Saxon or European companies, and to a lesser extend to Asian ones. Moroccan SMEs, most of which are family firms, are going through a large-scale succession phenomenon. Over there, this is becoming a national challenge. Nevertheless, the existing succession models, derived from mainstream literature, do not fit with the national culture and the Moroccan family system. This family system is communitarian and endogamous (Todd, 1999), and its dynamics are very different from the ones visible in Europe or in Anglo-Saxon countries. This research aims at filling this gap. Built upon nine case studies analysing successors’ life stories, it manages to define a number of proposals allowing to deal with the specific impacts of this family system during the succession process. The different steps of the succession process, the governance issues, the management of emotions and the transfer of psychological ownership are taken into account. It concludes that patriarchal authority, equality among siblings and endogamy are critical determinants of the succession process’ success.

The point of departure for this study is the linked family system – the two households where the natural parents are living, to which a child of a divorce and remarriage relates. The child has a central role in the study, and is regarded as a part of an extended family system. The position of the child as a link between the two households is unique. No one else except members of the same sibling group moves in the same way between the two households in a linked family system. The main purpose is to identify, describe, and analyse the negotiations which serve to define the link child´s family. The empirical data was obtained by qualitative semi-structured interviews with 27 children and adolescents, 17 mothers, 11 fathers and 14 stepfathers in 17 linked family systems. Topics in the interview guide were ”your family”, an ordinary day in the family, family routines and family rituals. The interviews have been supplemented with drawings and diaries. In research on family negotiation, the family as a joint project and men’s and women’s individual project are strategic concepts for understanding how modern family life works. Three different family types can be distinguished: The ”new” mother-child family, with mother and link child as negotiators, the ”new” nuclear family where the negotiations take place within the mother-household and the ”new” extended negotiation family where negotiations can cross household boundaries. The principles for negotiations are both generation- and gender-specific. The motherhood is here unconditional, while the fatherhood is conditional. For many women this leads to an extended motherhood through acting as chief negotiator between and within the households in the linked family system. The natural father is at a distance from the family’s mundane everyday life but he is expected to participate in decision-making in the child’s life. The stepfather takes part in the child’s everyday life but he seldom engages in a deeper relationship with his stepchild because – ”there already is a father.” The boys create their own individual projects with free time and activities and disappear more or less from the linked family system. The girls, as network builders and moral agents, take over the family as a project. We can speak about the family as the project of the link child – above all the project of the daughter – who works to hold together the extended linked family system. / Ingår även i Göteborgs universitets skriftserie 2000:6, ISSN 1401-5781.

Cancer affects everyone; it does not distinguish between age, race, gender or social background. When a child is diagnosed with cancer, it does not only affect the child, but also the family system as a whole. The focus of this study was on the psychosocial aspects that are affected in the family system once a child diagnosed with cancer. These psychosocial aspects included the emotional impact, the spousal impact, the role changes that occur in the family system, the financial impact, the impact on siblings as well as the impact on religion and spirituality. These aspects were investigated by the researcher during the applied study. This applied study used a qualitative approach with a collective case study research design. The research population of this study included families who have a child diagnosed with cancer, who was treated at Nicus Lodge Cancer Treatment Centre in Pretoria which is a CANSA affiliate. The staff at Nicus Lodge selected participants who met the criteria based on purposive sampling, on behalf of the researcher. The researcher used semi-structured interviews and an interview schedule in order to obtain the participants’ experiences of their child diagnosed with cancer and the psychosocial effects it had on them as a family system. Nine participants participated in the study. The interviews were recorded with the permission of the participants and then later transcribed. Creswell’s steps for qualitative data analysis were implemented. By utilizing these measures and tools, the researcher was able to formulate findings from which conclusions and recommendations could be made. From the findings, the following themes and sub-themes were identified, demonstrating the psychosocial effect that a child diagnosed with cancer has on the family system and answering the research question: Theme 1: Protective measures with the sub-themes of religion, support structures and personality. Theme 2: Restrictive measures with the sub-themes of role changes, single parent, multiple children and date of diagnosis. Theme 3: Financial related aspects with the sub-themes of employment/unemployment, supportive employer, transport and medical aid. The findings demonstrated that many different aspects of a family system are affected when a child is diagnosed with cancer. It also demonstrated that a family system that had the necessary protective measures, were able to cope more effectively and maintain their quality of life when their child was diagnosed with cancer. The findings furthermore showed specific focus areas that a social worker in the health care setting, specifically in the oncology field, should focus on which hinder family systems from coping effectively. These focus areas enable the social workers to provide adequate supportive services to the families of a child diagnosed with cancer. Supportive services are imperative when dealing with a family of a child diagnosed with cancer, and this is one of the recommendations of the study and a focus area for future studies. Recommendations from this study can be used by social workers in the health care field to better understand the challenges that families of a child diagnosed with cancer experience and how to effectively address their needs. Social workers can also utilize the recommendations to find ways to make their services known to the communities and improve their intervention and supportive services to these families. It is important for social workers to improve awareness in the community and to provide them with the necessary resources to cope better with the situation. To better understand this paper, certain key terms were used by the researcher. / Dissertation (MSW)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / tm2015 / Social Work and Criminology / MSW / Unrestricted

No description available.