D.Litt.et Phil. (Social Work) / This study was conducted within the context of the Mining Industry. The empirical investigation involved 80 apprentice and three Lifestyle trainers based at the Goldfields Training Centre in Luipaardsvlei. The aim of this research was to: (i) Assess the applicability of R R Carkhuff's measurable model of human processing as a basis for a South African based Lifestyle programme. (ii) Research available material in respect of motivating the implementation of Wellness strategies within South African Corporations. (iii) Validate a Lifestyle programme and trainer material for the mining industry which is designed to positively impact apprentice productivity in respect of their living, learning and working life spheres. It was found that: (i) R R Carkhuff's human processing model of programme development and trainer training provided a solid foundation for an effective Lifestyle programme in the South African mining industry. (ii) The literature and research studies indicate that a preventative orientation in respect of employee development and pro-active measures are good financial investments.

Magister Artium (Sport, Recreation and Exercise Science) - MA(SRES) / Pursuing a career as a professional athlete has become a viable option for talented athletes to pursue. However, in their pursuit of athletic excellence many athletes neglect their academic, work and post sport career planning. To help athletes with participation, educational, development and lifestyle issues many countries have developed athlete assistance programs. To achieve the objective of a Winning Nation and help talented South African athletes develop and perform at a higher level the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) plans to establish a national academy system. The role of the academy system is to assist in addressing the demographics of the national teams by accelerating the development of talented athletes particularly those from the disadvantaged groups. To ensure that a holistic approach is taken towards athlete development one of the services that will be provided is life skills training. To develop a successful life skills program, it is essential to identify the important life skills to include. Aim The aim of the study was to explore and identify the life skills necessary for inclusion in Life Skills programs in South African elite sport focusing on the development of adolescent athletes to enable them to grow up competent, healthy and reach their full potential. Design A pure qualitative research design was employed using thematic analysis. Data was analysed through the lens of Positive Youth Development (PYD) theory. Moreover, a semi-structured interview guide, consisting of open ended questions, was developed utilizing the 5 C’s of PYD as themes to facilitate the interview process. Nine current adolescent elite South African athletes, on the MacSteel Maestro’s program, participated in the study. A purposive sampling procedure informed the sampling process and a thematic coding framework was developed to analyse the interview data. Results Findings of the research provided a contribution to the literature in two ways. First, it provided a South African perspective of the life skills needed by elite adolescent athletes. Secondly, it identified the life skills elite adolescent South African athletes deemed important for their holistic development to include in life skills programs in South African elite sport. Time management and self - esteem / self – confidence skills were identified as the crucial life skills to be developed. Conclusion In general it can be concluded that the participants have benefitted from being on the MMP, and that the participants exhibited characteristics of competence, confidence, character, connection and caring / compassion both in and out of sport. / CATHSSETA

Many of today's children find themselves with an unprecedented amount of freedom to choose what sort of life to pursue. A corollary of this freedom however is the burden of sorting through the many options which life offers. Without some guidance in wading through this values-minefield, some children simply become stuck, unable to choose or to choose well. What is a good life? What sorts of goods in life ought we to pursue? These questions motivate the present project but they are not ones which I attempt to answer. Instead, I examine the kinds of tools that could help students to answer such questions in a thoughtful, intelligent and caring way. In order to live a good life, we need to choose well regarding what is valuable. In this thesis I argue that such a process, choosing well about what is valuable, is the result of wisdom. Wisdom is that set of characteristics which allows us to live well. This thesis is the development and justification of this conception of wisdom. It explores how wisdom is related to three key concepts: knowledge, value and morality. I do not argue that this is the only way to think about wisdom. However, it is a way of thinking about wisdom which could usefully and justifiably find a place in the educational system of a liberal democratic state. This thesis is an attempt to understand how educators can teach for the most important goal in life: how to live well. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

In 1991, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) created the Challenging Athletes' Minds for Personal Success (CHAMPS)/Life Skills Program to support the student development initiatives of participating universities and colleges and to enhance the quality of the collegiate student-athlete experience within the university setting (NCAA, 2005). The CHAMPS/Life Skills Program focuses on five areas: Academic Excellence, Athletic Excellence, Personal Development, Career Development, and Service. Very few modifications have been made to the CHAMPS/Life Skills Program Educational material. The material is out of date and does not meet the needs of instructors or collegiate student-athletes. Many university faculty members use various forms of technology to supplement their teaching methods. The current presentation of the CHAMPS/Life Skills Program content exists only in paper- and pencil- format.The purpose of this creative project was to update the existing CHAMPS/Life Skills Program material and transform the material into an electronic format. This project focused on updating the Personal Development chapter, including updates to topics such as: stress management and self-esteem. A Sport Psychology chapter was created to equip CHAMPS/Life Skills Program instructors with sport psychology knowledge applicable to a collegiate student-athlete population. Electronic and additional hard copy resources were created in this project. The updated chapters and an evaluation form were distributed to three academicians familiar with the Creative Project. The academicians were asked to provide feedback and evaluate the updated chapters. The provided feedback can be used during the final preparation of the CHAMPS/Life Skills Program Manual. / School of Physical Education, Sport, and Exercise Science

In South Africa, many health and social problems such as HIV/AIDS, substance abuse, teenage pregnancy, truancy and violence are constantly on the increase. Measures to combat these problems have until now proved unsuccessful. As a result the social functioning of young people become detrimentally affected. Therefore it is necessary to find new ways of preventing these pathological phenomena, since the future demography of the country depends on the physical, psychological, emotional and cognitive aspects of the present generation. The study was undertaken to assess life-skills education at schools. The researcher felt that it is important because inadequate life-skills education make children vulnerable to social pathologies. The major tools used for data collection were questionnaires and literature reviews. A sample of 43 schools was drawn in the North-West and Mpumalanga Provinces. The findings revealed that the schools and parents do not prepare children for life. That is schools do not offer Life-Skills education or the time spent on Life Skills education is minimal and educators are insufficiently equipped to offer Life-Skills education programmes. It is also found that children receive their sex education from their peers. This shows that parents do not play their role with regard to the proper socialisation of children. The study suggests that life-skills education programmes and more in-service training be organised for educators so that they can offer effective Life-Skills education to learners. Finally, the study submits that, to be successful, prevention should focus on comprehensive team approach. Prevention is not a limited function of educators, social workers or health professionals, but it can be provided in a concerted effort by all these professionals, parents as well as the community. Through this, the increase of health and social problems can be minimised among young people. / (M. SWK.) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2003

Thesis (M. Ed.)--Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, 1992. / Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 45-06, page: 2748. Abstract precedes thesis as [1] preliminary leaf. Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 70-71).

Thesis (M.S.)--Miami University, Dept. of Kinesiology and Health, 2008. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references.

As a thesis topic I chose Awareness graduates of the course Life Skills in Zambia. The present thesis consists of two parts - theoretical and practical. The theoretical part with the support of specialized literature devoted to the general description of the development problems of sub-Saharan countries. Furthermore, the theoretical part I describe precisely Zambia in the context of development issues. The last part is devoted to the characteristics of the course Life Skills and NGO ARHA, under whose leadership the whole project was created. The aim of the thesis is to determine the degree of awareness of graduate course Life Skills in Zambia. Examined Life Skills circuits become sex education, HIV/AIDS and gender. These areas were chosen because they are among the most discussed topics in the countries of sub-Saharan Africa. The thesis I established three research questions that relate to the issue. In the research part of the thesis I tried to answer them. It was the following research questions: What is the awareness of graduate course Life Skills in sex education? What is the awareness of graduate course Life Skills for HIV/AIDS? What is the awareness of graduate course in Life Skills gender? For the realization of research, I chose a qualitative research method semi- structured interview. Own research conducted in the building of technical secondary school Kambule in Zambia, where a six-month course in Life Skills took a place. Individual interviews were carried out during the period October - November 2014. The results of research show that the level of awareness of graduate course Life Skills is determined in the context of socio-cultural factors. During the half-year course graduates were informed just by socially tolerated facts. The information transmitted within the preventive and educational programs are considerably truncated, especially in the area of sex education. Life graduates of the course are indeed aware of thepreventive use of condoms, but it is emphasized that premarital sex is a sin. Cult marriages in Zambia has an important role. Due to the fact that Zambia is characterized as patriarchal society are women, especially in marriage, denied many rights. For example it is not generally tolerated the use of condoms within marriage. The research results show just on the above-mentioned facts, which stems from a purely traditional social order. Preventive educational programs are focused exclusively on measures that are in line with the traditional values of society - sexual abstinence and decisive rejection of premarital sex. A major shortcoming of preventive education programs is precisely this form of rigidity, lacking flexible response to current problems in society. Unfortunately, during the six-month course Life Skills graduates weren´t given relevant information that would help them respond to current problems in society. For example promotion and distribution of condoms was prohibited before the course has already started. The above-mentioned facts can be described as barriers in education and in the development of Zambia. Traditional patterns of behavior in Zambia are very deeply rooted and overcoming them can be considered difficult. However, this fact does not involve only the poor form of preventive education programs, but also low awareness participants on the issue. Based on a six-month course Life Skills and research in collaboration with the NGO ARHA was made a publication, which summarizes the lessons learned and also suggests ways how to improve the efficiency of the upcoming course.

D. Ed. (Multiculturalism and Education) / This research will look at specific problem areas specifically pertaining to life skills which hamper the disadvantaged pupil in his development in the formal and non-formal educational sector of the school. with these identified factors, I aim to develop an acceptable information base for staff who have no in-service training as to how to assist, handle and participate with the sudden influx of disadvantaged pupils. This study is therefore aimed at gaining information to assist the teacher as well as the pupil. Reasons for the non-performance and thus the high failure rate, will also be noted in this study. One of the aims is to use pupil feedback extensively for the required information. My final aim is to illicit future research in this direction, thus assisting all parties.

In this study an attempt was firstly made to define, describe and explicate the phenomenon of HIV/AIDS providing a basis for understanding the multidimensional nature, key characteristics and impact of HIV/AIDS in terms of its background, the current status as well as the future of the epidemic. Literature concerning HIV/AIDS in general, global and in particular the South African situation was discussed. Secondly the concept AIDS orphans was investigated after which grounding, description and explanation of the problems and needs of AIDS orphans were presented in order to give a clear picture of challenges faced by these children. Problems of orphan-hood such as legal and ethical issues, socio-emotional issues, educational issues, financial issues and child-headed households were identified. The study focused on early adolescent AIDS orphans therefore adolescence, as a life phase with specific emphasis on early adolescence was reviewed. Hereafter, the researcher presented a newly self-developed life skills programme for early adolescent AIDS orphans (i.e. AIDS ORPHANS LIFE SKILLS PROGRAMME) followed by all the empirical research findings, a general summary, conclusions and recommendations. The broad aim of the study was to develop and empirically test the effectiveness of a life-skills programme for early adolescent AIDS orphans. Two research questions and a hypothesis were formulated for the study. The research questions included: (a) what is the nature and prevalence of socio-emotional needs and problems of early adolescent AIDS orphans? (b) What are the life skills needed by early adolescent AIDS orphans? Accordingly the hypothesis of the study read: If early adolescent AIDS orphans undergo a life-skills programme then their skills will be enhanced in order to cope better with their socio-emotional needs and problems. In the context of applied research the type of research conducted in this study was intervention research. This type of research was relevant for this particular study because it is a problem-solving process seeking an effective intervention programme for the promotion of life skills for early adolescent AIDS orphans. In view of the fact that the AIDS orphan situation is a crises for the whole nation innovative preventative positive educational programmes for children orphaned by AIDS are deemed pivotal. The focus of this research study was two-folded using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods. The first phase of the study was qualitative and explorative in nature. The aim of the researcher was to have a broader understanding of the phenomenon HIV/AIDS, the socio-emotional needs and problems of and life skills needed by early adolescent AIDS orphans in South Africa. The focus of the second phase was to develop a life skills programme for early adolescent AIDS orphans, based on the information collected in the first phase of the study and then to empirically test the effectiveness of the newly developed life skills programme. The researcher used semi-structured interviews with a schedule to collect qualitative data during the first phase of the research. During the second phase, the researcher utilised a self-constructed group administered questionnaire to collect quantitative data before and after implementation of the life skills programme (pre-test and post-test). In order to explore the socio-emotional needs and problems of and life skills needed by early adolescent AIDS orphans, a phenomenological design seemed appropriate. The research design was selected to reach the first three objectives of the study, namely: To conceptualise theoretically the phenomenon of HIV/AIDS and AIDS orphans, the specific characteristics, needs and problems of early adolescents as well as life skills for early adolescents; a) To explore and identify the nature and prevalence of socio-emotional needs and problems of early adolescent AIDS orphans; b) To explore and identify the life skills which AIDS orphans, in their early adolescent phase need to improve their coping capabilities; Qualitative data through semi-structured interviews with a schedule was collected. The sample thus included 40 respondents i.e. 10 social workers, 10 caregivers and 20 AIDS orphans. The empirical research findings based on the first part of the study confirmed that HIV/AIDS has forced vast numbers of children into precarious circumstances, putting them at high risk of becoming infected with HIV. AIDS orphans are especially vulnerable to HIV infection for a host of social and economic reasons including poverty, sexual exploitation, violence, and lack of access to HIV information and prevention services. The consequence of this is that children are often socially isolated and deprived of basic social services. The findings further confirmed that there are currently no life skills programmes specifically designed for early adolescent AIDS orphans in South Africa. Deficiencies in life skills contribute to the vulnerability and exploitation of these children. Life skills were viewed as crucial in improving the quality of life of AIDS orphans. Life skills can enable adolescents to develop sound and positive view of life. The researcher also applied the comparison group pretest-posttest design (i.e. a quasi-experimental comparison group pretest-posttest design) with respondents to reach the last three objectives of the study, namely: a) To develop a life-skills programme for early adolescent AIDS orphans; b) To empirically test the effectiveness of the developed life skills programme for early adolescent AIDS orphans; and c) To suggest practical recommendations for further utilisation of the newly developed life skills programme for early adolescent AIDS orphans. The researcher developed a life skills programme for early adolescent AIDS orphans namely AIDS Orphans Life Skills Programme. The evaluation of the self-developed life skills programme for early adolescent AIDS orphans was done by a self-constructed group administered questionnaire in the pre-test i.e. before implementation of AIDS orphans life skill programme, and post-test with both the experimental (30 respondents) and comparison group (30 respondents). The sample thus included a total of 60 early adolescent AIDS orphans and the empirical data was collected to include 2 measurements once before and once after the intervention (AIDS orphans life skills programme). The findings confirmed that there was a statistical significance difference in the experimental groups life skills (i.e. sense of identity and self-esteem, communication, assertiveness, self-awareness, coping and stress management, decision making, problem solving, conflict management and a healthy life style) with a 95% chance that the results were due to AIDS Orphans Life Skills. There was not statistical difference in the experimental groups critical and creative thinking skills. Nine out of ten key elements of AIDS orphans life skills programme were thus successful in that they promoted life skills amongst early adolescent AIDS orphans. AIDS orphans life skills programme is perceived as having had the impact that was hoped for. / Thesis (DPhil (Social Work))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Social Work / unrestricted