Effective communication is an important concern when working with individuals with hearing loss. This concern is apparent in the long-term elder care setting, where caregivers communicate with older adult patients every day, many of whom have hearing loss. However, there is limited training available to these caregivers working with residents with hearing loss. The purpose of this project is to establish the need and context for the development of an educational program for caregivers working with these residents with hearing loss. A total of 38 caregivers employed by three elder care facilities in Tucson, Arizona were surveyed. Results from this survey demonstrated that caregiver respondents felt they are knowledgeable and comfortable working with residents with hearing loss. However, there was an apparent gap as caregivers also reported that the presence of hearing loss among residents makes their jobs more difficult and stressful. Furthermore, they reported feeling that hearing loss impacts communication with residents and negatively effects the quality of care. Based on the findings of this survey, there is a need identified for educational opportunities for caregivers working with residents with hearing loss. The findings from this survey provide a foundation for the establishment of hearing health continuing education programs for caregivers working in long term elder care facilities. Specific recommendations regarding potential content of training programs are offered based on the survey findings. Implementation of caregiver trainings may ultimately lead to improved caregiver-resident communication and positively impact the quality of life for residents with hearing loss.

Employee Assistance Programme is a work-site based programme design to assist in the identification and resolution of productivity problems associated with employees impaired by personal, legal, emotional, stress, or other personal concerns, which may adversely affect employee job performance (Terblanche, 1999:4). The researcher was motivated to conduct this study by her observation of social problems at the hospital as well as and the hospital’s CEO’s interest in the EAP. The literature review had little on the concept of EAP in hospitals. The majority of information used in this study is on the rationale, goal and the functions of EAP. Secondly, the researcher consulted the experts and pilot tested the questionnaire. This study was aimed at exploring a need for the employee Assistance Programme at Johannesburg Hospital. The sample comprised of 74 staff members chosen from different disciplines in the hospital. The approach of this study is a quantitative approach, the type of research is applied research and the research design is exploratory research. Research procedures and strategy used is a hand delivered questionnaire. The information gathered was presented through tables and figures. The researcher found that there is a need for an Employee Assistance Programme for the employees of the Johannesburg Hospital. The form and type of service required were that of internal or indigenous EAP, with offices in the social work department and should be run by the social work department. Based on the researcher’s opinion, a combination of the internal and external EAP is more beneficial in that the two have the scope of practice that is advantageous when blended together. For instance internal EAP will provide resources such as counselling while external EAP will provide rehabilitation resources. / Dissertation (MA (Social Work))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Social Work and Criminology / Unrestricted

The study was mainly to investigate the need for an Employee Assistance Programme at Reamogetswe Secure Care Centre, North West Province. EAP is a worksite programme aimed at assisting troubled employees to improve their work productivity and enhance their social functioning. The investigation was comprised of a literature study about EAP in order to gain an understanding of it. A questionnaire was designed and handed out to employees of the Secure Care Centre to complete. Empirical findings were gathered based on the information from the questionnaires, which were completed and returned by the respondents. The findings in the study suggested that there is a need for implementing an EAP at the Centre to assist with problems affecting employees. The findings suggested that 93.8% of the respondents agree that the Centre should take responsibility for employee’s welfare. The majority of the respondents further indicated that they prefer to have an EAP practitioner always at the Centre. The study also revealed that if employees experience problems be it personal or work related or a combination of both, they need to assist to enhance their social functioning. / Dissertation (MSD (EAP))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Social Work and Criminology / unrestricted

Physical Education (PE) is one of the most important contexts in which to investigate motivational processes due to its exclusivity in including young people of a range of ages and abilities and due to PE being a compulsory activity. PE is not only a platform for students to increase their daily physical activity, but can also provide students with the skills and confidence to pursue physical activity into adulthood. However, there is an increasing amount of concern over the levels of physical activity of young people today, with statistics showing a decline in physical activity among adolescence. Understanding student s motivational processes during PE may help researchers and physical educators intervene to provide support to those students who are not motivated to participate in PE lessons. Grounded in self-determination theory, this thesis aims to examine student s amotivation in PE. Although there is growing evidence investigating amotivation, there is a dearth of knowledge concerning amotivation in the PE context and as a multidimensional construct. This thesis therefore aims to address this lack of knowledge by exploring a measure of amotivation that can be used in PE and relationships between the four amotivation dimensions (deficient ability beliefs, deficient effort beliefs, insufficient task values and unappealing task characteristics), physical self-concept and attainment (Study 1). Following Study 1, an examination of student s perceptions of teacher s need support as a predictor of change in the amotivation dimensions over time is carried out in Study 2, followed by further investigations to determine additional socio-contextual variables that may be potential predictors of amotivated behaviours (Studies 3a, 3b, 4). The results of these five studies contained within the thesis provide an interesting insight into student s amotivation in PE. Evidence for perceptions of teacher s psychological need support, physical self-concept and peer motivational climate being influential in determining changes in the amotivation sub-types is presented. The findings highlight the need to investigate these relationships further so a more comprehensive understanding of amotivation is achieved. Future research should continue to employ longitudinal designs to identify additional predictors of amotivation and to ensure research into amotivation is substantial in order to design effective interventions to support physical educators in reducing amotivated behaviours.

The first objective was to test the prospective relationship between need satisfaction and coping. A total of 113 undergraduate students completed a measure of need satisfaction at Time 1 (T1; i.e. a few weeks before the midterm exams) as well as a measure of coping at Time 2 (T2; i.e. a few weeks after the midterm exams). Results indicated that need satisfaction T1 explained unique variance in both dimensions of coping T2, namely task-oriented and disengagement-oriented coping, even after having statistically controlled for gender, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, and social desirability at T1. The second objective was to examine a model in which need satisfaction and coping predict the amount of progress towards academic goals and, in turn, how coping and goal progress are associated to increases in need satisfaction over the course of a semester. A total of 166 undergraduate students completed a measure of need satisfaction at Time 1 (T1; i.e. a few weeks before the midterm exams) as well as measures of coping, goal progress, and need satisfaction at Time 2 (T2; i.e. a few weeks after the midterm exams). Results from structural equation modeling indicated that coping T2 fully mediated the relationship between need satisfaction T1 and goal progress T2. Results also indicated that goal progress T2 partially mediated the relation between task-oriented coping T2 and need satisfaction T2 as well as between disengagement-oriented coping T2 and need satisfaction T2.

The importance of psychological needs for optimal mental and physical well-being has been well documented within the literature. However, there remains little consensus on the definition of basic psychological needs, on which needs are most important or fundamental, and on how to best assess basic needs in individuals. The purpose of this dissertation was to develop and validate a comprehensive measure of fundamental psychological needs and to examine its predictive utility for both mental and physical health. To fulfil these objectives, measure construction and validation studies were conducted in 2 separate undergraduate student samples (N = 226; N = 283). Participants completed online self-report measures of emotional and psychological symptoms, negative life events, personality characteristics, and psychological needs. Factor Analyses of the Psychological Needs Questionnaire (PNQ) revealed that needs can be classified in a three-level multi-factorial confirmatory model and that self-worth and relationship types of psychological needs can be further divided into several, second-level factors. Results also indicated that the PNQ is reliable and possesses good construct validity as well as predictive utility for numerous psychological and physical problems. In addition, psychological needs moderated the relationship between depressive personality characteristics and mood. Future studies should examine the proposed needs-based model in a longitudinal fashion, both in community and clinical samples. In addition to functioning as a global introduction and providing an overview of the relevant literature, Chapter 1 proposes a new model of psychological needs. Chapter 2 describes in further detail the importance of each need identified by the new model, with a particular emphasis on the consequences associated with having each need unfulfilled. Chapter 3, 4, and 5 represent three academic journal articles resulting from the data collected in the current project. Finally, chapter 6 provides a global discussion of the entire dissertation.

Many individuals, especially those in rural areas, experience barriers to accessing medical care. Some barriers are attitudinal and represent perceived quality of care, such as patient satisfaction; however, some rural residents report elevated patient satisfaction scores, regardless of limited access to these services. Identifying how perceived need for medical care is related to patient satisfaction has not been previously explored. Using an online survey to collect data from a national sample (n=535), the current study used the Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire-Short Form (PSQ-18) and a single-item measure of perceived need to examine the association between these two variables, and further, whether rural status, measured by a single-item measure, moderated this association. Results indicated a significant negative correlation between patient satisfaction and perceived need, r(423)=-.12, p=.012. Although the overall moderation model was significant, F(5, 388)=7.10, p<.001, perceived need was not significantly associated with patient satisfaction, b=-.14, p=.20, and rurality status did not significantly moderate the relationship, F(1, 388)=.44, p=.51, ��R2=0.01. However, the covariates of income, b=.11, p<.001, and sexual orientation, b=.23, p=.01, significantly predicted patient satisfaction. This study identified an association between patient satisfaction with perceived need for medical care that has not been previously explored, although this relationship was no longer significant in a larger model, indicating other important factors likely influence this relationship and contribute to the elevated satisfaction scores identified in some rural areas. The lack of moderation by rurality may be due to consistently high barriers to accessing care across all regions of the United States; while rural areas certainly experience unique barriers to care, the barriers present in urban environments may be significant enough that level of rurality in itself does not significantly affect the relationship between perceived need and patient satisfaction. Furthermore, this study highlights the importance of social determinants of health in patients’ perceptions of quality of care. Sexual orientation and income emerged as significant predictors of patient satisfaction, in that higher satisfaction was associated with those who identified as heterosexual and had higher income, consistent with previous literature. Further investigation is necessary to determine the reasons why these relationships exist; however, it is important to acknowledge that individuals with low-income and who identify as sexual minorities experience stigma and discrimination in healthcare settings. These negative experiences with healthcare likely influence perceptions and health disparities that exist within these individuals and may directly impact patient satisfaction levels, which may be influential to these findings.

This thesis is intended to address the need for ornamental iron classes at the senior high school level.

No description available.

Inre motivation som konceptualiseras inom Self Determination Theory (SDT) (Deci &amp; Ryan, 2000) har en viktig roll i att främja fortsatt idrottande och välmående. Till vilken grad en individ upplever inre motivation kan ses utifrån faktorerna behovstillfredsställelse och behovsfrustration. Motivationen påverkas även av omgivningen genom så kallat behovsstöd och behovshindrande. Denna studie syftade till att undersöka om det fanns något samband mellan svenska badmintonspelares upplevelse av behovstillfredsställelse/-frustration och behovsstöd/-hindrande och deras intention att fortsätta med badminton i framtiden. 133 aktiva svenska badmintonspelare, i åldern 15-66 år och äldre deltog i studien. Intentionen att fortsätta spela badminton uppvisade ett statistiskt signifikant positivt samband med variablerna behovsstöd och behovstillfredsställelse. Inget samband hittades mellan Intentionen att fortsätta spela badminton och variablerna behovshindrande och behovsfrustration. Intentionen att fortsätta spela badminton var även högre ju äldre spelaren var, ju fler år spelaren spelat badminton och ju fler år med nuvarande huvudtränare de haft.  Behovsstöd och behovstillfredsställelse förefaller således vara områden att fokusera på inom idrottsföreningar med syfte att bidra till ett långsiktigt idrottande, även inom andra idrotter än badminton. / Studies have shown the importance of intrinsic motivation and Self Determination Theory (SDT) (Deci &amp; Ryan, 2000) when it comes to promoting sport participation and well-being. The amount of intrinsic motivation experienced by an individual can be estimated using the factors Need Satisfaction and Need Frustration and also be influenced by the surrounding people through Need Support and Need Thwarting. This study aimed to investigate whether a correlation between the experience of Need Satisfaction/-Frustration and Need Support/-Thwarting in Swedish badminton players and their intention to continue with badminton in the future existed. 133 active Swedish badminton players participated in the study, age 15 to 66 and older. The intention to continue playing badminton indicated a statistically significant positive correlation with the variables Need Support and Need Satisfaction. No correlation was found between the intention to continue playing badminton and the variables Need Thwarting and Need Frustration. The higher the age, more years as an active badminton player and more years with their current coach, the higher was also the intention to continue with badminton in the future. Need Support and Need Satisfaction can therefore be important areas of interest within sport clubs to promote long-term sport participation, in badminton as well as other sports.