This is an explorative study into the challenges and ethical dilemmas that practitioners face when assessing the intellectual functioning of black learners. Participants were registered psychologists and intern psychologists involved in assessing black African learners. Data were collected by means of an interview schedule that had been designed for this purpose, based on the literature in the field. All participants were interviewed individually. The psychological practitioners interviewed in this study reported linguistic barriers, limited cultural knowledge, and lack of scientific validation as posing the major challenges for them in assessing black African learners. Among the ethical dilemmas that were reported were confidentiality and informed consent which were sometimes compromised by their dual responsibilities to the client and the schooling system or another third party. Forming discussion forums, development of new and appropriately normed assessment tools and incorporating relevant skills in training programs were recommended as some of the strategies to overcome these challenges and ethical dilemmas. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sci.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2010.

This study seeks to investigate perceptions of medical doctors towards psychologists. The study focuses on exploring whether race and gender have any influence on medical doctors’ perceptions of psychology. In exploring these perceptions, the study focuses on medical doctors’ knowledge of the psychology profession. Secondly, it focuses on medical doctors’ experiences in working with psychologists. Thirdly, it examines medical doctors’ referral patterns towards psychologists. Finally, it focuses on the kinds of problems that medical doctors are likely to refer to psychologists. This was a quantitative study. The population of this study was medical doctors from both public and private sectors in the Pietermaritzburg region. The sampling method used in this study was convenience sampling. The study was conducted on sixty-two medical doctors. Thirty-four males and twenty-eight females participated in this study. Thirty-two Whites, twenty Indians, seven Blacks, two Coloureds and one Chinese participated in this study. Questionnaires were used as data gathering instruments. In analyzing data, a chi-square test was used. Chi-square analysis was performed at 0.05 percent level of significant association. The findings indicated that medical doctors hold positive views towards psychologists and the psychology profession. The participants seemed to have a good understanding of what the psychology profession entails. The findings also seemed to suggest that medical doctors understand the overall scope of psychologists. Overall findings suggest that there were no significant associations between medical doctors’ responses and their race and gender. This seems to be an area that has not been researched and it therefore serves as a pilot study. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2009.

A discrepancy between the number of predoctoral internship applicants and Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers' internship positions has recently been noted (Gloria & Robinson, 1994; Murray, 1996). Applicants now outnumber positions available. This imbalance has caused researchers (e.g., Lopez, Moberly, & Oehlert, 1995) to focus on criteria affecting selection decisions. Researchers, who have relied strictly on non-experimental methodology, have ascertained that important and consistent criteria for intern selectors are breadth and types of clinical experiences, performance during interviews, and letters of recommendation.A criteria that was not specifically addressed in earlier surveys of intern selectors was doctoral program type (i.e. clinical, counseling, and school psychology). Interestingly, doctoral program type had been hypothesized by Gayer and Gridley (1995) to have a significant impact on intern selection decisions, such that a preference pattern would emerge with clinical applicants preferred over counseling applicants, and counseling applicants preferred over school applicants. This pattern was hypothesized to occur even if application materials from the three doctoral program types were identical. The present study, in the form of an experimental survey utilizing analogue techniques, was developed to test the aforementioned hypothesis. Results confirmed that doctoral program type has a statistically significant, moderate influence on intern screening/selection and that the hypothesized preference patterns pervasively exist across a variety of selector (e.g., gender and doctoral program type attended) and setting (e.g., geographic location, site type, population density in the site's locale, and socioeconomic status of a site's clientele) variables. Implications of this preference pattern and recommendations for applicants, trainers, and selectors are discussed. / Department of Educational Psychology

The work of industrial/organisational (I/O) psychologists presents an interesting context for studying meaning and engagement (as eudaimonic components of happiness). (I/O) psychologists spend more than 88% of their working day with people, and they are primary role models for happiness and change in the workplace. Information about the manifestation of their meaning and work engagement is therefore needed. The aim of this study was to determine how (I/O) psychologists experience the meaning of their work and to investigate the relationships between their experiences of work-role fit, meaning of work, psychological meaningfulness, and work engagement. The research method consisted out of a literature review and empirical study. A survey design with a convenience sample (n = 106) was taken from a sample of registered (I/O) psychologists. A biographical questionnaire, the Work-role Fit Scale (WRFS), Work-life Questionnaire (WLQ), Psychological Meaningfulness Scale (PMS), Work Engagement Scale (WES) and a self-developed survey measuring the actual and desired time spent on six broad categories of work were administered. The statistical analysis was carried out by means of SPSS (2009). Exploratory factor analyses showed one factor models for work-role fit, psychological meaningfulness and work engagement. A two factor model for the meaning of work (a job/calling and career orientation) was found. Cronbach alpha coefficients ranging from 0,80 to 0,93 were obtained. The results showed that a discrepancy exists between the actual time and desired time spent on the six broad categories of work (see Benjamin & Louw-Potgieter, 2008). Furthermore, the results showed that half the 1/0 psychologists view their work as callings. Whereas only 16% view their work as a career and 6,6% as a job. Regression analyses indicated that work-role fit predicts psychological meaningfulness and work engagement. The job/calling orientation predicted both psychological meaningfulness and work engagement. Work-role fit predicted the job/calling orientation. Psychological meaningfulness did not mediate the relationship between work-role fit and work engagement. Work-role fit mediated the relationship between the meaning of work and psychological meaningfulness. Work-role fit partially mediated the relationship between a calling orientation and work engagement / Thesis (M.Comm. (Industrial Psychology)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2010.

The work of industrial/organisational (I/O) psychologists presents an interesting context for studying meaning and engagement (as eudaimonic components of happiness). (I/O) psychologists spend more than 88% of their working day with people, and they are primary role models for happiness and change in the workplace. Information about the manifestation of their meaning and work engagement is therefore needed. The aim of this study was to determine how (I/O) psychologists experience the meaning of their work and to investigate the relationships between their experiences of work-role fit, meaning of work, psychological meaningfulness, and work engagement. The research method consisted out of a literature review and empirical study. A survey design with a convenience sample (n = 106) was taken from a sample of registered (I/O) psychologists. A biographical questionnaire, the Work-role Fit Scale (WRFS), Work-life Questionnaire (WLQ), Psychological Meaningfulness Scale (PMS), Work Engagement Scale (WES) and a self-developed survey measuring the actual and desired time spent on six broad categories of work were administered. The statistical analysis was carried out by means of SPSS (2009). Exploratory factor analyses showed one factor models for work-role fit, psychological meaningfulness and work engagement. A two factor model for the meaning of work (a job/calling and career orientation) was found. Cronbach alpha coefficients ranging from 0,80 to 0,93 were obtained. The results showed that a discrepancy exists between the actual time and desired time spent on the six broad categories of work (see Benjamin & Louw-Potgieter, 2008). Furthermore, the results showed that half the 1/0 psychologists view their work as callings. Whereas only 16% view their work as a career and 6,6% as a job. Regression analyses indicated that work-role fit predicts psychological meaningfulness and work engagement. The job/calling orientation predicted both psychological meaningfulness and work engagement. Work-role fit predicted the job/calling orientation. Psychological meaningfulness did not mediate the relationship between work-role fit and work engagement. Work-role fit mediated the relationship between the meaning of work and psychological meaningfulness. Work-role fit partially mediated the relationship between a calling orientation and work engagement / Thesis (M.Comm. (Industrial Psychology)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2010.

No description available.

Previous research of supervision in educational psychology has regularly reported low rates of participation and dissatisfaction with the adequacy of supervisory arrangements. Most studies to date have been conducted on the assumption that supervision is a formalised, often one-to-one relationship. However, this view of supervision is incongruent with the ecological theories of human development that currently guide educational psychologists' work. The present study sought to develop understanding of the nature and contexts of supervision for a group of educational psychologists through examination of the actions they took to meet the goals of supervision. A situational analysis research method was used to examine the supervisory actions, in relation to the theories underlying current field practice, of 38 educational psychologists. This collaborative method of inquiry reflected the procedures of the psychologists' professional practice and enabled the understanding of supervision to be constructed using the participants' own sense-making processes. Results of the study indicated that the psychologists pursued the goals of supervision through the multiple interactions that took place within the regular activity of their community of practice. Supervision included a combination of formal, informal and situated interactions. It was concerned with connectedness to the professional community and comprised a range of integrated activities. The psychologists demonstrated that their supervision-in-action was guided by the same ecological principles that guided their professional practice. When supervision was conceptualised as a practice that included formal, informal and situated interactions intended to meet the goals of supervision, the participants reported high levels of satisfaction with current supervisory arrangements and participation in the practice. This thesis proposes an extended view of supervision that depicts supervision as activity situated within the interaction of a community of practice. It suggests that ecologically valid evaluations of supervision activity and the development of applicable systems of supervision must consider a wide range of supervision activities and contexts of practice.

Thesis (DPsych (Health Psychology)) - Faculty of Life and Social Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, 2007. / Submitted as a requirement for the degree of Professional Doctorate in Health Psychology, Faculty of Life and Social Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology - 2007. Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (p. 189-210).

Thesis (M.S.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 2008. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 43-46).

Thesis (M. Soc. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references.