The neighbourhood is an essential arena for adolescents’ health development and research suggests that perceived neighbourhood insecurity (PNI) is associated with socio-economic status and self-rated health. The present study explored the distribution of adolescents’ PNI and its association with psychosomatic health complaints across districts. It also examined gender differences and whether family socio-economic position, foreign background and previous exposure to crime could explain part of the association. Data came from classroom-surveys within Stockholm municipality’s 14 districts in 2010, 2012 and 2014 (n=10,291). Linear and logistic multilevel regression models were applied. Results showed that the average level of PNI varied considerably between districts and were strongly connected to its socio-demographic composition. However, individual characteristics in terms of family background and previous exposure to crime only explained a minor part of the variation in PNI across districts. Girls reported more insecurity than boys in all districts. Gender differences in PNI decreased in absolute numbers, but increased in relative numbers, as the overall ‘neighbourhood safety’ increased. Between-district differences in health were minor, but PNI was still a strong predictor of individual-level health, especially for boys. Furthermore, the predictive power of PNI on health was stronger in districts perceived as safer.

Thesis (PhD (Social Work))—University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / It is generally accepted that the inability to consummate a marriage causes couples great distress, and can finally lead to divorce. Limited research has been done on the unconsummated marriage in South Africa. International studies have pointed out that the unconsummated marriage is a reality and a prevalent problem. While medical and therapeutic intervention is available, many people still suffer in silence and feel embarrassed about their condition. The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of the emotional and psycho-social experiences and perceptions of the couple in an unconsummated marriage. In order to achieve this goal, the objectives of the study were to explore the experiences of the couple in an unconsummated marriage in order to obtain the couple’s perception of their marriage; to present a literature overview on the subject of marriage within the context of the family life cycle; to describe the nature and causes of an unconsummated marriage; to critically describe approaches and models that may be used for the assessment of an unconsummated marriage; and to reflect on the implications of the emotional and psycho-social experiences and perceptions of the couple in an unconsummated marriage within a postmodern systemic framework. The purpose of the literature study was to provide a context for the research study. The researcher conducted an extensive literature review in order to establish and refine the research subject and to guide the empirical study. An exploratory study was executed and the purposive non-probability sampling method utilised. The sample for this study was obtained from Intercare Medical Centre, Johannesburg and The Square Medical Centre, Umhlanga between April 2004 and November 2004. Ten couples that have not consummated their marriage were included in the sample. An interview schedule with open-ended questions was used to conduct joint interviews with the couples. The empirical study enabled the researcher to draw certain conclusions. The main conclusion was that males and females in an unconsummated marriage experience and perceive control-related problems; negative feelings towards their own and their partner’s body; a fear of engaging in an intimate relationship and other phobias; a feeling of sin and moral dilemma; feelings of guilt and shame; the manifestation of depression and apathetic attitudes; personal distress and psychological problems; a feeling of serious regret and sadness; self-blame, self-destructive behaviour, mutilation and suicidal thoughts and episodes; and lastly, a lack of information on how to be sexually intimate with a partner. A number of recommendations flowed from the findings. The main recommendation was that healthcare professionals such as social workers should be better educated about the phenomenon of the unconsummated marriage in order to make a correct diagnosis and deliver high quality medical and therapeutic intervention.

published_or_final_version / abstract / Community Medicine / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Recent research suggests that psychological techniques may facilitate injured athletes' rehabilitation, yet little is known about the psychological techniques trainers currently employ and how they view these interventions. In this study, 206 athletic trainers assigned Likert scale ratings to 11 psychological techniques indicating how much they valued a specific technique, how skillfully they employed it, and how often they utilized it. Trainers also responded to an open ended question asking how they would deal with the psychological aspects of an injury described in a short scenario. Results revealed a tentative model for the way trainers view psychological techniques. Categories of techniques included techniques involving the modification of physical and psychological states (goal setting, pain management, relaxation, imagery, and breathing techniques), techniques involving verbal cognitive techniques (communicating openly, changing negative self talk, emotional counseling, and crisis counseling), and non-recommended techniques (encouraging heroism and screening negative information). The study explored trainers' perceptions of each of the 11 psychological techniques in depth and discussed these findings. The study found that although trainers highly value psychological interventions in their work with injured athletes, they assigned low ratings to the techniques they knew little about. However, as exposure to sport psychology information increased, ratings assigned to the techniques that modify physical and psychological states also increased. Similarly, the longer trainers had worked in their field, the more highly they valued the verbal cognitive interventions. In contrast, neither exposure to sport psychology information or athletic training experience proved predictive of ratings assigned to the non-recommended psychological techniques. These findings suggest the importance of introducing skills training for psychological techniques early in the athletic trainers' educational curriculum so that trainers can gain awareness of the efficacy of certain psychological techniques and skill at using these techniques. Moreover, trainers could benefit from course work explaining potential negative consequences of employing harmful or ineffectual psychological interventions.

A series of five individual studies explored: (1) Whether a treatment focus emphasizing active anger expression would alter the subject's awareness of and ability to express anger and (2) Whether such a treatment focus would alter the subject's experience of illness in the form of her report of pain and stiffness as "better", "the same", or "worse" than yesterday's experience. The treatment strategy utilized general Gestalt principles and was further focused on specific techniques of Anger Therapy as an agent of change. Evaluation of outcome in this time-lagged multiple baseline design viewed the overall process from the beginning of a baseline observation period through a maximum of one week following the conclusion of the last six weekly treatment sessions; daily measurement of the process of change during treatment; and clinical description of the subjects and of the treatment process itself. The overall process was formally assessed in pre and post treatment testing which included the Novaco Anger Inventory, Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory, Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale, and FIRO-B. Daily telephone interview measured the frequency of anger awareness, anger expression; and ratings of anger intensity, overall daily mood, pain, and stiffness. Information from the treatment process was integrated with that obtained from other sources in discussing the outcome for each subject. It was concluded that intense anger expression appeared to effect temporary or transitory improvement in pain; that there was a relationship between each subject's perceived daily anger intensity and pain which appeared consistent for all subjects studied; and that issues of need for approval and control appeared related to anger awareness and expression as measured by the psychometrics utilized. These were recommended as potentially fruitful areas of future investigation. Background data revealed striking similarities in birth order and parenting practices which seemed worthy of further study as well.

The overall purpose of this study was to examine organized youth sports in Sweden and the possible influences over time (2 years) on some of the intended socialisation effects in terms of children’s and adolescent’s self-esteem, perceived physical and social competence, self reported pro- and antisocial behaviours, self reported psychosomatic health, and use of alcohol and tobacco. In an attempt to capture some of the complex social interactions in sports, which undoubtedly leads to different socialisation experiences, an additional purpose of this study was to examine possible relations between children and adolescent athletes’ dispositional goal orientations (task and ego), perceived motivational climate in sports, perceived sport-specific competence, perceived prosocial coaching and presumptive psychosocial effect variables. This study’s theoretical framework was primarily based on previous works by Bronfenbrenner (1979, 1992, 1995, 2001), Bronfenbrenner and Morris (1998), Nicholls (1984, 1989) and Patriksson (1995). The design of the study was a three-occasion longitudinal multiple cohort design including elements of retrospective questions. Data was collected from pupils residing in schools situated in Western and Middle parts of Sweden. The sample was based on a randomly stratified sampling procedure and comprised of 1378 pupils in total (10-18 years) distributed in primary school, lower secondary school and upper secondary school. The answering rate was high (T1=85%; T2=80%; T3=80%), but wave non-response made it necessary to impute missing data values. In total 1212 respondents were included in the final analyses. The main results showed that sport socialisation effects on youth’s prosocial development in general were rather small, with some minor exception for perceived physical competence and smoking tobacco. Consequently the results challenge the public notion that participating in organized sport “builds character.” Results related to the specific sport environment, though showed that organized sports have the potential to act as a more positive socialisation arena. It is proposed that creating a mainly task-oriented motivational climate, and helping the individual to foster a balance between task- and ego-oriented goal orientations, will increase the probability that young athletes will perceive higher levels of competence. This will, in turn, enhance the chance that participation in organized sports will have a positive effect on youths’ psychosocial development.

Psychosomatic health, including sleep, is important for adolescent well-being and daily functioning. Sleep difficulties are more seldom studied per se and whether there is socio-demographic variation in sleep difficulties among adolescents in Sweden is less known. The overall aim of the present study was to examine the frequency and social distribution of sleep difficulties among adolescents in Sweden. The child supplements of the Survey of Living Conditions, a Swedish nationally representative sample of ages 10-18, from years 2002 and 2003 were used (n=2531). Information from adolescents was linked to information from parents in a cross-sectional study design. Based on logistic regression analyses, variation in sleep difficulties was present according to gender, age, family structure, family economy, parent’s unemployment and residential area. No systematic sleep inequality by social class was found in the present study. The main results showed that adolescent girls, older age groups of adolescents, adolescents living in reconstituted families, living in families with a lack of cash margin, having unemployed parents and living in big cities reported sleep difficulties to a greater extent. Social factors, together with biological, psychological and cultural factors interact in explaining the variation in sleep difficulties.

This study drew upon the affective events and mood-congruent cognition theories to help explain how one domain influences the other. Affective events are things that happen to which people react emotionally and state affect is a result of those affective experiences. This study proposed that state affect generated in one domain would spillover and influence mood-congruent experiences in the receiving domain. Through an integration of organizational stressor-strain models (e.g., job-resources demand theory) and positive psychology, this study further proposed that positive events are resource-building and will work to prevent or buffer against strain responses to resource-depleting negative events. Finally, this study explored how individual differences in domain integration and work- and family-role salience moderate the foregoing relationships, particularly because studies investigating these effects have produced mixed results. To address these empirical questions, this study used the daily diary method to examine daily affective spillover effects from work-to-family and from family-to-work in a full-time working sample over the course of two weeks. This method was employed to help bolster confidence about the temporal precedence of work-family affective spillover and employee health and wellbeing outcomes. One-hundred and forty-four participants filled out diary questionnaires three times daily during the work week and one time daily during the weekend. Daily diaries assessed the participants’ exposure to a number of domain-specific affective events, state affect, physical symptoms, and sleep quality. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to test this study’s hypotheses. Overall, the results of this study support affective spillover as the linking pin between the two domains, which has health and wellbeing implications for employees. Specifically, tests of this study’s hypotheses indicated that exposure to affective events throughout the workday was related to state affect at the end of the workday, which then related to the number of valence-congruent affective events within the family domain. Exposure to those family-related affective events was related to corresponding changes in state affect, which not only persisted to the next morning but impacted employee health and wellbeing in terms of psychosomatic complaints. These findings are in line with both the affective events and mood-congruent theories. Only one significant moderating effect was observed. There was a positive relationship between negative affect at the end of the workday and the number of negative family affective events endorsed by participants who were lower on domain integration, but not among those who were higher on domain integration. The direction of this effect was surprising and may suggest that setting up strong boundaries between life domains creates unattainable expectations, which may increase negative outcomes for an employee. In sum, family-related affective experiences are an important variable to consider when investigating the effects of affective spillover on work-related experiences and health and wellbeing. The failure to do so may result in a considerable loss of information and contribute to mixed study results.

This thesis deals with craniosacral therapy. It is divided into theoretical and practical part. The theoretical part describes the history, industry and principles of this method. It also gives basic information about craniosacral treatment and highlights the work of the craniosacral therapist. The work also describes the effect of stress on human health and shows the importance of psychosomatic view of the individual. It also aims to look abroad and shows two studies that examine the effectiveness of craniosacral therapy. The practical part aims to obtain empirical data using the questionnaire.

Title: Affective mood states of the patient in physiotherapy care Objectives: The aim of the theoretical part is to summarise the available findings about the chosen physiotherapeutical procedures, the psychosomatic attitude to the patients, the emotional states, the affective mood states and the possibilities how to influence them. The aim of the practical part is to evaluate the affective mood states of the patients before and after the physiotherapy care. Methods: The research involves twenty-five patients who underwent physiotherapeutical care in the centres specialised in holistic treatment. Their state was observed with the help of the POMS Questionnaire. The patients filled in the forms before and after the physiotherapeutical intervention with the psychosomatic attitude. The non-parametric version of the Wilcoxon's test was used for the evaluation of the differences of the dependent selected groups. Results: The results have proved all of the three hypotheses. After the physiotherapeutical intervention the current psychical state changed, the decrease of the tension, depression, anger, fatigue and confussion was significant. The vitality was increased significantly. Keywords: Emotional states, physiotherapy, psychosomatic attitude, POMS