Magister Artium (Psychology) - MA(Psych) / Mental health is one of the most neglected issues among school-going adolescents, with the result that little is known about aspects of these young people in the South African context. Given the stressors encountered by adolescents in the South African context specifically, there is a great need for research into which health-promoting behavioural and coping strategies adolescents use to buffer the negative consequences of these stressors on their mental health and overall psychological well-being. The aims of the present study (which is the first phase of the four-phase study) were twofold: first, to validate (by means of cognitively testing on 150 school-going adolescents aged 13-19 years, in Grades eight to 11, from three selected schools within the Cape Metropole) the scales measuring stress (Beck Depression Inventory-Second Edition – the BDI-II; Beck Anxiety Inventor – BAI; Beck Hopelessness Scale – BHS), psychological strengths (Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support – MSPSS; Child and Youth Resilience Measure - CYRM; Rosenberg SelfEsteem Scale – RSES), coping (Coping Strategy Indicator - CSI) and psychological wellbeing (Psychological Well-Being scale - PWB). Such validation, using the English as well as the Afrikaans- and isiXhosa-translated versions of the measures was done in order to determine the applicability and usability of these scales within the South African context, specifically in the study of sibling-bereaved school-going adolescents. Second, the study aimed to investigate, using structural equation modelling (SEM), the nature of the (both direct and indirect) relationships between stress, psychological strengths, coping and psychological well-being, with particular focus on the mediation effects of selected psychological strengths (that is, resilience, self-esteem and perceived social support) in the stress-coping relationship with psychological well-being. Lazarus and Folkman’s Transactional Model of Stress was used as the theoretical framework for this study

MENVSC (Geography) / Department of Geography and Geo-Information Sciences / The Limpopo lowveld is at risk of floods from tropical storms from the South West Indian Ocean. The flood risk is particularly high in low altitude areas with poor infrastructure and limited resources. This study assessed flood vulnerability and adaptation at Lenyenye, Ga-Kgapane Masakaneng and Nkowankowa Section B and C within the Mopani District in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. The research objectives were to establish the determinants of flood vulnerability, assess the levels of flood vulnerability and the community‟s coping strategies. A quantitative survey approach was employed using questionnaires which were administered to affected households to identify determinants of flood vulnerability, indicators and coping strategies by communities. A qualitative survey was also undertaken to supplement the information obtained from the quantitative survey. Key informant interviews were conducted with disaster management authorities in the study area to provide information on indicators, flood experience, adaptation and mitigation measures. Field observations were undertaken to observe the physical landscape and flood impacts. Secondary data were acquired through records, maps, Census 2011 and from the South African Weather Service. Collected data were imputed into the flood vulnerability index to measure the level of flood vulnerability. The results of this study will contribute to flood disaster risk reduction in the lowveld. The results indicate that flood vulnerability in the study areas is determined by dwelling quality, poor or lack of drainage, education levels, employment status, rainfall amount and topography. The calculated flood vulnerability levels in the three case study villages indicate that Ga-Kgapane Masakaneng, Lenyenye and Nkowankowa Section B and C have a „vulnerability to floods‟ level. However, the FVI also showed that the economic aspect scored a high vulnerability to floods in Ga-Kgapane. In Nkowankowa Section B and C; physical component obtained a „high vulnerability to floods.‟ Major coping strategies in the three case villages were: making „Le-guba‟ around houses; sand-bags; making a furrow and channel around houses and on roads; temporary relocation and lastly relocating to a safer area. Key recommendations are public awareness; integrating modern mitigations with local knowledge; development of programs to ensure resilience through incorporation of (Integrated Development Planning) IDP and flood management and flood early warning system.

Background: Covid-19 is disrupting the healthcare industry. Policies and regulatory changes in general necessitate adaptation from the healthcare industry, particularly those affecting the payment system, clients, and the environment. On the other hand, as policymakers around the world look to digital transformation to make healthcare systems more resilient, affordable, and accessible, a rare and remarkable opportunity for the information systems research community to leverage its in-depth knowledge to both advance theory and influence practice and policy has emerged.    Problem discussion: The changes brought by Covid necessitate resilience in the healthcare industry, which most countries are not yet prepared for, as it will necessitate a large number of workers and effective policies for the recovery process in the post of Covid 19. Crucially, many people lack the resources to scale up health interventions as well as the financial resources to implement support measures and improve resilience. This research will answer the following considerable question, how can countries now build more resilient healthcare systems capable of withstanding pandemics? What role can technology play in these efforts?    Purpose: The thesis will aim to discover how the healthcare industry in developing countries will be resilient as they digitize their operations in the post of Covid disruption situations. The finding in this research will be identified by the combination of the HIT framework following four major sectors of health information technology: financial, functional, user, and environmental, and the resilience capabilities such as anticipating, monitoring, responding, and learning. The result of the finding will be involved in chapter 4.    Method: In this paper, a qualitative method was used to answer the research question. Inductive and deductive techniques were used to expand the research by moving from individual data to broader generalizations and ideas. The detail of all the methodology steps will be explained in chapter 3.  First, we began with specific observations and measurements by interviewing organizations and individuals related to the healthcare industry in one highlighted developing country for the primary data and used reliable websites such as Google Scholar, Microsoft Academic, Academic databases, etc for the secondary data. Due to the limitation of the interview responses, we chose Vietnam as our sample. Then we started noticing the HIT strategies, then we went a step further with interpretation to explain these preliminary discoveries that we wanted to investigate, and finally ended up developing some general digital conclusions or theories. Conclusion: Putting these innovations in place now helps the healthcare sector build a stronger resilience health ability, allowing it to be better prepared for future peaks and valleys. In conclusion, some innovative technology solutions from HIT strategies have been proposed, such as the top-down governance system which has been used to support the leaders to reach all levels of government. Aside from that, the effectiveness of the information system's preparation and the role of the surveillance system are critical in the early stages of resilience.  All of the detail from the HIT recommendation strategies will be explained in chapter 5.

This study is a critical ethnography that examines the relationship between the racial-identity, coping strategies and educational aspirations of two African American males who live (and attend school) in a predominantly White community. The participants reside in a Northeastern state where the African-American population is below 3%. Although they live in different parts of the state, symbols like the Confederate flag were regularly seen inside and outside of both high schools. Critical Race Theory (CRT) is the primary interpretive framework used in this study. However, theory from educational psychology and sociology were also included. Through semi-structured interviews, on-site observations, and artifact analysis (e.g. high school transcripts, SAT scores, and samples of creative writing), this research advances the understanding of how being Black in a predominantly White community affected the participants' identity, coping strategies and educational experiences. Similar to how any system functions, the participants' identity, coping strategies and educational aspirations were nested and dependent upon each other. This included a number of balancing and re-enforcing feedback loops. Although this study is qualitative and cannot be generalized, the experiences of the participants were similar. The difference was in their coping strategies. The predominant culture that currently exists in most communities and educational institutions is deeply embedded in racism. This is systemic. It is time all institutions move forward and embrace diversity. Similar to the earth's resources, race relations must be sustained if we are to create a prosperous world for future generations. Key Words: achievement, acting-White, agency, aspirations, identity, racism, resilience, stereotyping and self-efficacy.

The prevalence of adults 65 years of age and older with significant pain is 25% to 50%, with many experiencing pain on a daily basis. The financial toll due to chronic pain is staggering; American's spend nearly $635 billion annually on health care. The purpose of this mixed methods study was to better understand the relationship between resilience, general health, and chronic pain in older adults. The quantitative question pertained to the relationship between resilience and both levels of chronic pain and general health in elderly chronic pain patients, and the qualitative question addressed participants' lived experiences of chronic pain. Resilience theory, which suggests that individual strengths enable people to rise above adversity, grounded the study. Participants were between ages 65 and 75 and were recruited from 3 pain centers and through the Survey Monkey participant pool; they included 55 older adults with chronic pain who responded to surveys (including Resilience scale, the Pain Impact Questionnaire-Revised (PIQ-R) Pain scale, and the Short Form 12 item (version 2) (SF-12v2) Health Survey, and 10 of them also participated in interviews. Regression analyses found no statistical relationships between resilience and either chronic pain or general health. Interview participants noted that to cope with pain they used personal strength, a positive outlook, religion, spirituality, pain management, physical activity, rest/sleep, managing their life, and religion and spirituality. Resilient behavior was inherent across various pain diagnoses, and participants appeared to place a great value in the social networks formed throughout life. These findings may help medical practitioners have a better understanding of the relationship between chronic pain and resilience in an aging, at-risk population.

abstract: This dissertation develops advanced controls for distributed energy systems and evaluates performance on technical and economic benefits. Microgrids and thermal systems are of primary focus with applications shown for residential, commercial, and military applications that have differing equipment, rate structures, and objectives. Controls development for residential energy heating and cooling systems implement adaptive precooling strategies and thermal energy storage, with comparisons made of each approach separately and then together with precooling and thermal energy storage. Case studies show on-peak demand and annual energy related expenses can be reduced by up to 75.6% and 23.5%, respectively, for a Building America B10 Benchmark home in Phoenix Arizona, Los Angeles California, and Kona Hawaii. Microgrids for commercial applications follow after with increased complexity. Three control methods are developed and compared including a baseline logic-based control, model predictive control, and model predictive control with ancillary service control algorithms. Case studies show that a microgrid consisting of 326 kW solar PV, 634 kW/ 634 kWh battery, and a 350 kW diesel generator can reduce on-peak demand and annual energy related expenses by 82.2% and 44.1%, respectively. Findings also show that employing a model predictive control algorithm with ancillary services can reduce operating expenses by 23.5% when compared to a logic-based algorithm. Microgrid evaluation continues with an investigation of off-grid operation and resilience for military applications. A statistical model is developed to evaluate the survivability (i.e. probability to meet critical load during an islanding event) to serve critical load out to 7 days of grid outage. Case studies compare the resilience of a generator-only microgrid consisting of 5,250 kW in generators and hybrid microgrid consisting of 2,250 kW generators, 3,450 kW / 13,800 kWh storage, and 16,479 kW solar photovoltaics. Findings show that the hybrid microgrid improves survivability by 10.0% and decreases fuel consumption by 47.8% over a 168-hour islanding event when compared to a generator-only microgrid under nominal conditions. Findings in this dissertation can increase the adoption of reliable, low cost, and low carbon distributed energy systems by improving the operational capabilities and economic benefits to a variety of customers and utilities. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Engineering 2019

Abstract Titel: Ur elden in i askan. En kvalitativ studie om det sociala nätverkets betydelse för ensamkommande barn Keywords: unaccompanied refugee children, social network, risk and resilience, social work. Authors: Karin Bodå och Leila Silva   The main purpose of this study is to illuminate and describe the importance of having a social network for unaccompanied refugee children in Sweden. Using qualitative interviews this study looks at their possibilities to create a social network in Sweden and how their network helps them to solve problems. Knowledge of this subject is important for social workers, in order to be able to encourage and help unaccompanied refugee children to build a social network. The base for our analysis is attachment theory, coping theory, social network theory, KASAM theory, risk and resilience theory, system theory are used to give deeper insight into experiences of four unaccompanied refugee boys. Important results found that their social networks affected their possibilities to handle problems. They felt that being surrounded by people who supported them made them feel less lonely. Further results showed that they felt limited in creating a social network during their first time in Sweden, mainly because of language difficulties, culture differences and the feeling of not being accepted. Finally we found out that some had negative experiences of social workers. Social worker’s approach affected their wellbeing.

abstract: This action research study focused on the beginning teacher attrition issues plaguing schools today. Specifically, this project explored a way to support out-of-state beginning teachers, who are traditionally difficult to retain. While there is literature on teacher retention, the retention of out-of-state teachers has not been well examined. Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory and Bandura's self-efficacy theories provided a foundational understanding of this group's needs. This study utilized interactive support sessions for six out-of-state beginning teachers that had five face-to-face sessions and required the teachers to submit weekly reflections between sessions using an iPad and app that allowed teachers to design their reflections using digital images, words, and/or narration. These weekly digital reflections, mapping activities collected during the support sessions, a pre- and post-innovation questionnaire, and interviews provided insights on the impact of these supports, as well as changes that occurred in self-perceptions. The results of this study indicate the challenge and complexities of being an out-of-state beginning teacher. The data showed that the teachers must first have had their basic needs met before they could fully explore and settle into their new identities and role as the classroom teacher. The data also indicated that intentionally teaching these teachers strategies around resiliency, stress management, and self-advocacy was useful for navigating their first semester. The supportive community that developed within the group emerged as a significant finding, and showed the importance of support structures for new teachers, especially for those who are struggling with both a new job and new community. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Leadership and Innovation 2015

This social constructionist study originated from the researcher’s exposure to the counselling volunteers environment. The study aimed to document the voices of three people, constructed as counselling volunteers. The three semi-structured interviews are with individuals who constructed themselves, or accepted the constructions of their role, as volunteers. The “case study approach” was chosen as the most suitable method to gather the information. “Thematic content analysis” was the method of analysis. The case studies of participants were reconstructed in terms of themes. Recurring themes in these case studies were expounded and linked within the literature. This study allowed valuable and rich information about the volunteerism to emerge. Amongst the themes that emerged, the need to help, being a good counsellor and resilience were identified as particularly important areas for future research. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)

This social constructionist study originated from the researcher’s exposure to the counselling volunteers environment. The study aimed to document the voices of three people, constructed as counselling volunteers. The three semi-structured interviews are with individuals who constructed themselves, or accepted the constructions of their role, as volunteers. The “case study approach” was chosen as the most suitable method to gather the information. “Thematic content analysis” was the method of analysis. The case studies of participants were reconstructed in terms of themes. Recurring themes in these case studies were expounded and linked within the literature. This study allowed valuable and rich information about the volunteerism to emerge. Amongst the themes that emerged, the need to help, being a good counsellor and resilience were identified as particularly important areas for future research. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)