The divorce experiences of seven mid-life women were investigated using Bohannan's (1970) and Hagemeyer's (1986) divorce theories as a framework to guide the research. In-depth interviews and visual interpretation were used: (a) to determine the greatest challenges and losses experienced by mid-life women after divorce; (b) to identify factors which contribute to resilience and determine coping mechanisms used by mid-life women following divorce; and (c) to assess long-term effects of divorce on midlife women several years after the event. The results of this study included the following findings: The women in the study had been divorced from 7 to 18 years and all agreed that losing the dream of the "happily ever after marriage" and the loss of the family unit were the most difficult losses they experienced. Other losses included the loss of identity as a married person, loss of home and assets, loss of income, and loss of relationship with children. Factors affecting resilience and coping mechanisms included working at a job or profession, support of family and friends, faith and spirituality and social activities and dating. These were unanimous choices among the participants. Long-term effects were both positive and negative. Negative effects included continued feelings of loss concerning the family unit, lingering anger, and lack of forgiveness toward the former spouse. Positive aspects included increased resilience, autonomy, personal achievement, and spiritual growth.

In recent years, engineering education has witnessed a sharp increase in research aimed at the outcomes of academic success and persistence within engineering programs. However, research surrounding the key forces shaping student persistence remains unknown. This study explores enhancements and broader perspectives of learning; the relationship among dimensions of resilience theory and learning styles in engineering students to identify elements of both that contribute towards academic persistence and to determine which components of both contribute towards strengthening students’ academic persistence in engineering. The study was conducted using two quantitative self-reporting instruments to measure resilience and learning style preference, the Personal Resilience Questionnaire (PQR) and the Index of Learning Styles (ILS). Retention was measured as the continuous enrollment of a student into the second semester of the first-year engineering program. Results indicate that the following have a statistically significant effect on student persistence in engineering programs at Texas A&M University: learning style construct sequential; resilience constructs positive (self) and focus; with both tools combined, positive (self), organized, positive (world), flexibility (self) and focus; and a newly combined construct, Walton’s self-efficacy.

Idag satsas allt mer på stödboenden i olika former och man föredrar placeringar i närmiljö. Föreliggande studie syftar till att undersöka ungdomars livssituation minst ett år efter avslutad placering på Kollbo, ett stödboende tillhörande Ungdoms- och familjeenheten i Örebro kommun. Syftet är vidare att undersöka vilka komponenter i verksamheten ungdomarna har uppfattat som positiva respektive negativa, samt att se hur deras uppfattningar överensstämmer med personalgruppens. Studien har en kvalitativ ansats och bygger på intervjuer med ungdomar samt ordinarie anställda på Kollbo. Intervjuguiderna har utformats utifrån studiens syfte, verksamhetsbeskrivning samt tidigare forskning. Av resultatet framkommer att de komponenter ungdomarna menar har haft en positiv inverkan är personalens generella stöd och tillgänglighet och särskilt kontaktpersonen har haft stor betydelse. De är positiva till de regler som fanns och menade att personalgruppen var sammansvetsad och konsekvent. Flera respondenter upplever att Kollbos personal genom sitt stöd har haft del i att deras relationer med familjen förbättrats. Den komponent som framför allt uppfattades ha en negativ påverkan var tillämpningen av avvisning som konsekvens för regelbrott. Detta var även den komponent om vilken uppfattningarna i ungdoms- respektive personalgrupp skilde sig åt i störst utsträckning. Resultatet visar att ungdomarna, med ett undantag, idag är nöjda med sin livssituation. Majoriteten menar att placeringen har gjort en avgörande skillnad för deras nuvarande situation. / Today there is an increased use of supportive residential homes of different types and placements close to home are preferred. The purpose of this study is to examine the present situation of youths at least one year after completing their placement at Kollbo, a supportive residential home within the social welfare service of Örebro municipality. The purpose is also to examine which components have been regarded as positive respectively negative by the youths and how their views agree with the staff’s. The study has a qualitative approach and is based on interviews with youths and the regular staff at Kollbo. The interview guides have been formulated on the basis of the study’s aim, the statement of activity and previous research. The results of the study show that the components that have been positively regarded by the youths are the general support and availability provided by the staff and especially their contact person have had a special meaning to them. They are also in favour of the rules and have experienced the staff as united and consistent. Several respondents’ experience is that the staff at Kollbo has had an active part in helping to improve the youths’ family relations by their support. The component regarded as having the most negative influence was the use of refuse of entry as a consequence of breaking the rules. This was also the component were the staff’s and youths’ opinions differed the most. The result further shows that the youths, with the exception of one person, are pleased with their present life situation. The majority believes that the placement has made a significant difference for their present situation.

The main focus of this study was to explore how personal constructions, consisting of latent and conscious schema, and obtained from a culturally sensitive interpretation of the RCS, informed the transactional resilience of Black South African adolescents. This study was motivated in view of limited knowledge available about the (i) processes that are generic to the resilience-promoting transactions of Black South African adolescents and (ii) to potentiate insight into an adolescent’s construction of personal meaning of her conscious and unconscious experiences that may not always be easily recognised in her overt behaviour or by self-report measures often used in South African resilience research. Six Black South African adolescents aged 14 to 16 years volunteered to take part in this multiple case study. The participants were identified as resilient by an advisory panel consisting of learners and educators at an English-medium school in the Vaal Triangle area. In this essentially qualitative study, qualitative data obtained from an unstructured individual interview, unstructured observations, and a follow-up interview were integrated with the data obtained from a culturally sensitive, conceptual interpretation of these Black adolescents’ Rorschach protocols. The structural, quantitative data obtained from specific indicators in Exner’s Comprehensive System were interpreted in a culturally sensitive manner and integrated with the qualitative data obtained from the Rorschach protocols. A culturally sensitive, conceptual framework for interpreting Rorschach indicators associated with adolescents’ transactional resilience was provided. These findings indicated individual and ecological protective resources well known within South African resilience research. Findings that contributed new understanding of the transactional processes associated with Black South African adolescent resilience were also obtained. Four case-specific self-reflective strategies were identified, namely, emotional stoicism, frequent introspection, honouring the past, and adopting a new identity. These selfreflective strategies served as the participants’ unique ways of compensating for their adversity-informed schema as well as encouraging them to navigate towards the sustained support of specific significant others and resilience-promoting ecological resources. The participants indicated that attachment challenges brought about repressed feelings and specific security needs, which shaped their resilience-promoting navigation and enabled them to self-knit in a resilient way. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Education))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2011

The objectives of this study were to investigate the relationship between positive psychological capacities (state ego-resilience and state self-efficacy) and burnout levels of employees (N = 164) in a chemical organisation and to determine whether state ego-resilience and state self-efficacy can be used to predict burnout levels of employees in a chemical organisation. A cross-sectional survey design was used. The Ego-Resiliency Scale (ER89), the State Self Efficacy Scale (SSES) and the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (OLBI) were administered to measure the constructs. The research method for this article consists of a brief literature review and an empirical study. Confirmatory factor analyses, Cronbach's alpha coefficients and the inter-item correlation coefficients were used to assess the reliability and validity of the measuring instruments. Descriptive statistics were used to describe data, and Pearson's product moment correlation coefficients, and regression analyses were used to examine the relationships between the constructs employed in this research. Results obtained confirmed the internal consistency and one-dimensional factor structures of the state ego-resilience and state self-efficacy measuring instruments. Although the two - dimensional factor structure of the OLBI was confirmed, the two subscales were not consistent with the expected factor structure. Consequently, only the total burnout scale (which presented with adequate internal consistency) was used. A significant statistical and practical correlation was found between state ego-resilience and burnout. State self-efficacy and burnout demonstrated a significant statistical and practical correlation. Regression analyses indicated that both state ego-resilience and state self-efficacy hold predictive value with regard to burnout. Conclusions were made, limitations of the current research were discussed and recommendations for future research were put forward. / Thesis (M.Com. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2008.

The main focus of this study was to explore how personal constructions, consisting of latent and conscious schema, and obtained from a culturally sensitive interpretation of the RCS, informed the transactional resilience of Black South African adolescents. This study was motivated in view of limited knowledge available about the (i) processes that are generic to the resilience-promoting transactions of Black South African adolescents and (ii) to potentiate insight into an adolescent’s construction of personal meaning of her conscious and unconscious experiences that may not always be easily recognised in her overt behaviour or by self-report measures often used in South African resilience research. Six Black South African adolescents aged 14 to 16 years volunteered to take part in this multiple case study. The participants were identified as resilient by an advisory panel consisting of learners and educators at an English-medium school in the Vaal Triangle area. In this essentially qualitative study, qualitative data obtained from an unstructured individual interview, unstructured observations, and a follow-up interview were integrated with the data obtained from a culturally sensitive, conceptual interpretation of these Black adolescents’ Rorschach protocols. The structural, quantitative data obtained from specific indicators in Exner’s Comprehensive System were interpreted in a culturally sensitive manner and integrated with the qualitative data obtained from the Rorschach protocols. A culturally sensitive, conceptual framework for interpreting Rorschach indicators associated with adolescents’ transactional resilience was provided. These findings indicated individual and ecological protective resources well known within South African resilience research. Findings that contributed new understanding of the transactional processes associated with Black South African adolescent resilience were also obtained. Four case-specific self-reflective strategies were identified, namely, emotional stoicism, frequent introspection, honouring the past, and adopting a new identity. These selfreflective strategies served as the participants’ unique ways of compensating for their adversity-informed schema as well as encouraging them to navigate towards the sustained support of specific significant others and resilience-promoting ecological resources. The participants indicated that attachment challenges brought about repressed feelings and specific security needs, which shaped their resilience-promoting navigation and enabled them to self-knit in a resilient way. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Education))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2011

The purpose of the present study is to assess the potential individual characteristics and environmental protective factors that promote academic resilience among impoverished eighth grade elementary school students in Turkey. The sample consisted of 872 (439 girls, 433 boys) students enrolled in 6 low SES inner-city public elementary schools in Ankara. Five instruments, Demographic Data Form, Resilience and Youth Development Module (RYDM), Scholastic Competence Scale (SCS), Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS), and Nowicki-Strickland Locus of Control Scale (N-SLCS) were used in the present study. Grade point averages (6th, 7th and 8th grades) of students were used as the measure of Academic Achievement. Exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were used to analyze the data. The results of the present study revealed that home high expectations, school caring relationships and high expectations, along with the peer caring relationships were the prominent external protective factors that predicted academic resilience for the adolescents in poverty. Considering the internal protective factors, having positive self-perceptions about one&rsquo / s academic abilities, high educational aspirations, having empathic understanding, internal locus of control and being hopeful for the future were positively linked with the academic resilience of adolescents in poverty. Conversely, the external factors of home caring relationships, community caring relationships and high expectations, and peer high expectations, and internal factor of problem solving ability were negatively linked with academic resilience. These factors seem to be vulnerability factors for impoverished Turkish adolescents although they are generally accepted as the protective ones.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1998. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 175-184). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Este estudo investigou os indicativos de resiliência parental no processo de comunicação do diagnóstico de autismo após a avaliação do filho. Esses indicativos representaram o construto da elaboração parental do diagnóstico de autismo. O objetivo do primeiro estudo foi a construção de uma matriz de categorias indicativas de resiliência parental baseada em análise de conteúdo de seis entrevistas de casais com um filho com diagnóstico de autismo. Essa matriz foi base conceitual e empírica do Estudo 2, um estudo de caso cujos instrumentos foram quatro entrevistas de comunicação formal do diagnóstico com um casal de pais. Os objetivos deste foram compreender o papel das crenças dos pais na comunicação do diagnóstico do filho e investigar indicativos de resiliência parental que participaram do processo de elaboração do diagnóstico de autismo ao longo de quatro meses. Os resultados da Análise de Conteúdo apontaram a busca e atribuição de sentido ao jeito do filho e ao autismo como fatores de elaboração na comunicação do diagnóstico. Os resultados foram discutidos com base na concepção do construto de elaboração parental do diagnóstico de autismo. / This study investigated the indicatives of parental resilience in the process of communicating the diagnosis of autism. These indications represented the construct of parental elaboration of autism diagnosis by the parents. The goal of the first investigation was to build an array of categories indicating parental resilience based on content analysis of six interviews drawn from a database. This was the empirical and conceptual bases of the parents elaborations of the diagnostic, investigated on the second study. The goals of the second investigation were to understand the role of the beliefs of these parents in the communication of the diagnosis and to investigate parental resilience indicatives that participated in the process of elaboration of the diagnosis of autism of this couple over four months. The results of the Content Analysis showed the search and attribution of meaning to the characteristics of the son, and to autism as key indicators of elaboration during the communication of the diagnosis. The results were discussed on the base of building the construct of autism diagnostic elaboration by the parents.

abstract: ABSTRACT The massive number of baby boomers approaching retirement age has been termed the `gray tsunami.' As America's gray tsunami approaches, healthcare workers and social workers will become overwhelmed with requests for services and supports (St. Luke's Health Initiative, 2001; Bekemeier, 2009). This impact can be ameliorated by assisting aging individuals in maintaining or in some cases regaining independence. Individuals who live in assisted living facilities (AFLs) come from diverse backgrounds. Many of these individuals have lived in paternalistic environments such as prisons and mental health institutions. As a consequence of these disempowering conditions, residents of ALFs may experience increased depression, decreased self-esteem, and decreased locus of control (R. Hess, personal communication, September 30, 2010). These disabling conditions can severely limit residents' choice-making opportunities and control over their own lives. If programs can be created to provide empowering experiences and to teach self-advocacy skills, I hypothesize that residents will report an improved quality of life and display fewer depressive symptoms, increased self-esteem, and increased locus of control. Helping these individuals to maintain or regain independence will not only reduce the workload for care workers, it will enhance the lives of residents. The only hypothesis that was supported by the study was an improvement in residents' quality of life, and that hypothesis was only partially supported. Two of the five domains in the Residents' Quality of life questionnaire indicated an increase in quality of life. ii The Activities subscale of the Ferrans & Powers Quality also indicated that there was an increase in quality of life. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Social Work 2012