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Work context has many consequences for the psychological outcomes of employees. These outcomes also have consequences for the employer through possible loss of productivity, impaired health of employees which may be associated with absenteeism and turnover intention, among others. The literature also shows that these outcomes are not always the same even under similar working conditions. Theorising in cognitive psychology indicates that the way in which an individual appraises a situation may be more important to psychological outcomes than the actual presence of a stressor. Recently, personal resources have been hypothesised to influence these individual differences. Few if any studies have explored such personal resources as moderators in the relationship between work context and psychological outcomes, especially in the South African public service context. Thus, the general aim of this study was to determine whether personal resources (emotional intelligence, self-efficacy and explanatory styles) are moderators in the relationship between work context Gob demands and job resources) and psychological outcomes (psychological well-being and work engagement) in a sample of government employees. A cross-sectional survey research design was implemented. Data were collected from 459 participants with the following measuring instruments, the Job-Demands Resources (JD-R) Scale, the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), the Affectomemter-2 Short-form (AFM.), the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) , the Emotional Intelligence Scale (ElS), the General Self-efficacy (GSE) scale, and the Explanatory Style (ES) Questionnaire. A demographic questionnaire was developed by the first author to capture diverse information from the participants relating to gender, turnover intention, post level and so forth. Analyses were conducted mainly in 2 steps. Firstly, multiple regression analyses were used to test the main effects of work context variables on psychological outcomes. Secondly, two-step hierarchical regression analyses were used to test whether personal resources (emotional intelligence, self-efficacy, and explanatory styles) moderated the relationship between work context variables and psychological outcomes. Before testing the moderation, all independent variables and moderator variables (dimensions of personal resources) were centred so as to exclude the possibility of any multicollinearity in the regression equation. The results of the study, reported in three articles/manuscripts, showed significant main effects for work context and the personal resources as predictors of psychological outcomes. In the second place, the results also showed that the personal resources used in this study moderate the relationship between work context and psychological outcomes. In the first article, it was concluded that emotional intelligence is of potential value, especially in the public sector that is focussed on optimal service delivery, and where emotional encounters are stock-in-trade. Emotional intelligence is a valuable personal resource to cultivate for establishing, developing, and maintaining positive outcomes in psychological well-being in the workplace. In the second article, it was concluded that as self-efficacy beliefs facilitate actions and behaviour taken by individuals, it is important that feedback and modelling could play an important role especially in service-oriented work contexts that may need self-regulation of emotions. In the third article, it was concluded that as attributional feedback can induce change in how individuals perceive their success or failure in a task, the role of explanatory styles in psychological outcomes could be cultivated through active feedback given to employees on their performance and possibilities of future growth in the organisation. Overall it was concluded that a lack of job resources in the presence of high job demands will undermine psychological outcomes even in the presence of personal resources. Therefore, the consequences for health impairment and negative outcomes cannot be over-emphasised in a situation where job demands outstrip job resources. Employees in the public service require skills such as social and emotional competency, self-efficacy and optimism as these are important tools in dealing with the public. Employees must have initiative, flexibility, motivation to achieve, empathy, self-esteem and confidence, self-control, and group management among fellow employees and the public that is served by them. Although the limitations for this study are related to the fact that it was a cross-sectional research design and data was collected using self-reports, insights were gained about the role of personal resources in the relationship between work context and psychological outcomes. Based on all three articles, it was recommended that cross lagged panel studies may be useful in further clarifying the role of personal resources in longitudinal studies about the relationship between job resources and psychological outcomes and possible upward spirals arising from facilitating these relationships. Aspects of such studies may also include a qualitative assessment of what participants perceive as job resources and personal resources and these help them to achieve their goals. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.

Work context has many consequences for the psychological outcomes of employees. These outcomes also have consequences for the employer through possible loss of productivity, impaired health of employees which may be associated with absenteeism and turnover intention, among others. The literature also shows that these outcomes are not always the same even under similar working conditions. Theorising in cognitive psychology indicates that the way in which an individual appraises a situation may be more important to psychological outcomes than the actual presence of a stressor. Recently, personal resources have been hypothesised to influence these individual differences. Few if any studies have explored such personal resources as moderators in the relationship between work context and psychological outcomes, especially in the South African public service context. Thus, the general aim of this study was to determine whether personal resources (emotional intelligence, self-efficacy and explanatory styles) are moderators in the relationship between work context Gob demands and job resources) and psychological outcomes (psychological well-being and work engagement) in a sample of government employees. A cross-sectional survey research design was implemented. Data were collected from 459 participants with the following measuring instruments, the Job-Demands Resources (JD-R) Scale, the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), the Affectomemter-2 Short-form (AFM.), the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) , the Emotional Intelligence Scale (ElS), the General Self-efficacy (GSE) scale, and the Explanatory Style (ES) Questionnaire. A demographic questionnaire was developed by the first author to capture diverse information from the participants relating to gender, turnover intention, post level and so forth. Analyses were conducted mainly in 2 steps. Firstly, multiple regression analyses were used to test the main effects of work context variables on psychological outcomes. Secondly, two-step hierarchical regression analyses were used to test whether personal resources (emotional intelligence, self-efficacy, and explanatory styles) moderated the relationship between work context variables and psychological outcomes. Before testing the moderation, all independent variables and moderator variables (dimensions of personal resources) were centred so as to exclude the possibility of any multicollinearity in the regression equation. The results of the study, reported in three articles/manuscripts, showed significant main effects for work context and the personal resources as predictors of psychological outcomes. In the second place, the results also showed that the personal resources used in this study moderate the relationship between work context and psychological outcomes. In the first article, it was concluded that emotional intelligence is of potential value, especially in the public sector that is focussed on optimal service delivery, and where emotional encounters are stock-in-trade. Emotional intelligence is a valuable personal resource to cultivate for establishing, developing, and maintaining positive outcomes in psychological well-being in the workplace. In the second article, it was concluded that as self-efficacy beliefs facilitate actions and behaviour taken by individuals, it is important that feedback and modelling could play an important role especially in service-oriented work contexts that may need self-regulation of emotions. In the third article, it was concluded that as attributional feedback can induce change in how individuals perceive their success or failure in a task, the role of explanatory styles in psychological outcomes could be cultivated through active feedback given to employees on their performance and possibilities of future growth in the organisation. Overall it was concluded that a lack of job resources in the presence of high job demands will undermine psychological outcomes even in the presence of personal resources. Therefore, the consequences for health impairment and negative outcomes cannot be over-emphasised in a situation where job demands outstrip job resources. Employees in the public service require skills such as social and emotional competency, self-efficacy and optimism as these are important tools in dealing with the public. Employees must have initiative, flexibility, motivation to achieve, empathy, self-esteem and confidence, self-control, and group management among fellow employees and the public that is served by them. Although the limitations for this study are related to the fact that it was a cross-sectional research design and data was collected using self-reports, insights were gained about the role of personal resources in the relationship between work context and psychological outcomes. Based on all three articles, it was recommended that cross lagged panel studies may be useful in further clarifying the role of personal resources in longitudinal studies about the relationship between job resources and psychological outcomes and possible upward spirals arising from facilitating these relationships. Aspects of such studies may also include a qualitative assessment of what participants perceive as job resources and personal resources and these help them to achieve their goals. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T18:23:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Lucilene Santos Silva Fonseca.pdf: 22240332 bytes, checksum: 6b30013c834bbeef9ca840e368c140c9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-07-30 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The overall objective of this research is to investigate the agency of an undergraduate student of the Faculty of Language and Arts in Spanish language, along her work in the discipline Practice of Foreign Language Teaching (FL), permeated by the actions of the teacherresearcher in a university located in a city of the metropolitan area of São Paulo. We have perceived that many of these students, after completing graduation, start teaching classes in elementary and high schools without the practical experience of teaching a foreign language (LE). This problem motivated the following specific objectives with this focus: (1) identify language features that enable us to understand the agency of the participant; (2) identify how the proposals of the discipline enable the development of the agency of the participant; (3) analyze the type of agency revealed in the development of the participant. The theoretical and methodological choice in constructing contexts of comprehension, reflection and transformation, with respect to the teaching and learning of languages and the role of language in these contexts is endorsed by the Critical Collaboration Research (MAGALHÃES, 2010). This theoretical framework is based on the Theory of Socio- Historical-Cultural Activity (VYGOTSKI, 1934/1998, 1930/1999; LEONTIEV, 1978; ENGESTRÖM, 2001), focusing on the concepts of teaching and learning and development, mediation and Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) as a socio-cultural-historical space of coming to be, in which language organizes a collaborative-critical relationship between the participants. Data has been collected aiming to recover and understand the agency of the work done by the undergraduate student during the discipline Foreign Language Teaching Practice. First we selected thrirteen (13) texts done by the undergraduate student through her activities as a teacher in pre-service. This work is justified for collaborating with discussions about Faculty undergraduate courses with degree in Foreign Languages (FL) and the agency's role in the development of the discipline Teaching Practice of FL. This work integrates CNPq, Contradiction and Collaboration Research, led by PHD. Professor Maria Cecilia Magalhães Camargo of the da PUC-SP University which aims to investigate ways of questioning, presenting, countering arguments that constitute activities of school context, with emphasis on teacher training, such as reproductive and/or creative productions of meaning for proposing a research framework and organization of these activities in more creative perspectives. Therefore, this research can contribute to benefit educational entities that seek to improve the pre-service teacher training and students of Language and Arts and Literature / O objetivo geral desta pesquisa é investigar a agência de uma graduanda de Letras, Licenciatura em Língua Estrangeira Espanhola (LEE), ao longo do trabalho realizado na disciplina Prática de Ensino de Língua Estrangeira (LE), permeada pelas ações da professorapesquisadora, em uma faculdade localizada em uma cidade da Grande São Paulo. Observamos que muitos alunos de contextos como esse, após a conclusão da graduação, passam a ministrar aulas em escolas de Ensino Fundamental e Médio sem a experiência prática do ensino da Língua Estrangeira (LE). Essa problemática motivou o foco para os objetivos específicos desta pesquisa: (1) verificar os tipos de agência que emergem dos dados; (2) verificar se e como as propostas trabalhadas na disciplina possibilitam a agência da participante. A escolha teórico-metodológica na construção de contextos de compreensão, de reflexão e de transformação, no que diz respeito ao ensino-aprendizagem de línguas e ao papel da linguagem nesses contextos está apoiada na Pesquisa Crítica de Colaboração (MAGALHÃES, 2010). Esse recorte teórico baseia-se na Teoria da Atividade Sócio- Histórico-Cultural (VYGOTSKI, 1934/1998, 1930/1999; LEONTIEV, 1978; ENGESTRÖM, 2001), com foco nos conceitos de ensino-aprendizagem e desenvolvimento, mediação e Zona de Desenvolvimento Proximal (ZPD) como espaço sócio-histórico-cultural de vir-a-ser, em que a linguagem organiza a relação colaborativo-crítica entre os participantes, a agência e a formação de professores. Os dados, coletados visam recuperar e compreender a agência da graduanda no trabalho desenvolvido na disciplina Prática de Ensino de Língua Estrangeira. Foram selecionados treze (13) textos gerados por meio das atividades de formação de uma professora em pré-serviço, realizadas na faculdade. Este trabalho justifica-se por colaborar com as discussões sobre o curso de graduação, licenciatura em línguas estrangeiras, o papel da agência no desenvolvimento da Prática de Ensino de LE. Este trabalho integra a pesquisa CNPq Colaboração e Contradição, coordenada pela professora Dra Maria Cecília Camargo Magalhães, da PUC-SP, que objetiva investigar as formas de questionar, apresentar, contrapor argumentos que constituem as atividades do contexto escolar, com ênfase, na formação de educadores, como produções reprodutivas e/ou criativas de significado para propor um quadro de investigação e de organização dessas atividades em perspectivas mais criativas. Dessa forma, a pesquisa pode contribuir para beneficiar entidades educacionais que buscam aprimorar a formação pré-serviço de professores de LE

The objective was to evaluate differences in the severity and symptoms of borderline personality disorder (BPD) according to sex and service context among adolescents involved with youth protection services (YPS) and first-line mental health services (FLMHS) in Quebec. A total of 45 adolescents (14 to 17 years old) with BPD traits were recruited from YPS (n=35) and CLSCs (n=10). The Borderline Symptom List (BSL-23) measured the severity of symptomatology while the Life Problems Inventory (LPI) evaluated the intensity of BPD. Independent samples t-tests and Mann-Whitney U tests were used to analyze group differences. Analyses revealed that girls had significantly higher mean symptom severity scores (BSL-23) than boys and a significantly higher interpersonal chaos score (LPI). No other significant differences emerged from the primary analyses. Supplementary item-by-item analyses of the BSL-23 and LPI, indicated that girls endorsed several internalizing behaviours, while boys endorsed numerous externalizing behaviours. In terms of service context, the YPS group scored higher on several externalizing behaviours, while the FLMHS group scored higher on many internalizing behaviours. The results of this study provide initial insights into BPD symptomatology and severity in these understudied service contexts and can guide early detection and intervention. / L’objectif était d’évaluer les différences de sévérité et de symptômes du trouble de personnalité limite (TPL) selon le sexe et le contexte de service chez les adolescents suivis en protection de la jeunesse (PJ) et dans les services de santé mentale de première ligne au Québec. Un total de 45 adolescents (14 à 17 ans) présentant des traits du TPL ont été recrutés en PJ (n=35) et en CLSC (n=10). Le Borderline Symptom List (BSL-23) a mesuré la sévérité de la symptomatologie et le Life Problems Inventory (LPI) a évalué l'intensité du TPL. Des tests t d'échantillons indépendants et des tests Mann-Whitney U ont été utilisés pour analyser les différences entre les groupes. Les analyses ont révélé que les filles présentaient des scores moyens de sévérité (BSL-23) significativement plus élevés que les garçons et un score significativement plus élevé pour le chaos interpersonnel (LPI). Aucune autre différence significative n'est ressortie des analyses primaires. Des analyses complémentaires item par item du BSL-23 et du LPI, ont indiqué que les filles endossaient plusieurs comportements internalisés, et les garçons des comportements externalisés. Au niveau du contexte de service, le groupe PJ a obtenu des résultats plus élevés pour nombreux comportements externalisés, tandis que le groupe en première ligne a obtenu des résultats plus élevés pour plusieurs comportements internalisés. Les résultats de cette étude fournissent un premier aperçu des symptômes et de la sévérité du TPL dans ces contextes de service peu étudiés permettant de guider la détection et l'intervention précoces.