D.Cur. / In South Africa, mood disorders, specifically depression, accounts for the most psychiatric related hospital admissions. The total cost (overt and hidden) of mood disorders that result from lost productivity, can be estimated at billions of rand per year. In addition to economic costs, depression can carry great personal costs because of the social stigma associated with the diagnosis and treatment of a 'mental illness'. This stigma likely plays a big role in women' reluctance to seek, accept and adhere to treatment. The potential savings to be derived from the appropriate treatment of women suffering from depression are socially and economically significant. The focus in this thesis has been on women suffering from depression as it is estimated that at least twenty five percent of women will suffer from a major depressive episode in their life. Based on the problem statement that was included in this thesis, the researcher asked the following questions: 'What is the phenomena that constitutes the restoration process of women suffering from depression? Which processes contribute to the restoration process of women suffering from depression and facilitate these women's quest for mental health as an integral part of wholeness? How can an approach to provide quality care to women suffering from depression be described?" The primary purpose of this thesis was thus to explore and describe the processes contributing to the restoration process of women suffering from depression, in order to develop a mental health nursing approach that will provide quality care to women suffering from depression in their continuous quest for mental health. The psychiatric nurse specialist then developed and described guidelines to operationalise the approach that contributes to quality care of women suffering from depression in mental health nursing. The paradigmatic basis of this study was based on the Nursing for the Whole Person Theory (Oral Roberts University, Anna Vaughn School of Nursing, 1990:136-142) as used by the Rand Afrikaans University. This theory is based on a Judea-Christian philosophy.

M.Cur. (Psychiatric Nursing) / In an airways community, an external factor is the fact that the men are absent from home for long periods, especially the international pilots. The result is that the wives have to take charge of the household. There is an interaction between the wives' internal and external environments. Internal factors that can influence the wives' quest for wholeness and which stern from the above-mentioned statement, are : *The wife becomes isolated due to the fact that she has to rely on herself. * She has more responsibility, has a variety of roles to play, and is the central person in the family. * She experiences high stress levels and great demands are made on her, so that she has to resort to defence mechanisms such as aggression, isolation, rationalization, displacement and denial. An external factor that specifically influences the wife and family's quest for wholeness, is the limited resources that are available to them, especially in terms of her husband, friends and family because the airways community is a subculture on its own. While I was participating in an interpersonal skills course for the wives of international pilots presented at the Rand Afrikaans University, I noticed that the women showed suppressed aggression and that they used denial and rationalization as defence mechanisms. Labile emotions were also experienced by them. The fact that the husband as a help and source of support is not at home causes the wife to experience internal discomfort, and interferes with her quest for wholeness. The research question that originated from the above mentioned data was : "'What in the experiential world of wives of pilots can on the one hand cause them to be vulnerable to mental illness and thus interfere with their quest for wholeness, and on the other hand what 'can facilitate their quest for wholeness! The aim of this study is to explore and to describe the experiences of wives of pilots who undertake international flights, and to compile guidelines for enriching the mental health of couples of whom the husband is regularly absent.

D.Cur. (Psychiatric Nursing Science) / The overall goal of this research study was to explore and describe strategies in order to promote the mental health of married couples throughout the ante- and postnatal period. The majority of research on the transition to parenthood has found that as couples become parents, there is a dramatic decrease in positive marital interchanges, a dramatic increase in marital conflict and a precipitous decline in marital satisfaction (Belsky & Kelly, 1994; Belsky & Pensky, 1988: 133-156; Belsky, Spanier & Rovine, 1983: 567-577). The transition to parenthood is viewed as instigating a shift in the marriage whereby most couples are expected to experience a qualitative change in their relationship that is relatively abrupt (Pancer, Pratt, Hunsberger & Gallant, 2000: 253-280). Becoming a new parent poses challenges for nearly every married couple (Curran, Hazen, Jacobvitz & Feldman, 2005: 189). Becoming a parent is a major developmental transition of adulthood (Harwood, McLean & Durkin, 2007: 1). Individuals often have optimistic expectations about parenthood, yet this transition also presents a number of challenges (Harwood et al, 2007: 1). The questions that arose was what are the stories of married couples throughout the ante- and postnatal period of their first child, and what can be done by an advanced psychiatric nursing practitioner to promote the mental health of married couples based on their story. The researcher utilised a qualitative, explorative, descriptive and contextual study design as described in Babbie (2010: 92). This research study was carried out in four phases. During the first phase of this research study, the researcher explored and described the stories of married couples throughout the ante- and postnatal period of their first child according to the quest narrative method described by Frank (1997: 115). The results were discussed within relevant literature. iv In the second phase of this research study the researcher developed a conceptual framework on the basis of the empirical data. The conceptual framework was developed according to the concepts as proposed by Dickoff, James and Wiedenbach (1968: 435). The researcher described strategies, to promote the mental health of married couples throughout the ante- and postnatal period of their first child, in the third phase of this research study. These strategies were described according to a relationship phase, a working phase and a termination phase as part of the facilitation process. These three phases were discussed as part of a proposed facilitation process that forms part of the developed conceptual framework. In the fourth phase of this research study, the developed strategies were subjected to expert assessment according to the criteria stated by Chinn and Kramer (2011: 196-205). The findings of the research study are applicable to psychiatric nursing practice, research and psychiatric nursing education.

An overview of recent literature indicates that mood and anxiety disorders are the most prevalent of all psychiatric disorders. Depression and anxiety are estimated to be two of the most important causes of disease burden in the world and appear to be more prevalent among women than men. A skewed distribution exists in mood and anxiety research with limited research being done into the area of gender, more specifically females with these disorders. The present study therefore intended to explore and describe the psychofortology of female psychiatric out-patients living with mood and anxiety disorders. An exploratory descriptive research design was used and participants were selected by means of non-probability purposive sampling. The sample consisted of 60 female psychiatric out-patients who were selected for inclusion based on predetermined inclusion criteria. Data were gathered through the administration of a biographical questionnaire, Hammer and Marting’s Coping Resources Inventory (CRI), Antonovsky’s Sense of Coherence Scale (SOC-29), Diener, Emmons, Larson and Griffin’s Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) and Kamman and Flett’s Affectometer-2 (AFM-2). These data were then analyzed according to the aims of the study by the use of descriptive statistics, inferential statistics and multivariate data analysis, namely, K-means cluster analysis. The results indicated that the female psychiatric out-patients with mood and anxiety disorders were generally experiencing lower levels of coping and subjective well-being. The results indicated three clusters which appeared to have no statistical or practical significance to each other. The first cluster could be characterized as being “of relatively high psychofortology” and patients in this cluster presented with better coping and subjective well-being. The patients in cluster two could be characterized as being “of relatively average psychofortology” and the third cluster as being “of relatively low psychofortology”. The third cluster was characterized by patients who were experiencing poorer levels of coping and subjective well-being.

The major purpose of the study was to examine mood fluctuations associated with phases of the menstrual cycle. To assess the relative impact of the menstrual cycle on moods, other cycles hypothesized to influence moods also were assessed. Mood fluctuations in women and men were studied both prospectively and retrospectively to determine whether cyclic changes occur with the phases of the menstrual cycle, lunar cycle, and/or days of the week. Each participant (15 women using oral contraceptives, 12 normally cycling women, and 15 men) recorded their moods daily for 70 days (prospective data). A daily mean score was obtained for both pleasantness and arousal (each on a 9-point positive to negative scale). Mood stability/variability was recorded daily on a 4-point scale. At the end of the study, participants recalled (retrospective data) their mood over the previous 2 months for each day of the week and the phases of their menstrual cycle (women only). The focus on menstrual cycles was sucessfully camouflaged. Prospectively, there were no group differences and no menstrually-related mood fluctuations. The retrospective reports, however, indicated systematic bias. Women recalled more positive moods in the follicular phase and more negative moods in the premenstrual and menstrual phases than they had reported prospectively. All groups reported weekday mood changes — Monday lows and Friday/Saturday highs. Recollections of weekday mood fluctuations were similar to but more exaggerated than prospective reports. Prospective reports revealed no mood fluctuations over the lunar cycle. Together, these results indicate that stereotypes (both well- and ill-founded) influence recollections of mood, and are consistent with schematic processing theories. The importance for menstrual cycle research of obtaining information about positive as well as negative experiences, camouflaging the purpose of the study, collecting prospective data, and assessing results in the contexts of other cycles also is discussed. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

This study examined the distinct effects of partner violence and psychological abuse on women's mental health over time. Latent growth modeling was used to examine stability and change over time, evaluating the course and consequences of each form of abuse. The size of women's social support network was examined as a mediator. The sample consisted of 835 African American, Euro-American, and Mexican American low-income women. Participants who completed Waves 1, 2, 3, and 5 were included in the study (n = 585). In general, partner violence decreased over time for all groups, while psychological abuse decreased over time for only Euro-American women. Whereas initial and prolonged exposure to psychological abuse was related to and directly impacted women's mental health, partner violence was only related to initial levels of mental health. Surprisingly, social support was only related to initial violence and distress and had no impact on the rate of change over time. These results have important implications for researchers and health care professionals. First, differences in the pattern of results were found for each ethnic group, reaffirming the notion that counselors and researchers must be sensitive to multicultural concerns in both assessment and intervention. For example, psychological abuse had a greater impact on the mental health of African American and Mexican American women than it did for Euro-American women, suggesting a shift in focus depending on the ethnicity of the client may be warranted. Second, this longitudinal study highlights the importance of future research to considerer individual differences in treating and studying victimized women. Understanding factors that contribute to individual trajectories will help counselors gain insight into the problem and in devising plans to prevent or reduce the occurrence and negative health impact of partner abuse.

No description available.

The purpose of this study is to provide a descriptive analysis of the problems presented by a specific group of women seeking out-patient mental health treatment and to relate these problems to the ontogenetic (age-related) developmental issues presented in a study of the literature. The researcher’s involvement in this area developed from interest in current literature on adult development, and a personal commitment to life-long growth and acceptance of the inherent changes. In order to investigate whether developmental issues exist for this group of women, and if so to describe them, two distinct age groups--the decades of the 20's and the 40's--were chosen as the focus of this study.

No description available.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts, Clinical Psychology. Johannesburg, September 1992 / No abstract provided.