M.A. (Psychology) / The health context of South Africa is on the one hand unique in comparison to the rest of the world. On the other hand does it also. show characteristics of both Third World and First World disease patterns. There is a substantial component of the South African health sector that is negatively affected. This can possibly be ascribed to previous health policies. South Africa has unique characteristics concerning the chronic degenerative aspects of the First World disease pattern. White South Africans have the same cardiovascular disease patterns as the rest of the world with the exception that the South African disease patterns has a much larger incidence and degree of seriousness that the rest of the world. Research in the area of the chronic degenerative nature of heart disease and vascular disease is of great importance. It becomes necessary to address degenerative disease and also lifestyle diseases not only medically but also in terms of an individual's lifestyle. The management of an individual's lifestyle will not only have preventive consequences in the South African context, but it can also be utilised in the treat~ent of cardiovascular disease. Research undertaken at the Clinic and Centre for Behavioral Medicine at the Rand Afrikaans University found that the management or treatment of the Type A behavior pattern for the prevention of recurrent cardiovascular diseases were particularly effective. It therefore seems that technology developed elsewhere proves to be effective for the South African context. According to Johnston (1992) two types of risk factors contribute to the development of cardiovascular disease. The first constitute of classical risk factors which include aspects of blood pressure and cholesterol. The second risk factor includes psychological aspects and in particular the Type A behavior pattern and its components. Johnson and Broman (1987) indicate that the components of anger and hostility of the Type A behavior pattern constitute the most important behavioral factor of Type A coronary-prone behavior and cardiovascular disease. Research also indicate that the component of hostility presents a significant predictor of cardiovascular disease (Helmers et al., 1993) . The role of aggression and its components in the Type A behavior pattern was investigated in this study. An attempt was made to establish whether there is a simultaneous reduction in aggression, its components and the Type A behavior pattern and whether certain components of aggression were more important that others. A group of 39 heart patients were investigated on the following indexes: psychological, cardiological and biochemical in order to establish heart disease risk factors in a biopsychosocial context. A modified Type A treatment progranme was administered to this group over a period of twelve weeks at a local heart rehabilitation centre. A second group of 19 patients served as a no-treatment waitinglist control group, but simultaneously underwent an aerobic exercise and cardiovascular counselling programne. The results of this study indicated that cynical hostility was probably the major risk factor of all the components of aggression in the Type A behavior pattern. The second most important component of aggression in the Type A behavior pattern is the expression of anger in general. The latter also corresponds with results found in research on this subj ect. Ov-ert or specific expression of anger .nd the control of anger also contribute to the psychosocial causation of Type A behavior pattern in cardiovascular disease. Comparisons of the experimental and control groups after the intervention showed statistically significant differences of anger expression in general, specific anger expression, inhibition of anger, control of anger, and hostility. It was concluded that significant differences for the diverse components of aggression have been found due to the experimental intervention programme.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uj/uj:4652 |
| Date | 03 April 2014 |
| Creators | Naude, C.S. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | University of Johannesburg |
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