The origin of this study is due to research Botma (1999) undertook among
Free State farmers in order to determine what the global level of perceived
stress was, but also to determine which specific stressors they
experienced and what its intensity was. With this study Botma (1999)
found that the stressors by which the farmers are confronted, hold
negative implications for their quality of life. The purpose of the current
study namely to develop a capacity building programme by means of
which quality of life can be facilitated, resulted therefore from the abovementioned
research. The capacity building programme entailed the
following components: stress, psychological well-being, quality of life and
subjective well-being. The capacity building programme was also
subjected to evaluation in order to determine its effect on the participants.
In order to achieve this objective, the following scales were used in the
empirical study: Quality of Lie Questionnaire (Evans & Cope, 1989),
Sense of Coherence Scale (Antonovsky, 1993), Satisfaction with Life
Scale (Diener, Larsen & Griffen, 1985), Affectometer 2 (Kamman & Flett,
1983), COPE (Carver, Scheier & Weintraub, 1989) and the Spiritual Well-
Being Scale (Ellison & Smith, 1991). All these scales showed satisfactory
reliability indices. A sample of 60 participants from three districts in the
Free State was used. As far as the qualitative component of this research
was concerned, focus groups were led with 10 participants, and in-depth
interviews were conducted with four respondents.
The empirical part of this study indicated that there was no difference
between the experimental and control group before the intervention had
VII
taken place. On conclusion of the program, clear differences
could be detected within the experimental group as well as between the
experimental and control group. The experimental group showed an
improvement in spirituality, subjective well-being and quality of life. These
results were also reflected by the focus groups and by the in-depth
interviews. It is however interesting to note that the above-mentioned
changes that had taken place in the participants are mainly concerned with
their affect and not with their behaviour as such. The reason being the
fact that the focus of the programme is spiritual and mainly emphasises
the improvement of the affective quality of life of the participants. The
results of the in-depth interviews indicate the fact that the capacity building
programme still has a long-term effect on the participants.
Recommendations are made with regard to the capacity building
programme in terms of changes to for example the inclusion of
behavioural change.
This research contributed to the understanding of spirituality, psychological
well-being, subjective well-being and quality of life as well as to its
application in a capacity building programme for farmers. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2004.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NWUBOLOKA1/oai:dspace.nwu.ac.za:10394/232 |
| Date | January 2004 |
| Creators | Botma, Abraham Carel |
| Publisher | North-West University |
| Source Sets | North-West University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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