Stress and traumatic symptoms among police officers: a gender analysis
- Authors: Williams, Wendy Claudia
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Stress (Psychology) -- South Africa , Psychic trauma -- South Africa , Post-traumatic stress disorder -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , M Soc Sc (C Psy)
- Identifier: vital:11846 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/144 , Stress (Psychology) -- South Africa , Psychic trauma -- South Africa , Post-traumatic stress disorder -- South Africa
- Description: This study assessed the extent to which exposure to traumatic events affected the traumatic stress response of male and female police officers. A convenience sample of male and female police officers (N = 66: n Male=46, n Female=20) was surveyed at an Eastern Cape police station. The following instruments were used: 1) Biographical questionnaire 2) PTSS-10 scales 3) The 39-item stress incident scale. Findings of this study indicate that the frequency of exposure to stressful incidents especially for more serious events is significant higher than that of Peltzer (2001) study. The four most frequent stressful incidents experienced by all participants were 1) Finding a corpse after murder (86.4 percent), 2) Responding to a scene involving accidental injury of a child (84.8 percent), .3) Finding a corpse (died of natural causes) (84.8 percent), 4) Duty related violence (non-shooting) (84.8 percent ).The four least frequent incidents experienced by participants were: (1) Response to the depressing social situation (71.2 percent), (2) Dragging of a corpse (74.2 percent), (3) Taking a life in the line of duty (75.8 percent), (4) Violent death of a colleague (77.3 percent ).Female participants results indicated a positive relationship between frequency of stressful incidents and total threat, anxiety, helplessness and PTSS-scale , where male participants’ results indicate no significant relationship between frequency of stressful incidents and total threat, anxiety, helplessness and PTSS-scale. Findings on male participants however indicate a positive relationship between years of service in police, age of police officers and PTSS-scale, while female participants’ results indicated no relationship between years of service in the police, age of police officer and PTSS-scale.
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- Date Issued: 2008
The psychofortology of women undergoing infertility treatment at a privately managed health care unit
- Authors: Phillips, Kerry Megan
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Adjustment (Psychology) -- South Africa , Stress (Psychology) -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:9917 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/729 , Adjustment (Psychology) -- South Africa , Stress (Psychology) -- South Africa
- Description: Infertility, the inability to conceive a child or carry a pregnancy to birth, is an age-old concern, the anguish and disappointment of which is universal regardless of the etiology. Although technological advancement in the field of reproductive medicine has led to the possibilities of near miraculous procedures, infertility treatment offers the hope of conception without guaranteeing it and places the couple under tremendous emotional and financial strain. A moderate amount of research has explored the coping of individuals and the couple experiencing infertility, but has been primarily orientated to a clinical and medical focus as well as an exploration of the pathological symptoms that individuals may experience. This study has adopted a psychofortigenic focus and explored and described the coping (i.e., the coping resources and sense of coherence) and subjective well-being (i.e., satisfaction with life and happiness) of women undergoing infertility treatment. An exploratory descriptive research design was used and the participants were selected by means of non-probability purposive sampling. The sample consisted of 61women who were aged 30 years and older and required that they had received infertility treatment at a privately managed health care unit. Contextual and biographical data were gathered by means of a biographical questionnaire. Hammer and Marting’s (1988) Coping Resources Inventory was used to assess the participant’s coping resources. Antonovsky’s (1987) Orientation to Life Scale was used to measure the construct of Sense of Coherence. The Satisfaction with Life Scale by Diener, Emmons, Larsen and Griffin (1985) was used to assess respondents’ overall satisfaction with life while Kamman and Flett’s (1983) Affectometer-2 (AFM-2) was used to measure participants’ subjective happiness. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics and cluster analysis. The results of the CRI indicated a total coping resources score slightly below the mean of 50 as established by Hammer and Marting (1988). Results revealed that the highest mean score was obtained on the spiritual/philosophical subscale. Results from the SOC-29 indicated that the women sampled had an average Sense of Coherence. In terms of the construct of satisfaction with life as measured by the Satisfaction with Life Scale, the results indicated that the participants were slightly satisfied with their lives. Results from the AFM-2 revealed that the majority of participants experienced a below average feeling of happiness. Cluster analysis revealed three distinct clusters that differed significantly across the four measures.
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- Date Issued: 2008
The psychofortology of male and female patients undergoing infertility treatment
- Authors: Ferreira, Hendrina Jacoba
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: Adjustment (Psychology) , Stress (Psychology) -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:9918 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/674 , Adjustment (Psychology) , Stress (Psychology) -- South Africa
- Description: Infertility is a complex condition associated with the inability to conceive a child, frequently manifesting itself as a result of various biological factors. A literature review indicated that being on Artificial Reproductive Technology (ART) treatment significantly increases the stress in an individual. While some research has been done on coping processes, and stress and depression levels in individuals on infertility treatment, very little literature is available regarding the coping resources and subjective well-being of individuals on infertility treatment. This psychofortigenic study aimed to explore and describe the coping resources, sense of coherence, satisfaction with life and life happiness of individuals undergoing infertility treatment. Furthermore, this study aimed to compare the coping resources, sense of coherence, satisfaction with life and happiness of males and females undergoing infertility treatment at a privately managed unit. It is imperative to view the results of this study from a gender-based perception as a previous study by Ferreira (2005) indicated significant differences in how males and females perceived infertility treatment. The sample in this study consisted of 62 voluntary participants from a privately managed health care unit in the Nelson Mandela Metropole. Participants were given a package of questionnaires to complete under the supervision of the researcher and research coordinator of the participating health care unit. The assessment consisted of a biographical questionnaire and four standardised paper and pencil measures. The participants’ coping resources were explored using Hammer and Marting’s (1988) Coping Resource Inventory (CRI), while Antonovsky’s (1987) Orientation to Life Scale was used to measure their sense of coherence (SOC-29). Overall satisfaction with life was assessed using Diener, Emmons, Larson and Griffin’s (1985) Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), while Kamman and Flett’s (1993) Affectometer-2 (AFM-2) was utilized to measure the respondents’ subjective happiness. A quantitative, exploratory descriptive research design was employed in this study and the participants were chosen by means of a non-probability purposive sampling procedure. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics and independent t-testing. Further investigations were made through Chi square tests which enabled the researcher to draw inferences about differences based on cross tabulations. The reliability coefficient was obtained by calculating Cronbach’s coefficient alpha, which measured the internal consistency of the four standardized measures utilised in the present study. The results of the study revealed that participants generally experienced average levels of coping and subjective well-being as measured by the four assessment tools utilised during this study. On comparing the results of the male group and the female group of the particular sample it was found that although both groups obtained relatively average mean scores in general, the men scored slightly higher on the Coping Resources Inventory, Sense of Coherence and Affectometer-2, while the females scored slightly higher than the males on the Satisfaction with Life Scale.
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- Date Issued: 2007