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There has been limited South African research to date on family resilience as well as on the resiliency of families living with children diagnosed with AD/HD. We aimed to explore and describe the factors that facilitate adjustment and adaptation in families after a child has been clinically diagnosed with AD/HD. The Resiliency Model of Family Stress, Adjustment and Adaptation served as a framework to conceptualize the families' adjustment and adaptation processes. The study was triangular in nature, with an exploratory, descriptive approach. Non-probability purposive sampling was used to gain participants for the study. A biographical questionnaire and seven structured questionnaires were used to gather data. The biographical data were analysed using descriptive statistics. Quantitative data were analysed by means of correlation analysis, and content analysis was used to analyse the qualitative data obtained from the open-ended question on the biographical questionnaire. While the results of the quantitative analysis and qualitative analysis yielded various results, some commonalities can be highlighted; social support, family time and routines, and incendiary (affirmative) communication. The study sample also demonstrated their ability to bounce back from the adversities that previous research consistently highlighted as difficulties in their context. The findings of the research can be incorporated into individual and family level interventions for families living with a child diagnosed with AD/HD.

Stress in the teaching profession is a well-recognized phenomenon and, in addition, research has found special education to be more demanding than mainstream education. A literature study to date revealed that international and South African research on special education teachers and their coping with stress is sparse. We therefore aimed to explore and describe the coping orientation and resources of teachers educating learners with intellectual disabilities. An exploratory, descriptive survey design was employed in the study. Antonovsky's Orientation to Life Questionnaire (SOC-29) and Hammer and Mailing's Coping Resources Inventory (CRI) was administered to 59 special education teachers in the Nelson Mandela Metropole, South Africa. Key findings revealed fairly high mean scores on the SOC-29 and average mean scores on the CRI. Significant positive correlations between the SOC-29 and the CRI total mean score and some of the subscale scores of the CRI were also evident.

Most research on professional women has focused on their stress experience as opposed to their coping and adjustment. In addition, there is a paucity of South African research on coping in general, and on coping and adjustment among medical professional women in particular. This study accordingly investigated the biopsychosocial coping and adjustment of medical professional women in South Africa, by means of an exploratory, descriptive research design. The relationship between participants' scores on coping and adjustment measures was also explored. Three measures were used, namely, a biographical questionnaire, the Coping Resources Inventory (CRI) and the Personal, Home, Social and Formal Relations Questionnaire (PHSF). These were administered to 66 medical professional women in the Nelson Mandela Metropole. The results indicated that the participants perceived themselves as having an average level of coping resources and adjustment. A significant positive relationship was found to exist between coping resources and adjustment. These results are discussed in terms of their relevance to future research and their practical applicability in terms of support structures for medical professional women.