STATEMENT I, the undersigned, hereby declare that the work contained in this assignment is my own original work and that I have not previously in its entirety or in part submitted it at any university for a degree. ……………………….. ……………………… Signature Date ii ABSTRACTThe current study was aimed at expanding on and understanding the adaptation and adjustment mechanisms used by families in the wake of heart-related trauma, as a means of providing information that reveals and supports the family's own abilities, capabilities and resilience. The theoretical framework of this study was the Resiliency Model of Family Stress, Adjustment and Adaptation (McCubbin & Thompson, 1991). The focus of this study is on the existing and new resources (including social support), the situation appraisal (including the family schema) and the problem solving and coping aspects of the family. This focus represents the paradigmatic shift from a pathological view of a family to a salutogenic view.Family resilience factors were collected through the self-report questionnaires and an open ended questionnaire, which were completed by the family member who experienced the heartrelated trauma. Results indicated that family time and routines appeared to be a key process for mediating family adaptation, as well as parent-child togetherness and family chores. Ander sleutelprosesse wat geïdentifiseer is en positief verband hou met gesinsaanpassing, is sosiale ondersteuning, gesinsgehardheid, en die herformulering van probleemsituasies. Die identifisering van kern gesinsprosesse kan bydra tot die herstel en opbou van gesinne in krisisse. In die Suid-Afrikaanse konteks kan hierdie kennis gebruik word om intervensies te beplan vir gesinne met 'n lid wat 'n kardiovaskulêre siekte het.iv CONTENTS

BackgroundWhile the media may significantly influence public attitudes and government policies affecting the research agenda, how mental health research is reported in the media has been virtually unstudied. The aim of this study was to examine stories concerning mental health research published on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) website between 1999 and 2008 and in New Scientist between 2008 and 2010.MethodStories were retrieved from on-line archives. Story content was coded and assessed against: ‘disease burden’ of mental disorders; the general corpus of research papers in mental health and the countries from which they originated; the journals in which cited papers were published; and funding sources.ResultsA total of 1015 BBC stories reporting mental health research and 133 New Scientist stories were found. The distribution of stories did not reflect ‘disease burden’; research on dementia was over-represented, while depression and alcohol were under-represented. There was an emphasis on biological research while stories on psychological interventions were rare. UK research was over-represented. Research funded by government and private non-profit sources was over-represented. Commentators from Alzheimer's Disease charities were prominent.ConclusionsConsideration of reported stories may suggest approaches to working with the media to improve the public understanding of, and support for, mental health research. The role of commentators may be especially important.