- Title
- The role of marriage preparation programs in preventing divorce: narratives of recently married individuals in Baffalo city municipality
- Creator
- Mujoko, Rumbidzai https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8505-9890
- Subject
- Marriage counseling
- Subject
- Communication in marriage
- Subject
- Divorce
- Date Issued
- 2013-12
- Date
- 2013-12
- Type
- Master's theses
- Type
- text
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10353/26186
- Identifier
- vital:64952
- Description
- The study explores the perceptions of recently married individuals on the role of marriage preparation programs in the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality. The study’s concern is that despite the fact that marriage preparation programs have been conducted in most parts of the world, some South African marriages are still affected by divorce. In 2009, 34.2 percent of the divorces came from the African population group and 5, 2 percent from the Indian/Asian population group. (StatsSA, 2009). Consequently, many marriages are affected by marital distress and divorce which has detrimental effects on the individual, family, communities and the nation as a whole. Marriage preparation programs are set up with the main aim of preventing divorce. It is in this frame of reference that this study saw it imperative to focus on the role of these programs. The study aims to examine what recently married individuals perceive as the role of marriage preparation programs and in turn recommend practical preventative and treatment strategies that can be employed by service providers of marriage preparation programs. The research drew its theoretical framework from the adult attachment theory, which developed from John Bowlby’s attachment theory in children. Guilford (2005) states that the application of attachment theory to adult relationships is a revolutionary event for the modality of couple therapy which gives the therapist a coherent, relevant, widely applicable and well researched framework for understanding the complex phenomenon of the adult love relationships. The study also drew from Jonathan Smith’s Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, a qualitative research approach which is committed to the examination of how people make sense of their major life experiences. Semi-structured interviews were utilized during data collection. A purposive sampling method was used to select fifteen recently married (3-5 years) individuals who attended a marriage preparation course before their marriage. The results of this study revealed that marriage preparation plays a major role in divorce prevention through improving good communication skills, helping in managing finances, addressing some cultural beliefs that might affect the marriage negatively, alerting individuals about potential marital challenges, encouraging seeking for help from professional counsellors, providing ways to deal with marital problems, improves marital commitment and increasing the level of marriage readiness. However, the study also found out that some marriage preparation programs in Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality exclude some topics that are perceived as important by participants. In addition, some participants who attended a marriage preparation programs still have difficulties in implementing some of the topics. Recommendations and implications for social work practice are documented in the research.
- Description
- Thesis (MSoc) -- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2013
- Format
- computer
- Format
- online resource
- Format
- application/pdf
- Format
- 1 online resource (244 leaves)
- Format
- Publisher
- University of Fort Hare
- Publisher
- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities
- Language
- English
- Rights
- University of Fort Hare
- Rights
- All Rights Reserved
- Rights
- Open Access
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Collections
UFH Department of Social Work & Social Development
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | The role of marriage preparation programs - MSW - Mujoko Rumbi 26 Nov 2013 - JR Edit.pdf | 1 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |