Cultural interpretations of traumatic events and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms of IsiXhosa-speaking adults
- Authors: De Villiers, Derika
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: Post-traumatic stress disorder , Emotions and cognition , Psychic trauma
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:9878 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1008379 , Post-traumatic stress disorder , Emotions and cognition , Psychic trauma
- Description: South Africa as a country is known for its high crime rate which produces an ongoing traumatising environment for its multicultural nation. Posttraumatic stress disorder in the general South African population is thought to be more prevalent than most international norms which make this topic both relevant and important. Cultural diversity is seen to play a role in the experience of PTSD which means that it has become important to gain an understanding of the potential effect of the individual’s cultural background on the processing of a traumatic experience and the symptoms related to the experience. The proposed research focused on appraisals of the traumatic event and symptoms (in schematic and cultural terms). An interpretive (with current cognitive conceptions of the disorder as guiding theory) phenomenological approach was used. The sample consisted of eight isiXhosa-speaking adults that qualified for a diagnosis of PTSD with no prior psychiatric diagnosis. Data was gathered using a semi-structured interview and analysed using the Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis. Results indicated that participants understood their PTSD symptoms in a functional manner but struggled to make sense of their traumatic event. Not understanding their traumatic event was the variable that maintained their PTSD diagnosis. Most of the interpretations made by these participants were fairly universal and there were very few links to content that can directly be attributed to a traditional African worldview. Practitioners may not need to completely reinvent the wheel as far as treatment strategies for PTSD for isiXhosa-speaking individuals in an urban setting go.
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- Date Issued: 2012
Indigenous trauma volunteers: survivors with a mission
- Authors: Moultrie, Alison
- Date: 2004
- Subjects: Volunteers -- Job stress , Volunteer workers in community development -- Job stress , Stress (Psychology) , Psychic trauma , Burn out (Psychology)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3027 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002536 , Volunteers -- Job stress , Volunteer workers in community development -- Job stress , Stress (Psychology) , Psychic trauma , Burn out (Psychology)
- Description: There is a growing body of literature on the risk for secondary trauma amongst professional trauma workers. Nonetheless, there is scant published literature on the impact of trauma work on volunteers; particularly when such volunteers are indigenous to the highly traumatized communities which they serve. The study examined a group of parents (N=16) who volunteered in a school-based trauma support project in an impoverished, gang-ridden South African urban community in which they themselves reside. Aims were to 1) Explore the psychological impact of indigenous trauma volunteerism; 2) Explore volunteers’ perceptions of costs and benefits of volunteerism. Data collection was chiefly qualitative, using focus group and individual interviews. The Professional Quality of Life: Compassion Satisfaction and Fatigue Subscales (Stamm, 2002) were administered in order to determine risk for burnout, risk for compassion fatigue and potential for compassion satisfaction. The Stressful Life Experiences Screening Short Form (Stamm, 1997) was administered in order to gather descriptive information regarding personal trauma histories. Project documentation was reviewed. Analysis and interpretation of qualitative data involved a combination of both etic (theory-based) and emic (data and context-based) techniques. The volunteers’ experiences were co-constructed in interaction with three settings: 1) Experiences of training and supervision were affirming and empowering; 2) Experiences of the school context were mediated by the degree of access and integration into the school environment; 3) Experiences of the community context were mediated by the dynamics of identification, role fluidity and inter-setting negotiation. The primary cost of involvement was distress relating to limitations on capacity to help fellow community members with whom they strongly identified, and whom they felt intrapsychically, interpersonally and socially pressured to assist. These limitations included limited client resources, limited personal resources, limited occupational resources and limited systemic resources. Other sources of distress included context-related boundary management difficulties, institutional (school-related) stressors, difficulties in persuading children to disclose abuse and material costs of volunteering. Coping was facilitated by empowering training, supervision, peer support, and self-care practices. Benefits included acquisition of psychological, interpersonal and occupational skills, improved personal relationships, social support, validation, personal healing and role satisfaction.
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- Date Issued: 2004