"Feeling foggy?": an investigation into the self-reported post-concussive symptoms in rugby union players at university level
- Authors: Boulind, Melissa
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Brain damage , Brain -- Wounds and injuries -- Complications , Brain -- Wounds and injuries -- Psychology , Sports injuries -- Psychological aspects , Rugby football injuries , Rugby Union football players
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2938 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002447 , Brain damage , Brain -- Wounds and injuries -- Complications , Brain -- Wounds and injuries -- Psychology , Sports injuries -- Psychological aspects , Rugby football injuries , Rugby Union football players
- Description: A study was conducted on the self-reported symptoms of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury sustained in Rugby Union at the pre- and post-season stages. A full sample of 30 rugby players at Rhodes University was compared to 27 non-contact sport controls. A reduced sample of 20 rugby players and 9 control participants provided improved control for education and IQ and was compared. Measures included the WAIS-III Vocabulary and Picture Completion Sub-tests to estimate IQ level, the symptom checklist on a widely used computer-based program (ImPACT), and a paper and pencil self-report 31-Item Post-Concussion Symptom Questionnaire. Independent and Dependent T-Test comparisons were conducted on the full and reduced samples. The symptoms reported by the rugby group appeared to be more pronounced on both the ImPACT Symptom Scale and the 31-Item Post-Concussion Symptom Questionnaire when compared to the control group at both the pre-and post-season stages. It was concluded that the rugby players demonstrated evidence to support the hypothesis of having sustained more previous concussions and reporting more symptoms at the pre-season stage when compared to comtrol participants. No prevalent changes for either the rugby or control groups were seen in dependent comparisons from pre-to post-season.
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- Date Issued: 2005
A case study investigation into the utility of baseline data versus normative data using a computer-based concussion management programme
- Authors: Mitchell, Julia
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Brain -- Concussion , Neuropsychological tests , Sports injuries -- Psychological aspects , Head -- Wounds and injuries -- Complications
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3021 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002530 , Brain -- Concussion , Neuropsychological tests , Sports injuries -- Psychological aspects , Head -- Wounds and injuries -- Complications
- Description: Neuropsychological testing is recognised as one of the cornerstones of concussion evaluation, contributing significantly to both an understanding of the injury as well as management of the recovery process. Despite the high incidence of concussion at school level, traditional paper-and-pencil neuropsychological testing has generally been absent from school concussion management programmes, largely due to time and cost constraints. Now, the recent development of computerised neuropsychological testing is providing the opportunity for including neurocognitive assessment in this process. The Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing (ImPACT) is a valid and reliable instrument of this type and normed on 13 - 18 year old North American high school athletes, as well as adult groups. The current recommendation is that athletes are baselined preseason in order to provide an individualised comparative level against which to monitor recovery and provide return-to-play recommendations. This in itself is quite a cumbersome process, thus the present study set out to ascertain whether baseline testing of all athletes is necessary, or whether the use of US or SA normative data alone would provide an appropriate standard against which to interpret the postinjury scores. From a leading South African rugby playing school, the 1st and 2nd rugby teams, (16 - 18 years) were baselined using ImPACT. Three athletes, who were subsequently referred with concussion during the rugby season, were followed up with serial testing on ImPACT. An analysis of the follow up scores was conducted to chart the athletes' recovery process, in relation to the athletes own baseline scores (using US and SA reliable change indices) and age appropriate US and SA normative ranges. The relative utility of individual baselines scores versus these normative ranges was then critically evaluated. It was concluded that a combination of both baseline and normative data provided optimal management of the athlete, with the methods complementing each other in the interpretation of post-injury results. Overall, the SA normative ranges seemed to provide slightly better management guidelines than the US normative ranges when used with this sample of South African high school athletes.
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- Date Issued: 2005
A decade of changes Eastern Cape white commercial farmers' discourses of democracy
- Authors: Böhmke, Werner
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Farmers -- Psychology , Agriculture -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Agriculture -- Economic aspects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Democracy -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Political culture -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Social psychology -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2934 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002443 , Farmers -- Psychology , Agriculture -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Agriculture -- Economic aspects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Democracy -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Political culture -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Social psychology -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Description: This paper deals with an analysis of the discursive accounts of Eastern Cape white commercial farmers on the subject of Democracy. Drawing on the theoretical perspectives of Social Constructionism and Discourse Analysis – which view individuals’ accounts of their realities as produced and informed by their particular social and historical context – the paper seeks to provide an analysis of the content of, and rhetorical strategies within the participants’ accounts and explanations. Such accounts of the social, historical and political circumstances in which Eastern Cape commercial farmers find themselves are thought to provide valuable insights into the manner in which the process of democratisation has been received by members of the agricultural sector. Data collection was conducted via brief, audio taped, semi-structured interviews. The participants were all white men and women, living in a commercial farming region of the Eastern Cape Province. Responses to the interviews were subjected to the Discourse Analytical procedure advanced by Ian Parker. Analyses reveal that participants are critical of the notion of democracy; utilize specific rhetorical and argumentation strategies; make use of notions and techniques of ‘Othering’; and subscribe to a colonial / patriarchal ideology which attempts to idealize pre-democratic South Africa. These findings illustrate what is in many ways still an ongoing political and ideological struggle in the rural regions of the country.
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- Date Issued: 2005
An exploration of health professional's perceptions of the role of clinical psychologists
- Authors: Zitianellis, Marina Sophia
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Community health services -- South Africa , Community mental health services -- South Africa , Medical personnel -- South Africa -- Attitudes , Primary health care -- South Africa , Clinical psychologists
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3091 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002601 , Community health services -- South Africa , Community mental health services -- South Africa , Medical personnel -- South Africa -- Attitudes , Primary health care -- South Africa , Clinical psychologists
- Description: The South African government has initiated the transformation of health services in the country towards primary health care (PHC) in order to provide comprehensive care to individuals and families. The move to PHC involves an increased need for collaboration between health professionals. It is proposed that for effective team-work to take place, an understanding of the roles and functions of team members is imperative in providing quality mental health care. This study explored health professionals’ perceptions of the role and function of clinical psychologists working as part of a health care team in a community context. Three focus groups and three individual interviews were conducted with social workers, nurses and doctors. The data was then processed and analysed using a grounded theory method. The research highlighted the importance of knowledge, and how this affects referrals, perceptions, inter-professional relations and the perceived usefulness of clinical psychology and clinical psychologists. What is of significance is the potential power that the health professionals have as gatekeepers between the general public and clinical psychologists.
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- Date Issued: 2005
Brain drain, exodus and chicken run : media discourses on emigration
- Authors: Bright, Sue-Ann
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Mass media and language -- South Africa , Mass media criticism -- South Africa , Discourse analysis -- Social aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3163 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007672 , Mass media and language -- South Africa , Mass media criticism -- South Africa , Discourse analysis -- Social aspects
- Description: This paper explores the discourses of emigration in a South African daily newspaper from 1988 to 2001, and discusses the implications of these discourses on the way in which emigration is constructed within South African society In this paper, Potter and Wetherell 's (1987) approach to discourse analysis is utilized. It makes use of interpretative repertoires, to explore the functions and consequences of the discourses. The discursive framework thereby reveals the different subject positions related to nationalism, race and class. It is argued that economics and notions of culture and social class, do more than provide a useful medium through which the phenomenon of emigration can be understood. They also support the affirmations of certain groups of people above others, by claiming that emigration is unpatriotic and disloyal. This paper concludes by identifying the negative connotations of media discourses in the construction of emigration and acknowledges that many alternate constructions are silenced in this matter.
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- Date Issued: 2005
Clay sculpture within an object relational therapy: a phenomenological-hermeneutic case study
- Authors: Masters, Carin-Lee
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Art -- Psychology , Art therapy -- Case studies , Psychotherapy , Modeling -- Therapeutic use
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3015 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002524 , Art -- Psychology , Art therapy -- Case studies , Psychotherapy , Modeling -- Therapeutic use
- Description: The overall aim of this thesis is to explore the process of working with the Edwards claywork method with a psychotherapy client who had significant relational difficulties and feared being exposed as defective. Within this there are particular aims: Firstly, to investigate whether the distancing that art therapy can create, can help the client with relational difficulties to tolerate unexpressed disavowed feelings, in particular her sense of shame about being exposed as defective; and secondly, to examine whether material evoked through the claywork process can assist in furthering the psychological formulation of this kind of client. The research was a phenomenological-hermeneutic case study of a psychotherapy client, called Kim. Kim’s experience of therapy, including two claywork sessions, was documented. This comprises a thematic narrative of her therapy process prior to the claywork process, as well as a thematic narrative focusing on the two claywork sessions. Her clay sculpture was photographed and alphabetically labeled according to the chronological order in which she made the eight pieces comprising her sculpture. A hermeneutic reading of the narratives was conducted using theoretical perspectives including object relations, Adlerian psychology and art therapy. It was concluded that, firstly, the distancing that art therapy can create does help the client, who is afraid of being exposed as defective, to tolerate previously disavowed and unexpressed feelings; and secondly, art therapy such as the Edwards claywork method, does deepen psychological formulation of the client’s affective and relational difficulties. However, although the image may graphically symbolize unconscious aspects of a client’s psyche, the present study illustrates that a client may not always be able to enter into a relationship with the image or dialogue between conscious and unconscious states. In this respect, the present study focuses on aspects of art therapy of which there is limited literature.
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- Date Issued: 2005
Primary caregivers' experience of raising children with autism: a phenomenological perspective
- Authors: Swanepoel, Yolandi
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Autism in children Autistic children Autism in children -- Diagnosis Parents of autistic children
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3067 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002576
- Description: Autism occupies an extreme position among childhood pathologies due to its severity, duration and impact on the family. In this qualitative study, four primary caregivers of autistic children were interviewed regarding their experiences of the diagnostic process, their post-diagnostic adjustment, and how helping professionals can improve their service rendering to these families. This study utilised a phenomenological approach to look at primary caregivers as the best-informed authority to explore and describe their lived realities and experiences of raising their autistic children in South Africa. The rationale for a phenomenological approach in this study is that such an interpretative inquiry enables material to be collected and analysed within the specific context of the subjective realities of primary caregivers of autistic children in South Africa. The researcher utilised semi-structured, in-depth, face-to-face interviews as method of data collection. Each participant was interviewed over the course of three separate interviews. The themes and categories that resulted from a content analysis of the material were grouped into two broad fields of experience, namely: (1) experiences surrounding the diagnostic process; and (2) the pervasive influence of autism on different areas of family life. In terms of experiences surrounding children’s diagnosis, four themes were identified: (1) Being a new parent and making sense out of chaos; (2) Responsibility and blame; (3) Confusion and disillusionment during early experiences with helping professionals; and (4) Feelings about the diagnosis. The pervasive influence of autism on different areas of family life includes: (5) Strained family relationships; (6) Challenges of behaviour management and disciplining the autistic child; (7) Challenges of finding suitable resources for education and day-care; and (8) Maintaining the family unit and doing things as a family.
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- Date Issued: 2005
The evaluation of a multi-modal cognitive-behavioural approach to treating an adolescent with conduct disorder
- Authors: Mashalaba, Eugenia Dudu
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Conduct disorders in adolescence , Aggressiveness in adolescence , Violence in children , Behavior disorders in children -- Treatment , Attention-deficit disorder in adolescence , Oppositional defiant disorder in adolescence , Cognitive therapy Case studies
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3014 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002523 , Conduct disorders in adolescence , Aggressiveness in adolescence , Violence in children , Behavior disorders in children -- Treatment , Attention-deficit disorder in adolescence , Oppositional defiant disorder in adolescence , Cognitive therapy Case studies
- Description: Conduct Disorder (CD) is a repetitive and persistent pattern of behaviour in which the basic rights of others or major age-appropriate societal norms or rules are violated. It is one of the most common problems in South African schools, particularly in those that are poverty-stricken. The child who participated in the study lived in the shelter that was for homeless and disadvantaged children. He attended at Amasango School where the majority of children in the shelter attended. There were many conduct-disordered children in the shelter and the school, particularly in the school. They disrupted classes making in difficult for teachers to carry out their education activities. The aim of this study was to draw on the standard procedures of the CBT in order to design interventions that would be effective in reducing aggressive behaviour in an adolescent who had CD Adolescent-Type and who lived at the shelter. This case study evaluated the effectiveness of a multi-modal CBT programme in a 16 year-old Black male who had been displaying aggressive behaviour for about a year. The treatment consisted of 23 sessions and included teacher counseling, contingency management, self-control and self-instructional training. The treatment was evaluated qualitatively by means of interviews with the child and teacher and quantitatively by means of repeated applications of behaviour checklists completed by the teacher. The results showed a decrease in the client's aggressive behaviour and an increase in prosocial behaviour. The client ultimately ceased from all aggressive behaviour towards his peers and this outcome was sustained during his last two months in therapy.
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- Date Issued: 2005
The potential of claywork to facilitate the integration of the self in psychotherapy with an adult survivor of childhood trauma: a Jungian perspective
- Authors: Smuts, Tanja
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Jung, C G (Carl Gustav), 1875-1961 , Art therapy , Psychotherapy , Child psychotherapy , Adult child abuse victims -- Rehabilitation , Self , Modeling -- Therapeutic use
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3062 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002571 , Jung, C G (Carl Gustav), 1875-1961 , Art therapy , Psychotherapy , Child psychotherapy , Adult child abuse victims -- Rehabilitation , Self , Modeling -- Therapeutic use
- Description: The aim of this thesis was to explore the experience of “self” within the clinical context of adult survivors of childhood trauma. Childhood trauma in this study referred to a range of childhood experiences of emotional and physical assault, including encounters with various kinds of abuse and neglect. The focus was on the experience of a sense of disintegration and dislocation, associated to aspects of self being in conflict. This was explored from theoretical perspectives of Jungian analytic psychology, as well as art therapy.Answers were sought to the questions of how claywork, as a form of art therapy, may facilitate the integration of the self and contribute to the development of a healing dialogue with feared and hated aspects of self. Grounded in Jungian theory, integration of the self was conceptualised as a movement towards “differentiating wholeness”. The study took the form of a phenomenological-hermeneutic case study. One participant’s experience of making and discussing a clay sculpture in a therapeutic setting according to Edwards’ method, was analysed thematically. It was concluded that the potential of claywork in therapy to facilitate the integration of the self is related to three aspects. Firstly, claywork in therapy may promote a concrete personification of feared and hated aspects of self, which may enable the maker to view these aspects from a distance, and learn to understand them in a new way. Secondly, claywork in therapy may facilitate the safe ‘unearthing’ of repressed feelings as well as hidden aspects of the personality. Thirdly, claywork’s potential to mediate symbolic functioning was shown to be an important aspect of the integration process. These findings confirmed and extended existing theory regarding the usefulness of claywork in psychotherapy with adult survivors of childhood trauma. Brief recommendations for future research were provided.
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- Date Issued: 2005
Three perspectives on ukuthwasa: the view from traditional beliefs, western psychiatry and transpersonal psychology
- Authors: Booi, Beauty Ntombizanele
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Healers -- South Africa , Divination -- South Africa , Schizophrenia -- Social aspects , Xhosa (African people) -- Psychology , Xhosa (African people) -- Social life and customs
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2936 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002445 , Healers -- South Africa , Divination -- South Africa , Schizophrenia -- Social aspects , Xhosa (African people) -- Psychology , Xhosa (African people) -- Social life and customs
- Description: Among the Xhosas, the healing sickness called intwaso is interptreted as a call by the ancestors to become a healer. Transpersonalists also see these initiatory illnesses as spiritual crises, while according to the widely accepted Western psychiatric view, illness is purely perceived in physical and psychological terms. A case study was conducted where a single participant who has undergone the process of ukuthwasa and is functioning as a traditional healer was interviewed. A series of interviews were done where information was gathered about significant experiences related to ukuthwasa process. Tapes were transcribed and a case narrative was written and interpreted using the traditional Xhosa beliefs, the western psychiatric and the transpersonal psychology perspectives. Strengths and weaknesses of each perspective were then examined.
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- Date Issued: 2005