- Title
- Extending psychological praxis within South Africa: exploring healers’ perceptions of treatment plurality
- Creator
- Yew-Siong, Lauren
- Subject
- Traditional medicine -- South Africa
- Subject
- Psychology -- Africa
- Subject
- Clinical health psychology
- Date Issued
- 2024-12
- Date
- 2024-12
- Type
- Doctoral theses
- Type
- text
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10948/69771
- Identifier
- vital:78032
- Description
- The prevailing psychological praxis in South Africa predominantly follows western paradigms for defining, classifying, and diagnosing health and illness; falling short in encompassing the diverse mental healthcare reality. Scarce resources, inadequate infrastructure, and the interplay of religio-cultural beliefs intersect, shaping how psychological disturbances are perceived and how treatment is sought- especially for patients who do not ascribe to one treatment modality, or one paradigm. Therefore, this study explored ideas and notions surrounding treatment plurality held by healers (that being psychologists, psychiatrists, and traditional healers), within the South African context. The research utilised a qualitative exploratory-descriptive research methodology with a phenomenological research design. The researcher then employed purposive and snowball sampling to recruit participants. Thereafter, the researcher conducted online semi-structured interviews, and applied Braun and Clarke's (2006) thematic analysis to analyse the data. The following themes were then unpacked: 1) Healers’ perceptions of treatment plurality; 2) The need for collaboration between various disciplines; 3) Education as a key factor in pluralism; 4) Healer ethics and malpractice; 5) The lack of governmental funding and resources. The results suggest the need for a pluralistic mental healthcare approach in South Africa, bridging western and traditional practices. Yet, challenges stemming from inadequate governmental funding, resources, policies, and ethical guidelines hinder its development and implementation. Therefore, it would take more than one set of guidelines to implement pluralistic treatment within South African mental healthcare. For this purpose, the researcher decided to create a blueprint for various developments that is needed to make a pluralistic approach a reality in South Africa. These findings encouraged the researcher to develop: 1) Guidelines for the Provision of Collaborative Care in Mental Healthcare Services; 2) Guidelines for South African governmental policy that foster pluralism and collaborative care in the mental healthcare system; 3) A pluralistic medical aid scheme; 4) A module blueprint that could potentially be included in a professional master’s programme, as well as the inclusion of a theory the researcher has developed, named the Pluralism-oriented Mental Healthcare Theory.
- Description
- Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Health Sciences, School of Behavioural & Lifestyle Sciences, 2023
- Format
- computer
- Format
- online resource
- Format
- application/pdf
- Format
- 1 online resource (340 pages)
- Format
- Publisher
- Nelson Mandela University
- Publisher
- Faculty of Health Sciences
- Language
- English
- Rights
- Nelson Mandela University
- Rights
- All Rights Reserved
- Rights
- Open Access
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- Visitors: 21
- Downloads: 3
Collections
NMU School of Behavioural Sciences
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | Yew-Siong, L December 2024.pdf | 2 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |