Constructing the intellectually disabled person as a subject of education: a discourse analysis using Q-methodology
- Authors: McKenzie, Judith Anne
- Date: 2009
- Subjects: Foucault, Michel, 1926-1984 Learning disabled -- Education -- South Africa Discourse analysis -- Methodology Discourse analysis Children with mental disabilities -- Education -- South Africa Q technique Special education -- South Africa Children with disabilities -- Education -- South Africa Right to education Intelligence tests -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:3017 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002526
- Description: The education of intellectually disabled (ID) people is constructed within mass education systems as a problem requiring specialised intervention, separation from “normal” school contexts and the application of professional expertise. A social model of disability resists these practices from a human rights perspective and underpins an inclusive education approach. In this study, a post-structuralist disability studies theoretical framework, drawing particularly on the work of Foucault, was used to examine discourses that construct the intellectually disabled person as a subject of education. The study was conducted in Buffalo City, South Africa at a time when an inclusive education policy is being implemented in the country. The research questions were: What discourses are deployed in the representation and educational practices of those identified as ID? What are the effects of these discourses in constructing the ID subject and associated educational practice? The study utilises Q-methodology, a factor analytic method that yields whole patterns of responses for analysis. A process of sorting selected statements along the dimension of agree to disagree was completed by three groups of participants, namely adults with ID, parents of people with ID and professionals working with ID. Discourses of representation and of educational practice were identified through statistical and interpretive analysis, following the discourse analysis school of Q-methodology. The findings of this study reveal the operation of power in a medico-psychological gaze that makes ID visible and supervises disability expertise within education. Representations of ID suffused with religious notions support the exercise of pastoral power by disability experts. Human rights discourses in education can marginalise ID people if applied uncritically. Fixed notions of impairment constrain an intellectually disabled subject who is vulnerable and incompetent. This study argues instead for a theory of (poss)ability, underpinned by an understanding of the situational and shared nature of competence and a fluid conception of impairment. Human rights should be supplemented by an ethics of care and belonging in the community (ubuntu). A research agenda supporting this effort would examine the ways in which ID people work on themselves as subjects (subjectivisation) and explore the potential for resistance in this process.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
- Authors: McKenzie, Judith Anne
- Date: 2009
- Subjects: Foucault, Michel, 1926-1984 Learning disabled -- Education -- South Africa Discourse analysis -- Methodology Discourse analysis Children with mental disabilities -- Education -- South Africa Q technique Special education -- South Africa Children with disabilities -- Education -- South Africa Right to education Intelligence tests -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:3017 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002526
- Description: The education of intellectually disabled (ID) people is constructed within mass education systems as a problem requiring specialised intervention, separation from “normal” school contexts and the application of professional expertise. A social model of disability resists these practices from a human rights perspective and underpins an inclusive education approach. In this study, a post-structuralist disability studies theoretical framework, drawing particularly on the work of Foucault, was used to examine discourses that construct the intellectually disabled person as a subject of education. The study was conducted in Buffalo City, South Africa at a time when an inclusive education policy is being implemented in the country. The research questions were: What discourses are deployed in the representation and educational practices of those identified as ID? What are the effects of these discourses in constructing the ID subject and associated educational practice? The study utilises Q-methodology, a factor analytic method that yields whole patterns of responses for analysis. A process of sorting selected statements along the dimension of agree to disagree was completed by three groups of participants, namely adults with ID, parents of people with ID and professionals working with ID. Discourses of representation and of educational practice were identified through statistical and interpretive analysis, following the discourse analysis school of Q-methodology. The findings of this study reveal the operation of power in a medico-psychological gaze that makes ID visible and supervises disability expertise within education. Representations of ID suffused with religious notions support the exercise of pastoral power by disability experts. Human rights discourses in education can marginalise ID people if applied uncritically. Fixed notions of impairment constrain an intellectually disabled subject who is vulnerable and incompetent. This study argues instead for a theory of (poss)ability, underpinned by an understanding of the situational and shared nature of competence and a fluid conception of impairment. Human rights should be supplemented by an ethics of care and belonging in the community (ubuntu). A research agenda supporting this effort would examine the ways in which ID people work on themselves as subjects (subjectivisation) and explore the potential for resistance in this process.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
Ethical decision-making in the therapeutic space : a psychoanalytic view
- Authors: Silove, Melanie
- Date: 2009
- Subjects: Decision making -- Moral and ethical aspects , Psychotherapy -- Moral and ethical aspects , Psychotherapists -- Professional ethics
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:3273 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1020873
- Description: This study examined the ethical decision-making process as it transpired in the everyday context of the therapeutic space. In-depth interviews explored the subjective experiences of six South African psychologists, practicing as psychoanalytic psychotherapists, and their efforts to resolve real-life ethical dilemmas. The theoretical framework used to interpret the data subsumed professional literature in psychology on principle-based ethical decision-making as well as contemporary psychoanalytic debates on the phenomenon of countertransference enactments. A review of ethics codes, survey research and seminal decision-making frameworks suggests that ethical dilemmas have traditionally been resolved by recourse to an objective and impartial “principle ethics” perspective. Empirical evidence shows, however, that logical thinking and the rational application of codes, principles and standards are often insufficient to secure ethical action. The establishment of reflective space and the core theoretical notion of “ethical decision-making enactments” were proposed in order to address the subjective, irrational and unconscious dimension of professional decision-making. This study used a broadly hermeneutic research method which transformed participants‟ descriptions of engagement with real-life dilemmas into a psychoanalytically informed interpretive account of ethical decision-making. Twelve aspirational ethical principles were found to guide participants‟ daily analytic work. Beneficence was the principle most strongly identified with and nonmaleficence was the most neglected ethical principle. Unprocessed countertransference responses were shown to drive earlier prereflective phases of the ethical decision-making process. Mature ethical judgment was predicated upon the retrospective analysis of enactment phenomena. Dissatisfaction was expressed by all participants with regard to the role of professional resources in aiding the resolution of stressful ethical dilemmas. Risk factors for compromised professional decision-making included the paucity and perceived irrelevance of postgraduate ethics training, supervisory failure to confront the ethical and countertransference dimensions of common dilemmas and professional isolation. Rather than eliciting the hope of emotional support and greater insight, professional resources on the contrary mostly appeared to induce anxiety, mistrust and fearfulness. Based on the data and the literature, a pragmatic psychoanalytically informed ethical decision-making model was finally generated. The model, which considers both principle ethics as well as countertransference phenomena, offers a preliminary contribution to professional dialogue on the development and evaluation of empirically based decision-making frameworks. Practical recommendations are made for both the revision of the current South African ethics code and for improving the postqualifying ethics education of psychoanalytic practitioners and supervisors. The limitations of the data are discussed and directions for future research initiatives are proposed.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
- Authors: Silove, Melanie
- Date: 2009
- Subjects: Decision making -- Moral and ethical aspects , Psychotherapy -- Moral and ethical aspects , Psychotherapists -- Professional ethics
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:3273 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1020873
- Description: This study examined the ethical decision-making process as it transpired in the everyday context of the therapeutic space. In-depth interviews explored the subjective experiences of six South African psychologists, practicing as psychoanalytic psychotherapists, and their efforts to resolve real-life ethical dilemmas. The theoretical framework used to interpret the data subsumed professional literature in psychology on principle-based ethical decision-making as well as contemporary psychoanalytic debates on the phenomenon of countertransference enactments. A review of ethics codes, survey research and seminal decision-making frameworks suggests that ethical dilemmas have traditionally been resolved by recourse to an objective and impartial “principle ethics” perspective. Empirical evidence shows, however, that logical thinking and the rational application of codes, principles and standards are often insufficient to secure ethical action. The establishment of reflective space and the core theoretical notion of “ethical decision-making enactments” were proposed in order to address the subjective, irrational and unconscious dimension of professional decision-making. This study used a broadly hermeneutic research method which transformed participants‟ descriptions of engagement with real-life dilemmas into a psychoanalytically informed interpretive account of ethical decision-making. Twelve aspirational ethical principles were found to guide participants‟ daily analytic work. Beneficence was the principle most strongly identified with and nonmaleficence was the most neglected ethical principle. Unprocessed countertransference responses were shown to drive earlier prereflective phases of the ethical decision-making process. Mature ethical judgment was predicated upon the retrospective analysis of enactment phenomena. Dissatisfaction was expressed by all participants with regard to the role of professional resources in aiding the resolution of stressful ethical dilemmas. Risk factors for compromised professional decision-making included the paucity and perceived irrelevance of postgraduate ethics training, supervisory failure to confront the ethical and countertransference dimensions of common dilemmas and professional isolation. Rather than eliciting the hope of emotional support and greater insight, professional resources on the contrary mostly appeared to induce anxiety, mistrust and fearfulness. Based on the data and the literature, a pragmatic psychoanalytically informed ethical decision-making model was finally generated. The model, which considers both principle ethics as well as countertransference phenomena, offers a preliminary contribution to professional dialogue on the development and evaluation of empirically based decision-making frameworks. Practical recommendations are made for both the revision of the current South African ethics code and for improving the postqualifying ethics education of psychoanalytic practitioners and supervisors. The limitations of the data are discussed and directions for future research initiatives are proposed.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
The development and evaluation of a programme to promote sensitive pscyhotherapeutic practice with gay men and lesbians
- Authors: Coetzee, Catherine Ann
- Date: 2009
- Subjects: Psychotherapy -- Practice -- South Africa Psychoanalysis and homosexuality -- South Africa Homosexuality -- Social aspects -- South Africa Homosexuality -- Psychological aspects -- South Africa Psychotherapy -- Moral and ethical aspects -- South Africa Psychologists -- Training of -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2952 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002461
- Description: Clinical psychology’s relevance and future viability depend on its ability to render services that are relevant and sensitive to multicultural and minority issues. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people are one such group that professional psychology – both in South Africa and abroad - has identified as having unique treatment needs for which psychologists require specialised knowledge and skills in order to render appropriate treatment. Competence to treat non-heterosexual patients has been framed in terms of a gay affirmative paradigm which has as its basic tenet the recognition that same-gender orientation is not pathological but rather a healthy alternative to heterosexuality. From this perspective being “gay friendly” or “gay accepting” is not enough. To implement a gay affirmative approach in practice, practitioners must have resolved their possible prejudice and heterosexist bias and have the requisite knowledge of concerns unique to lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals to be able to apply their skills in a culturally sensitive manner. Although more American post-graduate psychology programmes are addressing sexual diversity, their failure to produce psychologists who feel competent to treat lesbian/gay or bisexual individuals has highlighted the need to develop effective training strategies based on empirical nvestigation. The dearth of comparable data about local South African psychology training prompted this inquiry which had four broad aims namely, (i) to establish to what extent trainees’ prior training had equipped them with the knowledge, awareness, and skills to approach their work with non-heterosexual patients in a gay affirmative manner, and (ii) to implement and (iii) to evaluate to what extent a brief structured training programme is effective in engaging the trainees; in increasing knowledge, in raising awareness, and in changing specific attitudes and imparting specific skills required for treating lesbian and gay patients.; and (iv) what, if any, recommendations should be made for the future with respect to training of sychologists in this area? The field of sexual orientation research has been expanded to include issues pertaining to bisexual, transgendered and intersexed people, but serious time constraints meant that issues pertaining to these groups could not be addressed in depth. Although the exclusion of these groups is problematic and may be seen as reinforcing their invisibility, it was decided to focus primarily on gay and lesbian issues s an introduction to same-sex orientation. It is envisaged that bisexual and transgender issues would be dealt with in depth in more advanced training. Nine trainee psychologists employed at hospitals in the greater Cape Town area volunteered to participate in the programme which comprised a series of two-hour experiential workshops offered once a week over six weeks. The study employed both quantitative and qualitative data analysis methods. The first stage entailed gathering information to better understand trainees’ existing level of competence. Individual interviews were conducted prior to the course to obtain data about their attitudes and perceptions regarding the need for such specialised training, and how qualified they considered themselves to be to treat LGB patients, and their experience in this regard. For the purpose of the over-all analysis information was also gathered about pertinent personal and social characteristics of the trainees, as well as their contact with lesbian/gay persons. In addition, an attitude survey and the Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Counselling Self-efficacy Scale (LGB-CSI) were administered to obtain benchmarks against which change could be measured. The second stage involved the implementation of the educational programme and gathering information about trainees’ responses to its various components. This stage concentrated on discovering how individual trainees reacted to material on lesbian, gay, and bisexual issues and how they used the programme to improve their self-awareness and skills. The results indicate that local psychology training might not address same-gender orientation adequately, thus reinforcing trainees’ belief that sexual orientation is irrelevant, and that their generalist training equips them to work with gay/lesbian/bisexual patients. While the training strengthened existing positive attitudes, it was less effective in changing blatant antigay prejudice. However, both quantitative and qualitative data suggest that the programme increased individuals’ awareness and insight into their previously unrecognised heterosexist biases and created greater understanding of the effects of stigmatisation on sexual minority individuals. In addition, the training increased trainee’s sense of competence to provide affirmative treatment as evidenced by the significant differences between the pre- and post-training mean scores on the Relationship, Knowledge, and Advocacy Scales and between the mid- and post-training means scores on the Assessment and Awareness Scales of the LGB-CSI. Despite the limited generalisability of these findings on account of possible sampling bias, the need and value of such training was confirmed by trainees’ recommendation that this programme should be a mandatory offering in the first year of clinical psychology training.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
- Authors: Coetzee, Catherine Ann
- Date: 2009
- Subjects: Psychotherapy -- Practice -- South Africa Psychoanalysis and homosexuality -- South Africa Homosexuality -- Social aspects -- South Africa Homosexuality -- Psychological aspects -- South Africa Psychotherapy -- Moral and ethical aspects -- South Africa Psychologists -- Training of -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2952 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002461
- Description: Clinical psychology’s relevance and future viability depend on its ability to render services that are relevant and sensitive to multicultural and minority issues. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people are one such group that professional psychology – both in South Africa and abroad - has identified as having unique treatment needs for which psychologists require specialised knowledge and skills in order to render appropriate treatment. Competence to treat non-heterosexual patients has been framed in terms of a gay affirmative paradigm which has as its basic tenet the recognition that same-gender orientation is not pathological but rather a healthy alternative to heterosexuality. From this perspective being “gay friendly” or “gay accepting” is not enough. To implement a gay affirmative approach in practice, practitioners must have resolved their possible prejudice and heterosexist bias and have the requisite knowledge of concerns unique to lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals to be able to apply their skills in a culturally sensitive manner. Although more American post-graduate psychology programmes are addressing sexual diversity, their failure to produce psychologists who feel competent to treat lesbian/gay or bisexual individuals has highlighted the need to develop effective training strategies based on empirical nvestigation. The dearth of comparable data about local South African psychology training prompted this inquiry which had four broad aims namely, (i) to establish to what extent trainees’ prior training had equipped them with the knowledge, awareness, and skills to approach their work with non-heterosexual patients in a gay affirmative manner, and (ii) to implement and (iii) to evaluate to what extent a brief structured training programme is effective in engaging the trainees; in increasing knowledge, in raising awareness, and in changing specific attitudes and imparting specific skills required for treating lesbian and gay patients.; and (iv) what, if any, recommendations should be made for the future with respect to training of sychologists in this area? The field of sexual orientation research has been expanded to include issues pertaining to bisexual, transgendered and intersexed people, but serious time constraints meant that issues pertaining to these groups could not be addressed in depth. Although the exclusion of these groups is problematic and may be seen as reinforcing their invisibility, it was decided to focus primarily on gay and lesbian issues s an introduction to same-sex orientation. It is envisaged that bisexual and transgender issues would be dealt with in depth in more advanced training. Nine trainee psychologists employed at hospitals in the greater Cape Town area volunteered to participate in the programme which comprised a series of two-hour experiential workshops offered once a week over six weeks. The study employed both quantitative and qualitative data analysis methods. The first stage entailed gathering information to better understand trainees’ existing level of competence. Individual interviews were conducted prior to the course to obtain data about their attitudes and perceptions regarding the need for such specialised training, and how qualified they considered themselves to be to treat LGB patients, and their experience in this regard. For the purpose of the over-all analysis information was also gathered about pertinent personal and social characteristics of the trainees, as well as their contact with lesbian/gay persons. In addition, an attitude survey and the Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Counselling Self-efficacy Scale (LGB-CSI) were administered to obtain benchmarks against which change could be measured. The second stage involved the implementation of the educational programme and gathering information about trainees’ responses to its various components. This stage concentrated on discovering how individual trainees reacted to material on lesbian, gay, and bisexual issues and how they used the programme to improve their self-awareness and skills. The results indicate that local psychology training might not address same-gender orientation adequately, thus reinforcing trainees’ belief that sexual orientation is irrelevant, and that their generalist training equips them to work with gay/lesbian/bisexual patients. While the training strengthened existing positive attitudes, it was less effective in changing blatant antigay prejudice. However, both quantitative and qualitative data suggest that the programme increased individuals’ awareness and insight into their previously unrecognised heterosexist biases and created greater understanding of the effects of stigmatisation on sexual minority individuals. In addition, the training increased trainee’s sense of competence to provide affirmative treatment as evidenced by the significant differences between the pre- and post-training mean scores on the Relationship, Knowledge, and Advocacy Scales and between the mid- and post-training means scores on the Assessment and Awareness Scales of the LGB-CSI. Despite the limited generalisability of these findings on account of possible sampling bias, the need and value of such training was confirmed by trainees’ recommendation that this programme should be a mandatory offering in the first year of clinical psychology training.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
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