Exploring the perceptions and attitudes of University of Fort Hare students towards seeking psychological counselling services
- Authors: Pantshwa, Siziphiwe
- Date: 2022-09
- Subjects: Counseling , Helping behavior , Psychology, Applied
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/23809 , vital:60807
- Description: The purpose of this study was to explore and examine the perceptions and attitudes of Fort Hare students towards seeking psychological help. It provided an understanding of factors that influence the help-seeking behaviours of university students. The study used an explorative qualitative approach in collecting data to find problems frequently encountered by students, their preferred sources of help for those problems, and their attitudes towards seeking psychological help. The sample was selected through a non-probability convenience sampling technique. Six participants, undergraduate and post-graduate students from the University of Fort Hare, East London campus, participated in the study. The data was collected in face-to-face semi-structured individual interviews in which participants were questioned orally. The interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data collected from the semi-structured interviews were thematically analysed by employing Braun and Clarke’s six steps of thematic analysis. Social constructionism as a meta-theory and Ecosystems theory provided the theoretical underpinning for the interpretation of the study. The study results revealed that close friends and family members were the preferred sources of help chosen by students. Five significant problems were experienced by students. Financial issues, difficulty adjusting to the university environment, academic stress, being away from home and managing time were at the top list of the challenges experienced by students. The factors that inhibited -seeking for psychological help were social stigma, access to a psychologist, financial constraints, and viewing a psychologist as a stranger. However the study further found that students had a positive attitude toward professional psychological help. This indicates a slight shift from previous studies, which reported negative attitudes among university students. Participants also reported on the influence of their socio-cultural background, the opinions held by their family and community members towards seeking psychological help. This study recommends specific interventions in which seeking psychological help can be reinforced, such as holding workshops to psycho-educate students about the benefits of using counselling services and the negative implications of not seeking professional help when experiencing psychological distress. , Thesis (MSoc) -- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2022
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- Date Issued: 2022-09
Growing up with a parent who has a mental illness: exploring the development of resilience
- Authors: Hannie, Robyn
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Psychology, Applied , Developmental psychology Mentally ill -- Family relationships Parenting -- Psychological aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/42320 , vital:36645
- Description: Mental illnesses are one of the world’s greatest health challenges and fall amongst the top ten contributing factors to disability. However, mental health has been one of the least prioritised health issues. Mental illness has major implications on the economy of the country, health services as well as on the quality of patients’ lives, their relatives and society. According to research studies, parental pathology has been identified as an adversarial life experience. Despite the risks associated with growing up with a parent who has a mental illness, some individuals still function well. Current understanding of resilience is that it is a dynamic bidirectional process that is influenced, developed or constructed by individuals in relation to their environment. The understanding of resilience in this context is crucial to foster the development of resilience in young people in similar contexts. This study aimed to explore and describe the experiences and development of resilience in individuals raised by a parent who has a mental illness. It attempted to do so by conducting seven face-to-face individual interviews. Qualitative methods and specifically thematic analysis was utilised to explore participants’ development of resilience in the context of parental mental illness. The findings are represented by four broad themes: challenges of growing up with a parent who has a mental illness, social support, mental health literacy and coping strategies that helped to develop resilience.
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- Date Issued: 2019
The development of an arousal and anxiety control mental skills training programme for the Rhodes University archery club
- Authors: Chiweshe, Malvern Tatenda
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Anxiety , Arousal , Mental skills , Training , Sports -- Psychological aspects -- Research -- South Africa , Archers -- Training of -- Research -- South Africa , Archers -- Psychological aspects -- Research -- South Africa , Psychology, Applied
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2917 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002082
- Description: Research on the development of Mental Skills Training (MST) programmes in sport psychology has largely increased as sport has become more competitive. MST programmes have been seen to improve the performance of athletes. This particular research study focuses on the development of an anxiety and arousal control MST programme designed specifically for, and tailored exclusively to, the needs of four archers from the Rhodes Archery Club in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa. The development of the programme was guided by the Organisational Development Process model as the research methodology design. Data from two quantitative measures (CSAI-2 and Sport Grid-R), a focus group, and an individual interview were integrated with currently existing mental skills literature and theory to devise this particular MST programme. The results of the assessment phase showed that individual archers have different experiences in how anxiety and arousal affect their performances. The results also showed that archers have different zones in which they feel their performance is good. These zones depend on their subjective interpretations of anxiety and arousal. The results also showed that other factors that include personality differences, level of experience and level of expertise also influence how anxiety and arousal affect performance. The archers had previous exposure to MST programmes although they had not received systematic training in mental skills training. The programme was developed in the form of MST workshops that would run over a three week period. As part of the programme the archers would be given a mental skills manual to aid in the mental skills training. It is recommended in future that more research in MST programmes be done as a way of improving the performance of athletes in South Africa
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- Date Issued: 2013
An investigation of the determinants of the spatial characteristics of figure placements
- Authors: Edwards, David J A
- Date: 1973
- Subjects: Characters and characteristics , Psychology, Applied , Cross-cultural studies
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3205 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011739 , Characters and characteristics , Psychology, Applied , Cross-cultural studies
- Description: The doll placement technique is a projective instrument which yields objective measures from which inferences may be drawn. Subjects place pairs of dolls to represent social encounters described to them by the experimenter. When the dolls have been placed, the distance between them and the angles at which they stand can serve as a source of information either about the personality of the placer or about the way in which he perceives the relationship between the interactors represented. Most experimental work employing figure placements has used flat felt figures which subjects have mounted on a flannel graph. This method limits an investigator to one dependent variable, the inter-figure distance. However if three dimensional dolls are placed three dependent measures can be derived from a placement, one of distance and two of orientation. It has been demonstrated that a reliable correlation exists between the spatial relations between figures placed by a person and the spatial relationships between real interactors. The theoretical analysis of the determinants of interpersonal distance and orientation in social encounters which has been worked out by students of non-verbal behaviour is therefore able to serve as a basis for the interpretation of the spatial characteristics of doll placements. Previous work with the doll placement technique has concentrated on the distance between dolls. The present study explored the determinants of figure orientations. Firstly an analysis was made of the types of orientation pattern that can occur when two persons are involved in a social encounter. Secondly, an experiment was performed which was designed to explore whether asymmetry in an orientation pattern might act as a cue to determine how individual figures in a pair were perceived. Thirdly, two doll placement studies were performed which were designed to investigate the conditions giving rise to asymmetrical orientation patterns and the determinants of direct and indirect orientations. The confidence or anxiety attributed to an interactor represented by a figure proved to be a major determinant of its spatial position. The results of the study indicate that the use of the angle measures in the analysis of doll placements considerably enhances the value of the technique. It is argued that the doll placement method could be profitably employed both as a clinical instrument and as a research tool for cross-cultural psychology.
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- Date Issued: 1973