The utility of Weingarten's witness positions in the understanding of compassion fatigue in people who care for their own family members with AIDS
- Authors: Bambani, Nomfezeko
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: AIDS (Disease) -- Patients AIDS (Disease) -- Social aspects Home-based family services Community health services HIV-positive persons -- Social aspects Caregivers -- Attitudes Burn out (Psychology) Weingarten, Kathy
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3103 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004465
- Description: This paper explores the utility of Weingarten's (2003) witness positions in the understanding of compassion fatigue in people who care for their own family members with AIDS. The research is embedded in Weingarten's theory of witnessing and narrative theory and practice. The literature review explores the shift from hospital-based care to community/home-based care which has led to family members assuming the role of caring for their family members with AIDS, an overview of the effects of caring for AIDS patients on caregivers and an overview of Weingarten's (2003) theory of witnessing with special emphasis on the witnessing positions and their consequences. Interviews, based on narrative theory and practice in which Weingarten's theory is rooted, gave access to the participants' experiences, which were then analysed and interpreted through a framework developed from the witnessing theory. This article demonstrates the utility of Weingarten's (2003) theory of witnessing to people who are caregivers to their own family members with AIDS. I argue that witness positions occupied by caregivers during witnessing determine whether the caregivers will experience compassion fatigue. The negative consequences related to compassion fatigue that will be reviewed could probably be prevented through active, intentional, compassionate witnessing.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
- Authors: Bambani, Nomfezeko
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: AIDS (Disease) -- Patients AIDS (Disease) -- Social aspects Home-based family services Community health services HIV-positive persons -- Social aspects Caregivers -- Attitudes Burn out (Psychology) Weingarten, Kathy
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3103 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004465
- Description: This paper explores the utility of Weingarten's (2003) witness positions in the understanding of compassion fatigue in people who care for their own family members with AIDS. The research is embedded in Weingarten's theory of witnessing and narrative theory and practice. The literature review explores the shift from hospital-based care to community/home-based care which has led to family members assuming the role of caring for their family members with AIDS, an overview of the effects of caring for AIDS patients on caregivers and an overview of Weingarten's (2003) theory of witnessing with special emphasis on the witnessing positions and their consequences. Interviews, based on narrative theory and practice in which Weingarten's theory is rooted, gave access to the participants' experiences, which were then analysed and interpreted through a framework developed from the witnessing theory. This article demonstrates the utility of Weingarten's (2003) theory of witnessing to people who are caregivers to their own family members with AIDS. I argue that witness positions occupied by caregivers during witnessing determine whether the caregivers will experience compassion fatigue. The negative consequences related to compassion fatigue that will be reviewed could probably be prevented through active, intentional, compassionate witnessing.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
The development of a concept of psychological well-being
- Authors: Bar-On, Reuven
- Date: 1988
- Subjects: Mental health -- Psychological aspects Personality
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2928 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002437
- Description: This thesis focuses on the development of an operational and theoretically eclectic concept of psychological well-being. A comprehensive research strategy was employed to examine various personality factors thought to be components of psychological health (i.e., the basis of the proposed concept). The general approach involved four major phases: (1) the clustering of various variables and identification of underlying key factors purported to be related to psychological health based on the writer's clinical experience and review of the mental health literature, (2) the formulation of an ~ priori concept of psychological well-being based on the operational definition of those factors, (3) the construction of an inventory designed to examine the proposed concept, and (4) the interpretation of the results and their implications for the development of the overall concept based on the examination of the factorial structure, validity and reliability of the inventory. The"a posteriori concept" evolved out of this process. The results of the present study indicate that the most valid and reliable factorial components of psychological well-being are self regard,interpersonal relationship, independence, problem-solving, assertiveness,reality testing, stress tolerance, self-actualization and happiness; social responsibility and flexibility emerged as questionable components of the a posteriori concept. The inventory which was designed to study the concept was successful in significantly differentiating various levels of psychological health. This way of conceptualizing and assessing psychological well-being has potential applicability for mental health practitioners and researchers.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1988
- Authors: Bar-On, Reuven
- Date: 1988
- Subjects: Mental health -- Psychological aspects Personality
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2928 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002437
- Description: This thesis focuses on the development of an operational and theoretically eclectic concept of psychological well-being. A comprehensive research strategy was employed to examine various personality factors thought to be components of psychological health (i.e., the basis of the proposed concept). The general approach involved four major phases: (1) the clustering of various variables and identification of underlying key factors purported to be related to psychological health based on the writer's clinical experience and review of the mental health literature, (2) the formulation of an ~ priori concept of psychological well-being based on the operational definition of those factors, (3) the construction of an inventory designed to examine the proposed concept, and (4) the interpretation of the results and their implications for the development of the overall concept based on the examination of the factorial structure, validity and reliability of the inventory. The"a posteriori concept" evolved out of this process. The results of the present study indicate that the most valid and reliable factorial components of psychological well-being are self regard,interpersonal relationship, independence, problem-solving, assertiveness,reality testing, stress tolerance, self-actualization and happiness; social responsibility and flexibility emerged as questionable components of the a posteriori concept. The inventory which was designed to study the concept was successful in significantly differentiating various levels of psychological health. This way of conceptualizing and assessing psychological well-being has potential applicability for mental health practitioners and researchers.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1988
Making the personal political: understanding the impacts of participation in an anti-rape protest for women who have experienced sexual violence
- Authors: Barker, Kim Elise
- Date: 2023-03-29
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/422590 , vital:71960 , DOI 10.21504/10962/422590
- Description: South Africa is recognised as a country with unusually high levels of rape and sexual violence. The majority of those who experience sexual violence do not acknowledge, disclose or report it, and do not access support. Many factors have been identified which can inhibit acknowledgement and disclosure. While silence is to be honoured as a chosen response, unwanted silencing is of concern. The annual Silent Protest at Rhodes University is a day-long anti-rape protest which draws attention to the attitudes and practices which silence victim-survivors, and enacts solidarity with victim-survivors of sexual violence. I conducted a three year “critically engaged, activist ethnography” with the community of Silent Protestors and organisers. My focus was on the stories that victim-survivors told about the impacts of participating in the protest. Changes in the research context allowed for a participatory action research cycle to be incorporated into the methodology. This offered an opportunity to implement and evaluate some changes suggested by my research contributors. My contributor’s narratives highlighted the ways in which as a society we position those who have been subjected to sexual violence in ways that are limited and limiting and which diminish victim-survivors’ sense of agency and value. This malignant positioning restricts the choices available to victim-survivors. The anticipation of being positioned in negative ways can inhibit victim-survivors from disclosing a violation and accessing care and justice. Participation in the Silent Protest seems to stand against some of the factors which inhibit acknowledgement and disclosure. Through their participation many women took up opportunities to share their story with at least one other person and to receive and offer care. Most described participation as having been beneficial and having helped them move towards living well again. The ways in which the Silent Protest positioned victim-survivors and the choices they were offered in relation to that positioning seemed to open up opportunities for thinking, feeling and acting in ways that they preferred. This suggests that interventions which mobilise both political resistance and mutual care hold promise for developing more accessible and effective services to those affected by sexual violence. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Psychology, 2023
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023-03-29
- Authors: Barker, Kim Elise
- Date: 2023-03-29
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/422590 , vital:71960 , DOI 10.21504/10962/422590
- Description: South Africa is recognised as a country with unusually high levels of rape and sexual violence. The majority of those who experience sexual violence do not acknowledge, disclose or report it, and do not access support. Many factors have been identified which can inhibit acknowledgement and disclosure. While silence is to be honoured as a chosen response, unwanted silencing is of concern. The annual Silent Protest at Rhodes University is a day-long anti-rape protest which draws attention to the attitudes and practices which silence victim-survivors, and enacts solidarity with victim-survivors of sexual violence. I conducted a three year “critically engaged, activist ethnography” with the community of Silent Protestors and organisers. My focus was on the stories that victim-survivors told about the impacts of participating in the protest. Changes in the research context allowed for a participatory action research cycle to be incorporated into the methodology. This offered an opportunity to implement and evaluate some changes suggested by my research contributors. My contributor’s narratives highlighted the ways in which as a society we position those who have been subjected to sexual violence in ways that are limited and limiting and which diminish victim-survivors’ sense of agency and value. This malignant positioning restricts the choices available to victim-survivors. The anticipation of being positioned in negative ways can inhibit victim-survivors from disclosing a violation and accessing care and justice. Participation in the Silent Protest seems to stand against some of the factors which inhibit acknowledgement and disclosure. Through their participation many women took up opportunities to share their story with at least one other person and to receive and offer care. Most described participation as having been beneficial and having helped them move towards living well again. The ways in which the Silent Protest positioned victim-survivors and the choices they were offered in relation to that positioning seemed to open up opportunities for thinking, feeling and acting in ways that they preferred. This suggests that interventions which mobilise both political resistance and mutual care hold promise for developing more accessible and effective services to those affected by sexual violence. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Psychology, 2023
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023-03-29
An empirical phenomenological investigation of procrastinating behaviour
- Authors: Barratt, Neal Anthony
- Date: 2010
- Subjects: Procrastination Self-actualization (Psychology) Cognitive psychology
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2929 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002438
- Description: A qualitative empirical phenomenological study was undertaken to determine the self-experience of procrastinating behaviour. Five students each gave an account of an occasion when they procrastinated. The resultant protocols were analysed and the Situated Structure of each individual’s experience was reported. From these, the General Structure of procrastinating behaviour was determined. A further, novel step was added to the standard methodology, whereby ‘themes’ were extracted from participant protocols and a ‘Composite Reality’ of everyday-life procrastination was rendered. Participants’ accounts suggest they are concerned the results of intellectual tasks they undertake will be seen as equivalent to their quality of being-as-an-individual: poor work results will be interpreted by important-others as evidence of participants’ poor quality of self – which is to be avoided. This study suggests that procrastination is a ploy used by individuals to avoid criticism, by deflecting assessment of their capacity to complete a task well, to instead, what they are capable of when only a limited time is available. Conclusions drawn by the important-others of participants’ true ability are thereby confounded. The results achieved in the phenomenological study were compared with others originating from various quantitative studies, and considerable overlap was found. The experiential richness of the phenomenological results point to a worthwhile methodological strategy for future procrastination research.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2010
- Authors: Barratt, Neal Anthony
- Date: 2010
- Subjects: Procrastination Self-actualization (Psychology) Cognitive psychology
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2929 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002438
- Description: A qualitative empirical phenomenological study was undertaken to determine the self-experience of procrastinating behaviour. Five students each gave an account of an occasion when they procrastinated. The resultant protocols were analysed and the Situated Structure of each individual’s experience was reported. From these, the General Structure of procrastinating behaviour was determined. A further, novel step was added to the standard methodology, whereby ‘themes’ were extracted from participant protocols and a ‘Composite Reality’ of everyday-life procrastination was rendered. Participants’ accounts suggest they are concerned the results of intellectual tasks they undertake will be seen as equivalent to their quality of being-as-an-individual: poor work results will be interpreted by important-others as evidence of participants’ poor quality of self – which is to be avoided. This study suggests that procrastination is a ploy used by individuals to avoid criticism, by deflecting assessment of their capacity to complete a task well, to instead, what they are capable of when only a limited time is available. Conclusions drawn by the important-others of participants’ true ability are thereby confounded. The results achieved in the phenomenological study were compared with others originating from various quantitative studies, and considerable overlap was found. The experiential richness of the phenomenological results point to a worthwhile methodological strategy for future procrastination research.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2010
A comparative developmental study of the fear of snakes
- Authors: Bartel, P R
- Date: 1972
- Subjects: Snakes , Fear
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3198 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1009505 , Snakes , Fear
- Description: This study was conducted to determine the influence of age and culture on the fear of snakes. Five age groups, consisting of 20 White and 20 Xhosa subjects each, were tested. In addition to a behavioural and a GSR measure of fear, questionnaires were applied to determine the extent of the subjects' personal and vicarious aversive experiences of snakes and attitudes towards snakes. The behavioural measure showed a significant decrease in the fear of snakes between the 9 - 11 year and the 14 - 16 year White groups, while, for the Xhosa subjects, the fear of snakes increased significantly between the age groups 14 - 16 years and 18 - 20 years. The GSR measure showed a consistent level in the fear of snakes for White subjects. For the Xhosa subjects the mean GSR score for the 18 - 20 year .group was considerably higher than the means for the other age groups. The intensity of the fear of snakes for White and Xhosa subjects of the same age was remarkably similar. Xhosa subjects had significantly more negative attitudes towards snakes than white subjects. This finding was explained in terms of Whites having had greater opportunities to obtain factual information about snakes. No significant relationships were found between (a) the measures of the extent of the subjects' aversive experiences of snakes; (b) the degree of negative attitudes towards snakes; and the measures of the fear of snakes. On the basis of these measures, the etiology of the fear of snakes cannot be explained in terms of aversive experiences with snakes per se. The striking similarity of responses to a live snake by subjects from two widely different cultures suggests caution in an over-hasty dismissal of the theory of an innate fear of snakes.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1972
- Authors: Bartel, P R
- Date: 1972
- Subjects: Snakes , Fear
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3198 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1009505 , Snakes , Fear
- Description: This study was conducted to determine the influence of age and culture on the fear of snakes. Five age groups, consisting of 20 White and 20 Xhosa subjects each, were tested. In addition to a behavioural and a GSR measure of fear, questionnaires were applied to determine the extent of the subjects' personal and vicarious aversive experiences of snakes and attitudes towards snakes. The behavioural measure showed a significant decrease in the fear of snakes between the 9 - 11 year and the 14 - 16 year White groups, while, for the Xhosa subjects, the fear of snakes increased significantly between the age groups 14 - 16 years and 18 - 20 years. The GSR measure showed a consistent level in the fear of snakes for White subjects. For the Xhosa subjects the mean GSR score for the 18 - 20 year .group was considerably higher than the means for the other age groups. The intensity of the fear of snakes for White and Xhosa subjects of the same age was remarkably similar. Xhosa subjects had significantly more negative attitudes towards snakes than white subjects. This finding was explained in terms of Whites having had greater opportunities to obtain factual information about snakes. No significant relationships were found between (a) the measures of the extent of the subjects' aversive experiences of snakes; (b) the degree of negative attitudes towards snakes; and the measures of the fear of snakes. On the basis of these measures, the etiology of the fear of snakes cannot be explained in terms of aversive experiences with snakes per se. The striking similarity of responses to a live snake by subjects from two widely different cultures suggests caution in an over-hasty dismissal of the theory of an innate fear of snakes.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1972
“You whore; you are so dirty, bitch”: the justification of and resistance to violence in the intimate relationships of female sex workers
- Authors: Bartlett, Elretha
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Women -- Violence against -- South Africa , Sex workers -- Violence against -- South Africa , Women, Black -- Abuse of -- South Africa , Women -- Violence against -- South Africa -- Case studies , Sex workers -- Violence against -- South Africa -- Case studies , Women, Black -- Abuse of -- South Africa -- Case studies
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/5082 , vital:20764
- Description: The objective of the study is to examine discourses of gender and dimensions of social difference implicated in female sex workers’ (FSWs) justifications of, and resistances to, intimate partner violence (IPV). Individual narrative interviews were conducted with FSWs (n=11) who were affiliated with the Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Taskforce (SWEAT). The participants were mostly women of colour (n=10), with a low socio-economic status, and between 31 and 51 years of age. Intersectionality and features of Foucauldian discourse analysis, as described by Parker (1992), informed the analysis of the interview data. In personal interviews, participants interrogated aspects of their own and their partners’ lives that they viewed as playing a significant role in the aetiology and experience of IPV. They drew on a discourse of violent black masculinity, developmental discourses, and patriarchal ideology to justify and resist their partners’ violent behaviour. They also positioned themselves and their ‘spoiled’ identities as playing a role in the experience of violence. Participants pointed to the construction of sex work as ‘dirty work’ and the role that this played in legitimising the violence that was directed at them by intimate partners. In relation to this positioning and its consequences in terms of justifications for violence, my analysis highlights occasions in which gender ideology is re-appropriated for the purpose of challenging the legitimacy of these interpretative frames. While gender politics is central to my analytic observations, my analysis demonstrates how intersections with race and class shape the specificities of FSWs experiences of IPV. In doing so, this study aims to broaden current insights into the phenomenon of IPV, as it does not only focus on gender discrimination, but on the complex interaction between various systems of oppression.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Bartlett, Elretha
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Women -- Violence against -- South Africa , Sex workers -- Violence against -- South Africa , Women, Black -- Abuse of -- South Africa , Women -- Violence against -- South Africa -- Case studies , Sex workers -- Violence against -- South Africa -- Case studies , Women, Black -- Abuse of -- South Africa -- Case studies
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/5082 , vital:20764
- Description: The objective of the study is to examine discourses of gender and dimensions of social difference implicated in female sex workers’ (FSWs) justifications of, and resistances to, intimate partner violence (IPV). Individual narrative interviews were conducted with FSWs (n=11) who were affiliated with the Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Taskforce (SWEAT). The participants were mostly women of colour (n=10), with a low socio-economic status, and between 31 and 51 years of age. Intersectionality and features of Foucauldian discourse analysis, as described by Parker (1992), informed the analysis of the interview data. In personal interviews, participants interrogated aspects of their own and their partners’ lives that they viewed as playing a significant role in the aetiology and experience of IPV. They drew on a discourse of violent black masculinity, developmental discourses, and patriarchal ideology to justify and resist their partners’ violent behaviour. They also positioned themselves and their ‘spoiled’ identities as playing a role in the experience of violence. Participants pointed to the construction of sex work as ‘dirty work’ and the role that this played in legitimising the violence that was directed at them by intimate partners. In relation to this positioning and its consequences in terms of justifications for violence, my analysis highlights occasions in which gender ideology is re-appropriated for the purpose of challenging the legitimacy of these interpretative frames. While gender politics is central to my analytic observations, my analysis demonstrates how intersections with race and class shape the specificities of FSWs experiences of IPV. In doing so, this study aims to broaden current insights into the phenomenon of IPV, as it does not only focus on gender discrimination, but on the complex interaction between various systems of oppression.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
The Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices Test: a pilot study for the establishment of normative data for Xhosa-speaking primary school pupils in the Grahamstown region
- Authors: Bass, Natalie Tanyia
- Date: 2000
- Subjects: Raven's Progressive Matrices , Students -- South Africa -- Psychology , Educational tests and measurements -- South Africa , Intelligence levels -- South Africa , Students -- Psychology
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:2930 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002439 , Raven's Progressive Matrices , Students -- South Africa -- Psychology , Educational tests and measurements -- South Africa , Intelligence levels -- South Africa , Students -- Psychology
- Description: The Raven’s Coloured Progressive Matrices (CPM) test is used extensively across a wide variety of settings in South Africa, however more appropriate local normative data has yet to be established. The CPM is internationally recognised as a culture-fair test of nonverbal intelligence, designed for use with children between the ages of 5½ and 11½. This pilot study thus sought to establish normative data for this instrument for a population of Xhosa-speaking Primary School children in the peri-urban township area in the Grahamstown region. The booklet version of the test was used and it was administered in group format and according to an alternate method of test administration (using Xhosa instructions) developed by Vass in 1992. The final normative sample consisted of 197 male and 182 female Xhosa-speaking children in Grades Two to Seven (N=379). The results showed (1) a significant effect of age on test scores, where scores increased with age as expected; (2) a consistent tendency for males to outperform females was also noted, however small sample sizes precluded any categorical claims to this effect; (3) no significant effect of education on test scores was observed and finally; (4) and finally, it appeared that the norms generated for this study revealed a tendency to be lower than those obtained by Raven, Court and Raven (1990) during the standardisation of this instrument in the United Kingdom and America. The study concluded that (1) there is an urgent need for more appropriate South African normative data for this test; and (2) that when assessing African children from disadvantaged backgrounds, further research into the effects of cultural and socio-economic factors and gender on non-verbal intelligence (and on performance on this test in particular) is required.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2000
- Authors: Bass, Natalie Tanyia
- Date: 2000
- Subjects: Raven's Progressive Matrices , Students -- South Africa -- Psychology , Educational tests and measurements -- South Africa , Intelligence levels -- South Africa , Students -- Psychology
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:2930 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002439 , Raven's Progressive Matrices , Students -- South Africa -- Psychology , Educational tests and measurements -- South Africa , Intelligence levels -- South Africa , Students -- Psychology
- Description: The Raven’s Coloured Progressive Matrices (CPM) test is used extensively across a wide variety of settings in South Africa, however more appropriate local normative data has yet to be established. The CPM is internationally recognised as a culture-fair test of nonverbal intelligence, designed for use with children between the ages of 5½ and 11½. This pilot study thus sought to establish normative data for this instrument for a population of Xhosa-speaking Primary School children in the peri-urban township area in the Grahamstown region. The booklet version of the test was used and it was administered in group format and according to an alternate method of test administration (using Xhosa instructions) developed by Vass in 1992. The final normative sample consisted of 197 male and 182 female Xhosa-speaking children in Grades Two to Seven (N=379). The results showed (1) a significant effect of age on test scores, where scores increased with age as expected; (2) a consistent tendency for males to outperform females was also noted, however small sample sizes precluded any categorical claims to this effect; (3) no significant effect of education on test scores was observed and finally; (4) and finally, it appeared that the norms generated for this study revealed a tendency to be lower than those obtained by Raven, Court and Raven (1990) during the standardisation of this instrument in the United Kingdom and America. The study concluded that (1) there is an urgent need for more appropriate South African normative data for this test; and (2) that when assessing African children from disadvantaged backgrounds, further research into the effects of cultural and socio-economic factors and gender on non-verbal intelligence (and on performance on this test in particular) is required.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2000
The cognitive rehabilitation of a sample of children living with HIV : a specific focus on the cognitive rehabilitation of sustained attention
- Authors: Basterfield, Candice
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: HIV-positive children -- Rehabilitation , Antiretroviral agents , HIV (Viruses) -- Side effects , Brain damage -- Patients -- Rehabilitation , Cognition disorders -- Patients -- Rehabilitation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3258 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1017881
- Description: Pharmacological interventions to treat Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) with antiretrovirals (ARVs), have dramatically improved the survival rates of HIV positive children maturing into adulthood. However, HIV-associated neurocognitive decline still persists in the era of ARVs. Within the framework of brain plasticity, a number of researchers have begun to assess the feasibility of cognitive rehabilitation therapy as a complement to ARVs to reverse neurocognitive decline as a result of HIV (e.g., Becker et al., 2012). Only one study has been conducted in South Africa, by Zondo & Mulder (2014), assessing the efficacy of cognitive rehabilitation in a paediatric sample. The current research builds on the above mentioned study by implementing an experimental approach to examine the effect of cognitive rehabilitation in a sample of both HIV positive and HIV negative children. Five HIV positive and six HIV negative children were assigned to either an experimental or control group. The experimental group underwent two months of cognitive rehabilitation therapy remediating sustained attention, whereas the control group took part in placebo activities. Sustained attention measures were taken before and after the intervention training sessions, using a sustained attention subtest from the Test of Everyday Attention for Children (TEA-CH). A Mann Whitney U Test revealed that the experimental group (Mdn=38.50) did not differ significantly from the control group (Mdn = 37.00) after the cognitive rehabilitation intervention, U=12.00, z= -.55, p= .66, r= -.17. But a Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test found that there was a significant improvement from pretest scores (Mdn=31.00) to posttest scores (Mdn=38.00) following the rehabilitation for HIV positive participants in the sample, T=15.00, z = -2.02, p= .04, r= -.90. This raises the possibility that cognitive rehabilitation could be used as a low cost intervention in underdeveloped contexts
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- Authors: Basterfield, Candice
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: HIV-positive children -- Rehabilitation , Antiretroviral agents , HIV (Viruses) -- Side effects , Brain damage -- Patients -- Rehabilitation , Cognition disorders -- Patients -- Rehabilitation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3258 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1017881
- Description: Pharmacological interventions to treat Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) with antiretrovirals (ARVs), have dramatically improved the survival rates of HIV positive children maturing into adulthood. However, HIV-associated neurocognitive decline still persists in the era of ARVs. Within the framework of brain plasticity, a number of researchers have begun to assess the feasibility of cognitive rehabilitation therapy as a complement to ARVs to reverse neurocognitive decline as a result of HIV (e.g., Becker et al., 2012). Only one study has been conducted in South Africa, by Zondo & Mulder (2014), assessing the efficacy of cognitive rehabilitation in a paediatric sample. The current research builds on the above mentioned study by implementing an experimental approach to examine the effect of cognitive rehabilitation in a sample of both HIV positive and HIV negative children. Five HIV positive and six HIV negative children were assigned to either an experimental or control group. The experimental group underwent two months of cognitive rehabilitation therapy remediating sustained attention, whereas the control group took part in placebo activities. Sustained attention measures were taken before and after the intervention training sessions, using a sustained attention subtest from the Test of Everyday Attention for Children (TEA-CH). A Mann Whitney U Test revealed that the experimental group (Mdn=38.50) did not differ significantly from the control group (Mdn = 37.00) after the cognitive rehabilitation intervention, U=12.00, z= -.55, p= .66, r= -.17. But a Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test found that there was a significant improvement from pretest scores (Mdn=31.00) to posttest scores (Mdn=38.00) following the rehabilitation for HIV positive participants in the sample, T=15.00, z = -2.02, p= .04, r= -.90. This raises the possibility that cognitive rehabilitation could be used as a low cost intervention in underdeveloped contexts
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
"Burnout" in children's home houseparents
- Authors: Bath, Peter John
- Date: 1983
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/193118 , vital:45300
- Description: Aimed at replicating the results of an American study into "Burnout" in Group Home houseparents, this research had the following aims: 1) To ascertain the validity and reliability of the instrument used in the original study and presented as a "useful measure of burnout”. 2) To establish whether this line of research, within a highly problematic research field, can at present offer any guidelines in the resolution of the current staffing crisis faced by South African children's homes. 3} To describe more closely the burnout syndrome. 4) To study possible etiological factors within a local context. Sixty three houseparents completed questionaires and three independent measures of burnout were obtained. The results were regarded as having failed to replicate those of the original study. The reason for this was found to be the low validity of the original instrument. The main conclusion drawn was that the line of research adopted in the original study can offer only very tentative guidelines towards the resolution of the staffing crisis faced until such time as valid and reliable instruments to measure burnout have been developed. Many of the suggested relationships between situational variables and ones of personal characteristics were confirmed for the local population of houseparents. , Thesis (MSocSci) -- Faculty of Humanities, Psychology, 1983
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1983
- Authors: Bath, Peter John
- Date: 1983
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/193118 , vital:45300
- Description: Aimed at replicating the results of an American study into "Burnout" in Group Home houseparents, this research had the following aims: 1) To ascertain the validity and reliability of the instrument used in the original study and presented as a "useful measure of burnout”. 2) To establish whether this line of research, within a highly problematic research field, can at present offer any guidelines in the resolution of the current staffing crisis faced by South African children's homes. 3} To describe more closely the burnout syndrome. 4) To study possible etiological factors within a local context. Sixty three houseparents completed questionaires and three independent measures of burnout were obtained. The results were regarded as having failed to replicate those of the original study. The reason for this was found to be the low validity of the original instrument. The main conclusion drawn was that the line of research adopted in the original study can offer only very tentative guidelines towards the resolution of the staffing crisis faced until such time as valid and reliable instruments to measure burnout have been developed. Many of the suggested relationships between situational variables and ones of personal characteristics were confirmed for the local population of houseparents. , Thesis (MSocSci) -- Faculty of Humanities, Psychology, 1983
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1983
Cumulative mild head injury in rugby: a comparison of cognitive deficit and postconcussive symptomatology between schoolboy rugby players and non-contact sport controls
- Authors: Beilinsohn, Taryn
- Date: 2001
- Subjects: Rugby football injuries , Head -- Wounds and injuries -- Psychology , Head -- Wounds and injuries -- Complications , Brain damage
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2931 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002440 , Rugby football injuries , Head -- Wounds and injuries -- Psychology , Head -- Wounds and injuries -- Complications , Brain damage
- Description: This study investigates the cumulative effects of concussive and subconcussive mild head injury on the cognitive functioning of schoolboy rugby players. A comprehensive battery of neuropsychological tests and a self-report postconcussive questionnaire were administered to top level schoolboy rugby players (n=47), and a non-contact sport control group of top level schoolboy hockey players (n=34). Group comparisons of the percentage of individuals with cognitive deficit were carried out between i) the schoolboy rugby and the schoolboy hockey players, ii) the rugby forward and the rugby backline players; iii) the rugby forward and the schoolboy hockey players and, iv) the rugby backline and the schoolboy hockey players. Results on the neuropsychological test battery did not provide any substantial evidence of a higher level of neuropsychological impairment in the rugby players relative to the control group, or in the rugby forward players relative to the rugby backline players. Results obtained on the postconcussive symptom questionnaire provided tentative indications that the rugby players do report a greater frequency of postconcussive symptomatology. The symptoms most frequently reported were being easily angered, memory problems, clumsy speech and sleep difficulties. It was hypothesized that the absence of cognitive impairment in the schoolboy rugby players compared with that noted for professional players was due to their younger age, relatively high IQ and education level and a less intensive level of physical participation in the sport, and hence less accumulated exposure to the game, thereby decreasing their exposure to mild head injuries. From a theoretical perspective, these pre-existing conditions were considered to act as protective factors against reductions in brain reserve capacity and concomitant susceptibility to the onset of neuropsychological dysfunction.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2001
- Authors: Beilinsohn, Taryn
- Date: 2001
- Subjects: Rugby football injuries , Head -- Wounds and injuries -- Psychology , Head -- Wounds and injuries -- Complications , Brain damage
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2931 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002440 , Rugby football injuries , Head -- Wounds and injuries -- Psychology , Head -- Wounds and injuries -- Complications , Brain damage
- Description: This study investigates the cumulative effects of concussive and subconcussive mild head injury on the cognitive functioning of schoolboy rugby players. A comprehensive battery of neuropsychological tests and a self-report postconcussive questionnaire were administered to top level schoolboy rugby players (n=47), and a non-contact sport control group of top level schoolboy hockey players (n=34). Group comparisons of the percentage of individuals with cognitive deficit were carried out between i) the schoolboy rugby and the schoolboy hockey players, ii) the rugby forward and the rugby backline players; iii) the rugby forward and the schoolboy hockey players and, iv) the rugby backline and the schoolboy hockey players. Results on the neuropsychological test battery did not provide any substantial evidence of a higher level of neuropsychological impairment in the rugby players relative to the control group, or in the rugby forward players relative to the rugby backline players. Results obtained on the postconcussive symptom questionnaire provided tentative indications that the rugby players do report a greater frequency of postconcussive symptomatology. The symptoms most frequently reported were being easily angered, memory problems, clumsy speech and sleep difficulties. It was hypothesized that the absence of cognitive impairment in the schoolboy rugby players compared with that noted for professional players was due to their younger age, relatively high IQ and education level and a less intensive level of physical participation in the sport, and hence less accumulated exposure to the game, thereby decreasing their exposure to mild head injuries. From a theoretical perspective, these pre-existing conditions were considered to act as protective factors against reductions in brain reserve capacity and concomitant susceptibility to the onset of neuropsychological dysfunction.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2001
Entrepreneurial intention among Rhodes University undergraduate students
- Authors: Bell, Jonathan Andrew
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Rhodes University -- Undergraduates , Entrepreneurship -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Social cognitive theory , Intention , Attitude (Psychology) , Influence (Psychology) , South Africa -- Economic conditions -- 1991-
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3267 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1020011
- Description: The entrepreneurial intentions of university students are important factors to consider when developing entrepreneurship offerings at tertiary level institutions. This research study reports on pertinent findings from a study which set out to determine Rhodes university undergraduate students‟ entrepreneurial intentions and their pull and push factors that have brought them to the decision to become entrepreneurs. A survey, using a 43 question structured web-based instrument was used to capture the responses from undergraduate students across different departments at Rhodes University, Grahamstown. Key findings suggest that few undergraduate students intend to enter into an entrepreneurship career immediately after completion of their studies, whereas many of the respondents were more interested in doing so five years after graduation. The vast majority of students were satisfied without having formal entrepreneurial education and factors such as previous employment in entrepreneurial activities, and family influence had a statistical significant relationship with entrepreneurial intention.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- Authors: Bell, Jonathan Andrew
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Rhodes University -- Undergraduates , Entrepreneurship -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Social cognitive theory , Intention , Attitude (Psychology) , Influence (Psychology) , South Africa -- Economic conditions -- 1991-
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3267 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1020011
- Description: The entrepreneurial intentions of university students are important factors to consider when developing entrepreneurship offerings at tertiary level institutions. This research study reports on pertinent findings from a study which set out to determine Rhodes university undergraduate students‟ entrepreneurial intentions and their pull and push factors that have brought them to the decision to become entrepreneurs. A survey, using a 43 question structured web-based instrument was used to capture the responses from undergraduate students across different departments at Rhodes University, Grahamstown. Key findings suggest that few undergraduate students intend to enter into an entrepreneurship career immediately after completion of their studies, whereas many of the respondents were more interested in doing so five years after graduation. The vast majority of students were satisfied without having formal entrepreneurial education and factors such as previous employment in entrepreneurial activities, and family influence had a statistical significant relationship with entrepreneurial intention.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
A q-metholological approach to audience reception of public awareness messages on sexual violence
- Authors: Bennie, Rachel
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Psychology -- Research -- Methodology , Psychology -- Research , Communication in social action -- South Africa , Psychology -- Research -- South Africa , Women -- Violence against -- South Africa , Women -- Violence against -- South Africa -- Prevention
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/140805 , vital:37920
- Description: Public awareness poster campaigns are an often-used method for raising awareness about, and engaging audiences on the topic of rape and other forms of sexual violence (Potter, 2012). However, poster campaigns, as social artefacts, operate in a public arena in which numerous discourses about a phenomenon are produced, reproduced and interact with each other, with sometimes unintended/unanticipated discursive consequences (Böhmke, Bennie, Minnie, Moore, Pilusa & Pollock, 2015). How messages aimed at raising awareness of sexual violence are framed has the potential to reproduce dominant social narratives and gendered subject positions in ways that reinforce notions of men as active sexual agents and potential perpetrators, and women as sexually passive and potential victims (Gavey, 2005). Other approaches, such as bystander intervention, seek to move away from a focus on victims and perpetrators to emphasise the role that community members can play in risk detection, safety promotion and the prevention of sexual violence (McMahon & Banyard, 2012). Since a range of possible messages about sexual violence can be communicated through poster campaigns, it is important to critically examine the content and orientation of campaign material. This study focused on intended audience views regarding messages about sexual violence contained in anti-sexual violence poster materials. The purpose was to collaborate with a selected audience to better understand which messages are effective and which strategies of communication are perceived to be less so. Through the use of Q-methodology, volunteer participants were invited to express their opinions in relation to messages about sexual violence from a range of posters from several international campaigns. The analysis focused on uncovering the discursive subject positions that participants’ express in their attitudinal responses to the poster messages, providing not only a description of these positions, but also illustrating the level of resonance that the poster messages may find with intended audiences. The aim of the study is to potentially inform the development of more focused campaign material, tailored to the specific context from which participants were drawn. Analysis shows clear patterns of audience resistance towards stereotypical representations of sexual violence and messages that are geared towards the simple prohibition of behaviours. The findings highlight the need for the development of alternative strategies of engagement that focus on specific engagement with understandings of sexual violence in the context of intimate and/or acquaintance relationships and which are aimed at inviting audiences to take up a position in relation to sexual violence phenomena that troubles the reproduction of received notions of gendered subjectivities and (hetero) sexuality
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Bennie, Rachel
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Psychology -- Research -- Methodology , Psychology -- Research , Communication in social action -- South Africa , Psychology -- Research -- South Africa , Women -- Violence against -- South Africa , Women -- Violence against -- South Africa -- Prevention
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/140805 , vital:37920
- Description: Public awareness poster campaigns are an often-used method for raising awareness about, and engaging audiences on the topic of rape and other forms of sexual violence (Potter, 2012). However, poster campaigns, as social artefacts, operate in a public arena in which numerous discourses about a phenomenon are produced, reproduced and interact with each other, with sometimes unintended/unanticipated discursive consequences (Böhmke, Bennie, Minnie, Moore, Pilusa & Pollock, 2015). How messages aimed at raising awareness of sexual violence are framed has the potential to reproduce dominant social narratives and gendered subject positions in ways that reinforce notions of men as active sexual agents and potential perpetrators, and women as sexually passive and potential victims (Gavey, 2005). Other approaches, such as bystander intervention, seek to move away from a focus on victims and perpetrators to emphasise the role that community members can play in risk detection, safety promotion and the prevention of sexual violence (McMahon & Banyard, 2012). Since a range of possible messages about sexual violence can be communicated through poster campaigns, it is important to critically examine the content and orientation of campaign material. This study focused on intended audience views regarding messages about sexual violence contained in anti-sexual violence poster materials. The purpose was to collaborate with a selected audience to better understand which messages are effective and which strategies of communication are perceived to be less so. Through the use of Q-methodology, volunteer participants were invited to express their opinions in relation to messages about sexual violence from a range of posters from several international campaigns. The analysis focused on uncovering the discursive subject positions that participants’ express in their attitudinal responses to the poster messages, providing not only a description of these positions, but also illustrating the level of resonance that the poster messages may find with intended audiences. The aim of the study is to potentially inform the development of more focused campaign material, tailored to the specific context from which participants were drawn. Analysis shows clear patterns of audience resistance towards stereotypical representations of sexual violence and messages that are geared towards the simple prohibition of behaviours. The findings highlight the need for the development of alternative strategies of engagement that focus on specific engagement with understandings of sexual violence in the context of intimate and/or acquaintance relationships and which are aimed at inviting audiences to take up a position in relation to sexual violence phenomena that troubles the reproduction of received notions of gendered subjectivities and (hetero) sexuality
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
The importance of personal and collective resources in coping with stressors related to industrial action at the Coldstream sawmill
- Authors: Besseling, Elizabeth Anne
- Date: 1999
- Subjects: Stress (Psychology) , Stress (Physiology) , Industrial relations -- South Africa -- Case studies , Coldstream (South africa)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2932 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002441 , Stress (Psychology) , Stress (Physiology) , Industrial relations -- South Africa -- Case studies , Coldstream (South africa)
- Description: The main purpose of the study is to investigate whether the stress response moderators served as effective variables in reducing the stress of the strike. For instance, if individuals differ in' their ability to actualise resources, does someone with a high SOC utilise friendships or supportive relationships more than someone with a low SOC? Does someone who has a high score for religious practice become less depressed when faced with a significant stressor than someone less involved in church activities?
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1999
- Authors: Besseling, Elizabeth Anne
- Date: 1999
- Subjects: Stress (Psychology) , Stress (Physiology) , Industrial relations -- South Africa -- Case studies , Coldstream (South africa)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2932 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002441 , Stress (Psychology) , Stress (Physiology) , Industrial relations -- South Africa -- Case studies , Coldstream (South africa)
- Description: The main purpose of the study is to investigate whether the stress response moderators served as effective variables in reducing the stress of the strike. For instance, if individuals differ in' their ability to actualise resources, does someone with a high SOC utilise friendships or supportive relationships more than someone with a low SOC? Does someone who has a high score for religious practice become less depressed when faced with a significant stressor than someone less involved in church activities?
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1999
Ray Charles: a psychobiographical study
- Authors: Biggs, Ilze
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Charles, Ray, 1930-2004 Psychology -- Biographical methods -- Case studies Jazz singers -- Biography Blind entertainers -- Psychology
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2933 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002442
- Description: Psychobiography is the formulation of an individual's narrative according to a psychological theory. Psychobiographical researchers face a number of challenges. One pertinent challenge is the limited amount of psychobiographical research conducted at academic institutions, including South Africa. Although a number of studies had been completed in the past decade, the impact of psychobiographical research remains negligible. Although much has been written about Ray Charles, none of the existing literature adopted a specific psychological focus. Charles developed from a young boy in a poverty stricken, racially segregated society into an exceptionally successful musician who worked productively until he died at the age of 73. He was selected as the subject on the basis of interest value, uniqueness and significance of life achievements. The primary aim of this study was to explore and describe the development of Charles according to Levinson's (Levinson, et. ai, 1978) theoretical framework. Levinson's theory of adult development identifies and describes the important changes that occur throughout the lifespan of an individual. A secondary aim was to provide an understanding of Charles within the social, economic and historical context in which he lived. The data collection and analysis was conducted according to Yin's (2003) 'analytic generalization'. The data was analysed according to three linked sub-processes proposed by Huberman and Miles (1994).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Biggs, Ilze
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Charles, Ray, 1930-2004 Psychology -- Biographical methods -- Case studies Jazz singers -- Biography Blind entertainers -- Psychology
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2933 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002442
- Description: Psychobiography is the formulation of an individual's narrative according to a psychological theory. Psychobiographical researchers face a number of challenges. One pertinent challenge is the limited amount of psychobiographical research conducted at academic institutions, including South Africa. Although a number of studies had been completed in the past decade, the impact of psychobiographical research remains negligible. Although much has been written about Ray Charles, none of the existing literature adopted a specific psychological focus. Charles developed from a young boy in a poverty stricken, racially segregated society into an exceptionally successful musician who worked productively until he died at the age of 73. He was selected as the subject on the basis of interest value, uniqueness and significance of life achievements. The primary aim of this study was to explore and describe the development of Charles according to Levinson's (Levinson, et. ai, 1978) theoretical framework. Levinson's theory of adult development identifies and describes the important changes that occur throughout the lifespan of an individual. A secondary aim was to provide an understanding of Charles within the social, economic and historical context in which he lived. The data collection and analysis was conducted according to Yin's (2003) 'analytic generalization'. The data was analysed according to three linked sub-processes proposed by Huberman and Miles (1994).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
A reflective multiple case study approach to understanding partner relationships within the context of community engagement at Rhodes University
- Authors: Bobo, Azola Benita Dorothea
- Date: 2021-05-06
- Subjects: Community development South Africa Makhanda , Community and college South Africa Makhanda , Community psychology South Africa Makhanda , Decolonization South Africa , Social action South Africa Makhanda , Transformative learning South Africa Makhanda , Rhodes University , Rhodes University Community Engagement (RUCE)
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral thesis , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/253854 , vital:52406 , DOI 10.21504/10962/253854
- Description: Using a social constructivist approach, within the social action model of community psychology, this research interrogates the features of successful community engagement partnerships that exist within the context of higher education. It draws on the co-management model that the Rhodes University Community Engagement (RUCE) division proposes, where partnerships are seen to be mutually beneficial. This research further interrogates whether the principles of community engagement that RUCE propose play out in reality, and whether systems of power are deconstructed, in working towards more equitable engagements. Drawing on the Early Childhood Development (ECD) Residence Programme for case studies, this research used a reflective multiple case study design in attempting to answer the research question. Four partner groups (i.e., 4 community partners and 4 community engagement representatives) were selected for this research. Each participant was interviewed twice (with a 6-month time gap) and also participated in two focus group discussions. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the findings. In taking a social justice approach, it can be argued that RUCE has made strides towards forming collaborative partnerships based on the ethics of ubuntu and aspects of transformative learning, which may lead to the decolonisation of higher education. However, critical engagement with the research findings suggests that in many cases the principles that RUCE propose are aspirational. More work needs to be done with both students and community partners to develop the kinds of partnerships that RUCE aspires to. This research provides valuable insight into how carefully managed community engagement partnerships in higher education have the potential to contribute to the transformation agenda of higher education institutions, while promoting equitable societies. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Psychology, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-05-06
- Authors: Bobo, Azola Benita Dorothea
- Date: 2021-05-06
- Subjects: Community development South Africa Makhanda , Community and college South Africa Makhanda , Community psychology South Africa Makhanda , Decolonization South Africa , Social action South Africa Makhanda , Transformative learning South Africa Makhanda , Rhodes University , Rhodes University Community Engagement (RUCE)
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral thesis , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/253854 , vital:52406 , DOI 10.21504/10962/253854
- Description: Using a social constructivist approach, within the social action model of community psychology, this research interrogates the features of successful community engagement partnerships that exist within the context of higher education. It draws on the co-management model that the Rhodes University Community Engagement (RUCE) division proposes, where partnerships are seen to be mutually beneficial. This research further interrogates whether the principles of community engagement that RUCE propose play out in reality, and whether systems of power are deconstructed, in working towards more equitable engagements. Drawing on the Early Childhood Development (ECD) Residence Programme for case studies, this research used a reflective multiple case study design in attempting to answer the research question. Four partner groups (i.e., 4 community partners and 4 community engagement representatives) were selected for this research. Each participant was interviewed twice (with a 6-month time gap) and also participated in two focus group discussions. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the findings. In taking a social justice approach, it can be argued that RUCE has made strides towards forming collaborative partnerships based on the ethics of ubuntu and aspects of transformative learning, which may lead to the decolonisation of higher education. However, critical engagement with the research findings suggests that in many cases the principles that RUCE propose are aspirational. More work needs to be done with both students and community partners to develop the kinds of partnerships that RUCE aspires to. This research provides valuable insight into how carefully managed community engagement partnerships in higher education have the potential to contribute to the transformation agenda of higher education institutions, while promoting equitable societies. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Psychology, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-05-06
Cumulative mild head injury in contact sport: a comparison of the cognitive profiles of rugby players and non-contact sport controls with normative data
- Authors: Bold, Lisa Clare
- Date: 2000
- Subjects: Head -- Wounds and injuries -- Psychology , Neuropsychological tests , Head -- Wounds and injuries , Sports injuries -- Psychological aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2935 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002444 , Head -- Wounds and injuries -- Psychology , Neuropsychological tests , Head -- Wounds and injuries , Sports injuries -- Psychological aspects
- Description: This study investigates the effects of cumulative mild head injury on the cognitive functioning of elite rugby players. A comprehensive battery of neuropsychological tests was administered to top national (Springbok) rugby players (n=26), national Under 21 rugby players (n= 19), and a non-contact sport control group of national hockey players (n=21). The test results of the Total Rugby group (Springbok Rugby and Under 21 Rugby players), the Under 21 Rugby group, the hockey controls, and the Total Rugby and Under 21 Rugby forward and backline players respectively, were each compared with established normative data. Results showed significant differences in the direction of a poorer performance relative to the norms for the Total Rugby and Under 21 Rugby groups, and for the Total Rugby Forwards and Under 21 Rugby Forwards, on tests sensitive to the effects of diffuse brain damage. On the other hand, the Hockey Control group and the Total Rugby Backs and Under 21 Rugby Backs tended to perform within the normal range or better than the norm on some tests. These results confirm the hypothesis that rugby players, and the forward players in particular, are at risk of adverse cognitive effects consequent on cumulative mild head injury. The theoretical implications are that the aggregate effects of multiple exposures to mild head injuries in the rugby players served to reduce their brain reserve capacities and acted as a threshold-lowering influence associated with symptom onset.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2000
- Authors: Bold, Lisa Clare
- Date: 2000
- Subjects: Head -- Wounds and injuries -- Psychology , Neuropsychological tests , Head -- Wounds and injuries , Sports injuries -- Psychological aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2935 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002444 , Head -- Wounds and injuries -- Psychology , Neuropsychological tests , Head -- Wounds and injuries , Sports injuries -- Psychological aspects
- Description: This study investigates the effects of cumulative mild head injury on the cognitive functioning of elite rugby players. A comprehensive battery of neuropsychological tests was administered to top national (Springbok) rugby players (n=26), national Under 21 rugby players (n= 19), and a non-contact sport control group of national hockey players (n=21). The test results of the Total Rugby group (Springbok Rugby and Under 21 Rugby players), the Under 21 Rugby group, the hockey controls, and the Total Rugby and Under 21 Rugby forward and backline players respectively, were each compared with established normative data. Results showed significant differences in the direction of a poorer performance relative to the norms for the Total Rugby and Under 21 Rugby groups, and for the Total Rugby Forwards and Under 21 Rugby Forwards, on tests sensitive to the effects of diffuse brain damage. On the other hand, the Hockey Control group and the Total Rugby Backs and Under 21 Rugby Backs tended to perform within the normal range or better than the norm on some tests. These results confirm the hypothesis that rugby players, and the forward players in particular, are at risk of adverse cognitive effects consequent on cumulative mild head injury. The theoretical implications are that the aggregate effects of multiple exposures to mild head injuries in the rugby players served to reduce their brain reserve capacities and acted as a threshold-lowering influence associated with symptom onset.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2000
Teachers' talk regarding inclusion: a comparative discursive study
- Authors: Bomela, Yolisa Faith
- Date: 2006
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3123 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006135
- Description: Much research on the educators' perceptions of and attitudes towards inclusive education has been conducted both in South Africa and abroad. What is absent in this literature is an acknowledgement of the socially constructed nature of teachers' responses to inclusive education and its recipients. In this study, the talk of educators involved in piloting inclusive education is compared to that of educators who are not involved, in order to determine the discourses from which educators draw in their construction of inclusive education. It is a comparative study premised on the social constructionist perspective in which discourse analysis was employed. The sample was drawn from schools piloting inclusive education in the East London District of the Eastern Cape Province in South Africa and was compared with schools not involved in the pilot, but in the same area. Semi- structured interviews were conducted with eight educators spread across two piloting and two non piloting schools. The analysis revealed significant similarities and quite minimal differences in the manner in which educators across the two settings construct their experiences of inclusive education. Even though the educators draw on the rights driven anti-discriminatory discourse, they still embrace the special needs/medical/expertise and charity discourses. These discourses construct disability around notions of disputed degrees of impairment, feared status and perceptions of disability as a personal issue rather than a public responsibility, and they undermine the status of people with a disability while supporting notions of dependency. In this article, I will argue that the historical legacy within which these discourses were originally constructed, will essentially continue unless there is a change in how diversity is viewed.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
- Authors: Bomela, Yolisa Faith
- Date: 2006
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3123 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006135
- Description: Much research on the educators' perceptions of and attitudes towards inclusive education has been conducted both in South Africa and abroad. What is absent in this literature is an acknowledgement of the socially constructed nature of teachers' responses to inclusive education and its recipients. In this study, the talk of educators involved in piloting inclusive education is compared to that of educators who are not involved, in order to determine the discourses from which educators draw in their construction of inclusive education. It is a comparative study premised on the social constructionist perspective in which discourse analysis was employed. The sample was drawn from schools piloting inclusive education in the East London District of the Eastern Cape Province in South Africa and was compared with schools not involved in the pilot, but in the same area. Semi- structured interviews were conducted with eight educators spread across two piloting and two non piloting schools. The analysis revealed significant similarities and quite minimal differences in the manner in which educators across the two settings construct their experiences of inclusive education. Even though the educators draw on the rights driven anti-discriminatory discourse, they still embrace the special needs/medical/expertise and charity discourses. These discourses construct disability around notions of disputed degrees of impairment, feared status and perceptions of disability as a personal issue rather than a public responsibility, and they undermine the status of people with a disability while supporting notions of dependency. In this article, I will argue that the historical legacy within which these discourses were originally constructed, will essentially continue unless there is a change in how diversity is viewed.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
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.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
- 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.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
Religious experience and schizophrenia in modern man : an experiential theoretical study
- Borchardt, Frederick Francois
- Authors: Borchardt, Frederick Francois
- Date: 1990
- Subjects: Schizophrenia -- Religious aspects , Experience (Religion) -- Psychological aspects
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2897 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002061
- Description: In this study the psychological structures of two categories of religious and schizophrenic experience were examined from a phenomenological- existential perspective. Existing theories describe schizophrenia as an unfree, rigid experience with limited possibilities for selfhood. Some theorists believe, however, that some forms of schizophrenia can be seen as potential growth experiences which could facilitate existential renewal. These forms of schizophrenia are mystical, mythical or spiritual in nature. Religious experiences are, according to the literature, essentially renewal experiences facilitating existential growth and transformation through a particular system of thought and devotional relationship shared by a group of people. The Duquesne phenomenological- psychological method was used to analyse seven case studies, four of which involved schizophrenic experiences and three which involved religious conversion experiences. The general psychological structure which emerged through this analysis showed both schizophrenia and religious experience to have specific implications for the personal, social, material and mystical dimensions of being. The description of a specific psychological structure of experience which could optimally facilitate existential growth and transformation was attained by examining psychological structures where the subject's experience culminated in existential growth and transformation (such as religious experience and certain schizophrenIc experiences). As both these categories of experience displayed a strong mystical component, a psychological structure of experience which facilitates a transformative mystical experience was described. It can be concluded that an experience involving a mystical dimension could be transformative if the general psychological structure of the person displays (a) an openness towards reality as it presents itself (b) an experience of oneself as having a measure of existential freedom (c) a certain sense of security in one's own selfhood and (d) a social world which could understand, support and reflect inner experiences.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1990
- Authors: Borchardt, Frederick Francois
- Date: 1990
- Subjects: Schizophrenia -- Religious aspects , Experience (Religion) -- Psychological aspects
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2897 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002061
- Description: In this study the psychological structures of two categories of religious and schizophrenic experience were examined from a phenomenological- existential perspective. Existing theories describe schizophrenia as an unfree, rigid experience with limited possibilities for selfhood. Some theorists believe, however, that some forms of schizophrenia can be seen as potential growth experiences which could facilitate existential renewal. These forms of schizophrenia are mystical, mythical or spiritual in nature. Religious experiences are, according to the literature, essentially renewal experiences facilitating existential growth and transformation through a particular system of thought and devotional relationship shared by a group of people. The Duquesne phenomenological- psychological method was used to analyse seven case studies, four of which involved schizophrenic experiences and three which involved religious conversion experiences. The general psychological structure which emerged through this analysis showed both schizophrenia and religious experience to have specific implications for the personal, social, material and mystical dimensions of being. The description of a specific psychological structure of experience which could optimally facilitate existential growth and transformation was attained by examining psychological structures where the subject's experience culminated in existential growth and transformation (such as religious experience and certain schizophrenIc experiences). As both these categories of experience displayed a strong mystical component, a psychological structure of experience which facilitates a transformative mystical experience was described. It can be concluded that an experience involving a mystical dimension could be transformative if the general psychological structure of the person displays (a) an openness towards reality as it presents itself (b) an experience of oneself as having a measure of existential freedom (c) a certain sense of security in one's own selfhood and (d) a social world which could understand, support and reflect inner experiences.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1990
Heads and tales: the effect of mild head injuries of rugby players: cognitive deficit and postconcussive symptoms
- Authors: Border, Michael Anthony
- Date: 2001
- Subjects: Rugby football injuries , Head -- Wounds and injuries -- Psychology , Head -- Wounds and injuries -- Complications , Brain damage
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:2937 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002446 , Rugby football injuries , Head -- Wounds and injuries -- Psychology , Head -- Wounds and injuries -- Complications , Brain damage
- Description: This study investigated the cumulative effect of mild head injuries on rugby players. A comprehensive battery of neuropsychological tests was administered and subjects completed a self-report postconcussive symptom questionnaire. Data were collected for the two rugby groups, Springbok rugby players (n = 26) and Under 21 rugby players (n = 19), and for the control group, national hockey players (n = 21). Group comparisons of the percentage of individuals with deficit or self-reported symptomatology were made between: (i) the contact sport groups and the control group; (ii) the forwards and the backs within each rugby group and the rugby forwards and the control group; and (iii) the Springbok and Under 21 rugby players. Broadly speaking, comparative results on the neuropsychological tests and the self-reported postconcussive symptoms clearly distinguished between contact sport players and non-contact sport players and indicated the presence of diffuse brain damage in the contact sport players. There was also clear evidence of positional variation within the rugby groups, with the forwards (more full contact positions) most susceptible to impairment. Neuropsychological test results revealed deficit in information processing speed, attention and concentration, mental flexibility, visual memory and verbal new learning. The most significant neuropsychiatric complaints were reported in the areas of memory, social contact, sensitivity to noise, lowered frustration tolerance, anxiety and worry, and depression. The most sensitive neuropsychological test used in the present study was the Digit Symbol Substitution test. This test clearly distinguished contact sport players from non-contact sport players, and forwards from backs.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2001
- Authors: Border, Michael Anthony
- Date: 2001
- Subjects: Rugby football injuries , Head -- Wounds and injuries -- Psychology , Head -- Wounds and injuries -- Complications , Brain damage
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:2937 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002446 , Rugby football injuries , Head -- Wounds and injuries -- Psychology , Head -- Wounds and injuries -- Complications , Brain damage
- Description: This study investigated the cumulative effect of mild head injuries on rugby players. A comprehensive battery of neuropsychological tests was administered and subjects completed a self-report postconcussive symptom questionnaire. Data were collected for the two rugby groups, Springbok rugby players (n = 26) and Under 21 rugby players (n = 19), and for the control group, national hockey players (n = 21). Group comparisons of the percentage of individuals with deficit or self-reported symptomatology were made between: (i) the contact sport groups and the control group; (ii) the forwards and the backs within each rugby group and the rugby forwards and the control group; and (iii) the Springbok and Under 21 rugby players. Broadly speaking, comparative results on the neuropsychological tests and the self-reported postconcussive symptoms clearly distinguished between contact sport players and non-contact sport players and indicated the presence of diffuse brain damage in the contact sport players. There was also clear evidence of positional variation within the rugby groups, with the forwards (more full contact positions) most susceptible to impairment. Neuropsychological test results revealed deficit in information processing speed, attention and concentration, mental flexibility, visual memory and verbal new learning. The most significant neuropsychiatric complaints were reported in the areas of memory, social contact, sensitivity to noise, lowered frustration tolerance, anxiety and worry, and depression. The most sensitive neuropsychological test used in the present study was the Digit Symbol Substitution test. This test clearly distinguished contact sport players from non-contact sport players, and forwards from backs.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2001