- Title
- ‘They do not understand us’: a psychosocial analysis of the everyday lived experiences of a CYCC care worker in semi-rural South Africa
- Creator
- Pieters, Cinnamon-Paige
- ThesisAdvisor
- Saville Young, Lisa
- Subject
- Child care workers South Africa Attitudes
- Subject
- Narrative inquiry (Research method)
- Subject
- Intersubjectivity
- Subject
- Free association (Psychology)
- Subject
- Child care South Africa Psychological aspects
- Subject
- Burn out (Psychology) South Africa
- Date
- 2022-04-07
- Type
- Article
- Type
- text
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10962/294482
- Identifier
- vital:57225
- Description
- This paper employs a psychosocial framework to analyse the everyday lived experiences of a child and youth care worker in semi-rural South Africa. The aim is to provide a new perspective of care work by drawing on narrative analysis alongside a psychoanalytic approach to qualitative research. With an emphasis on the socially constructed nature of reality, the researcher aims to elucidate the rich unconscious depths of being a care worker and the dynamics of the intersubjective reality of care work. Employing a free association narrative interview technique allows the researcher to gain understanding of the narratives that the care worker draws on in the construction of his identity as a care worker. The use of a psychosocial approach enables the researcher to pay attention to both the social context that influences the narratives that he draws on, but also the psychological ‘pay offs’ of these constructions. Most notably, the study highlights how the care worker’s identity is mediated by a defended subjectivity and argues that his failures in mentalization might stem from the way he is treated as a care worker by other professionals as a result of their mindblindness. This maintains his narrative of invisibility, and the pervasive feeling of being misunderstood as a professional in his own right. The findings are discussed in terms of their contribution to understanding some of the challenges that CYCC care workers face.
- Description
- Research Article (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, Psychology, 2022
- Format
- computer, online resource, application/pdf, 1 online resource (23 pages), pdf
- Publisher
- Rhodes University, Faculty of Humanities, Psychology
- Language
- English
- Rights
- Pieters, Cinnamon-Paige
- Rights
- Use of this resource is governed by the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons "Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike" License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/)
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | PIETERS-MA-TR22-118.pdf | 276 KB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |