A profile of young sex offenders in South Africa : a pilot study
- Authors: Wood, Catherine Jane
- Date: 1998
- Subjects: Sex offenders -- Psychology , Paraphilias , Sex offenders -- South Africa -- Psychology , Teenage sex offenders -- South Africa -- Psychology , Teenage sex offenders
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:3089 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002598 , Sex offenders -- Psychology , Paraphilias , Sex offenders -- South Africa -- Psychology , Teenage sex offenders -- South Africa -- Psychology , Teenage sex offenders
- Description: In-depth interviews and psychometric tests were conducted with 20 young, South African male, hands-on sex offenders, between the ages of seven and 15 years. These offenders were referred by both the legal system and the welfare and health system. The data was gathered for the purpose of drawing up a descriptive profile of salient psychological and sociological characteristics of this population group, the patterns of offenses, the circumstances under which the offenses occurred and victims selected. Results showed that half the sample had committed prior sex offenses. The majority of young sex offenders had a history of consenting sexual interactions, had committed a non-sexual offense and engaged in a range of other antisocial behaviours. Half the sample reported a history of physical or sexual abuse (under-reporting of such victimization experiences was suspected). Typically, the young sex offender w:~s sexually naive and had not received any suitable sex education. He was usually a scholar although his school attendance was often infrequent and he was likely to have failed one or more standards. His intelligence quotient was most likely to fall in or below the borderline range of functioning. He tended to be either socially isolated and socially anxious or alternatively reported having a number of friends and appeared to have adequate social skills. His home environment was typically characterized by overcrowding, alcohol abuse and domestic violence. A significant male relative of his was likely to have committed a criminal offense. In his community environment, he regularly witnessed violence and sexual activity. The sex offenses were usually carried out with a co-perpetrator in a variety of venues. The victim was usually known and younger (mean age = seven years) than the perpetrator (mean age = 12 years). The overall results suggest that young sex offenders commit an array of sexual offenses that do not represent sexual experimentation, but rather indicate a developing pattern of sexual deviance. Comparisons between the above profile and the literature findings are explored. Finally, recommendations for structural changes, assessment procedures, additional future research pessibilities and guidelines for the development of appropriate - treatment programmes are outlined.
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A qualitative investigation of schizophrenic dreams
- Authors: Kumarapaapillai, Niranjula
- Date: 1998
- Subjects: Schizophrenia , Dreams -- Psychological aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3005 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002514 , Schizophrenia , Dreams -- Psychological aspects
- Description: This project attempts to articulate an understanding of the worlds of selected subjects suffering from schizophrenia, through their dreams. It proceeds from the implicit question of whether or not schizophrenic dreams reflect the schizophrenic worlds as literature defines, and tries to address some of the dream features which reflect the schizophrenic world. Five psychiatric inpatients suffering from schizophrenia were selected. The data gathered included the subjects' dreams and subsequent interviews for the purpose of clarification of the dreams. A phenomenological-hermeneutic methodology was deemed to be appropriate as it gave access to the richness of the dream experiences as well as the following dialogue between the data and literature. The results indicate that the subjects' dream worlds bear evidence to a fragmented state of ego which is to be expected to be found in schizophrenia. On the other hand some of these subjects' dreams also point to evolving health that is present in their world, at least on an intrapsychic level.
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An examination of patients' responses to framework breaks in psychotherapy in an institutional context
- Authors: Rees, Christopher Lewis
- Date: 1998
- Subjects: Psychotherapy patients Psychotherapy -- Research Psychotherapy Case studies Psychiatric hospital care
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:3042 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002551
- Description: This study examines the workings of the ground rules which make up the framework of psychotherapy, in an institutional context, by analysing transcripts of twelve audio taped sessions of therapy conducted in a psychiatric hospital. The breaks in the ground rules of the sessions are noted and the patients' responses to these breaks are analysed using Langs's (1982, 1988) method for decoding patients' material, suitably modified for use as a hermeneutic research method. Although all of the ground rules are broken in the institutional context, only one of the ten ground rules appears to be essentially affected by this particular institutional context. Other ground rules are broken out of choice of technique or through error. The institutional context has a structural impact only on the ground rule requiring a one to one relationship with privacy and confidentiality and this ground rule is transgressed in a number of ways in all twelve sessions examined in this study. However the patients' responses to this breach only occur in ways predicted by communicative theory when the break in the ground rule involves actual entry into the therapy space by another person. Other contraventions to this ground rule that do not involve such an entry do not elicit the predicted patient responses. The many other ground rule breaks occurring in the institutional context evoke the predicted responses in the patients' material. In the study, no therapist interventions are found to comply with the communicative therapy requirements for sound interventions; concomitantly it was found that no therapist interventions receive the required derivative validation. The results indicate that it is possible to conduct therapy of a substantially secure frame variety in this institutional context with minimum effort on the part of therapists and given proper training and supervision of therapists in the techniques of communicative psychotherapy. Furthermore the results lend weight to the importance of the communicative methodology for listening to patients' material in psychotherapy in an institutional context. However, further rigorous study of competently performed therapy, executed within the context of a secure frame within an institutional context, is needed in order to demonstrate the benefits of the communicative psychotherapy interventions and interpretations in this context.
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An exploration of the psychological significance of soap opera viewing
- Authors: Moodley, Prevan
- Date: 1998
- Subjects: Television -- Psychological aspects , Television soap operas -- Psychological aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3023 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002532 , Television -- Psychological aspects , Television soap operas -- Psychological aspects
- Description: In traditional research approaches, soap opera viewing has been studied quantitatively. Such studies ignore the subjectivities, the sociocultural contexts, and life contexts of individual viewers. To account for such shortcomings and to offer a qualitative research approach, an investigation was conducted into the engagement that viewers have with a particular soap opera, The bold and the beautiful. The collective case study research method was used. Three subjects were interviewed using in-depth phenomenological interviewing and the data obtained was subjected to.a hermeneutic method of investigation. This involved using a reading guide that extracted firstly, how pleasure is experienced in soap opera viewing, and secondly how the viewers' interpretations of the soap opera are linked to their everyday life contexts. Pleasure was found to be related to experiencing the soap opera world as real, the social context of the viewer, the openness of the text, selecting textual elements, identification and opening up the viewer's world. The viewers' interpretations were related to their life contexts in terms of the meanings that were constructed around emotions, identities, interpersonal relations and a cultural interface. Most notable for the South African context, is that viewing The bold and the beautiful provides a cultural interface because African identities are brought to this practice.
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Countertransference in rape counselling
- Authors: Whyle, Susan Lynn
- Date: 1998
- Subjects: Countertransference (Psychology) -- Therapeutic use , Rape victims -- Counseling of
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3085 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002594 , Countertransference (Psychology) -- Therapeutic use , Rape victims -- Counseling of
- Description: The study examined rape counselling, with particular emphasis on countertransference reactions experienced by the counsellors of rape survivors. Four subjects participated in semi-focused, open-ended interviews, which were taped and transcribed verbatim. The phenomenon of countertransference was discussed, and countertransference reactions identified and examined. The management of empathic strain, in order to sustain empathic inquiry and therapeutic efficacy, was discussed. The main results of the study included the identification of common victim themes, and the feelings evoked in the counsellor in the therapeutic relationship. These included feelings of anger, hopelessness, helplessness and sadness, particularly in the counselling of children, who may be HIV positive as a result of the attack, and victims of chronic abuse. Challenges of rape counselling included shortcomings in the system, and rape myths which trivialize the crime and blame the victim. The need for education and enlightenment of both the public and magistrates on the deleterious effects of rape was emphasized by all subjects.
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English communication in the hospitality industry: the employees' perspective
- Authors: Hobson, Josephine Mary
- Date: 1998
- Subjects: Hospitality industry -- Employees -- Training of -- South Africa , English language -- Study and teaching -- South Africa -- Foreign speakers
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:2992 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002501 , Hospitality industry -- Employees -- Training of -- South Africa , English language -- Study and teaching -- South Africa -- Foreign speakers
- Description: The purpose of this research project was to explore the English communicative competency of management and supervisory level employees within the South Mrican hospitality industry. The Pro lit English Written Assessment, a competency-based assessment tool, was used to establish a relatively objective measure of the English communicative competency of nineteen managers and supervisors. Thereafter thirteen of these respondents were interviewed to determine their perceptions of their English communicative competency and the impact thereof on their work situation, as well as their perceptions of their learning needs and recommendations for intervention. The researcher selected a multi-method approach to the investigation and sought both quantitative and qualitative data. The assessment revealed that the English reading and writing ability of the respondents is distinctly lower than their recorded education level and inadequate in relation to the tasks they are expected to perform at work. The interviews indicated that the respondents are not aware of their lack of English communicative competency or the implications thereof. However, the respondents expressed important insights into the factors that should be taken into account when planning an educational intervention III an organization. These included the need to incorporate English second language learning principles, to treat the learner as an individual, to involve the learner in the decision-making process, to consider the practical concerns of the learner and to ensure that the programme content is appropriate. Recommendations for human resource practices and research in the hospitality industry are presented.
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Group problem solving among community activists in a South African setting: an everyday cognition approach
- Authors: Van Vlaenderen, Hilde
- Date: 1998
- Subjects: Group problem solving Group problem solving -- South Africa Cross-cultural studies -- Methodology Cognition Cross-cultural studies Cognition -- Research
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:3080 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002589
- Description: The study focuses on the everyday problem solving processes of a group of community activists in a rural setting in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. It aims to uncover: first, the local knowledge of the participants of the study with reference to the concepts problem and problem solving; second, the participants' group problem solving procedure; and third, the dialectical interrelation between the participants' knowledge and practice with reference to everyday group problem solving. It is contended that the mainstream cognitive approach and the cross-cultural tradition are inappropriate for the study of everyday cognitive processes. A ‘situated cognition’ approach, based on the notions of activity and cultural mediation, is proposed as a theoretical framework for the study. The ontological and epistemological assumptions underpinning the empirical study were derived from a scientific realist and a hermeneutical paradigm. Data for the inquiry into the local knowledge of the participants was collected through individual interviews. The data was interpreted, using the grounded theory techniques of constant comparison, coding and compiling theoretical diagrams. Data for the inquiry into the participants' group problem solving practice consisted of video-taped group problem solving processes. This data was analysed, using a multi layered process of progressively deeper interpretation, employing a reading guide technique. Analysis of the research data revealed that the participants perceived a problem as an impediment to satisfactory participation in society. Problem solving was considered as an emotive, cognitive and inter-active process, involving particular role players. This process had a certain structure, involved attitudes and actions and relied on particular resources. Successful problem solving was perceived to result in restoration of social equilibrium. The group problem solving procedure used by the participants consisted of a process of developing a common understanding and group consensus. The strategies employed in the process, the roles played by the participants, the rules adhered to by the participants and the structure underlying the process were all congruent with these aims. There was a mutually reinforcing interrelation between knowledge and practice with reference to the participants’ problem solving.
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HIV and metaphor: an imaginative response to illness
- Authors: Cardo, Julia Claire
- Date: 1998
- Subjects: HIV infections , Metaphor -- Psychological aspects , Imagery (Psychology) -- Therapeutic use
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2945 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002454 , HIV infections , Metaphor -- Psychological aspects , Imagery (Psychology) -- Therapeutic use
- Description: The medical model has been criticised for its failure to attend to individuals' experience of illness and the meaning they attribute to illness. HIV / AIDS has challenged its adequacy and brought the question of meaning in illness into sharp focus. This study aimed to understand what it means to live with HIV by exploring the fantasies, images and metaphors that make up the depth of such an experience. Phenomenology was deemed the appropriate approach, as it assigns epistemological significance to metaphor and ontological primacy to the lifeworld. An interview guide was fashioned from existing phenomenological literature and in-depth interviews were conducted with eight HIV -infected individuals. Five protocols were selected to constitute the study. In addition, an audio tape recording of one individual's metaphorical dialogue with HIV was obtained and transcribed. The three protocols with the richest content of imagery and metaphor were subjected to phenomenological explication. The remaining two protocols were used to support and clarify emergent meaning. A phenomenological explication of the data revealed a number of salient metaphors and themes. Upon being diagnosed with HIV, individuals were confronted with a socially and institutionally prescribed understanding of the disease; HIV as synonymous with AIDS and immediate death, HIV as sexual deviance, and HIV as myth. These metaphors influenced their conceptualisation and handling of HIV. Individual embodied metaphors included: embodying a heart of stone to live with HIV and perceiving HIV as a punishment from God, a demon from the Devil, a death sentence and a torture. Affectively, the experience of HIV was constituted as fear of physical disfigurement and exposure, anxiety, vulnerability, anger, betrayal, injustice and isolation. In a process of resolution and transformation, individuals imbibed positive metaphors with which to continue living with HIV. In order to cope with HIV, individuals seemed to negotiate a metaphorical space in which to dwell with their virus. This entailed establishing some form of dialogue with HIV or a Higher Power. This study revealed that metaphorical thinking about HIV /AIDS has a powerful impact on individuals' embodiment of their world. Metaphor is also an effective means Clf conveying and eliciting meaning in the experience of illness. Based upon these findings, it was suggested that metaphor be a prime focus for future research endeavours.
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Testing Guidano's model of psychopathology in eating-disordered individuals : a multiple case study
- Authors: Hajayiannis, Helen
- Date: 1998
- Subjects: Psychology, Pathological Eating disorders -- Case studies Guidano, V F Eating disorders -- Etiology
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3192 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008557
- Description: This thesis sets out to critically examine Guidano's model of psychopathology in eating-disordered individuals . The literature review highlights the diverse etiological approaches that have been taken in understanding eating disorders. Guidano's model is presented as an alternative to traditional approaches . It is a developmental, unitary model of psychopathology, conceptualised within a systems/process-oriented approach to organised complexity. Within a qualitative framework, case study methodology is utilised to test the viability and limitations of Guidano's model. Four in-depth case histories are presented which offer appropriate material for the testing of the model. The data is analysed using the reading guide method and presented in terms of the four features of Guidano's model: (1) dysfunctional patterns of attachment; (2) sense of self; (3) major themes on systemic coherence; (4) common coping strategies. The findings of the research support Guidano's model of psychopathology in eating-disordered individuals. The findings are: (1) attachment styles are ambiguous, "intrusive, and enmeshed; participants experience a disappointment in the preferential attachment relationship; (2) that participants' sense of self is blurred and wavering; (3) the major theme on systemic coherence is the oscillation between seeking and avoiding intimacy; (4) common coping strategies are: the seeking of supportive intimacy with minimal self-exposure; withdrawal into the self; perfectionism; the development of an eating disorder; continuous thoughts about food, eating, and weight which prevents participants from becoming aware of the real issues confronting them. An evaluation of Guidano's model in terms of its specific contribution to knowledge and research on the role of father in child and adolescent psychopathology, as well as how father effects evidence in eating disorders, demonstrates the model's value as an explanatory tool and raises implications for future treatment, theory, and research practices of eating-disordered individuals.
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The development of academic literacy in the first-year psychology course at Rhodes University: an assessment of the tutorial programme
- Authors: Amos, Trevor Lawrence
- Date: 1998
- Subjects: Psychology -- Study and teaching (Higher) , Psychology -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- South Africa , Academic achievement -- South Africa , College student development programs -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:2923 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002432 , Psychology -- Study and teaching (Higher) , Psychology -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- South Africa , Academic achievement -- South Africa , College student development programs -- South Africa
- Description: This research is concerned with the cognitive development of students in higher education. Specifically, it is recognised that the demands facing students are different to those previously encountered in secondary education. These demands include being able to master what Strohm Kitchener (1983) calls ill-structured problems and learning the groundrules of their academic disciplines. This is termed academic literacy. Current thought in academic development proposes that students need to be shown how to mobilise their cognitive processes to meet these demands. It is argued that this is best accomplished when such activities are integrated into the discipline itself as opposed to being an add-on process. Taking into account the social and dialectical nature of learning (Vygotsky, 1978), academic development and academic literacy are seen to best occur within the tutorial system. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the 1997 first-year Psychology tutorial programme at Rhodes University, Grahamstown to assess how academic literacy was being developed. A qualitative research approach was followed, guided by the ten stage evaluation model of education programmes (Jacobs, 1996) and an adapted version of the Context, Input, Process and Product approach to evaluation (Parlett and Hamilton cited in Calder, 1995, p.25). Using indepth interviews, data was gathered from eight first year students, seven staff members and one programme co-ordinator. Focus groups were used to gather data from nine tutors. Further data collection techniques included observation of tutor briefing sessions and tutorials as well as documentary research. Data was analysed using qualitative data analysis techniques (Coffey & Atkinson, 1996). The Psychology Department at Rhodes University aims to integrate the development of academic literacy into mainstream teaching at the first year level through its tutorial programme. The Department has conceptualised its understanding of academic development as the development of academic, vocational and professional literacy which is rather unique. Academic literacy is defined and conceptualised further in a list of pre-determined skills (reading, writing and general skills) to be developed incrementally. This conceptualisation of academic literacy tends to neglect to include the mobilisation of relevant cognitive processes explicitly and the implementation tends to remain implicit. A lack of tactical strategies to implement academic development is evidence of the difficulty in moving from the philosophical level of academic development to the practical level. The programme is perceived as disorganised and lacking in a co-ordinated or incremental development of the predetermined skills.
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The shuttle effect : the development of a model for the prediction of variability in cognitive test performance across the adult life span
- Authors: Jordan, Ann B
- Date: 1998
- Subjects: Cognition -- Age factors Aging -- Psychological aspects Cognition in old age Human information processing -- Age factors Older people -- Psychology
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:3191 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008556
- Description: The aim of this thesis was to investigate inter-individual variability on cognitive task performance in normal older adults. In a review of the cognitive aging literature, the implications of a differential perspective were drawn out in order to establish a theoretical and methodological basis for an investigation into variability. A number of regularly occurring patterns, identified on the basis of available reports in the literature, were used to develop a model of variability (the shuttle model). The empirically-based model was located broadly within a neuropsychological framework, and derived explanatory power from the tenets of brain reserve capacity (BRC) theory. It served to describe the bulge in interindividual variability due to aging (the shuttle bulge), and the shifting occurrence of the bulge in relation to the age axis due to cohort and task-related influences (the shuttle shift). A two phase research study was conducted in order to test hypotheses derived from the model. Phase 1 comprised between-groups analyses of normative data covering a broad range of neuropsychological tests in the domains of attention, memory, language, visual and hand motor skills, in order to examine the progression of variability effects across the adult age range. Phase 2 constituted between and within-groups analyses of normative data from a more limited number of neuropsychological tests. It included the examination of raw score distributions and the characteristics of outliers, and was undertaken to explore more closely the nature of the variability phenomena detected in the first phase of the analysis. Taken together, the results of both phases of the investigation revealed statistically significant variability effects in support of the shuttle model. There was a consistent pattern of increased variability in association with older age regardless of functional modality; frequently, in association with later old age, there was also a subsequent decrease in variability (the shuttle bulge). The age of onset of the initial increase in variability occurred earlier or later (the shuttle shift) as a function of four factors: education, gender, task challenge and age-sensitivity of task. The finding of an earlier onset of variability effects for low education, male gender, high task challenge and high age-sensitivity of task was interpreted in terms of BRC threshold theory. The clinical and social implications of the outcome were discussed with special emphasis on the need for a differential perspective on aging, as a complement to the prevailing normative tradition. It was concluded that the shuttle model has considerable heuristic value. It presents an integrative framework for understanding existing variability data and provides clear indications for future research.
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