An examination of psychological issues in the pregnancy and birth process with reference to personal responsibility and control
- Authors: Selwyn-Cross, Halina
- Date: 1991
- Subjects: Childbirth -- Psychological aspects Pregnancy -- Psychological aspects
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2898 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002062
- Description: This study examines the psychological issues of personal responsibility and control in the childbirth process. It examines the implications of the woman's preparation process and the choices she makes during pregnancy and childbirth. It also explores the way in which the birthing environment and the woman's interpersonal relationships affect her experience of personal control within the context of the childbirth period. Use was made of the case study research design. This qualitative design involved indepth exploration, of cases in which the women had recently given birth to their first child in the local hospital of a small town. The data analysis involved the use of a "reading guide", established by the researcher to allow for the examination of the data specifically in terms of the themes in question. Within the study the importance and value of the woman's accurate and sufficient preparation for the birth was seen to facilitate a realistic sense of predictability, which led to an increased awareness and ability of the woman to remain in control. This, along with the active participation of the husband and supportive network in the hospital, allowed for a sharing of the responsibility within the labour situation. This taking and appropriately yielding of control and responsibility had positive effects on the woman's experience of the event and for initial mother-infant bonding
- Full Text:
- Authors: Selwyn-Cross, Halina
- Date: 1991
- Subjects: Childbirth -- Psychological aspects Pregnancy -- Psychological aspects
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2898 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002062
- Description: This study examines the psychological issues of personal responsibility and control in the childbirth process. It examines the implications of the woman's preparation process and the choices she makes during pregnancy and childbirth. It also explores the way in which the birthing environment and the woman's interpersonal relationships affect her experience of personal control within the context of the childbirth period. Use was made of the case study research design. This qualitative design involved indepth exploration, of cases in which the women had recently given birth to their first child in the local hospital of a small town. The data analysis involved the use of a "reading guide", established by the researcher to allow for the examination of the data specifically in terms of the themes in question. Within the study the importance and value of the woman's accurate and sufficient preparation for the birth was seen to facilitate a realistic sense of predictability, which led to an increased awareness and ability of the woman to remain in control. This, along with the active participation of the husband and supportive network in the hospital, allowed for a sharing of the responsibility within the labour situation. This taking and appropriately yielding of control and responsibility had positive effects on the woman's experience of the event and for initial mother-infant bonding
- Full Text:
An exploration of high self control scores among South African university students
- Authors: Riordan, Janet Susan
- Date: 1991
- Subjects: College students -- South AFrica -- Psychology , Self-control , Self-control -- Research
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2902 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002066
- Description: The Rosenbaum Self Control Schedule is a self-report instrument developed to assess individual tendencies to apply self-control methods to the solution of behavioral problems. Tested on Hebrews and English-speaking Americans, it was found to transfer easily from one situation to the other. When administered in a battery of self-report questionnaires to South African university students it was found that while means of the total sample were similar to those reported overseas, the means of black and white students within the sample were significantly different from each other, with black students having higher self-control scores than the white students in the study and higher than those reported in previous studies. The study was repeated in this research project using a larger group of black students. The finding of significantly higher self-control scores was replicated. This finding was not due to response set, either acquiescence or social desirability, although black subjects were found to be more subject to social desirability response set. Distributions of the samples showed a group of low scoring white subjects for which there was no equal in the black sample. The findings suggest that black university students in South Africa have high levels of learned resoursefulness. This may be due to a selection process reflecting the relative difficulty with which black students reach university level - difficulties relating to student unrest, educational and financial limitations and economic and social drawbacks so that only those students with moderate to exceptional levels of problem solving stategy skills do succeed. Such individuals should be good candidates for cognitive therapies. Item and factor analyses showed the SCS to be psychometrically adequate for the white group but were much less conclusive for the black sample. In this group, a lower Cronbach's alpha was obtained and the factor analysis was less clear.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Riordan, Janet Susan
- Date: 1991
- Subjects: College students -- South AFrica -- Psychology , Self-control , Self-control -- Research
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2902 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002066
- Description: The Rosenbaum Self Control Schedule is a self-report instrument developed to assess individual tendencies to apply self-control methods to the solution of behavioral problems. Tested on Hebrews and English-speaking Americans, it was found to transfer easily from one situation to the other. When administered in a battery of self-report questionnaires to South African university students it was found that while means of the total sample were similar to those reported overseas, the means of black and white students within the sample were significantly different from each other, with black students having higher self-control scores than the white students in the study and higher than those reported in previous studies. The study was repeated in this research project using a larger group of black students. The finding of significantly higher self-control scores was replicated. This finding was not due to response set, either acquiescence or social desirability, although black subjects were found to be more subject to social desirability response set. Distributions of the samples showed a group of low scoring white subjects for which there was no equal in the black sample. The findings suggest that black university students in South Africa have high levels of learned resoursefulness. This may be due to a selection process reflecting the relative difficulty with which black students reach university level - difficulties relating to student unrest, educational and financial limitations and economic and social drawbacks so that only those students with moderate to exceptional levels of problem solving stategy skills do succeed. Such individuals should be good candidates for cognitive therapies. Item and factor analyses showed the SCS to be psychometrically adequate for the white group but were much less conclusive for the black sample. In this group, a lower Cronbach's alpha was obtained and the factor analysis was less clear.
- Full Text:
An investigation of the romantic ballet in its sociocultural context in Paris and London, 1830 to 1850
- Authors: Osborne, Jane
- Date: 1991
- Subjects: Ballet -- France -- Paris , Ballet -- England -- London , Ballet -- History -- 19th century , Ballet -- Sociological aspects
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2126 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002028
- Description: Historians have made a considerable contribution to the study of the Romantic ballet in terms of chronological development, the Romantic movement in the arts and the contribution of specific dancers and choreographers; very little research has been attempted to date on the interrelationship between the dance form and the wide range of human experience of the period. This holistic approach provides insight into form, content and stagecraft; political, economic and social influences; the prevailing artistic aesthetic and cultural climate; sex, gender and class issues; and the priorities, value system and nuances of the times. Recent work by historians and social scientists (eg Brinson 1981, Adshead 1983, Spencer 1985, Hanna 1988, Garafola 1989) advocates a recognition of the role of social and cultural systems in the evaluation of dance. This approach further ackowledges the equal status of all cultures, and has opened up areas of African performing dance in cultural systems outside the west. My parallel investigation of the gumboot dance in its South African context, which appears in Appendix B, provides an example. The first half of the nineteenth century was characterized by the disruptive beginnings of the emergent industrial world, centred in Paris and London; and the Romantic ballet tradition reached its greatest heights at this time. Chapter one establishes the political, economic, social and artistic environment, and identifies middle class dominance as a key factor. Chapters two and three focus primarily on the three great ballets of the age, La Sylphide, 1832, Giselie, 1841, and Pas de Quatre, 1845, as expressions of the essential duality of the times, and of Romantic synaesthesia in the arts, which enabled them to transcend the pedestrian bourgeois materialism of faciliatators and audience. Chapter four examines the images of the idealized ballerina and the 'Victorian' middle class woman in relation to bourgeois male attitudes to female sexuality, gender and class. The conclusion sums up the themes of duality, middle class influence, and the Romantic aesthetic, and discusses the prevalent notion that this period was identified as a 'golden age' of the Romantic ballet.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Osborne, Jane
- Date: 1991
- Subjects: Ballet -- France -- Paris , Ballet -- England -- London , Ballet -- History -- 19th century , Ballet -- Sociological aspects
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2126 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002028
- Description: Historians have made a considerable contribution to the study of the Romantic ballet in terms of chronological development, the Romantic movement in the arts and the contribution of specific dancers and choreographers; very little research has been attempted to date on the interrelationship between the dance form and the wide range of human experience of the period. This holistic approach provides insight into form, content and stagecraft; political, economic and social influences; the prevailing artistic aesthetic and cultural climate; sex, gender and class issues; and the priorities, value system and nuances of the times. Recent work by historians and social scientists (eg Brinson 1981, Adshead 1983, Spencer 1985, Hanna 1988, Garafola 1989) advocates a recognition of the role of social and cultural systems in the evaluation of dance. This approach further ackowledges the equal status of all cultures, and has opened up areas of African performing dance in cultural systems outside the west. My parallel investigation of the gumboot dance in its South African context, which appears in Appendix B, provides an example. The first half of the nineteenth century was characterized by the disruptive beginnings of the emergent industrial world, centred in Paris and London; and the Romantic ballet tradition reached its greatest heights at this time. Chapter one establishes the political, economic, social and artistic environment, and identifies middle class dominance as a key factor. Chapters two and three focus primarily on the three great ballets of the age, La Sylphide, 1832, Giselie, 1841, and Pas de Quatre, 1845, as expressions of the essential duality of the times, and of Romantic synaesthesia in the arts, which enabled them to transcend the pedestrian bourgeois materialism of faciliatators and audience. Chapter four examines the images of the idealized ballerina and the 'Victorian' middle class woman in relation to bourgeois male attitudes to female sexuality, gender and class. The conclusion sums up the themes of duality, middle class influence, and the Romantic aesthetic, and discusses the prevalent notion that this period was identified as a 'golden age' of the Romantic ballet.
- Full Text:
An investigation of the significance of learned helplessness on membership participation in co-operative movements
- Authors: Norman, Paul Deon
- Date: 1991
- Subjects: Learned helplessness , Psychology , Black people -- South Africa , Attributional Style Questionnaire , Partician Index , Co-operatives , Helplessness (Psychology) , Black people -- Psychology
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2895 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002059
- Description: In this study the psychological phenomenon of learned helplessness is investigated to determine its significance as a characteristic of members of progressive co-operatives within the South African context. Most of the members of these co-operatives are black South Africans. It is argued that because of the country's racial policy, many of the members have become accustomed to a passive response to events in their lives and this gives rise to their failure to utilise the freedom and opportunities of the co-operative structure. The researcher hypothesises that this passive response could be explained in terms of a high level of learned helplessness among co-operative members. Two hypotheses are investigated in this study: Hypothesis 1: Passive co-operative members will have higher levels of learned helplessness than active members. Hypothesis 2:The level of learned helplessness decreases as the length of co-operative members involvement increases. Data collection for this study was carried out by combining a personal interview and a standardised questionnaire (the Attributional Style Questionnaire). To distinguish between the passive and active members, a Participation Index was constructed. The ASQ was translated into Xhosa, adapted for the sample and two translators were employed to conduct the interviews in Xhosa. The sample consisted of 50 black South Africans, many with limited education and was drawn from six co-operatives in the Eastern Cape. No significant differences were found between the active and passive groups in terms of their levels of learned helplessness. Furthermore, the length of involvement in the co-operative had no effect on the level of learned helplessness. No support was found therefore for Hypothesis l and 2. A significant difference, however, was found between active and passive members and the number of months of involvement. This suggests that the length of involvement has an effect on how active members will be in the co-operative. The results of this study indicate that generally the sample does not suffer from learned helplessness. It is argued that Hypothesis 2 is not supported due to confounding variables. The study raises many doubts as to the reliability of the ASQ and the Participation Index used in the study.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Norman, Paul Deon
- Date: 1991
- Subjects: Learned helplessness , Psychology , Black people -- South Africa , Attributional Style Questionnaire , Partician Index , Co-operatives , Helplessness (Psychology) , Black people -- Psychology
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2895 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002059
- Description: In this study the psychological phenomenon of learned helplessness is investigated to determine its significance as a characteristic of members of progressive co-operatives within the South African context. Most of the members of these co-operatives are black South Africans. It is argued that because of the country's racial policy, many of the members have become accustomed to a passive response to events in their lives and this gives rise to their failure to utilise the freedom and opportunities of the co-operative structure. The researcher hypothesises that this passive response could be explained in terms of a high level of learned helplessness among co-operative members. Two hypotheses are investigated in this study: Hypothesis 1: Passive co-operative members will have higher levels of learned helplessness than active members. Hypothesis 2:The level of learned helplessness decreases as the length of co-operative members involvement increases. Data collection for this study was carried out by combining a personal interview and a standardised questionnaire (the Attributional Style Questionnaire). To distinguish between the passive and active members, a Participation Index was constructed. The ASQ was translated into Xhosa, adapted for the sample and two translators were employed to conduct the interviews in Xhosa. The sample consisted of 50 black South Africans, many with limited education and was drawn from six co-operatives in the Eastern Cape. No significant differences were found between the active and passive groups in terms of their levels of learned helplessness. Furthermore, the length of involvement in the co-operative had no effect on the level of learned helplessness. No support was found therefore for Hypothesis l and 2. A significant difference, however, was found between active and passive members and the number of months of involvement. This suggests that the length of involvement has an effect on how active members will be in the co-operative. The results of this study indicate that generally the sample does not suffer from learned helplessness. It is argued that Hypothesis 2 is not supported due to confounding variables. The study raises many doubts as to the reliability of the ASQ and the Participation Index used in the study.
- Full Text:
Environmental and socio-economic effects associated with the planting of Atriplex nummularia Lindl. (Oldman saltbush) in the Karoo
- Authors: Hobson, Colin Desmond
- Date: 1991
- Subjects: Botany, Economic Plant introduction -- South Africa -- Karoo Plants, Cultivated
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:4794 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001894
- Description: This study examines the environmental and socio-economic effects associated with the planting of Atriplex nummularia Lindl. (Oldman saltbush) in the karoo. This is the first study of its kind on oldman saltbush and serves as an important scoping exercise in assessing the impact of saltbush on its surrounds and in identifying additional aspects which require investigation. The environmental parameters investigated include microclimatic effects, soil induced changes, salinity effects on the germination of selected karoo species and compositional changes in the indigenous plant community within a saltbush plantation. When compared to indigenous karoo plant species oldman saltbush is found to ameliorate soil temperatures and increase surface soil salinity (specifically sodium chloride), on an individual plant basis. Salinity is shown to have a differential effect on the germination of selected karoo shrubs. The indigenous plant community within a forty year old saltbush plantation is impoverished with both density of individuals and species richness being markedly reduced. Saltbush is identified as an unsuitable nurse plant for the majority of karoo shrubs. Farm size in relation to both actual and intended area established to saltbush is considered. The area of saltbush already established in the karoo is considered too insignificant to have any wide socio-economic impact. Farmers who intend planting large areas of their farms to saltbush are in the minority. It is those farmers who already have some saltbush planted, who intend planting more. Ecologically based management guidelines are presented, suggesting practices which minimize the detrimental effects of saltbush on soil salinity and the indigenous plant community. These guidelines are practical and in keeping with the overall objectives of optimum resource utilisation and the national grazing strategy for South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Hobson, Colin Desmond
- Date: 1991
- Subjects: Botany, Economic Plant introduction -- South Africa -- Karoo Plants, Cultivated
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:4794 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001894
- Description: This study examines the environmental and socio-economic effects associated with the planting of Atriplex nummularia Lindl. (Oldman saltbush) in the karoo. This is the first study of its kind on oldman saltbush and serves as an important scoping exercise in assessing the impact of saltbush on its surrounds and in identifying additional aspects which require investigation. The environmental parameters investigated include microclimatic effects, soil induced changes, salinity effects on the germination of selected karoo species and compositional changes in the indigenous plant community within a saltbush plantation. When compared to indigenous karoo plant species oldman saltbush is found to ameliorate soil temperatures and increase surface soil salinity (specifically sodium chloride), on an individual plant basis. Salinity is shown to have a differential effect on the germination of selected karoo shrubs. The indigenous plant community within a forty year old saltbush plantation is impoverished with both density of individuals and species richness being markedly reduced. Saltbush is identified as an unsuitable nurse plant for the majority of karoo shrubs. Farm size in relation to both actual and intended area established to saltbush is considered. The area of saltbush already established in the karoo is considered too insignificant to have any wide socio-economic impact. Farmers who intend planting large areas of their farms to saltbush are in the minority. It is those farmers who already have some saltbush planted, who intend planting more. Ecologically based management guidelines are presented, suggesting practices which minimize the detrimental effects of saltbush on soil salinity and the indigenous plant community. These guidelines are practical and in keeping with the overall objectives of optimum resource utilisation and the national grazing strategy for South Africa.
- Full Text:
Environmental and socio-economic effects associated with the planting of Atriplex nummularia Lindl. (Oldman saltbush) in the Karoo
- Authors: Hobson, Colin Desmond
- Date: 1991
- Subjects: Botany, Economic Plant introduction -- South Africa -- Karoo Plants, Cultivated
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:4175 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002023
- Description: This study examines the environmental and socio-economic effects associated with the planting of Atriplex nummularia Lindl. (Oldman saltbush) in the karoo. This is the first study of its kind on oldman saltbush and serves as an important scoping exercise in assessing the impact of saltbush on its surrounds and in identifying additional aspects which require investigation. The environmental parameters investigated include microclimatic effects, soil induced changes, salinity effects on the germination of selected karoo species and compositional changes in the indigenous plant community within a saltbush plantation. When compared to indigenous karoo plant species oldman saltbush is found to ameliorate soil temperatures and increase surface soil salinity (specifically sodium chloride), on an individual plant basis. Salinity is shown to have a differential effect on the germination of selected karoo shrubs. The indigenous plant community within a forty year old saltbush plantation is impoverished with both density of individuals and species richness being markedly reduced. Saltbush is identified as an unsuitable nurse plant for the majority of karoo shrubs. Farm size in relation to both actual and intended area established to saltbush is considered. The area of saltbush already established in the karoo is considered too insignificant to have any wide socio-economic impact. Farmers who intend planting large areas of their farms to saltbush are in the minority. It is those farmers who already have some saltbush planted, who intend planting more. Ecologically based management guidelines are presented, suggesting practices which minimize the detrimental effects of saltbush on soil salinity and the indigenous plant community. These guidelines are practical and in keeping with the overall objectives of optimum resource utilisation and the national grazing strategy for South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Hobson, Colin Desmond
- Date: 1991
- Subjects: Botany, Economic Plant introduction -- South Africa -- Karoo Plants, Cultivated
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:4175 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002023
- Description: This study examines the environmental and socio-economic effects associated with the planting of Atriplex nummularia Lindl. (Oldman saltbush) in the karoo. This is the first study of its kind on oldman saltbush and serves as an important scoping exercise in assessing the impact of saltbush on its surrounds and in identifying additional aspects which require investigation. The environmental parameters investigated include microclimatic effects, soil induced changes, salinity effects on the germination of selected karoo species and compositional changes in the indigenous plant community within a saltbush plantation. When compared to indigenous karoo plant species oldman saltbush is found to ameliorate soil temperatures and increase surface soil salinity (specifically sodium chloride), on an individual plant basis. Salinity is shown to have a differential effect on the germination of selected karoo shrubs. The indigenous plant community within a forty year old saltbush plantation is impoverished with both density of individuals and species richness being markedly reduced. Saltbush is identified as an unsuitable nurse plant for the majority of karoo shrubs. Farm size in relation to both actual and intended area established to saltbush is considered. The area of saltbush already established in the karoo is considered too insignificant to have any wide socio-economic impact. Farmers who intend planting large areas of their farms to saltbush are in the minority. It is those farmers who already have some saltbush planted, who intend planting more. Ecologically based management guidelines are presented, suggesting practices which minimize the detrimental effects of saltbush on soil salinity and the indigenous plant community. These guidelines are practical and in keeping with the overall objectives of optimum resource utilisation and the national grazing strategy for South Africa.
- Full Text:
The effect of teaching text organisation on reading in English as a second language
- Authors: Silburn, Gail Deirdre
- Date: 1991
- Subjects: English language -- Study and teaching -- Foreign speakers
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1372 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001438
- Description: This research investigated the effect of teaching text organisation on reading in English second language to schoolgirls. All subjects underwent a training programme of five one-hour sessions on consecutive school days. The experimental group were trained in the use and recognition of top-level organisation as a reading strategy, based on work done by Bartlett (1978) and Carrell (1985). The control group were trained in unrelated grammar exercises. A pre-test was administered to each group before their programme began. Post-test 1 was administered immediately after the training was completed, and Post-test 2, three weeks later. These tests required a written recall of two passages once they had been read, and an answer to a question on their organisation. The null hypotheses stated that the experimental group's training in the use and recognition of top-level organisation as a reading strategy would make no difference in their ability to read and recall information or to recognise and use top-level organisation in their recalls. For the quantity of information recalled, no differences were found in the Pre-test and Post-test 1; a statistically significant difference was found in Post-test 2 in favour of the experimental group. For the quality of information recalled, the control group remembered more top-level idea units in the Pre-test; there was no difference in Post-test 1; the experimental group did better in three out of five levels in Post-test 2. There was no difference in the Pretest in either group's use of the passage's top-level organisation to structure recalls, but the experimental group did better in both post-tests. The control group did better in the Pre-test in recognising the passage's top-level organisation, but the experimental group did better in both post-tests. The null hypotheses were rejected as the experimental training made a difference, although this difference only became apparent three weeks later, and not immediately after the training. The experimental group's nullifying the control group's Pre-test advantage in Post-test 1 and surpassing it in Post-test 2, powerfully supports Bartlett's and Carrell's findings that teaching the strategy did make a difference and that this effect could be maintained over three weeks
- Full Text:
- Authors: Silburn, Gail Deirdre
- Date: 1991
- Subjects: English language -- Study and teaching -- Foreign speakers
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1372 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001438
- Description: This research investigated the effect of teaching text organisation on reading in English second language to schoolgirls. All subjects underwent a training programme of five one-hour sessions on consecutive school days. The experimental group were trained in the use and recognition of top-level organisation as a reading strategy, based on work done by Bartlett (1978) and Carrell (1985). The control group were trained in unrelated grammar exercises. A pre-test was administered to each group before their programme began. Post-test 1 was administered immediately after the training was completed, and Post-test 2, three weeks later. These tests required a written recall of two passages once they had been read, and an answer to a question on their organisation. The null hypotheses stated that the experimental group's training in the use and recognition of top-level organisation as a reading strategy would make no difference in their ability to read and recall information or to recognise and use top-level organisation in their recalls. For the quantity of information recalled, no differences were found in the Pre-test and Post-test 1; a statistically significant difference was found in Post-test 2 in favour of the experimental group. For the quality of information recalled, the control group remembered more top-level idea units in the Pre-test; there was no difference in Post-test 1; the experimental group did better in three out of five levels in Post-test 2. There was no difference in the Pretest in either group's use of the passage's top-level organisation to structure recalls, but the experimental group did better in both post-tests. The control group did better in the Pre-test in recognising the passage's top-level organisation, but the experimental group did better in both post-tests. The null hypotheses were rejected as the experimental training made a difference, although this difference only became apparent three weeks later, and not immediately after the training. The experimental group's nullifying the control group's Pre-test advantage in Post-test 1 and surpassing it in Post-test 2, powerfully supports Bartlett's and Carrell's findings that teaching the strategy did make a difference and that this effect could be maintained over three weeks
- Full Text:
- «
- ‹
- 1
- ›
- »