M.Ed. / The way in which an adolescent experiences authority is an important element of the educational process. Without authority, it can be said, there is no education. But adolescents’ experience of authority is something that is developed outside the classroom, primarily during their interactions with parents. This study explores how South African adolescents experience authority, but focused on the effect of living in institutions, and not at home with their parents. A 47-item questionnaire was constructed on the basis of current international and South African research on the adolescents’ experience of the authority of parents/caregivers and educators. Twelve independent variables were included in the questionnaire. These independent variables included questions on age, gender, language, religion and the academic qualifications of their parents. The questionnaire was completed by 247 adolescents in grades 10 and 11, living in the Johannesburg area of South Africa. Of this total, 183 adolescents lived with their parents and 36 lived in institutions where they were being cared for by foster parents. A factor analysis of the questionnaire revealed two statistically significant constructs and they were termed Experience of parental authority (Cronbach alpha of 0.8333) and Experience of educator’s authority (Cronbach alpha of 0.8434). When various independent variables were used to statistically compare the participants with respect to these two factors, the following was found: • Learners who lived at home and learners who were being taken care of by their parents were found to score significantly higher than learners from institutions or those who were being taken care of by others on both factors, Experience of parental authority as well as Experience of educators’ authority. This difference, though statistically significant, was not substantial with respect to Factor One. With respect to Factor Two, Experience of parental authority, the difference was both statistically significant and substantial. The significant finding, then, is that, learners who live at home and those who are being taken care of by their parents appear to have a more positive experience of their parents’ authority than learners who live in an institution or those who are being cared for by persons other than their parents. • Although learners who were older scored significantly higher than younger learners on both factors, the difference was not substantial. • No significant differences could be found on the two factors for a learner’s gender, the learner’s level of education (this also held true when girls and boys were tested separately), the level of education of the learner’s parents or when the learner was orphaned through losing one or both parents. • No significant differences could be found in their experience of adult authority between the scores of learners speaking Afrikaans, English, Nguni or any other language. The impact of this research would indicate that adolescents who live in institutions or those who are being cared for by persons other than their parents, display a significantly more negative experience of parental authority than those who live at home and who are being cared for by their parents. / Prof. C.P.H. Myburgh

M.A. (Social Work) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

This thesis is primarily a review of specific aspects of a residential treatment centre for emotionally disturbed children recently established by the Winnipeg Children's Home. The review covers only the first three years of operation of this centre and is not intended as a technical evaluation of the service offered by this new social agency. Rather, an attempt has been made to compare the facilities of the Winnipeg Children's Home with those of similar residential treatment centres in the United States. The specific aspects chosen for closer scrutiny are: (1) The Age and Sex Groups served, (2) Housing, (3) Personnel, (4) Diagnostic Study and Intake Procedure and (5) Treatment Programme. As a basis of comparison a descriptive study of twelve residential treatment centres in the United States has been used. Five of these have been selected for closer study because they more closely resemble the agency being reviewed. Case studies, annual reports and other pertinent material from the files of the Winnipeg Children's Home has been used, coupled with the writer's first-hand experience as a member of the staff of this agency. Because residential treatment centres for emotionally disturbed children are a new tool in child welfare, an historical background of foster care for children has been included. The question of qualified personnel to serve in a residential treatment centre has been of paramount importance in each centre studied. This pertains not only to social workers, psychologists and psychiatrists but also to house-parents who are key people in each project. To date, insufficient attention has been given to the training of house-parents; that is a matter which might well come within the scope of schools of social work. Further, in relation to the question of personnel, this thesis attempts to highlight the fact that in all communities, the best qualified social workers should be used in the area of family and child welfare. The study of twelve centres used as criteria in this thesis makes evident the shortage of psychiatric time so necessary to the successful operation of a residential treatment centre. This is true of the Winnipeg community. The administration of the Winnipeg Children's Home demonstrated early in the life of this new project that financial costs of this service are, of necessity, high. This fact was confirmed by the study of twelve centres used as criteria. If a project such as that undertaken by the Winnipeg Children's Home is to be successful, the need has to be accepted by and made the responsibility of the total community. Finally, but of considerable importance to all communities is the tendency to invest funds in lavish buildings which can be useless without adequate staff. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

This study is part of a survey of the wards of the Children's Aid Society of Vancouver, B. C. who were not in foster homes on October 31, 1954. Fourteen wards, ranging in age from fourteen to nineteen years, were resident in commercial boarding homes. Agency policy recommends the limiting of the use of commercial boarding homes to the occasional placement of a boy or girl over the age of eighteen years who is self-supporting and sufficiently mature to meet the responsibilities of such a setting. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to determine why the commercial boarding homes were being used for these particular wards and to what extent the needs of these wards were being met. Information gathered from the records of the children and their parents was summarized and tabulated for the purpose of study and description. This material was examined to determine whether there was any correlation between the children's pre-admission care and their subsequent adjustment in foster and group homes and their later placement in commercial boarding homes. Case illustrations of three of the wards were used In order to elaborate on their developmental experiences and adjustment in various settings. These cases were typical in illustrating the unsettled early lives experienced by most of this group and the effect of these experiences in preventing them from adjusting to the demands of a foster home and, in some cases, of group homes. Further emphasis was given to the harmful effect of continued foster home replacement. In summary, the study of this group of wards pointed out the great need for a receiving home for all children on admission to care for the purposes of familiarization, diagnosis and planning. In order to avoid the use of commercial boarding homes arid to meet the needs of those children who are unable to adjust in foster homes, a variety of group-living residences should be developed. A treatment home is an urgent necessity to assist disturbed children while they are still young enough to be helped. In general, greater resources are required for preventive work with children while still in their own homes as well as for the improvement of the services to the children after their admission into care. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

The purpose of this study is to identify how elderly subjects perceive their transition from home to institutional living. The study was conducted with a convenience sample of five subjects, 6-13 months following their admission to a unit which provides care for dependent elderly clients. The methodology introduced by Glaser and Strauss (1967), for the discovery of grounded theory, was used. A conceptualization of the transition to institutional living as five sequential and inter-related phases is introduced. These phases are: anticipation, reaction, interpretation, negotiation and integration. In the first two phases subjects' responses to challenges to development, introduced by the transition, tend to predominate. The third and fourth phases are characterized by subjects' working through these challenges to achieve mastery within the new situation. The final phase is manifest in each individual's attributing personal meaning to the transition within the context of his or her total life. Mastery within the new situation is achieved through problem solving approaches to increasing dependency, acceptance of personal responsibility for adjustment, and the perception of institutionalization as but one incident in each individual's life history. This transition was found to differ from those described amongst younger populations. It is proposed that this difference occurs as a function of developmental stage, frailty, and the environmental situation. The findings of this study a) emphasize the holistic nature and complexity of nursing practice with frail elderly clients, b) support the use of concepts from developmental theory as a basis for nursing practice with elderly clients, and c) suggest ways in which nursing education and research may contribute to the development of nursing care for elderly clients. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Nursing, School of / Graduate

No / The community care reforms enabled some older people with severe disabilities to remain at home with domiciliary care services, as an alternative to institutional admission. This paper explores the extent to which the reforms actually enabled older people receiving domiciliary care to have greater choice and control in their daily lives than older people living in institutions. Findings are reported from a comparative study carried out in Greater Belfast, Northern Ireland, that determined the extent to which the subjective quality of life of older people--particularly autonomy--varied according to the type of setting. The older people were interviewed using a structured interview schedule and subjective autonomy was assessed using a measure of perceived choice. The measure consisted of 33 activities relating to aspects of everyday life such as what time to get up, when to see visitors or friends, and how much privacy was available. Qualitative data were also recorded which informed on the older people's perspectives on their own lives, particularly the extent to which they exercised choice on a daily basis. Two-hundred and fourteen residents in 45 residential and nursing homes were interviewed, as were 44 older people receiving domiciliary care in private households. The study found that older people living in institutions perceived themselves to have greater decisional autonomy in their everyday lives than did older people receiving domiciliary care. Indeed, it was clear that living at home did not ensure that one's decisional autonomy would be supported. However, living alone may facilitate exercising a relatively higher degree of autonomy when living at home. Whilst the community care reforms have provided some older people who have severe disabilities with the option of receiving care at home, this has not necessarily enabled them to have greater choice and control in their everyday lives than older people admitted to institutions.

published_or_final_version / Sociology / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Sciences

M.A. / A child that is mentally healthy develops psychologically, emotionally, creatively, intellectually and spiritually (Dwivedi & Harper, 2004). Therefore the researcher is of the opinion that the mental health of children is integral in successful development. It was however observed that there are challenges associated with providing for the needs of children with mental health problems. Often attributed to a lack of knowledge, child care workers, social workers and other staff appear to not have the necessary skills, knowledge and resources to deal appropriately with children with mental health problems in child and youth care centres. This study therefore investigates the identified gap in service delivery, and what could be done to minimise it. It attempts to explore the characteristics of a child with a mental health problem, what their emanating needs are, and what guidelines exist that may help to provide for the identified needs. In exploring these guidelines, the roles of different role-players involved on different ecosystemic levels, are also explored. This exploration is conducted by utilising qualitative research methods only. A literature study firstly explores relevant social work, mental health, psychiatric and legislative literature. Secondly, focus groups are conducted with key role-players that work with children with mental health problems. These two sources provide the researcher with information pertaining to the objectives and goal of this research study. The ultimate goal of this study is to provide a management programme to mainstream and specialised child and youth care centres, on how to care optimally for children with mental health problems. When this goal is achieved, the field of social work amid children will benefit tremendously. Not only can such a programme assist in the enhancement of the mental health of children in child and youth care centres, but it may provide the foundation for future development in this.

Text in Afrikaans / A significant percentage of adolescents in children's homes are depressive in consequence of multiple experiences of loss. There is a possibility that experiences of depression are maintained in a systems context. Group therapy using an ecosystemic approach was embarked upon in order to study and to alter within a systems context the phenomenon of depression, the accompanying negative experiential and meaning-assignment worlds of the depressive adolescent girl in a children's home and the interactional behavioural patterns. It was hypothesised that behavioural change brought about in the group therapy context would extend to systems beyond the therapy system. A group of five adolescent girls in a children's home, of whom two were severely depressive, were taken for eight group therapy sessions. The principles of ecosystemic epistemology as a paradigm for family therapy were applied in the sessions. These principles stress inter alia the use of metaphor. Circular questioning was employed in order to explore the relationships within the group. Moments of depression were observed and recorded directly and indirectly according to both linear and circular approaches, and the therapeutic process was described. The manner in which the therapeutic group changed metaphorically by the group itself. A decrease in girls' level of depression was observed during therapy. Their cognitive, affective and normative functioning also changed, and alterations affecting relationships, self-concept and self-realisation could be perceived in the therapeutic process. These changes in relationships and the decrease in the level of depression were confirmed quantitatively. The transfer of these attitudes and relationships to the children's home system was confirmed by interviewing the children's home "parents" of the adolescents involved. / Psychology of Education / D. Ed. (Sielkundige Opvoedkunde)