The qualitative study into husband abuse that was undertaken was descriptive and exploratory in design. The eleven research participants, who were obtained through purposive sampling techniques, were men in heterosexual marriages, all living within the greater Durban area. The purpose of the study was to obtain insights into the experiences of abused husbands. More specifically the study aimed to develop insights into the types of abuse experienced, the effects of the abuse on the victims, how the victims have coped with the abuse, why they have remained in the abusive marriages, the services accessed by victims and their evaluation thereof and finally what services they considered essential for abused husbands. The sample size has limited the generalisability of the findings of the study to the larger population. The research study was however, successful in fulfilling its objectives and providing insights into a relatively unexplored area of study in South Africa. The results of the study have shown that the participants experienced all forms of abuse. The effects of the abuse included a decreased work performance, a diminished self-esteem, and several negative effects on the marital relationship. The abused men in the study have coped largely through the support and encouragement of family and friends and their religious beliefs. The participants' major reasons for wanting to remain in the marriage included anti-divorce beliefs, hope that the relationship would improve over time and concerns regarding the well being of their children. Participants accessed various sources of help in an attempt to qeal with the abuse. These included the criminal justice system, family and friends, religious and/or cultural leaders and social welfare agencies. Family members were rated as having been the most helpful source of help accessed, while the participants regarded the criminal justice system as having been the most ineffective, unhelpful and biased source accessed. One of the strongest themes that emerged from the study was all social services and laws were geared towards assisting women, while the men felt marginalised and discriminated. The study participants recommended that existing services available to abused women is extended to abused husbands as well, in order to holistically address the issue of domestic violence plaguing our society. A further recommendation from the study was that the Domestic Violence Act of 1998, which theoretically offers protection to all victims of domestic violence, needed to be practically available to abused men. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2003.

Substance abuse has a severe impact on the South African population. Various organizations, governmental and non-governmental, take on the challenge to assist in the treatment of substance abuse. Several gaps have been identified in dealing with substance abuse in South Africa. One of these gaps includes regular audits of treatment services and prevention programmes. One of the major concerns is that most primary prevention programmes appear to be implemented in the absence of evidence on their effectiveness and are mostly implemented on an ad hoc basis. The respondent organizations appear to display a poor understanding of evaluation. It was evident that there is a need for a systematic review of what works in the context of substance abuse prevention among the South African population as well as the development of an effective regulatory regime regarding primary prevention activities. Evaluation can be an important tool to provide monitoring, as well as a tool to identify strengths and weaknesses in treatment programmes. In light of the above, the South Coast Recovery Centre, a substance abuse treatment centre that operates in the private sector, was approached to evaluate the effectiveness of its treatment programme. The research focused on gaining insight into and exploring the strengths and weakness of the programme based on how patients experienced the programme and how satisfied they were with it. The use of multimethod approach which included positivist and interpretative approaches to evaluation was viewed as an appropriate method to use for the study in facilitating an understanding of the patient’s experience of the programme and how satisfied they were with the intervention they received. The study is both qualitative and quantitative in nature and used questionnaires and focus group interviews as data sources. All participants in the study were inpatients at the South Coast Recovery Centre. Frequency distributions, chi square analysis, as well as a thematic analysis were used to analyze the data of the study. The study concluded that patients were in general satisfied with the treatment programme. The programme provided opportunity for behavior changes and introspective learning. They were satisfied with professionals’ skills and behaviours, 6 types of interventions provided, efficacy and accessibility. Areas that patients were not satisfied with included: the facilitated involvement of relatives, the provision of information, and the large amount of residents in the programme. Recommendations were made with regards to programme improvement. The recommendations included the following: a. A coherent programme with clear links between outcome objectives and programme activities should be created. b. The number of counsellors in the programme should be reconsidered. c. The number of patients that should be allowed in the programme should be reconsidered. d. A platform for counsellors to deal with their personal emotions and counter transference should be created. e. Counsellors’ emotional involvement with patients should be addressed and exposed. f. More structured leisure activities that use interactive learning styles could be implemented in order to facilitate the learning of social skills. g. An awareness of possible comorbid mental disorders should be developed. h. Patients can be more involved with the cost aspect of the programme in order to facilitate more ownership of their treatment process. i. Provision should be made in the programme to allow for more involvement of relatives. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

Substance use among adolescents in South Africa is a growing concern. While a growing body of research is outlining the ability of parents to influence and moderate the uptake of risk behaviours, limited literature is available in South Africa on the links between parenting practices and substance use. The present study explored adolescents’ perceptions of parenting practices with respect to their substance use behaviours. Eight focus group discussions were conducted with grade 8 and 9 school-going learners from four purposively selected public high schools in the eThekwini region of KwaZulu-Natal. The discussions were informed by constructions of the Integrated Model of Change (I-Change Model) and appropriate literature. Data was analysed thematically. This study provides further evidence that parenting behaviours can influence adolescent behaviour. The findings suggest that specific parenting practices pertaining to parent-child communication, parental support, warmth, and monitoring can have an influence on adolescent alcohol and tobacco use. Negative parenting may lead to disruptive behaviour, vulnerability to peer pressure and subsequent substance use. It is recommended that early intervention and prevention programs for substance use include aspects of parenting practices that influence adolescent substance use. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2008.

<p>This study presents a discursive journey with regard to the risk and protective factors confronting individuals who engage in methamphetamine use within the Manenberg area. Given that this journey requires a cautious and sensitive approach to the meaning making of the lived experiences of the six (6) individual users (the informant base) / the study adopted an analysis process that would allow for a guided &ldquo / tour&rdquo / of these experiences. In doing so, the study made use of the grounded theory method that allowed for this guided &ldquo / tour&rdquo / to be fully anchored in the collected data. External to this data, and once the data emerged as engageable themes, the study introduced, relevantly so, Bronfenbrenner&rsquo / s social-ecological model of human development, so to multiply and deepen the meanings embedded within the data. The merging of this external frame, provided by Bronfenbrenner&rsquo / s model, and the rich data provided by the six (6) informants, uncovered critical themes in understanding the risk and protective factors at play within Manenberg. These themes relate to the historical identity of Manenberg, given the history of Apartheid, the role of the local community and its perceived tolerance of the practice of drug use, which is further echoed in the identity of the family and its limited ability to support drug users in the face of ever-growing poverty. The themes also uncovered the bipolarity in the practice of drug trade and gangsterism as serving a subsistence function, at one level, and an exploitative function at another. Furthermore, the study solidified traditional views that the peer collective is, indeed, a critical actor on the stage of drug use and that the individual (as an actor) continues to be confronted by a script of poverty and disillusionment. This script, as will be illustrated, is also active in preconceived notions of gender stratification.</p>

This study addressed the efficacy of a multimodal substance abuse prevention program with elite-level athletes. By utilizing components of substance abuse information and education, coping skills training, and self-esteem strategies, the study examined the effect of these variables on the subsequent alcohol and drug use behaviors and attitudes of the participants.In addition, measures of self-esteem and stress were examined to determine the effect of prevention on these variables. Gender differences were examined regarding substance use behaviors and attitudes, and change score measures were utilized to observe for behavioral changes from pretest to follow-up testing.Results indicated no differences on any of the dependent measures. Utilizing a repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), no significant differences in substance use behaviors and attitudes between athletes in the treatment and control conditions were found. There were also no gender differences reported on the dependent measures. In addition, chisquare (X2) analyses demonstrated no behavioral or attitudinal differences. A significant finding indicated that control group subjects had more substance abuse changes (both positive and negative) than the treatment condition. The hypotheses of the study were unconfirmed as a result of the statistical analyses.Limitations of the present study include the small sample size (although representative of the population), the small amount of actual reported use behaviors, and the length of the program (not sufficient time). It is recommended that future research in this area maintain the multimodal approach, while lengthening the time of implementation. Future dependent measures must be able to accurately detect small fluctuations in reported substance abuse behavioral changes.The survey data suggest that athletes at the elite level do demonstrate alcohol and drug use behaviors that may be detrimental to their personal and professional potential. Substance abuse education programs are necessary components of holistic prevention for athletes at all levels of training and competition. Future programs must consider the present study in the development of more successful and practical substance abuse education for athletes. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

The definition of child sexual abuse is problematic as it encompasses various meanings within different cultures. This in turn leads to difficulty in measuring the exact incidence and prevalence of child sexual abuse within a country. Many researchers, however, agree that the incidence and prevalence of child sexual abuse within South Africa is significantly high and poses a large threat to many children. As a result, the government has implemented legislation and various policies to protect children from sexual abuse, as well as to provide the victims of such abuse with the necessary assistance. As child sexual abuse may have considerable short- and long-term effects on the child, it is essential that the child be adequately supported. Through various welfare programmes, the government aims to provide support and treatment to children who have been sexually abused. Professionals working with sexually abused children work in a highly stressful environment and often show symptoms of vicarious traumatisation, secondary trauma, burnout and compassion fatigue as a result. South Africa in particular faces further problems, in that the welfare programmes are often underfunded and lack the support needed to effectively help sexually abused children. This has led to a need for community members to volunteer in order to help alleviate some of the stress on professionals working within the field of child sexual abuse. Community members can volunteer in various ways within many different spheres of the community. Their motivations to volunteer vary and range from wanting to give back to the community, to wanting to further their education. Volunteers in South Africa that work within the field of child sexual abuse may also, however, experience many of the same symptoms as the professionals with whom they work. This often leads to a high dropout and turnover rate in volunteer programmes. That said, if volunteers feel a sense of satisfaction and support within their work environment, the organisation’s retention rate will be higher. Literature has shown that South Africa’s mental health services rely on volunteers to help alleviate the workload, particularly in the area of sexual abuse. While much research has been done on the supportive needs of professionals working with sexually abused children, little research has been conducted on the secondary trauma experienced by volunteers working within this field. This qualitative study is therefore important because it explores the supportive needs of volunteers working at an organisation for sexually abused children in a small community in Somerset West. Ethical approval for the study was obtained from the North-West University and the participants gave their informed consent before taking part in the study. Data were gathered through discussion groups and individual interviews with six volunteers. Through the process of crystallisation and the four standards of trustworthiness, the reliability of the findings was ensured. Using thematic analysis, various themes and subthemes were identified. From the data obtained in the group discussions and individual interviews, it was revealed that the volunteers had similar supportive needs to those of psychologists, social workers and counsellors working in the field of child sexual abuse. These included a need for supervision and debriefing; a need for appreciation, acknowledgement, value and worth; a need for more contact and support from the organisation; a need for emotional support from the organisation and supportive others; as well as a need for assistance in coping with anger, all of which is consistent with previous research. As volunteer retention is essential to the continuity of organisations such as the one in this study, it is imperative that the volunteers’ supportive needs are understood and fulfilled. These findings have contributed to an understanding of the volunteers’ supportive needs and what organisations and significant others can do to fulfil these needs, in order for the volunteers to render effective services to the sexually abused children with whom they work / Thesis (MA (Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

The definition of child sexual abuse is problematic as it encompasses various meanings within different cultures. This in turn leads to difficulty in measuring the exact incidence and prevalence of child sexual abuse within a country. Many researchers, however, agree that the incidence and prevalence of child sexual abuse within South Africa is significantly high and poses a large threat to many children. As a result, the government has implemented legislation and various policies to protect children from sexual abuse, as well as to provide the victims of such abuse with the necessary assistance. As child sexual abuse may have considerable short- and long-term effects on the child, it is essential that the child be adequately supported. Through various welfare programmes, the government aims to provide support and treatment to children who have been sexually abused. Professionals working with sexually abused children work in a highly stressful environment and often show symptoms of vicarious traumatisation, secondary trauma, burnout and compassion fatigue as a result. South Africa in particular faces further problems, in that the welfare programmes are often underfunded and lack the support needed to effectively help sexually abused children. This has led to a need for community members to volunteer in order to help alleviate some of the stress on professionals working within the field of child sexual abuse. Community members can volunteer in various ways within many different spheres of the community. Their motivations to volunteer vary and range from wanting to give back to the community, to wanting to further their education. Volunteers in South Africa that work within the field of child sexual abuse may also, however, experience many of the same symptoms as the professionals with whom they work. This often leads to a high dropout and turnover rate in volunteer programmes. That said, if volunteers feel a sense of satisfaction and support within their work environment, the organisation’s retention rate will be higher. Literature has shown that South Africa’s mental health services rely on volunteers to help alleviate the workload, particularly in the area of sexual abuse. While much research has been done on the supportive needs of professionals working with sexually abused children, little research has been conducted on the secondary trauma experienced by volunteers working within this field. This qualitative study is therefore important because it explores the supportive needs of volunteers working at an organisation for sexually abused children in a small community in Somerset West. Ethical approval for the study was obtained from the North-West University and the participants gave their informed consent before taking part in the study. Data were gathered through discussion groups and individual interviews with six volunteers. Through the process of crystallisation and the four standards of trustworthiness, the reliability of the findings was ensured. Using thematic analysis, various themes and subthemes were identified. From the data obtained in the group discussions and individual interviews, it was revealed that the volunteers had similar supportive needs to those of psychologists, social workers and counsellors working in the field of child sexual abuse. These included a need for supervision and debriefing; a need for appreciation, acknowledgement, value and worth; a need for more contact and support from the organisation; a need for emotional support from the organisation and supportive others; as well as a need for assistance in coping with anger, all of which is consistent with previous research. As volunteer retention is essential to the continuity of organisations such as the one in this study, it is imperative that the volunteers’ supportive needs are understood and fulfilled. These findings have contributed to an understanding of the volunteers’ supportive needs and what organisations and significant others can do to fulfil these needs, in order for the volunteers to render effective services to the sexually abused children with whom they work / Thesis (MA (Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

Thesis (MPsy(Clinical))--University of South Australia, 1999.

Thesis (MPsy(Clinical))--University of South Australia, 2001.

Thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 2000