Magister Curationis - MCur / Background: Nurses, because of their close contact with these patients, are frequently victims of assault. The aim of the study is to explore and describe the lived experiences of nurses, who have been assaulted by patients at a Western Cape psychiatric hospital. Research Design: A qualitative approach, using a phenomenological research design was used to achieve the aim of the study. The target population was nurses, who are employed at the hospital under study. A purposive sampling, consisting of six nurses, was selected to participate in this study. Data were collected by means of unstructured interviews with nurses who met the inclusion criteria. Data saturation was reached after the sixth individual interview. The interviews were audio taped and transcribed, verbatim, and field notes were taken, as well. Collaizi’s method of data analysis was used to analyse the data and to identify themes and categories. The major themes that emerged were: Self-care incongruent to intrapersonal interest; Personal responses to trauma; Incongruence between patient behaviour and participant work experience; unprotected staff vulnerable to patient aggression; required and received supportive interventions. Ethical clearance was obtained from the Senate Ethics Committee at the University of the Western Cape. Permission to conduct the study was obtained from the Research Ethics Committee at a psychiatric hospital under study, as well as from the Department of Health, Western Cape. Participants were drawn from different units of the hospital. Findings: The findings revealed that nurses working at this psychiatric hospital frequently encounter assault and violence by patients, while providing care, to the extent that they view the workplace environment as unsafe and insecure. The way they experienced the assaults had some similarities; they all complained that they felt neglected by management after the assaults and that they experienced multiple bodily reactions to trauma. Recommendations: From the data gathered, it appeared that nurses were calling for support from those in authority, be it supervisors or hospital management. Some of the recommendations made by the researcher were: regular refresher courses on self-awareness training; counselling/debriefing; skills development workshops on management of aggression; and the feasibility of paying a special allowance to staff. Conclusion: The study revealed that lack of management support perpetuates the cycle of violence experienced, which, in most incidents, has a spill over effect in the personal lives of the nurses, who have been assaulted by patients. It is the researcher’s belief that nurses should be supported in this stressful environment.

Assault of community-based mental health professionals is a worldwide phenomenon, and current extant literature examines the prevalence of client assault on counselors, social workers, and psychiatric personnel. While there is significant quantitative scholarship on the incidence of this phenomenon on social workers and psychiatric personnel, there are limited statistical data on client-perpetrated violence against community-based counselors and no qualitative studies found that examined how these professionals experience this occupation risk. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore how counselors who work in community-based settings make sense of these experiences. Through semi structured interviews, 6 community-based counselors living in the Southeastern region of the U.S. shared their lived experience of client assault. Hermeneutic was used as a methodological and theoretical framework to analyze the data. The following themes emerged from the data study: training as a management strategy, ambivalence as a new way of being, and connections for well-being. The results of this study have training, practice, supervision, and social change implications. Through adding counselors'€™ voices to the discourse on client assault, the findings of this study can be used to identify experiences and training that will assist counselors in caring for themselves in the aftermath of an assault. Furthermore, understanding these experiences may inform the development of protocols for keeping this vulnerable population safe.

The current study investigated a model explaining sexual assault victims’ severity of trauma symptoms that incorporated multiple stigma constructs. Integrating the sexual assault literature with the stigma literature, this study sought to better understand trauma-related outcomes of sexual assault by examining three levels of stigma—cultural, social, and self. Results showed self-stigma was significantly and positively related to trauma symptom severity. Thus, results revealed that the internalized aspect of stigma served as a mechanism in the relation between sexual assault severity and increased levels of trauma symptom severity, highlighting the importance of assessing self-stigma in women reporting sexual assault experiences.

The purpose of this thesis was to explore whether the gender of a sexual assault survivor influenced to whom they disclosed the sexual assault. Previous research indicates that barriers to disclosure could differ based both on the gender of a sexual assault survivor and characteristics of the disclosure recipient. Examining how disclosure is influenced by survivor gender could help better identify which groups could benefit most from educational resources. Participants (n = 160) were college students who experienced a sexual assault in adolescence or adulthood. Disclosure to a range of different formal and informal supports was assessed. Findings indicated that male survivors were significantly less likely to disclose to female friends than female survivors. Both male and female survivors reported low rates of disclosure to formal support providers (such police, therapists, medical professionals). These findings suggest that both men and women who experience sexual assault are unlikely to report the incident to police and campus offices, and they are unlikely to disclose the incident to medical and mental health providers. Therefore, it is important that barriers to disclosure to formal support providers be examined in future research.

The focus of this retrospective, descriptive study is to describe non-anogenital and anogenital injuries documented in over 5,000 sexual assault forensic medical examination (SAFME) reports of female patients. The study findings expand understanding of injuries documented following sexual assault by exploring associations between injuries and a multitude of variables: patient demographics (age, race, gender); time between assault and examination; patient-perpetrator relationship; perpetrator actions (strangulation, hit, verbally threatened/coerced, use of restraints, grabbed/held); number of assaultive acts; multiple-perpetrators; suspected drug-facilitated assaults; patient and perpetrator use of alcohol and drugs; and physically or mentally impaired patients. The various types and locations of injuries are discussed in relationship to assault history. Implications of findings on forensic nursing practice are shared to improve patient assessment and care. In addition, methods to share findings with interdisciplinary partners, including law enforcement and criminal justice system professionals, are described to improve interdisciplinary collaboration and education.

Law / In this essay I consider whether or not there is a need for the creation of the crime of negligent assault. I start off by giving a brief exposition of the current position in South Africa with regard to assault. From this exposition it becomes clear that negligent assault is not recognised in South African law. I give a brief summary of the concepts of intention and negligence. After this I briefly discuss what criteria should be considered before invoking the criminal sanction. In the next section of the essay I consider the need for, and the benefits of, creating the crime of negligent assault. Lastly, I critically analyse whether the legislature should intervene or not. My conclusion is that the social benefits of criminalising the conduct do in fact outweigh the negative implications of not criminalising it, and that the legislature would not err if it were to create the crime of negligent assault. / LL.M.

This study examines spousal sexual assault laws in Nigeria and Canada through the lens of substantive equality. The aim is to show that only when a substantive-equality approach is used for legislation and adjudication of spousal sexual assault can victims fairly seek and realize justice. This is because substantive equality considers broader socio-economic and cultural contexts that support this crime, including exposing stereotypes that underpin its legislation and adjudication. The study shows that in Nigeria and Canada spousal sexual assault is endemic and that women are disproportionately represented as victims and men as perpetrators. Failures to apply the principles of substantive equality in adjudicating spousal sexual assault lead to the flaws in evidentiary procedures involving this crime. The study concludes that it is important to revise criminal laws and evidentiary procedures in Nigeria and Canada using substantive equality principles. / October 2016

M.MSc. (Med.), Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, 2009 / Violence is a hidden problem in most communities, yet it is among the leading causes of death and non-fatal injury worldwide. It is an essential public health issue for every country and needs to be addressed as a matter of priority. While rural areas of South Africa are believed to be safer than urban areas, they are not necessarily safe per se. The main objective of this study is to examine the burden of fatal violent injuries on a rural South African community. The violent deaths data used in this report were collected through a verbal autopsy (VA) process during the period 1992 to 2000 in Agincourt, Bushbuckridge, a rural area in the north-eastern part of South Africa with a population of about 69 000 people. Person-years data for the same period, obtained from the Agincourt Health and Demographic Surveillance System (AHDSS), were used for the denominator in the computation of rates. Violence accounted for 5.9% (170/2 859) of deaths from all causes in the Agincourt area between 1992 and 2000. Of the 170 violent deaths, 68.2% were due to assault while the remaining 31.8% were suicides. The proportion of violent deaths, as proportion of deaths from all causes, is highest in the 15–19 year age group (20.9%, compared to 1.0% amongst those under the age of 15 years and 2.0% among those 60 years and older). The small number of victims in each age group results in wide confidence intervals. The violent deaths proportion, as a proportion of deaths from all causes, is higher in males (9%) than in females (2.3%). Violence levels appear to be higher among South Africans than among self-settled former Mozambicans, though the observed difference between these two populations is not statistically significant. However, a statistically significant difference is found between levels of death due to assault among migrants and permanent residents. To address this situation, violence prevention strategies and programmes need to be put in place to reduce violence. However, more research is required in order to identify more risk factors associated with violent behaviour, to study the identified risk factors, and to inform the development of these programmes.

This research report examines telephonic and written data from an emergency medical services centre in the Western Cape and seeks to uncover the language practices that speakers use in order to create what I term “extraordinary emergencies”. Since one of the overarching institutional aims of the emergency call centre is that of “preservation of life”, the majority of emergencies are reproduced by emergency call-takers as routine events, specifically for the purpose of managing them most efficiently and thus working towards the institutional aim of preserving life. However, in certain instances, this institutional agenda is temporarily halted or abandoned in favour of a competing agenda, what I have termed the “personal” agenda enacted by the speaker. This personal agenda works to the reproduction of particular norms and values, and speakers are seen as morally accountable for reproducing them. This research report makes use of discursive analytic practices, specifically conversation analysis, as a method by which to highlight subtle and delicate moments in the interaction that recreate the shared value of the “sacred child” in real-time interaction. Keywords: emergency, childhood, sexual assault, conversation analysis, institutions

abstract: Sexual assault victimization is a pervasive issue affecting one in four college women. This staggering statistic causes concern for universities across the country to protect students and encourage victimization reporting. Yet little known about college women’s reporting behaviors and what influences the decision to report. Previous research has established possible reasons influencing reporting behaviors such as fear of retaliation, shame, guilt, and not viewing the incident as a crime. However, few studies have explored the role of prior perceptions of police and the impact of procedural justice on victimization reporting. Using a factorial vignette design, this study tests the influence of prior perceptions of police, procedural unjust treatment, and the sex of the responding officer on the likelihood to report sexual assault. Self-report survey data were collected from 586 female participants attending a public university. Consistent with expectations, results indicate that positive prior perceptions of police significantly increased students’ likelihood to report sexual victimization. Being treated in a procedurally unjust manner by the police had the largest impact on victim decision making, even when controlling for prior perceptions of police; decreasing the likelihood that a student would report their victimization. Contrary to expectations, the sex of the responding officer had no effect on students’ decision to report their victimization. This study has important implications for current policing methods and policies aimed at police-victim interactions among the population at highest risk of sexual victimization. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Criminology and Criminal Justice 2019