Magister Social Work -MSW / Heroin usage is on the increase in the Western Cape province of South Africa owing to globalization and to increased access to the drug in this province. The goal of this study is to explore the experiences of coloured heroin users in the Metro South area of Cape Town, which stretches from Simons Town and Muizenberg to Retreat, Lavender Hill, Grassy Park, Parkwood and Wynberg. These individuals have been found to congregate in the Wynberg CBD. The overarching theoretical framework for the purpose of this research is social constructionism and symbolic interactionism, using a qualitative means of inquiry. Snowball sampling was used to recruit prospective participants and data was collected by means of in-depth interviews, with a semi structures interviewing schedule. The questions informed the subsequent themes and categories that arise from the data collection process. Snowball sampling was employed in this case, a non-probability sample, in which participants were recruited via key informants. The sample distribution included 13 participants, 10 of which were heroin users (5 female, 5 male) and the remaining 3 were key informants which contributed to triangulation of the data.

Magister Social Work -MSW / Heroin usage is on the increase in the Western Cape province of South Africa owing to globalization and to increased access to the drug in this province. The goal of this study is to explore the experiences of coloured heroin users in the Metro South area of Cape Town, which stretches from Simons Town and Muizenberg to Retreat, Lavender Hill, Grassy Park, Parkwood and Wynberg. These individuals have been found to congregate in the Wynberg CBD. The overarching theoretical framework for the purpose of this research is social constructionism and symbolic interactionism, using a qualitative means of inquiry. Snowball sampling was used to recruit prospective participants and data was collected by means of in-depth interviews, with a semi structures interviewing schedule. The questions informed the subsequent themes and categories that arise from the data collection process.

Dentro da proposta de estruturação da política nacional de saúde as contribuições da integralidade na produção de serviços e ações de saúde de qualidade, resolutivos e satisfatórios ainda têm gerado grandes desafios. Assim, acreditando que a orientação de novas maneiras de entender e de produzir saúde, norteadas pela integralidade emergem de sentidos produzidos sobre esse termo, em contextos relacionais e dialógicos específicos, esse estudo teve por objetivo descrever os sentidos de integralidade produzidos com os trabalhadores de equipes de Saúde da Família (SF), relativos ao cotidiano de suas práticas de atenção à saúde, em uma cidade mineira. Utilizamos o discurso Construcionismo Social como uma ferramenta metodológica para produzirmos e analisarmos as informações. Essa produção ocorreu por meio de registros de diário de campo e três encontros grupais, áudio graváveis. Seguidamente as informações foram transcritas, editadas e analisadas, produzindo duas tematizações, com dois subtemas cada: 1) Quando os participantes recorrem ao discurso vinculado às práticas dos trabalhadores: Pressupõe em o trabalhador se integrar com a vida, às necessidades do paciente lá fora, que não são somente biológicas, para atendê-lo como um todo... integralmente - integralidade: apreensão ampliada dos trabalhadores em relação às pessoas atendidas, enquanto sujeitos integrados e influenciados por diferentes dimensões, contextualizadas ao longo de suas vidas; Trabalhadores e usuários não devem ter uma visão só curativa, só pontual para a doença que o paciente sofre e achar que é o remédio que faz o milagre - integralidade: capacidade dos trabalhadores de escutar e apreender de forma ampliada as necessidades apresentadas pelos usuários e das melhores maneiras possíveis de respondê-las. 2) Quando os participantes recorrem ao discurso associado à organização dos serviços saúde. Esse desdobrou-se em: Colocar o usuário do lado de dentro do serviço, considerando-o enquanto sujeito de necessidades, para organizar serviços de forma a ver suas necessidades e inseri-las dentro das prioridades de atenção dos trabalhadores - integralidade: capacidade dos trabalhadores, gestores e usuários, conjuntamente apreenderem as necessidades da população, elaborarem e implementarem respostas; Envolver todos os serviços de saúde e outros pontos de serviços na comunidade para dar segmento, continuidade no tratamento - integralidade: caracterizada pela articulação entre os vários serviços em uma rede para garantir o acesso às necessidades demandadas pelo usuário. Essas conversações produzidos foram suficientes ora para gerar autoanálise e reflexões das práticas vigentes, visando desconstruir aspectos de um projeto tradicional, vinculado ao homem fragmentado, ora para gerar primeiras aproximações do sentido da integralidade, enquanto uma postura de articulação de diversos tipos de tecnologias para responder às necessidades de várias naturezas dos usuários. / Inside the proposal of structurization of the National Health policy, the contributions for integrality in the production of services and actions for quality health, decisive and satisfactory has still generated great challenges. Believing, thus, that the orientation of new forms of understanding and producing health, led by the integrality arise from the senses produced about this term, in specific relational and dialogical contexts, this study had the objective of describing the integrality senses produced with the health workers of Health Family teams, concerning the everyday practices concerning health, in a town in Minas Gerais. The discourse Social Constructionism was used as a methodological tool to produce and analyze the information. This production occurred through registers in a field diary and three group meetings, recording audio. Following that the data were transcribed, edited, and analyzed, under the focus of two themes, with two sub-themes each: 1) when the participants use the discourse linked to worker practices: It is supposed that the worker integrate with life, the necessities out there, which are not only biological to assist him/her totally ... integrally - integrality produced as wide comprehension of workers concerning the people assisted, while subjects integrated and influenced by different dimensions, contextualized along their lives; workers and users should not have a curative vision, straight to the disease, that the patient suffers and thinks that the medicine brings the miracle - integrality referred to as a worker\'s capacity of listening and comprehending widely the necessity presented by users and the best ways possible to answer them. 2) When the participants use the discourse together with the organization of the health services. This one was divided in: Putting the user within a service, considering him while subject of necessities, to organize services in such a way that he/she can see his/her necessities and insert them in the attention priorities of workers - integrality treated as the worker\'s capacity, administrators and users, together they comprehend the population needs, elaborate, and organize answers; to involve all health services and other service points in the community to give segment, continuity in the treatment - integrality characterized by the articulation among the various services in a net to assure the access to the answers demanded by the user. These dialogues produced were sufficient either to generate selfassessment and reflections on the current practices, aiming to destroy aspects of a traditional project, or to generate the first approaches concerning integrality, while it is an articulation posture of several kinds of technologies to answer the needs of several aspects of the users.

This thesis explores the difficulties of talking about cancer. Conversational interviews with 17 people diagnosed with cancer are analysed from the perspective of discursive psychology which treats accounts and the description of events as discourse practices and categories. Cancer is considered a mysterious and frightening disease associated with myths and taboos. It is a sensitive topic and talking about it can be a delicate and difficult thing to do for all concerned. If a person with cancer (PWC) is not seen or heard to be 'being positive' or 'adopting a fighting spirit, they could be left with a sense of blame, guilt or failure. It is proposed that not only do they have to contend with managing to live with a life threatening illness but the metaphorical descriptions attributed to cancer, the 'heroic model' and its accompanying discourses and expectations construct the ill person as being morally accountable. Narrative themes of discovery, diagnosis, doctors and delay, social relationships, the indignities of treatment and talk of death and dying are analysed. The analysis reveals some of the problems and interactional difficulties that participants have to manage, and it considers some of the dilemmas and problems produced in cancer narratives and how discursive Practices, such as laughter, are displayed. It considers the way participants discursively construct notions such asdoing being responsible, 'complaining and blaming' and 'doing being positive' and it reveals how participants' concerns of identity and moral accountability are rhetorically accomplished and managed. The findings of this thesis emphasise how PWC work to maintain the identity of someone who is bearing their illness 'patiently", without complaining and are seen to be a 'good patient'. The analysis reveals that participants construct their identity as someone who is being positive and that they not only have to manage the interactional problems that their illness poses for others and their inadequacies to cope with people with cancer, but additionally they have to manage the moral restrictions on not being able to admit that they are not coping. It is suggested that an increased awareness of the psychological burdens and interactional difficulties people with cancer report in their accounts can contribute to a better understanding of what and how people with cancer manage these additional burdens in their social lives.

Magister Psychologiae - MPsych / Due to the history of Apartheid in South Africa, cross-racial adoption is a fairly recent practice which was only legalised when the law was amended in 1991 so that prospective parents were allowed to adopt a child from a different race to them. As the consequences of the past linger, the most common form of cross-racial adoption is White parents adopting Black children. Studies on cross-racial adoption have been extensively conducted internationally, but research in South Africa is sparse. In this research study an explorative case study of a cross-racially adopted young adult was conducted in order to explore and describe the formation of his identity. The study adopted a Social Constructionist approach to knowledge and transcripts from the interviews with the participant were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). IPA allows for a detailed exploration of the personal lived experience of a research participant and focuses on understanding how people construct their experiences and make meaning. Identity Process Theory (IPT) which is consistent with a social constructionist epistemology, was the theoretical framework used, through which the findings in this study were integrated. Findings indicated that the participant of the case study had challenges forming a coherent self-identity and that his adoption status and ethnicity played an important role in his identity development. Furthermore, findings showed that the social context both promoted and impeded his search for identity. Promotion of identity formation was always associated with a clearer understanding and sensitivity of people regarding the plight of the participant as a cross-racial adoptee. With the knowledge gained, it is hoped that families and psychological and welfare professionals will become better informed and better equipped in so far as empathy, sensitivity and best practice relating to the support for cross-racial adoptees are concerned.

Magister Artium (Child and Family Studies) - MA(CFS) / Over the past decade, there has been a dramatic increase in the study of family structure and its impact on child well-being, growth, as well as development of delinquency behaviour. However, there is limited reliable literature on what experiences and challenges the different family structures encounter, in dealing with delinquent children in Botswana. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore and describe the experiences and challenges the different family structures face, in dealing with delinquent children in Botswana. The study utilised an explorative-descriptive qualitative methodological approach. Semistructured interviews and focus group discussions were used to collect data from five focus group discussions with learners at the Bana Ba Metsi School, individual interviews with staff members, working with learners, as well as individual interviews with families of some learners, making up a research sample of 47 participants for the entire study. The collected data was analysed using a thematic analysis method. The participants reported that their children’s delinquent activities led to mostly negative experiences, such as shame, embarrassment, psychological pain, discrimination, stress and depression. They also reported happiness, due to their children’s behaviour modification, as a result of attending the Bana Ba Metsi School. It is evident from the findings, though, that they encountered challenges, such as the long distance between their homes and the school, the lack of communication with their children, the lack of resources, as well as the lack of family support. However, they disclosed strategies that they employed to deal with the challenges, such as attending support groups, counselling, family discussions and prayer. In conclusion, the results of this study have practical implications for all personnel dealing with such families, including the social welfare departments, as well as schools coping with juveniles.

This thesis focuses on how masculinity and femininity are constructed in alcohol advertisements in the print form, specifically in For Him Magazine (FHM) and Gentlemen’s Quarterly (GQ) . Alcohol advertisements address the reader in a way that sells the lifestyle that is associated with the product. Within the lifestyle depicted in the advertisement, there may also be an identity and a specific gender identity that the reader may be encouraged to incorporate in order to achieve the lifestyle associated with the advertised product. Advertising in general has often been implicated in constructing masculinity, and in particular, femininity in narrow or restricted ways. South African advertising has been found to depict women as passive sex objects and men as strong, intelligent and as the dominant gender. The mass media and advertising use and extend upon existing societal ‘norms’ and discourses regarding the construction of masculinity and femininity by sending these discourses or constructions back into society in the form of advertising. A discourse analysis was employed to investigate to what extent advertising has used gender based societal discourses as well as what dominant structures or portrayals of gender appear in South African alcohol advertising. By using the qualitative method of discourse analysis as well as a social constructionist paradigm, several discourses were identified. These included the discourses of patriarchy, violence as a masculine quality, men being unemotional and independent, women’s bodies as sexual objects, male companionship, a heterosexual norm, an anti-hegemonic masculinity and a discourse of glamorous heterosexuality. The results of the analysis discussed how in alcohol advertising, women are still constructed in a limiting and sometimes sexual manner whereas men are constructed in a more variable way. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Psychology / unrestricted

This thesis employs a social constructionist perspective to analyze constructions of the International Criminal Court (ICC), specifically (1) the notion of impunity; (2) the presence of a critical analysis; and (3) the connection between state support/opposition and favourable/negative portrayals of the Court. The theory chapter focuses on the propaganda model’s main premise that “media serve the interests of that state … framing their reporting and analysis in a manner supportive of established privilege and limiting debate accordingly” (Herman & Chomsky, 1998, p.32). A thematic qualitative content analysis and several tools of grounded theory deconstructed 1,982 articles collected from The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. Overall, the newspapers contained a high level of support for the propaganda model’s main assertions. Some of these conversations were quite limited and/or biased; specifically, American newspapers manipulated debates to justify American opposition to the Court.

The concept of the ‘procurer’ comes from section 212 of Canada’s Criminal Code, which prohibits directing, enticing, assisting or profiting off the prostitution of another person. A contentious debate surrounds Canada’s prostitution laws, with a constitutional challenge currently before the Supreme Court. Within this climate of debate, the concept of the ‘procurer’ has moved out of the strictly legal sphere and into a broader discourse, with a range of parties laying their claims to truth on the “realities” of the industry generally and on the procurer specifically. Using a methodology of Foucauldian discourse analysis, this thesis examines Ontario Provincial Court case summaries to consider the contribution of the Canadian judiciary to discourse on the procurer. Findings suggest that the judiciary replicates many of the existing stereotypes of prostitution and its participants, such as the procurer as pimp, while (re)producing a small counter discourse of the procurer as business manager.

Feminist activism has a rich history in Canada, but mobilization on the issue of violence against women specifically gained considerable momentum during what is often referred to as the “second wave” of the feminist movement. Since this time, the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec have seen a proliferation of both grassroots and public policy responses to intimate partner violence and sexual violence. This study is an effort to construct a feminist history of the activism that occurred between 1970 and 2010, as well as to make sense of feminist claims-making strategies using a social constructionist approach to social problems and to make sense of feminist activism as a social movement using social movement impact theory. In constructing a feminist history, documents from the Canadian Women’s Movement Archives were consulted and interviews with current and former feminist activists were conducted. The historical component of this study focuses on how feminist activists first recognized and responded to the problem of violence against women. This analysis suggests that throughout the last forty years, feminist activists have engaged in a multi-pronged project of providing feminist services for victims of intimate partner and sexual violence, advocating for social and legal change as the “official” response to violence against women, and conducting their own research on the extent and nature of violence against women. Various strategies were used in this process, including forming partnerships and coalitions, but activists also faced challenges from within and outside the movement, including internal debates, struggles to fit in, and backlash from counter movements. The final chapter discusses how the history of feminist activism on violence against woman cannot easily fit into strict constructionist approach to understanding social problems and, as a social movement, is difficult to evaluate given the myriad goals, mechanisms for reaching those goals, and interpretations of success associated with the movement. Future research directions are also suggested, including looking at evidence of claims-making from other sources; bridging the gap, theoretically and pragmatically, between the “mainstream” feminist movement and other streams of women’s activism; and, more conceptual work on feminist movements and the separation between intimate partner and sexual violence.