Pastoraat aan die Afrika-mens is a Masters' thesis, which explores the hypotheses and finds that an African life and worIdview must consciously be taken into account in pastoral care to Christians with an African life and worldview in order to improve effective care. The practical-theological model of Heitink is being used as research method. This entails the following: Hermeneutically 1. To show from Scripture as basis some perspectives on the research concepts 'pastoral care' and 'life and worldview'. Empirically 2. To describe the main aspects of an African life and worldview. 3. To determine the extent to which an African life and worldview still influence the thought and life of believers in Mamelodi. Strategically 4. To determine which aspects of an African life and worldview are relevant for pastoral care, 5. To formulate guidelines for pastoral care concerning Christians who are having an African life and worldview. Especially exegesis about Moses and Paul shows that life and worldview must be taken into consideration in pastoral care. The religion phenomenological approach to religious consciousness by the Dutch scholar Johan Herman Bavinck serves as basis to describe an African life and worldview in terms of totality, norm, higher powers, need of salvation and life between activity and passivity. The socio-cultural category of space is added. Empirical research among seven ecclesiastical congregations in Mamelodi points to the fact that an African life and worldview still has an effect on the Iives of Christians. Pastoraat aan die Afrika-mens give guidelines for pastoral care, after looking at some 'emic' en 'etic' contributions regarding African-ness in pastoral care. The departure of a psycho-sociocuItural hermeneutic approach to African life and worldview as well as a Word-based holistic approach to the pastoral conversation is promoted. / Thesis (Th.M. (Practical Theology))--Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education, 2003

Cross-cultural assessment in South Africa has become more prominent since the first democratic elections held in April 1994, and stronger demands for the cultural appropriateness of psychological tests have arisen. The use of psychometric testing, including personality assessment in the workplace, is now strictly controlled by legislation, among others the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (Act 108 of 1996), the Labour Relations Act (66 of 1995), and the Employment Equity Act (55 of 1998), and the Health Professions Act (56 of 1974). Much controversy has arisen regarding the relevance and applicability of assessment instruments in South Africa. The majority of assessment procedures still make use of imported instruments that are either used in their original or adapted form. Psychological assessment instruments imported from abroad have an insufficient suitability in the multicultural South African context. There are various perspectives regarding the appropriate measurement of personality across cultures. In this research study implicit perspectives of personality, the lexical approach, indigenous psychology and the emic approach were used to determine the personality perspectives of the Tsonga culture in South Africa. The objectives of this study were to investigate how personality is conceptualised in literature, to identify the problems surrounding personality measurement for the South African context, to explore how personality perspectives could be determined and to investigate the personality descriptive terms in the Tsonga language group. A qualitative research design was used to collect the data of this research. A total of 5 502 personality descriptors were obtained through the 1 0-item interview questionnaires. Content analysis was used to analyse, reduce and interpret the data obtained from the participants. The personality descriptors obtained were reduced by removing superfluous words. These personality descriptors were then interpreted and categorised into a total of 109 personality dimensions. These characteristics were categorised into nine clusters, namely Optimism, Agreeableness, Emotional Stability, Narrow-mindedness, Intelligence, Conscientiousness, Aggressiveness, Dominance and Sociability. The following personality dimensions had the highest frequency: Emotional Stability, Caring, Helpful, Hard working, Advising, Generous, Traditional, Aggression, Recreational, Substance use, Religious, Sociable and Loving. Recommendations for future research were made. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

This dissertation aims at studying underlying cultural conflicts in Corinth and Paul's approach thereto. Firstly, the cultural underlays in the congregation of Corinth are revisited, with special reference to the presence of Greeks, Romans and Jews in the congregation which came into being there. This theme is explored by studying the meaning of culture, the archaeological data, as well as Biblical data and other historical data regarding these cultures and Corinth. Furthermore attention is given to the way in which these three cultures were reflected in Paul's own background. In conclusion Paul's approach to the conflict is delineated in terms of positive and negative renderings of the concept "becoming a slave to fellow humans". Special focus is given to 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 as a key pericope in this regard. The deduction made in this dissertation is that Paul disregards his own cultural heritage and makes himself a slave to people on behalf of winning people for Christ, without allowing people (or cultural groups) to rule him as masters. / Thesis (M.Th. (New Testament))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006

Most psychometric instruments used in South Africa are based on Western theory. Questions have arisen on the suitability and validity of these instruments in this context. Usually tests are imported from foreign countries and then applied with the same confidence in terms of the accuracy and prediction that these tests have in those foreign countries. However, studies in recent times have found that there exist numerous problems with these assessments in the South African context. In South Africa personality assessment instruments are used for the purpose of recruitment, placement, to identify training and development and for performance appraisal of workers. Currently none of the available personality questionnaires have been found to be reliable and valid for all cultural groups. This presents a particular predicament seeing as the Labour Relations Act (66 of 1995), which regulates the use of these assessments, states that these tests are prohibited unless they are shown to be scientifically valid, reliable and can be fairly applied over all without any discrimination. The objectives of this study were to investigate how personality is conceptualised in literature, to identify problems with personality measurement in South Africa, to explore how personality perspectives could be determined and to investigate the personality descriptive terms of the Ndebele people. A qualitative research design was used with an interview as data-gathering instrument. isiNdebele-speaking fieldworkers were recruited to interview 107 isiNdebele-speaking South Africans from the Mpumalanga Province. A total of 4165 responses were obtained from the respondents and translated into English. Content analysis was used to analyse, interpret and reduce these descriptors to a total of 151 personality facets. The personality characteristics were divided into nine categories, namely: Agreeable, Tough-minded, Gregarious, Emotional Stability, Conscientious, Self-absorbed, Intellect/Open, Influential and Relationship Harmony. These findings were compared to the Five Factor Model and evidence was found for all of its dimensions. Recommendations for future research were made. / Thesis (M.Com. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

Personality inventories in South Africa are challenged with many factors restricting unbiased and fair measurement. The Employment Equity Act clearly stipulates that all psychometric measuring instruments should be proven bias free, equivalent, and fair. Most of the current inventories utilised in South Africa are imported from Europe and/or the United States of America, and these instruments are translated into either English or Afrikaans, which restricts the language proficiency factor of respondents from other language groups. There are 11 official language groups in South Africa; people also differ regarding race, culture, socioeconomic status, and educational backgrounds. All of these factors are not always properly accounted for in the standardisation of imported inventories - which limits their appropriate employment in the South African context. The objective of this study was to uncover the personality structure of each of the 11 language groups in South Africa, and to identify the shared and unique personality dimensions of the different language groups. From this structure, an instrument will be developed to measure personality in such a way that it will meet the Employment Equity Act. A qualitative research design was used in this study. Quasi-sampling («=1308j was implemented in order to identify participants from each of the 11 language groups, which differed from each other with regard to age, gender, and socioeconomic status. Following the lexical approach, structured interviews were conducted in the native language of the participants to gather information about personality-descriptive terms. The results of the interviews were transcribed and captured in Excel, and sent to language experts for language editing and translation into English. Ambiguous, superfluous and non-personality terms were removed from the data. Following this process, more than 50 000 personality-descriptive terms were identified. Content analysis was utilised in order to interpret the personality- descriptive terms to personality dimensions. Language and cultural experts were employed in order to validate the initial interpretations. The 50 000 descriptive terms were reduced to 190 personality dimensions through the use of cluster analysis. The analysis included the grouping of synonyms and antonyms, together with the use of dictionaries, literature and knowledge about content. The 190 dimensions were also divided into those that are common (shared by all 11 language groups), semi-common (shared by seven to ten of the language groups), semi-specific (shared by two to six of the language groups), and language-specific (unique to a particular language group). It was discovered that 78 dimensions were common, 69 semi-common, 32 semi-specific, and only 11 were language-specific. Most of the personality dimensions seem to be shared by the language groups, rather than to be unique. These 190 dimensions were clustered further in order to build the indigenous personality structure. Similar methods from the initial clustering phase were implemented. Clustering concluded 37 sub-clusters, which consisted of two to ten dimensions, and nine overall clusters consisting of two to six sub-clusters. These nine clusters are Extroversion, Soft-heartedness, Conscientiousness, Emotional stability, Intellect, Openness, Integrity, Relationship harmony, and Facilitating. Many indigenous aspects are evident, as well as universal aspects within the structure. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

The application of personality assessment for clinical and personnel decisions has long been an activity of interest to psychologists all over the world. In South Africa, personality assessment tools are used for the purpose of hiring, for placement decisions, to guide and assess training and development, and to evaluate the performance of workers. Psychological testing in South Africa was formerly initiated with white test takers in mind. It has been found that, currently, none of the available personality questionnaires provide a reliable and valid picture of personality for all cultural (language) groups living in South Africa. With South Africa's new Constitution in 1994 came stronger demands for the cultural appropriateness of psychological tests. The implicit perspectives of personality of Zulu-speaking South Africans were determined in this study. These will enable psychologists to work towards developing a personality assessment tool that is fair to all South African cultural (language) groupings. A qualitative research design was used with an interview as data-gathering instrument. A Zulu-speaking fieldworker was recruited to interview 141 Zulu-speaking South Africans, mainly from KwaZulu-Natal. The study population was purposely drawn from different sections of the Zulu-speaking population. A total of 6 465 Zulu-speaker personality descriptors was obtained from the respondents and then translated into English. Content analysis was used to analyse, interpret, and reduce these descriptors to a total of 179 (reduced to 128 personality characteristics), which highlight the most important perspectives of personality for Zulu-speaking individuals. The personality characteristics were divided into six categories, namely, drive, emotions, interpersonal factor, meanness, sociability, and other. The majority of the characteristics are representative of the socialistic nature of the Zulu people. Zulu-speaking persons are caring, loving, religious, helping, talkative, in touch with their sexuality, and extroverted. The findings of this study were compared to the Five Factor Model (FFM), and evidence was found for the extroversion factors, but no support or evidence was found for the openness to experience factor, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and agreeableness. In comparison with the Chinese Personality Assessment Inventory (CPAI), support was found for 13 of the 22 personality scales. Characteristics such as emotionality, responsibility, inferiority versus self-acceptance, meanness, slickness, family orientation, relationship orientation, harmony, flexibility, modernisation, introversion versus extroversion, leadership, and social orientation can be seen as characteristics indigenous to the Zulu culture. Recommendations were made for future research. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

An approach to teaching art using a cross-cultural curriculum to create enthusiasm amongst Latino students and myself was the basis for my research. I collected my data using auto-ethnographical recordings and documenting my results in a pre-evaluation in December 2009, and an implementation of the study in January and February of 2010, with third grade students in a public school in Metro Atlanta. After the pre-evaluation I decided to use a more cross-cultural and tactile approach. I first implemented a lesson based on the Maori of New Zealand. I furthered my research by implementing a second lesson based on Chinese New Year dragon puppets. This lesson was also cross-cultural, but created a more tactile experience. I found that teaching about a culture rather than a singular artist, using tactile materials, and having step-by-step directions that led to a specific outcome created more enthusiasm in my classroom.

Recent trends in immigration in Manitoba and across Canada mean increasing classroom cultural diversity in all levels of the education system. In response to these trends, faculties of Education have tried a variety of ways to better prepare preservice teachers for this increasing classroom cultural diversity. An opportunity provided for preservice teachers in many teacher preparation programs is the chance to participate in international student-teaching practicums. This qualitative case study research explored the potential influence of the Elmwood international student-teaching practicum located in South-east Asia. The results shed light on the influence that personal dispositions have in the overall experiences and perceptions of the practicum participants. The study showed that international student-teaching practicums provide a variety of potentially challenging and valuable experiences. The study concludes with the claim that critically oriented parallel programming and supervision is necessary in the attempt to ensure that these experiences result in the positive personal and professional identity development in those involved.

Designing a culturally appropriate space begins by recognizing that culture affects us from the moment we are born. It plays a role in how a child grows up, how a person communicates, how a person perceives time, the beliefs and values of a family, as well as the way space is inhabited. These cultural characteristics inform how designers design space. However, what happens when the designer is not from the client’s culture? Knowledge about another culture is often gained by interior designers through client interviews, internet searches, and the occasional book. It is important to add community visits to this list. Cultural understanding is enriched when a person is able to experience the culture through smells, sights, sounds, touch, and taste. These sensory experiences explain answers to questions we, as interior designers, never even knew we had. This project responds to the gap that exists between the designer and the clients’ community. Through an exploration of the Nicaraguan culture and cross-cultural theory this project proposes a design for an art therapy centre that addresses Nicaragua’s culturally-specific needs. By examining trauma and its effects on children, the design can be child-specific while being sensitive to trauma-related symptoms. This will be done through the exploration of areas of knowledge related to sensorimotor theory, art therapy, and mind, body, space theory.

Most psychometric instruments used in South Africa are based on Western theory. Questions have arisen on the suitability and validity of these instruments in this context. Usually tests are imported from foreign countries and then applied with the same confidence in terms of the accuracy and prediction that these tests have in those foreign countries. However, studies in recent times have found that there exist numerous problems with these assessments in the South African context. In South Africa personality assessment instruments are used for the purpose of recruitment, placement, to identify training and development and for performance appraisal of workers. Currently none of the available personality questionnaires have been found to be reliable and valid for all cultural groups. This presents a particular predicament seeing as the Labour Relations Act (66 of 1995), which regulates the use of these assessments, states that these tests are prohibited unless they are shown to be scientifically valid, reliable and can be fairly applied over all without any discrimination. The objectives of this study were to investigate how personality is conceptualised in literature, to identify problems with personality measurement in South Africa, to explore how personality perspectives could be determined and to investigate the personality descriptive terms of the Ndebele people. A qualitative research design was used with an interview as data-gathering instrument. isiNdebele-speaking fieldworkers were recruited to interview 107 isiNdebele-speaking South Africans from the Mpumalanga Province. A total of 4165 responses were obtained from the respondents and translated into English. Content analysis was used to analyse, interpret and reduce these descriptors to a total of 151 personality facets. The personality characteristics were divided into nine categories, namely: Agreeable, Tough-minded, Gregarious, Emotional Stability, Conscientious, Self-absorbed, Intellect/Open, Influential and Relationship Harmony. These findings were compared to the Five Factor Model and evidence was found for all of its dimensions. Recommendations for future research were made. / Thesis (M.Com. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.