This research project explores and describes how names and embedded meanings might be utilized as a therapeutic technique in order to mediate social adjustment and interpersonal efficiency. The subjective feeling of success that a person experiences in different areas of life is closely related to the quality of interpersonal relationships that underlie satisfactory interaction with other people. It is the researcher’s opinion that a person’s name almost equals a personal life prophecy and that any name could be a means to mould the client’s life script onto more favourable pathways, because the embedded meaning of a name might contribute to the client’s level of self-knowledge which is necessary for healthy, meaningful relations with others. With the rationale of this research study in mind, the research problem was formulated as follows: How can names and embedded meanings be utilized as a therapeutic technique to mediate social adjustment and interpersonal efficiency? Critical questions that emerged were: What are the underlying psychological constructs that guide the use of names and embedded meanings as a therapeutic technique? How can embedded meanings of names contribute to the different components inherent to sound social adjustment and interpersonal efficiency? Can names and embedded meanings be successfully utilized as a therapeutic technique to enhance social adjustment and interpersonal efficiency? A mixed method approach of qualitative as well as quantitative research was used for the purpose of this study, and interpretivism was the preferred epistemology. A non-experimental mode of inquiry was implemented at the hand of a single case study. Multiple data gathering methods were employed, which included: a well observed intake interview, a pre- and post-test at hand of the Interpersonal Relations Questionnaire, research participant-reflection during a structured interview with a number of stimulus-questions and informal observations and conversations. As enhanced social adjustment, interpersonal efficiency and growth in certain areas were obtained by means of using names and their embedded meanings as a therapeutic technique, the hypothesis of this study could be accepted and supported. / Dissertation (MEd (Educational Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Educational Psychology / MEd / unrestricted

This research investigates how the speech community living in Maputo city uses language in relation to HIV/AIDS and studies related stigmas which impede women's access to HIV/AIDS counselling services. My hypothesis is that frequent use of gender stereotypes in AIDS discourse aims at stigmatising women as AIDS propagators, while minimizing male sexual transgressions in the AIDS crisis. Interpretation of primary data collected via focus group discussions and interviews is done with five different approaches that study respectively: social meanings and representations of AIDS embedded in context, the stigmatising process correlating gender stereotypes and discrimination against women, stereotypical speech attitudes and speech mechanism as well as the functions and effects of stereotyping. My conclusion is that deeply rooted gender barriers are to be removed in order to combat the social plague of AIDS and that ethnography of communication offers interesting models for development projects that can initiate behavioural changes through speech. / Linguistics / M.A. (Sociolinguistics)

This research investigates how the speech community living in Maputo city uses language in relation to HIV/AIDS and studies related stigmas which impede women's access to HIV/AIDS counselling services. My hypothesis is that frequent use of gender stereotypes in AIDS discourse aims at stigmatising women as AIDS propagators, while minimizing male sexual transgressions in the AIDS crisis. Interpretation of primary data collected via focus group discussions and interviews is done with five different approaches that study respectively: social meanings and representations of AIDS embedded in context, the stigmatising process correlating gender stereotypes and discrimination against women, stereotypical speech attitudes and speech mechanism as well as the functions and effects of stereotyping. My conclusion is that deeply rooted gender barriers are to be removed in order to combat the social plague of AIDS and that ethnography of communication offers interesting models for development projects that can initiate behavioural changes through speech. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / M.A. (Sociolinguistics)