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Magister Artium - MA (Psychology) / Psychological distress during pregnancy has been a fairly neglected phenomenon and has only recently started emerging as an area of research interest. The existing body of scholarship on distress during pregnancy has largely been conducted from a positivist paradigm, emphasising the identification, incidences and risks. There is thus a dearth of qualitative inquiry into pregnant women's experiences and accounts of distress. In an attempt to address these gaps within the literature, my study explored psychological distress among a group of pregnant women from socio-economically disadvantaged contexts. The specific objectives of my study was to explore how pregnant women conceptualised psychological distress within the context of pregnancy; the feelings or symptoms of psychological distress; what pregnant women perceived as its causes; and the psychosocial needs of pregnant women in relation to antenatal distress. This study was guided by a feminist approach and a feminist standpoint epistemology in particular. This lent itself to exploring the phenomenon while departing from a clinical, decontextualised position which translated into an investigation with pregnant women who subjectively perceived themselves to be distressed.

Magister Artium - MA (Psychology) / Psychological distress during pregnancy has been a fairly neglected phenomenon and has only recently started emerging as an area of research interest. The existing body of scholarship on distress during pregnancy has largely been conducted from a positivist paradigm, emphasising the identification, incidences and risks. There is thus a dearth of qualitative inquiry into pregnant women's experiences and accounts of distress. In an attempt to address these gaps within the literature, my study explored psychological distress among a group of pregnant women from socio-economically disadvantaged contexts. The specific objectives of my study was to explore how pregnant women conceptualised psychological distress within the context of pregnancy; the feelings or symptoms of psychological distress; what pregnant women perceived as its causes; and the psychosocial needs of pregnant women in relation to antenatal distress. This study was guided by a feminist approach and a feminist standpoint epistemology in particular. This lent itself to exploring the phenomenon while departing from a clinical, decontextualised position which translated into an investigation with pregnant women who subjectively perceived themselves to be distressed.

I investigated the experiences of teachers as co-researchers in a long-term partnership with university researchers in an asset-based intervention project known as STAR1. The goal of STAR is to investigate how teachers can promote resilience in scare-resource and high need schools. To inform participatory research methodology, I explored and described how coresearchers (teachers) experience power relations. I conducted the participatory reflection and action (PRA) study by using feminist standpoint theory as guiding epistemological paradigm, Gaventa’s power cube as theoretical framework and participatory research as methodological paradigm. I conveniently chose two cohorts (schools) in the STAR project to partner as the unit of analysis. I thus applied convenience sampling to select information-rich cohorts. The schoolcohorts included a primary school in the Eastern Cape Province and a secondary school in a remote area in the Mpumalanga Province. I then purposefully selected participating coresearchers (n=15: 14 females, 1 male) from the participating schools. Over a two year period, I employed multiple PRA data generation techniques (observation, four focus groups and two semi-structured interviews) and documentation procedures (field notes, research journal, visual data and verbatim transcriptions). I used thematic analysis and categorical aggregation for data analysis, with three themes emerging. In terms of the nature of power in participatory partnerships, co-researchers expressed factors which influenced power and partnership in a participatory project. For co-researchers, these factors enabled them to experience a sense of power-sharing. Regarding the role of agency in relation to power and partnerships, co-researchers indicated that agency resulted from power-sharing and partnerships they had established. The agency meant that they took action through leadership to empower others in school-communities. Co-researchers’ meaning-making of power and partnerships culminated in their construction of power in a participatory project as both a way in which their working environment enabled them to do what they wanted to do, and also as a personal space where they felt capable and had initiative to coordinate project activities. Findings of this study correlate with existing literature where (i) power is seen as the ability of actors to express and act on desires, (ii) power can be redistributed as action for inclusive benefits, (iii) partnerships imply balancing time, and (iv) partnerships evolve over time, are dynamic and involve issues of trust and confidence. In contrast to existing knowledge on power in participatory research, I found that teachers did not view power as dominance or as exclusively owned. I developed a framework of power sharing partnerships to extend Gaventa’s power cube theory. This framework, and its five interrelated elements (leadership as power, identifying vision and mission, synergy, interdependent role of partners, and determination), provide insight into the way co-researchers shared their experiences of participatory research methodology. I posit an evidence-based conceptualisation of power as leadership where community partners play influential roles as co-researchers. I theorise power sharing partnerships as a complimentary platform hosting partners’ shared strengths, skills and experience, creating synergy in collaborative projects. I argue that synergy in power sharing partnerships relies on recognition, appreciation and mutual respect inherent in interdependent roles of partners. Furthermore, the power sharing partnership framework explains how power and partnership depends on determination amongst partners which manifests as agency to drive social change. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Educational Psychology / unrestricted

Although the focus of the study was the emotional abuse of women in close relationship, I argue that the patterns and processes in the abusive relationship, the positioning of both players show a close resemblance to abuse and violence on a macro-political scale. When I as a psychotherapist was continuously confronted with an increasing number of female clients relating stories of emotional abuse in close personal relationships, I started questioning the historical context, culture, societal beliefs and time-frame that constructed women to be in such a position. World wide voices are heard questioning the constant abuse of the other, the weaker, the different, and the marginalized, and much has been written about physical abuse, but the question was as to how this macro-phenomenon informs upon the emotional life of the individual woman. When it comes to abuse in close relationships, the victim usually is the female and not the male partner, which makes abuse a woman’s problem. As a result, I was interested in the truths of the woman in the abusive relationship and approached this research from the position of the other and not the oppressor. Feminist standpoint theory formed the basis of my epistemological and methodological thinking. This I practically implemented in my choice of method and my approach to interpretation of the research information. I undertook a qualitative study, utilizing descriptive methods to represent the stories of women from emotionally abusive relationships. The research was historical and location-specific, and led to the description of what I termed the Traditional Afrikaans Family and a legitimizing ecology for emotional abuse against women in close relationships. The experiences collected tell about emotional abuse as relayed by more than forty women in therapy. The data formed the background for the reconstruction and representation of four case studies and a thematic analysis pertaining to the positioning of both partners in an emotionally abusive relationship. A critical deconstruction of the mechanisms of power, domination, and control are explained. In doing so, emerging patterns in the abusive relationship were noted and described. Of particular interest to psychotherapists will be the description and analysis of the process of emotional abuse as played out in close relationships. In conclusion, I argued that emotional abuse in close interpersonal relationships is constructed in the interactions between the partners and within a legitimising context that warrants the male to dominate. The abusive behaviour emerges as a result of the patriarchal male wanting to establish or re-establish his dominant position while the female partner attempts to position him as someone that respects her as a person in her own right. / Thesis (DPhil (Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Psychology / unrestricted

Leadership in general is still perceived as individualistic, masculine and hierarchical. Despite fighting against discrimination and for social justice, third sector organizations are themselves often places of entrenched privilege and limited diversity. Leaders with lived experiences draw on their first-hand experience of social issues and/or injustices and attempt to tackle those problems through their work. They represent a diversity of backgrounds, experiences and capabilities that challenge the homogeneity of third sector leadership. Following critical leadership studies this thesis draws from the standpoints of lived experience leaders to offer new, intersectional perspectives on leadership and to expand and diversify understandings of what it is to lead in third sector organizations. The focus of this thesis’s exploration is the experiences and perceptions of 10 individuals who hold or have held leadership positions within third sector organizations in the UK and Germany. Through the analysis of semi-structured interviews, a phenomenology of lived experience leadership is explored. Drawing from feminist standpoint theory, attention is paid to what lived experience leaders think about leadership generally and lived experience leadership in particular, as well as their perspectives on the systemic leadership structures they exist within and challenge. It is found that lived experience leaders acknowledge ‘traditional,’ ‘mainstream’ concepts of leadership and see their own leadership styles and approaches as distinct from these leadership norms. Their approaches and understandings challenge typical leadership constructions and, strongly influenced by their own lived experiences, promote political self-organization, activism and a socio-economic empowerment of people with lived experiences in order to unravel current social power structures and promote social change. With these key findings, the paper suggests further research to test and expand on the conclusions drawn. Ensuring that leadership positions are accessible to all should be a priority for future development of third sector organizations and beyond. Further research should therefore explore how lived experience leadership can help to gain insights about how to remove barriers to leadership positions efficiently.

The following research explores female authority's experiences with gender roles in faith and church and the subsequent handling of gender sensitivity in confirmation work. The qualitative study is conducted based on empirical data to answer the research questions. The chosen feminist standpoint theory assists in identifying the sampling consisting of female authorities as participants who are in charge of the confirmation work. The theory examines resources to create a standpoint through feminist experiences as knowledge, creating feminist solidarity and agency. The constructionist thematic analysis identifies and establishes repeating patterns in combination with the participant's answers and the theory. The lived experiences are gathered through online questionnaires and analyzed and interpreted through the lens of the feminist standpoint theory. The qualitative study shows that women make various experiences based on gender roles in faith and church. Majorly challenging is the normalization of male-dominated structures and concepts. Still, the participants form standpoints concerning the significance of gender-sensitive confirmation work. The study's outcome shows that mainstream knowledge can be opposed by creating feminist knowledge, solidarity, and agency. A broad audience is addressed because the result can be generalized into several fields.

Women in the Theological Anthropology of the Afrikaans Reformed Tradition This dissertation examines women in the theological anthropology of the Afrikaans Reformed Churches. The study is set out as follows: In Chapter 1, a survey of methodology is presented. The exposition of the question about the theological anthropology is done against a poststructural background. Both structuralism and poststructuralism largely put aside existentialism as an inadequate methodology. Chapter 2 aims to give an overview of the contribution of Michel Foucault. The chapter begins with a discussion of structuralism. This brief overview is then followed by a classification and investigation of the basic aspects of Foucault's approach. The chapter highlights Foucault's rootedness in poststructuralism. Chapter 3 attempts to explain silence of women in the theological anthropology of Dutch Reformed Church. The central aim of Chapter 3 is to demonstrate, against the development of the women ministries and the discourse about the ordination of women, that the Dutch Reformed Church theological anthropology is deeply influenced by the discursive practices developed during 1928-1932. Chapter 4 gives an overview of the developments in the theological anthropology of the Dutch Reformed Mission Church, Dutch Reformed Church of Africa and the Uniting Reformed Church of Southern Africa that took place from 1924 until 2002. Different approaches to the women question developed in the course of time. At the heart of the discourse is the shift in the reading process. The developments in the feminist standpoint theory as such led to this displacement. In Chapter 5 the deconstruction of the theological anthropology are being discussed. Preference is given in this chapter to the concept partnership or transformative relations. In the concluding chapter [Chapter 6], a poststructural feminist discourse is presented. Selected guidelines that the church may wish to take into account in the deconstructing of the theological anthropology are suggested. In the future, the frame of reference to the women question would likely be poststructural. / Systematic Theology and Theological Ethics / D. Th. (Systematic Theology)

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Women in the Theological Anthropology of the Afrikaans Reformed Tradition This dissertation examines women in the theological anthropology of the Afrikaans Reformed Churches. The study is set out as follows: In Chapter 1, a survey of methodology is presented. The exposition of the question about the theological anthropology is done against a poststructural background. Both structuralism and poststructuralism largely put aside existentialism as an inadequate methodology. Chapter 2 aims to give an overview of the contribution of Michel Foucault. The chapter begins with a discussion of structuralism. This brief overview is then followed by a classification and investigation of the basic aspects of Foucault's approach. The chapter highlights Foucault's rootedness in poststructuralism. Chapter 3 attempts to explain silence of women in the theological anthropology of Dutch Reformed Church. The central aim of Chapter 3 is to demonstrate, against the development of the women ministries and the discourse about the ordination of women, that the Dutch Reformed Church theological anthropology is deeply influenced by the discursive practices developed during 1928-1932. Chapter 4 gives an overview of the developments in the theological anthropology of the Dutch Reformed Mission Church, Dutch Reformed Church of Africa and the Uniting Reformed Church of Southern Africa that took place from 1924 until 2002. Different approaches to the women question developed in the course of time. At the heart of the discourse is the shift in the reading process. The developments in the feminist standpoint theory as such led to this displacement. In Chapter 5 the deconstruction of the theological anthropology are being discussed. Preference is given in this chapter to the concept partnership or transformative relations. In the concluding chapter [Chapter 6], a poststructural feminist discourse is presented. Selected guidelines that the church may wish to take into account in the deconstructing of the theological anthropology are suggested. In the future, the frame of reference to the women question would likely be poststructural. / Systematic Theology and Theological Ethics / D. Th. (Systematic Theology)