The purpose of my study was to investigate an indigenous form of stone play as a projection medium in child psychological assessment. My theoretical framework was grounded in indigenous psychology. My literature study consulted theory relating to indigenous psychology, indigenous knowledge, play, assessment, asset-based approach and positive psychology. I followed a qualitative research approach, guided by an interpretivist epistemology. I employed an intrinsic case study design and purposefully selected the participant. My data collection methods consisted of interviews with the participant’s mother and observations of the participant during the Masekitlana sessions. I relied on audio-visual methods and a self-reflective journal as methods of data documentation. Six main themes emerged as the result of thematic analysis and interpretation that I have completed. Firstly, I found that during the Masekitlana sessions, the participant mentioned a desire or a huge need for food. Secondly, the participant also experienced conflict in the neighbourhood as a result of living conditions and poverty. This included experiences of peer conflict as well as indirect conflict among adults in the community. Thirdly, environmental factors in the informal settlement came to the foreground, like infrastructure, water supply and housing. In the fourth instance the participant expressed her daily routine of bathing, going to school, doing school work and going home. Fifthly, the participant projected her belief system by mentioning indigenous concepts, such as ‘Naka’ which refers to a sangoma (traditional healer). Lastly positive qualities within the participant are identified as a theme. Masekitlana poses to be a valid projection medium to conduct a psychological assessment with the participant because it provides an authentic psychological image. The standardization of Masekitlana as an assessment medium is suggested. Further research to develop psychological assessment media for children from African origin and culture is needed in South Africa. Copyright / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Educational Psychology / unrestricted

This study is an investigation into the use of an African indigenous narrative game, Masekitlana, which I used as a therapeutic medium for four children, aged eight to 12 years. The participants are of Zulu origin and culture and were affected and orphaned as a result of HIV/AIDS. The game involved the participants in activities, such as hitting stones together or arranging them at will, that they felt familiar with and that enabled freer verbal expression from them. I employed a single-system research design that consisted of mixed methods approaches in the form of a qualitative thematic analysis and a quantitative graphic presentation of the results. The research design was a time series design that involved using, at four different times along the process of therapy, the measure of the Roberts-2 test (ethnic version). Therapy consisted of three sessions of standard of care therapy (therapy that was routinely being used in the psychology clinic) and three intervention therapy sessions of Masekitlana. I found the mixed-methods approach to be a practice-friendly form of research as it helped to describe the concerns of the participants in depth and enabled a concrete, quantitative conclusion about the efficacy of Masekitlana as an intervention. Syncretism of both approaches meant that qualitative data helped to clarify and confirm the findings of quantitative data and vice versa. Qualitative analysis showed how Masekitlana helped participants to express their traditional African beliefs, such as belief in the guidance of their ancestors, in the influence of bewitchment in their lives, and in the animation of the natural world. Thematic analysis also revealed the anger that participants felt resulting from the sense of disempowerment they experienced in Children’s Homes and from their separation from their biological families, and their need to sublimate this anger into future careers in the police force or alternatively to resort to crime. Thematic analysis also revealed the strategies employed by participants for coping with peer conflict in the Children’s Homes, and the challenges they face with schooling difficulties. Quantitative analysis revealed how participants progressed to complex forms of adaptive functioning and explanation of situations in their lives as a result of Masekitlana therapy. Recommendations arising out of this study are that psychologists strive to use forms of therapy that are familiar to the cultural backgrounds of indigenous children, and that training psychologists learn about the cultural beliefs of their patients and be exposed to the rituals used in traditional environments in order to understand indigenous clients. Psychologists should also be aware of the fact that, with the effects of television on children, and with present globalization and ease of international travel, children of African origin and culture are a mixture of traditional African and modern Western values. Therefore an integration of Western and indigenous forms of psychology might be considered. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Educational Psychology / unrestricted