Many children are left vulnerable due to circumstances beyond their control, for example, poverty, violence, limited education and the HIV&AIDS epidemic. One way of supporting vulnerable children is by making memory boxes. This study endeavoured to identify the assets during the memory-box-making process with vulnerable children. The aim of the study was to contribute towards an understanding of vulnerable children in South Africa and the memory-box-making process that frames vulnerable children in terms of assets, resources and capacities, instead of deficits. A combination of an interpretive and constructivist paradigm was used within an action research design. The site of the study was a deep rural community in the Limpopo Province, South Africa. Five participants and one helper contributed towards the research process. Primary data was collected within the memory-box-making process – by means of simple and participatory observation, individual and group interviews, audio-visual methods and field notes. Fifteen memory-box-making sessions took place over a period of six weeks. The data analysis consisted of a theme analysis that utilized the asset-based approach as a theoretical framework. The results from the study indicate a wealth of internal and external assets during the memory-box-making process with vulnerable children. / Dissertation (MEd (Educational Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Educational Psychology / unrestricted

Thesis (M.A.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2009. / Full text also available online. Scroll down for electronic link.

The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the relationship between counselling skills and memory work with primary school children. I explored this relationship with the aim of determining the role and possible contribution of counselling skills to memory work. I followed an action research design. The study was located in a primary school situated in an informal settlement in the Nelson Mandela Metropole. Ten female educators were conveniently and purposefully selected to participate in this inquiry. I developed and facilitated an intervention programme aimed at the participants acquiring the technique of memory box making. After the intervention each participating educator was requested to implement the memory box making technique with one child. During a second field visit I facilitated a focus group discussion to determine whether or not the participating educators had used counselling skills in interacting with the children during the memory box making process. I followed both deductive and inductive frameworks to thematically analyse data thematically. I found that educators employed the following counselling skills while facilitating the memory box making technique with children: basic counselling skills (empathy skills; warmth, respect and trust; listening skills; and skills of genuineness and sincerity); and counselling skills related to pre-bereavement, bereavement and grief (support, collaboration and skills transference; skills of valuing mementoes; and skills to discover family structures and relationships). I also found that memory work was experienced as problematic by the participants in terms of the following skills: confidentiality; emotional strain on the educators; and cultural beliefs regarding death. / Dissertation (MEd (Educational Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Educational Psychology / MEd / unrestricted

The purpose of this research was to highlight the benefits of a Memory Box Programme on the social and emotional developmental functioning of orphaned children. The study focused on the memory box approach used by Sinomlando Centre with orphaned children. The Sinomlando Memory Box Programme has been in existence since 2000. The overall objective of this Memory Box Programme is to enhance resilience in vulnerable children and orphans affected by HIV and AIDS through the methodology of memory boxes In contributing to the discourse on memory work, an interpretive method of data collection and analysis in the form of a focus group discussion and thematic analysis was utilized in this study. Three focus groups were conducted with 26 orphaned children between the ages of 12 years to 15 years. Sampling of the children was based on a purposive sample, targeting children orphaned by AIDS who attended a 5-day camp conducted through a local NGO. The results of the study indicate that children who attended the Sinomlando Memory Box Programme had benefited from their involvement in the programme in diverse ways. They felt that being involved in a Memory Box Programme equipped them with better coping mechanisms and skills. These included the appropriate expression of feelings, the ability to talk about their parent’s death, and overcoming their sense of alienation so they could better cope with their difficult circumstances. / Thesis (M.A.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2009.

In the diploma work named Memory and Reminiscence Training and in Domov sv. Jiří in Plzeň I deal with the above mentioned topic in theory and practice. The main aim of the work is to describe the aims, methods and techniques of the memory and reminiscence training by the seniors in the retirement home sv. Jiří. The partial objective is to state the benefits of the memory and reminiscence training from the point of view of the workers and residents of the retirement home. In the theoretical part I specify the issue of ageing and the old age and the issue of the memory and its components. Further to this part there is a description of the memory training and practical illustrations of the memory training and individual exercises. In the reminiscence part I deal with the specification of this term, the reminiscence therapy, the methods that support reminiscence and reminiscence boxes. The last chapter of the theoretical part deals with the failures in cognitive functions. In the practical part I give a description of the qualitative research in the retirement home of sv. Jiří where I carried out a course of the memory and reminiscence training within 15 meetings with the home residents. The research sample consisted of 10 seniors and 10 workers. For the research I used the half-guided dialogue method and the participant observation, and the research questions comprised of identifications questions, questions on memory training and questions on reminiscence. In the methodology part I describe the memory training methods, the course realization and the research sample. I also deal with the description of the retirement home of sv. Jiří and its establisher Městská charita Plzeň. As the outcomes of the qualitative research there are the case studies based on the carried out dialogues and the participant observation. In the discussion I comapare the achieved results of the research with the theory. I also describe my experience from the course of the memory and reminiscence training and its individual meetings with the seniors, I assess the opinions of the workers and the benefit of the memory and reminiscence training. In the conclusion I deal with the assessment of the whole work, especially its aim, and the benefits of the memory and reminiscence training in the retirement home of sv. Jiří in Plzeň.

The objective of this qualitative study was to explore the extent to which body maps could be implemented by educators as part of the fulfilment of their pastoral role. I approached the study from a constructivistinterpretivist perspective underpinned by action research principles. I implemented an instrumental case study as research design and selected a primary school located in an informal settlement community in the Nelson Mandela Metropole. Ten female educators at this school, three other members of a research team and I took part in the process of data generation. Having acquired baseline information during the first field visit, a fellow researcher and I implemented an intervention during which the techniques of body mapping and making memory boxes (the study focus of my fellow researcher) were introduced to the participants. We then requested them to apply the two techniques (as part of a research assignment) before we undertook a second field visit. At the second visit, we attempted to explore the participants' experiences during the application of the techniques. Throughout the study I relied on focus group discussions, observation, critical self-reflection, auditive methods, visual methods, photos, a reflective research journal and field notes as data collection and capture methods. I analysed and interpreted raw data thematically. Baseline information indicated that educators were quite clear about the theoretical nature of the pastoral role, yet the practical application of this role presented a challenge. Data generated after the intervention indicates how educators understood and used the body mapping technique. This theme was refined into subthemes dealing with implementation modes, application contexts and application outcomes of the body mapping technique. The second main theme indicated the applicability of body maps in the classroom context as part of the pastoral role. This theme comprises subthemes relating to general curricula, practical considerations, alternative uses and application modes, pastoral responsibilities that were facilitated (and not) by participants' use of the body mapping technique. Research findings therefore seem to indicate that the body mapping technique could be used by educators in fulfilling their pastoral role. / Dissertation (MEd (Educational Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Educational Psychology / MEd / unrestricted

Die rasionaal vir onderhawige studie was aan die hand van narratiewe navorsingsmetodes om insig en begrip te verwerf oor wat dit beteken om die moeder te wees van 'n seun met outisme. Ek (navorser) en die moeder (deelnemer) het verskeie data-inwinning-aktiwiteite aangewend, byvoorbeeld haar lewensverhaal, waarin ek en die moeder emosionele intelligensie komponente geïdentifiseer het met die verdere doel om haar belewinge van outisme te interpreteer. 'n Narratiewe navorsing-ontwerp, wat gebaseer is op interpretavistiese en konstruktivistiese paradigmata, kan dus die betekenisvolle emosies en ander belewinge van die moeder akkuraat interpreteer en kommunikeer oor wat dit beteken om 'n moeder te wees van 'n seun met outisme. In hierdie studie maak ek as navorser gebruik van 'n kwalitatiewe navorsingsbenadering met 'n narratiewe navorsings-ontwerp, waarin 'n multimetode benadering tot data-insameling aangewend word, met die doel om die belewinge van die moeder in die vorm van 'n lewensverhaal saam te vat. Die data-inwinning-strategieë wat aangewend is het gepoog om in-diepte, ryk en persoonlike verhaal-inhoude te genereer. Die volgende aktiwiteite is gebruik : 'n informele onderhoud, herinneringsboek (collages, staaltjies, lewenslyn en metafore), en 'n intellektuele bespreking van emosionele intelligensie. Die moeder het kollaboratief deelgeneem tydens die identifisering van emosionele intelligensie komponente in haar lewensverhaal. Dit was belangrik om deurlopend kollaboratiewe besprekinge met die moeder te skeduleer, aangesien haar insae met betrekking tot die wyse waarop die data georganiseer, geanaliseer en geïnterpreteer word verband hou met haar interpretasies van outisme en die verkenning van haar belewinge aan die hand van Bar-On (2003) se emosionele intelligensie komponente. Die betekenisvolle belewinge wat op grond van die moeder se verhaal-inhoude, in samehang met haar geïdentifiseerde emosionele intelligensie komponente, bespreek word, dui daarop dat die moeder 'n optimistiese, realistiese en intro-spektiewe uitkyk het met betrekking tot ouerskap en opvoeding. Dit kan as verantwoordbaar beskou word as ek as navorser dit stel dat die moeder begrip en insig demonstreer ten opsigte van die hindernis waarmee haar seun leef. Die moeder som haar belewing van outisme die beste op met die inspirerende aanhaling van Emily Pearl Kingsley: “Say goodbye to the child you wanted, or else your focus will never be with the child you have.” / ENGLISH : The rationale for this study was to gain a better understanding of what it means to be the mother of a child with autism, through the use of narrative research accounts. The mother (participant), and I (researcher) furthermore utilized the sources of collected data, such as her life story, to identify components of emotional intelligence with the purpose of additional interpretation. A narrative research design, firmly rooted in an interpretivist and constructivist paradigm, should therefore serve to accurately interpret the significant emotions and other lived-experiences that a mother attaches to living with a child that has been diagnosed with autism. A multi-method approach, directed by a qualitative research approach and a narrative research design, was followed in an attempt to capture the mother‘s experiences and life story. Data collection strategies employed to generate an in-depth, rich and personal life story consisted of the following activities: an informal interview, memory box (collages, anecdotes, life line, and methaphors) and an intellectual discussion regarding emotional intelligence. The mother also participated in a collaborative discussion to identify emotional intelligence components relevant to her life story. Further collaboration and discussion with the mother were required to ensure that the data were organised, analysed and interpreted according to the mother‘s lived-experiences of autism, along with her emotions that were identified on the basis of Bar-On‘s (2003) emotional intelligence components. The meaningful findings drawn from the mother‘s narratives (in relation to the identified emotional intelligence components) suggest that the mother demonstrates an optmistic, realistic and introspective view on parenting. It can be regarded as accountable for me as researcher to state that the mother displays an educated an comprehensive understanding of the disability with which her child is living. The mother perhaps best summarises her experiences of autism in the words of Emily Pearl Kingsley‘s inspirational words: “Say goodbye to the child you wanted, or else your focus will never be with the child you have.” / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Educational Psychology / Unrestricted

This study aimed to test the efficacy of the memory box as a medium in Gestalt Therapy, specifically within a therapeutic group with AIDS orphans in the middle childhood phase of development. The aim was to explore and describe the utilisation of the memory box, as a medium for telling one's story, within the safety of the Gestalt play therapy group. It was felt that the increased self-awareness fostered by belonging to a supportive group could enhance self-concept. The research included qualitative and quantitative data. Theoretical and the meta-theoretical assumptions affecting children, in the middle childhood phase, orphaned through HIV/AIDS, were reviewed. The group sessions were described and the data obtained from the pre and post-test was graphically illustrated. The information was then compared to ascertain whether the objectives had been met. Results show that the memory box, used in Gestalt play therapy groups, with AIDS orphans was effective. / Social Work / M.Diac. (Play Therapy)

This study aimed to test the efficacy of the memory box as a medium in Gestalt Therapy, specifically within a therapeutic group with AIDS orphans in the middle childhood phase of development. The aim was to explore and describe the utilisation of the memory box, as a medium for telling one's story, within the safety of the Gestalt play therapy group. It was felt that the increased self-awareness fostered by belonging to a supportive group could enhance self-concept. The research included qualitative and quantitative data. Theoretical and the meta-theoretical assumptions affecting children, in the middle childhood phase, orphaned through HIV/AIDS, were reviewed. The group sessions were described and the data obtained from the pre and post-test was graphically illustrated. The information was then compared to ascertain whether the objectives had been met. Results show that the memory box, used in Gestalt play therapy groups, with AIDS orphans was effective. / Social Work / M.Diac. (Play Therapy)