South Africa has one of the highest rates of rape in the world. Experiencing rape frequently proposes substantial consequences on survivors’ physical, psychological and social wellbeing, which accentuates the importance of providing survivors with help, support, and protection. However, the scarce studies examining survivors’ experiences with the support system indicate many flaws within the system, sometimes even resulting in further harm. This failure of governmental support systems stimulated an increasing manifestation of NGOs as providers of survivor support. It is consequently crucial to understand and evaluate the success of these services to fully understand the quality of available support. The objective of this study was to investigate women rape survivors’ post rape experiences and their journey and subsequent experiences with the counselling provided to them by the Cape Town based NGO Rape Crisis. Fifteen adult rape survivors were recruited via opportunity sampling and asked to participate in one hour long unstructured interviews. In line with the research topic and the research questions, an intersectional feminist paradigm was chosen for the theoretical framework and thematic narrative analysis was applied as the analytic approach. The analysis showed four themes relating to rape survivors’ narratives on post-rape challenges, namely; the silence and stigma that victimises survivors, the psychological effects of rape, help seeking as a last resort, and demystifying counselling. Additionally, five themes around survivors’ experiences of Rape Crisis counselling were established, namely; the value of a professional safe space, building a counsellor relationship, talking and listening, a collaborative effort to finding oneself, and sharing collective stories of pain. The findings highlight the need for more outreach and education efforts around rape, as well the importance for professional yet not too clinical psychological support which incorporates empowerment principles and focuses on help to self-help.

The aim of this study is to deepen the understanding of how a grass root initiative evolves to become a Non-Governmental Organization based on the example of Refugees Welcome to Malmö and to explore how and why people become volunteers, how the volunteers describe their motivation and experiences of becoming and to be a volunteer in this context, and finally how they think and reflect upon their engagement four months later. Based on semi-structured interviews with ten volunteers who helped asylum seeking refugees in the fall of 2015 in Malmö, this study shows that the main reason for how and why they became volunteers was a combination of an inner motivation and will to help and the possibility to easily get engaged in voluntary action with others. The theoretical framework in the study is Christoph Spurk’s identification and characterization of the seven functions of civil society, and the analysis of the empirical material includes a dialog with relevant findings in previous research. By using a narrative design and a thematic analysis the empirical material has been analyzed, organized and presented. The results speak of a perceived humanitarian purpose even though the volunteers’ engagement could be interpreted as political, in the context of a polarized political climate with racism and political violence against refugees. Refugees Welcome to Malmö fulfilled civil society functions such as service delivery, building community, socialization and intermediation and facilitation between citizens and state. The study shows that volunteering and aiding asylum seeking refugees have been a positive personal and emotional experience, and that the civil society action resulted in new social networks between individuals, organizations and official actors. However, alongside cooperation over religious and political boundaries social processes of conflict and prestige existed in the background.

This study explored adolescent girls‟ subjective experiences of being young mothers in school, focusing on their personal and interpersonal relationships within their social contexts. Participants included 15 young black mothers aged between 16 and 19 years from three high schools in Khayelitsha, Cape Town. Conducted within a feminist social constructionist framework, the study adopted an exploratory qualitative structure. Data were collected through life histories that were analysed within a thematic narrative framework. The narratives revealed that the young mothers found motherhood challenging and overly disruptive of school. Although contexts of childcare emerged as pivotal in how young mothers balanced motherhood and schoolwork, these were also presented as characterised by notions of power and control. Because of the gendered nature of care work, the women who supported the young mothers with childcare dominated the mothering spheres. The schools were also experienced as controlled and regulated by authorities in ways that constrained the young mothers‟ balancing of school and parenting. Equally constraining to a number of adolescent mothers were structural challenges, for example, parenting in spaces that lacked resources. These challenges were compounded by the immense stigma attached to adolescent motherhood. The study recommended that the Department of Education work closely with all the parties concerned in ensuring that pregnant learners benefit from the policy. It is necessary that educators are encouraged to shift attitudes so that communication with adolescent mothers is improved.

This study explored adolescent girls‟ subjective experiences of being young mothers in school, focusing on their personal and interpersonal relationships within their social contexts. Participants included 15 young black mothers aged between 16 and 19 years from three high schools in Khayelitsha, Cape Town. Conducted within a feminist social constructionist framework, the study adopted an exploratory qualitative structure. Data were collected through life histories that were analysed within a thematic narrative framework. The narratives revealed that the young mothers found motherhood challenging and overly disruptive of school. Although contexts of childcare emerged as pivotal in how young mothers balanced motherhood and schoolwork, these were also presented as characterised by notions of power and control. Because of the gendered nature of care work, the women who supported the young mothers with childcare dominated the mothering spheres. The schools were also experienced as controlled and regulated by authorities in ways that constrained the young mothers‟ balancing of school and parenting. Equally constraining to a number of adolescent mothers were structural challenges, for example, parenting in spaces that lacked resources. These challenges were compounded by the immense stigma attached to adolescent motherhood. The study recommended that the Department of Education work closely with all the parties concerned in ensuring that pregnant learners benefit from the policy. It is necessary that educators are encouraged to shift attitudes so that communication with adolescent mothers is improved.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / This study explored adolescent girls' subjective experiences of being young mothers in school, focusing on their personal and interpersonal relationships within their social contexts. Participants included 15 young black mothers aged between 16 and 19 years from three high schools in Khayelitsha, Cape Town. Conducted within a feminist social constructionist framework, the study adopted an exploratory qualitative structure. Data were collected through life histories that were analysed within a thematic narrative framework. The narratives revealed that the young mothers found motherhood challenging and overly disruptive of school. Although contexts of childcare emerged as pivotal in how young mothers balanced motherhood and schoolwork, these were also presented as characterised by notions of power and control. Because of the gendered nature of care work, the women who supported the young mothers with childcare dominated the mothering spheres. The schools were also experienced as controlled and regulated by authorities in ways that constrained the young mothers balancing of school and parenting. Equally constraining to a number of adolescent mothers were structural challenges, for example, parenting in spaces that lacked resources. These challenges were compounded by the immense stigma attached to adolescent motherhood. The study recommended that the Department of Education work closely with all the parties concerned in ensuring that pregnant learners benefit from the policy. It is necessary that educators are encouraged to shift attitudes so that communication with adolescent mothers is improved. / South Africa

Objectives of the study were 1) To investigate patterns of career development of two successful Indian football through media analysis. 2) To identify factors of career success in male v/s female Indian football players. Methodology: This is a career development narrative study where media analysis was used. Two famous Indian football players (Aditi Chauhan and Sunil Chhetri) were chosen based on he/she had represented India at National and International level and had an extensive career of 15-20 years. As the players were not available to be interviewed, several types of media data were retrieved and analysed.Narrative thematic analysis and Holistic form structural analysis was performed for the stories of the players. Findings: within first analysis, seven career development themes were identified; how their interest got developed in sports, their entry into Indian football, their settlement into their football positions, international level exposures received by each, barriers experienced & sacrifices made by each, career difficulties v/s career incline, and their journey towards transition v/s retirement in their careers. Underlining the career stories, three factors (athletic, psychological, and psychosocial) were identified followed by five themes(planning & goal setting, routine, mindset of the player, motivation, and support system) and six subthemes (fitness & diet, growth, internal motivation, parents, and family) of perceived factors of career success of the footballers. Within second analysis, types of narratives were identified. For Aditi it was sink or swim narrative and for Sunil it was performance narrative. Discussion: Both stories reflected the positive side and negative side of sports. From the whole person and whole career approach three major athletic career stages came up for the athletes’ stories which was initiation, development, and discontinuation stages. Media data focussed on whole athlete and whole career approach where training, competitions, and personal life events got covered. Thus, suggested that perceived factors of success played a key role in career development of Indian football players.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / In recent years, there has been an increase in special education complaints filed against school corporations for noncompliance with the terms of the Individualized Education Plan (IEP) established in a Case Conference Committee meeting. Case Conference Committees include parents/guardians, Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD) students, and educators. Parents/guardians are equal partners to the school corporation when developing the IEP. Disagreements within Case Conference Committee (CCC) meetings can lead to strained relationships. During Case Conference Committee Meetings, parents/guardians may disagree with educators related to managing the student’s IEP (Indiana Department of Education, 2021). Consequently, a parent/guardian of a SLD student may file a complaint or due process hearing resulting from poor communication between parties during or after a Case Conference Meeting (McQuerrey, 2019). The Critical Organizational Communication Theory was applied in exploring if parents/guardians experienced the Indiana IEP Resource Center’s common issues in CCC meetings including: the lack of (1) Communication, (2) Preparation, (3) Clarity, (4) Respect, and (5) Transparency. A narrative approach was used to tell the stories of parents/guardians and SLD students’ experience in CCC meetings.

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