The internship year is of paramount importance in the vocational training of clinical psychologists. This event assists the student in making the transition from trainee to professional. During the internship year intern psychologists undergo various transitions, for example a change in roles and a change in learning style. The motivation for this study arose from the researcher's own experience of the internship year in a psychiatric training hospital. The study aims at investigating other intern clinical psychologists' experience of their internship year. The intention of this study is to present descriptions of these experiences. The research design of this study is qualitative, using a phenomenological approach. A phenomenological approach has been followed to return to the phenomenon internship in an attempt to reach the lived world of the respondents. Emphasis is placed on the respondents' perceptions of their experience of the internship year. An informal, unstructured interview was conducted with each research participant. Audio tape recordings of the interviews were transcribed. On analysis of the protocols, several themes were extracted. Each respondent did not necessarily experience each of the identified themes. The themes are discussed in chapter four and linked to the existing literature. The following themes have been identified: the value of the learning experience, a sense of apprehension, the experience of stress, the importance of support, the importance of supervision and mentorship, a sense of not belonging, a sense of isolation from social contexts, the challenges concerning culture, and a sense of achievement. The researcher hopes to make a contribution towards the understanding of intern clinical psychologists’ experience of the internship year. It is also hoped that through this study, further research in this field will be encouraged. / Dissertation (MA (Clinical Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Psychology / unrestricted

This study explored mindfulness in eight self–injuring psychiatric adolescents. A concurrent triangulation mixed–method design was used. In–depth semi–structured clinical interviews and clinical records constituted the qualitative data, while quantitative data was gathered using the Five–Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ). Thematic analysis was used to generate themes and subthemes for both selfinjury and mindfulness. Findings regarding self–injury were in line with the literature. In terms of mindfulness, two groups emerged: one sometimes acting mindfully and the other often acting mindfully. Both similarities and differences were found between the groups. Similarities in self–injuring behaviour can be explained by their similar scores on Observe and Nonreact, while the differences can be explained by the differences in their scores on Describe, Act with Awareness and Nonjudge. Those who sometimes act mindfully tend to be more self–critical, report more severe and lethal self–injuring episodes and more often use self–injury for self–punishment. Although those who often act mindfully self–injure more often, they show more selfcompassion and report less severe injuries and less lethal methods. Future research should explore the usefulness of mindfulness–based interventions, especially teaching Nonjudge and Nonreact skills, to not only increase mindfulness, but to decrease selfinjuring behaviour. Seeing that this is an exploratory study on a small sample, the results presented here should be considered to be preliminary until replicated with a larger clinical sample. / Thesis (M.A. (Clinical Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

This study explored mindfulness in eight self–injuring psychiatric adolescents. A concurrent triangulation mixed–method design was used. In–depth semi–structured clinical interviews and clinical records constituted the qualitative data, while quantitative data was gathered using the Five–Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ). Thematic analysis was used to generate themes and subthemes for both selfinjury and mindfulness. Findings regarding self–injury were in line with the literature. In terms of mindfulness, two groups emerged: one sometimes acting mindfully and the other often acting mindfully. Both similarities and differences were found between the groups. Similarities in self–injuring behaviour can be explained by their similar scores on Observe and Nonreact, while the differences can be explained by the differences in their scores on Describe, Act with Awareness and Nonjudge. Those who sometimes act mindfully tend to be more self–critical, report more severe and lethal self–injuring episodes and more often use self–injury for self–punishment. Although those who often act mindfully self–injure more often, they show more selfcompassion and report less severe injuries and less lethal methods. Future research should explore the usefulness of mindfulness–based interventions, especially teaching Nonjudge and Nonreact skills, to not only increase mindfulness, but to decrease selfinjuring behaviour. Seeing that this is an exploratory study on a small sample, the results presented here should be considered to be preliminary until replicated with a larger clinical sample. / Thesis (M.A. (Clinical Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.