Includes bibliographical references (leaves 246-258) / 258 leaves ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Presents readings of six novels which depict something of the nature of war trauma. Collectively, the novels suggest that the attempt to narrativise war trauma is inherently problematic. Traces the disjunctions between narrative and war trauma which ensure that war trauma remains an elusive and private phenomonen; the gulf between private experience and public discourse haunts each of the novels. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of English, 2001

Thesis (Ph.D. (English)) - Rhodes University, 2008.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2008.

Thesis (M.A. (Hons.))--University of Wollongong, 2006. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references: leaf 159-171.

Thesis (M.S.W.)--Smith College School for Social Work, 2008. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 21-30, 41-51, 66-70).

Thesis (MA (Theol.))-University of Pretoria, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--Miami University, Dept. of French and Italian, 2009. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 63-64).

Thesis (M.S.W.)--Smith College School for Social Work, Northampton, Mass., 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 51-54).

The prevalence of rape in South Africa is widespread and survivors often experience severe posttraumatic stress and shame. Although secondary traumatic stress (STS) is a risk for everyone who works with primary survivors of trauma it has only been examined in a variety of professionals that provide supportive and clinical services to traumatised populations. Little is known about the impact that this experience has on the friends and family members that support these survivors. In some cases, supporters have to find a way to cope with significant distress associated with witnessing posttraumatic stress in a loved one. This begs the question of how their perceived ability to cope would influence their experience of STS. However, no studies exist that explore the dynamics between severity of posttraumatic stress in rape survivors and secondary traumatic stress and coping self-efficacy in their supporters. For this quantitative study, 23 rape survivors from a local non-governmental organisation completed the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire-Revised (HTQ-R). The 28 informal supporters that were identified, completed the Traumatic Attachment Belief Scale (TABS) and the Coping Self-Efficacy Scale (CSE). Cross-group equivalence, the presence of the outlined factors in the sample, as well as the interaction between factors, are explored and described. Findings indicate that although the survivors endorsed some symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder, their scores were not elevated enough to meet the cut-off point for this diagnosis. Findings related to the supporters indicate that the sample experienced average to high average levels of secondary traumatisation. Despite this, the subjects experienced adequate levels of coping self-efficacy. These findings indicate a need to provide more counselling resources to informal supporters in order to alleviate their secondary traumatisation and in turn increase their ability to assist primary rape survivors.

The purpose of this study is to tell the story of lay trauma counsellors - how the work they do affects them, what helps them to cope and what hinders their coping. The epistemological framework of this study is constructivism. This study involved in-depth interviews with three lay trauma counsellors from different cultural backgrounds who counselled for a minimum of one year. Hermeneutics was the method used to analyse the data. The stories of participants were recounted through the researcher’s lens in the form of specific themes that emerged for individual participants. Recurring themes evident in the stories of all three participants were discussed and compared with the literature. The information gleaned could be valuable to organisations considering setting up lay trauma programmes, to those with established programmes, as well as to prospective and experienced lay counsellors. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)