Introduction: An insufficient number of studies have been carried out in the Middle East exploring the variables that contribute to breast cancer patients’ psychological distress. In addition, very few studies exist that evaluate the role of structured psychotherapeutic interventions in enhancing breast cancer patients’ psychological well-being and quality of life. This study has been designed to address this limitation by conducting a mixed-method approach to explore women’s experiences with the diagnosis of breast cancer and with two structured psychotherapeutic interventions, namely, ‘crisis counselling’ and ‘psycho-education’. Methods: A total of 201 women with early stage breast cancer from the State of Qatar were recruited and randomised into either the control group or one of the treatment groups (crisis counselling and psycho-education). The aim of the quantitative approach was to evaluate the short- and long-term benefits of the crisis counselling and psycho-education interventions, in terms of improving patients’ psychological well-being, quality of life and treatment compliance. This was achieved by asking all patients to complete the DASS21 and QLQ-C30 instruments at different points in time and by monitoring their compliance with treatment. Later, a qualitative approach was utilised: twelve Arab patients from the treatment groups were invited to attend focus-group interviews in order to explore their experience with the diagnosis of breast cancer and with the study interventions. Results: the qualitative results of this study revealed that fear of social stigma, difficulty coping with fatigue and body image changes, and altered intrafamilial/sexual relationships contribute significantly to Arab women’s psychological distress. The quantitative results revealed that both of the study interventions were effective in improving women’s psychological well-being and quality of life over time but had no impact on patients’ compliance with treatment. In addition, the study showed that psycho-education conferred a greater advantage than did the crisis counselling model, especially on improving women’s psychological well-being over time. Conclusion: The results of this study will significantly aid health care professionals in the State of Qatar to improve the care of breast cancer patients, through awareness-raising education about the disease and its associated social stigma and by initiating changes to the psychotherapeutic services through the implementation of crisis counselling and psycho-education interventions in the future.

This research is concerned with some aspects of the counselling process within Marriage Guidance Council Counselling sessions. The first area of investigation chosen was the interaction of the counsellors image of the ideal client with her perceived image of real clients. Unfortunately, it was not possible to pursue this investigation since not all of the counsellors images of who would benefit from counselling were sufficiently stable over time. This was felt to be due to the test used (the California Q set). The second chosen area of investigation was the client counsellor verbal interaction in first counselling sessions studied using transcripts of ten female and four male clients and two couples counselled by the researcher and one woman and one couple counselled by another counsellor. The content was analysed using attribution theory. Clients made attributions from a wider range of categories than experimental studies normally allow for, the most frequently used category was emotion and attitude attributions, this is a neglected category which needs further study. The results did not support previous findings that people make Significantly more situational than personality attributions about their own behaviour. Clients have response strategies they use to reply to the counsellor, some of these are blocking strategies since they result in the counsellor dropping the subject being discussed; others are positive responses since they lead to the client· and counsellor engaging in a dialogue. All clients living with their partners who returned for a second session engaged in at least one extended dialogue with the counsellor about an attribution made by the counsellor. None of the clients who failed to return engaged in an extended dialogue with the counsellor.

In this qualitative, interpretive, multi-perspective study a new and promising salutogenic imagery approach developed in Germany, called Value-Oriented Imagery (Wertimagination/WIM®) was researched in regard to its applicability in multicultural (non-European) contexts. A second question researched was whether specific cultural or regional “dialects” would be encountered in the universal inner picture language of persons from other (non-European) cultural backgrounds than the one the approach was developed within. A WIM® study with eighteen participants from African South African, Asian South African and European South African cultural backgrounds was conducted in Johannesburg in 2011 and 2012. The results were analysed and compared with WIM® work experiences from Germany. Subsequently the results of the comparison were discussed in three WIM® expert interviews: with Uwe Boeschemeyer, Stephan Peeck and Andreas Boeschemeyer. The main outcome of this research study is that Value-Oriented Imagery can be seen as a rewarding contribution to South African multicultural (logo)therapy/ counselling contexts. Only minor cultural and regional “dialects” occurred in the universal inner symbols of the RSA study participants, such as the occurrence of more water features, especially waterfalls, and more spontaneous, unintended Healthy Inner Child encounters. The present study suggests that work with Value- Oriented Imagery could make a valuable contribution within any cultural and multicultural (logo)therapy/counselling context. / Psychology / D. Litt. et Phil. (Psychology)

In this qualitative, interpretive, multi-perspective study a new and promising salutogenic imagery approach developed in Germany, called Value-Oriented Imagery (Wertimagination/WIM®) was researched in regard to its applicability in multicultural (non-European) contexts. A second question researched was whether specific cultural or regional “dialects” would be encountered in the universal inner picture language of persons from other (non-European) cultural backgrounds than the one the approach was developed within. A WIM® study with eighteen participants from African South African, Asian South African and European South African cultural backgrounds was conducted in Johannesburg in 2011 and 2012. The results were analysed and compared with WIM® work experiences from Germany. Subsequently the results of the comparison were discussed in three WIM® expert interviews: with Uwe Boeschemeyer, Stephan Peeck and Andreas Boeschemeyer. The main outcome of this research study is that Value-Oriented Imagery can be seen as a rewarding contribution to South African multicultural (logo)therapy/ counselling contexts. Only minor cultural and regional “dialects” occurred in the universal inner symbols of the RSA study participants, such as the occurrence of more water features, especially waterfalls, and more spontaneous, unintended Healthy Inner Child encounters. The present study suggests that work with Value- Oriented Imagery could make a valuable contribution within any cultural and multicultural (logo)therapy/counselling context. / Psychology / D. Litt. et Phil. (Psychology)