Includes bibliographical references. / This study drew on South African criminal case reports containing judicial pronouncements on psychopathy between 1947 and 1999 to explore the historical relationship between psychology and the law. In criminal law, where mental illness is alleged, the issue of responsibility arises. During the period of the study, there were important legal developments in the criminal law relating to criminal responsibility, including the formulation of a statutory test for capacity in 1977 that did away with the M’Naghten Rules and irresistible impulse principle, ... Diminished responsibility was also entrenched in the criminal law in the same Act. Psychopathy provided an interesting case study as, in terms of legal thinking, a diagnosis may indicate pathology but is not of a degree that it necessarily follows that it would be unreasonable to assign blame in law.

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 117-127). / Previous research has shown that in normal individuals sleep is critical to the formation of memories. Successful memory consolidation during sleep is contingent on the presence of slowwave sleep (SWS), REM sleep and the successful transition of stages across the night. In PTSD, both sleep and memory processes are disrupted, but no previous study has examined whether these two variables are inter-related. This study aimed at determining whether disrupted sleep was a mechanism underlying declarative memory deficits in PTSD, investigating whether memory consolidation during sleep is disrupted in PTSD diagnosed individuals in comparison with controls.

Includes bibliographical references. / This study explored resilience factors within the life narratives of adolescents who live in a low-socioeconomic, high-violence community and have become long-standing members of a community youth development programme. Twenty youth were interviewed, ten girls and ten boys. A thematic analysis was conducted which revealed eight resilience characteristics common to the majority of the participants. These were: intelligence and academic achievement; insight; personal agency; determination and self-discipline; empathy; hope; future orientation; and religious faith. A second category of themes concerned the social support received by participants, from their mothers, teachers, adult mentors and friends. Forms of social support included material support; interest and encouragement; high expectations of success; guidance and boundary setting; role models for determination, strength and agency; and counselling. The motivational factors which influenced the participants to join the programme were also explored, as well as the factors which sustained their long-term involvement. An interpretation of the process of resilience in the participants’ lives is offered, highlighting the relationship between the presence of strong maternal attachment bonds and positive adult role models which influence the development of the resilience factors, which, in turn, lead to confidence, optimism for the future and a strong sense of personal agency, all of which contribute to the formation of a community activist identity for the participants. Some recommendations for policy regarding community youth programmes and for future research are discussed.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 85-92) / The availability and free-access of ARV-treatment in South Africa has been a signifier of hope amongst fellow South Africans. This in effect has led to the government's assumption that the disclosure of an HIV/AIDS-infected status would be easier due to the treatment's effectiveness. Disclosing an HIV/AIDS-infected status to the individual/s with whom one cohabits with, has thus been made a policy by the government in order to be able to access ARV-treatment. This study examined the psychological challenges associated with disclosing an HIV/AIDS-infected status to the individuals one lives with, and the possible impact that such challenges have on ARV-treatment adherence.

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 84-91). / Anecdotal evidence suggests that sleep can aid in creative performance, but few studies have systematically investigated this association. Prior research suggests that creative thinking, particularly divergent cognition, is similar to mental states found in sleep and dreaming, especially during REM sleep. Studies have found that sleep benefits general learning and problem-solving, and facilitates insight that promotes enhanced performance on cognitive tasks. This study investigated the effects of sleep on performance with verbal and visual tasks that explicitly require creative ability. I hypothesised that participants with a period of sleep between task preparation and execution would perform better than participants with an equal period of REM-deprived sleep, daytime wakefulness, or no interval between preparation and execution, but there would be no difference in performance between the participants in terms of convergent cognition. The study was a 4-level, single-factor design, with state of consciousness as the manipulated variable. Participants (n = 87) were recruited from the university undergraduate population. Participants memorised a wordlist for task preparation and then, after an interval of either normal sleep, REM-deprived sleep, waking activity, or no interval, used the same wordlist to write a creative short story for task execution. The stories were assessed for creativity-related constructs by the researcher and independent raters. Participants also completed a visual design fluency task at both stages of the study, following a 4-level, single-factor, repeated-measures design. Participants' scores on the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT) Verbal Edition and the Shipley Institute of Living Scale (SILS) were used to control for general creative ability and IQ respectively. ANCOVA, repeated measures ANOVA, and Fisher's r to z transformation statistics were used to analyse the data. Although generally the hypotheses were not directly supported by the data obtained, trends suggest that there was a connection between sleep and creativity, especially an apparent interaction between baseline creativity and the type of interval. Based on the indirect evidence obtained, directions for future research for investigating sleep and creativity are discussed.

Bibliography: leaves 129-139. / The relationship between media exposure and disordered eating disordered behaviours is not without complexity and contestation in the existing literature. Much knowledge of this relationship in a sample of South African university students, who could be expected to have reasonably high levels of media exposure. It examined the relationship via both quantitative and qualitative methods. In the quantitative part, 222 second-year psychology students at the University of Cape Town completed the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT -26). Analyses of the EAT-26 scores and demographic variables using multiple regression showed that both the sex subjects (ß=0.23, p<0.001) and their levels of media exposure (ß=0.17, p<0.001) were significantly related to a higher risk of the development of symptoms of anorexia nervosa.

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references. / The evaluation did not attempt to establish accountability for the programme but focused on revealing information that could assist in its development and improvement. The programme’s implicit theory was articulated using information gained through programme documentation and interviews and a focus group conducted with programme stakeholders. The logic and plausibility of the resulting theory was assessed and compared to social scientific literature to reveal programme weaknesses and areas of possible improvement.

Bibliography: leaves 199-209. / This study is an exploratory one of growth monitoring in a rural African village, Thornhill. Growth monitoring is a primary health care approach to prevent child malnutrition in under-developed areas promoted by a variety of development agencies, particularly UNICEF, as a part of the "child survival revolution." It involves weighing children regularly and plotting their weights on a growth chart retained by the child's mother. Growth charts provide a visual display of a child's growth to allow health workers and mothers to identify early signs of growth faltering in order to facilitate ameliorative action (usually food supplementation or nutrition education) to prevent malnutrition. It also aims to facilitate the active participation of mothers in ensuring their child's continual good growth. The history of growth monitoring and its use in the South African context is discussed. The underlying rationale and component processes needed to implement it effectively are identified in a review of process evaluation studies of growth monitoring. Thornhill is an impoverished African rural area in the Ciskei in which malnutrition is a serious health problem and growth monitoring has been systematically implemented. However, although the health service had a demonstrated capacity for successful health interventions it had been unable to improve nutritional status. Background information and previous research in the area is presented. The study aimed to explore why growth monitoring had failed to improve nutritional status in Thornhill by investigating the way in which the component objectives of growth monitoring in terms of making growth visible, facilitating nutrition intervention and facilitating mothers' participation in their children's care were perceived by mothers and health workers.

Bibliography: leaves 72-85. / Elite (n=37), sub-elite (n=37) or non-elite (n=24) sport persons participating in any one of eight individual Olympic recognized sports (archery, fencing, gymnastics, ice skating, swimming, track and field, weightlifting and wrestling) took part in the study. Age and sex of subjects were not controlled. Subjects were given the 'How Healthy a Life do you Lead?', the 'Profile of Mood States' and a general questionnaire to complete. Descriptive analysis portrayed similar lifestyle and mood profiles across the three levels of sport performance while discriminant analysis revealed that lifestyle as well as mood variables could not predict level of sport performance (p < 0.05). The research hypotheses that healthier lifestyle and mood profiles are related to better sport performance were therefore not supported. Other results however revealed that the structure of the lifestyles was related to level of sport performance. Considerations for future research in this area are discussed.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 144-155).