Bibliography: leaves 117-128. / Woman abuse is a pervasive social problem and there is a paucity of South African research exploring women's experiences of violence. This study focused on how women endure abusive relationships by examining how women construct and give meaning to their experiences, within a particular socio-cultural context. Interviews were conducted with 15 participants who volunteered participation in response to advertisements. All research participants resided in Mitchell's Plain or surrounding areas. In-depth, narrative interviews were used to investigate women's experiences of violence from their partners. The interview topics included women's daily concerns and problems, their experiences of and responses to their partners' violence, and their feelings toward their partners and staying in the relationships. The interviews lasted approximately one to two hours and were tape-recorded and transcribed. The interview data was analysed by utilising a narrative approach, taking the content of women's stories into account. A close attention to language and discourse also shaped the analysis of women's narratives. In their narratives, women named their experiences of violation and abuse, explored the impact of abuse, and discussed their help-seeking attempts. Women also constructed particular gendered identities for themselves and their partners. Hegemonic gendered identities were sometimes adopted or resisted and reflected contradictory subjective experiences. This study showed how women in abusive relationships utilised a variety of strategies to end the violence in their lives and challenged constructions of women as passive victims of abuse. The meanings women attached to their experiences of abuse were filtered through the particular socio-cultural context (characterised by poverty and deprivation) within which their experiences occurred. An important contribution of this study was the acknowledgement that change occurred as a result of the abuse. Women named their experiences of abuse, questioned a husband's violence against his wife, and made connections between their experiences and those of other women, thereby shifting toward a gendered consciousness.

Includes bibliographical references. / The significant changes to the political landscape of South Africa since the abolition of apartheid and the implementation of democracy have had far-reaching effects in social order and gender relations. With the new dispensation has come the promise of new opportunities for men and women of all races to participate fully in the creation of a multicultural society, making the issue of transformation an important agenda. As a social artifact, children's literature has also been influenced by these changes, and the didactic function of this medium make it an interesting site to explore the ways in which historical stereotypes are both perpetuated and challenged. This study focused on the representation of black masculinity in a sample of South African children's literature published after apartheid. The aim was to investigate how race, gender, and class intersect in the representation of black masculinity.

Includes bibliographical references / Socioeconomic status (SES) plays a significant role in neuropsychological performance, with several empirical research studies reporting that low-SES children score more poorly on cognitive tasks than do high-SES children, even when IQ is statistically controlled. However, cognitive ability is not depressed across the board among low-SES children. Rather, abilities have been linked to specific neurocognitive systems. However, in South Africa there is a lack of local research focusing specifically on the link between SES and children's neuropsychological performance. The aim of the current study, therefore, was to investigate the relationship between SES and neuropsychological performance in a sample of South African children (divided into three SES-based groups) between the ages of 7- and 10-years old, with specific focus on the domains of attention, memory, and executive functioning. In addition, I aimed to provide preliminary normative data, stratified by age and SES, for the test battery used in this study.

Summary in English. / Bibliography: leaves 145-152. / This study examined the extent of burnout (as conceptualized by Maslach and Jackson (1981): emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and diminished personal accomplishment) being experienced by nurses in a South African state hospital, and its associations with a range of work environment variables and the ways in which nurses generally cope with their stress. This exploratory study took the form of a cross-sectional, correlational field survey, in which both quantitative and qualitative data were collected from surgical hospital nurses by means of self-report questionnaires. Quantitative measures included were the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI; Maslach & Jackson, 1981), the Work Environment Scale (WES; Moos, 1986) and the Coping Orientations to Problems Experienced Scale (COPE; Carver, Scheier & Weintraub, 1989). Additional quantitative measures of personal control, support, sense of appreciation and job satisfaction were obtained from visual analogue rating scales. The qualitative data comprised a frequency analysis of themes evident in the content of subjects' written responses to four open-ended questions posed in the questionnaire. On each of the three burnout subscales, respondents' scores were categorized into low, moderate or high levels of burnout. Apart from correlational and ANOVA analyses, performed in order to examine relationships between variables and differences in terms of demographics, nursing categories, and nursing specialities, discriminant analyses were performed in order to identify those variables which were experienced differently by nurses reporting different levels of burnout. A number of significant predictors of burnout were identified. Of the work environment variables examined in the study, higher levels of work pressure, diminished physical comfort, and lack of peer cohesion predicted higher levels of emotional exhaustion. Lack of physical comfort and perceived lack of supervisor support were strongly associated with higher levels of depersonalization. Generally, lower levels of perceived autonomy and supervisor support were associated with a diminished sense of personal accomplishment. Regarding coping, frequent use of the problem-focused strategy of planning was found to be associated with lower levels of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. Frequent use of the emotion-focused strategies of positive reinterpretation, seeking emotional social support, and acceptance were related to higher levels of personal accomplishment, whereas increased use of the emotion-focused strategy of denial was strongly associated with diminished personal accomplishment. Regarding palliative/avoidant coping strategies, frequent behavioural disengagement was associated with higher levels of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, and mental disengagement and focusing/venting of emotions were related to higher levels of emotional exhaustion.

Bibliography : leaves 122-145. / Investigations into the causes of postnatal depression are, with few exceptions, quantitative in nature. Although there are psychological, interpersonal and sociocultural perspectives on postnatal depression, the medical one dominates in terms of academic, professional and lay understandings of aetiology. The medical model has produced a plethora of investigations into the causes of postnatal depression but has paid little attention to the insights of women who have experienced the condition. This study sought to redress this by exploring the causes of post-natal depression from a women-centred perspective. A feminist approach to postnatal depression was adopted. This approach has evolved largely as a critique of the medical model and is grounded in a more qualitative tradition. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with twenty women who had recovered from postnatal depression. Transcribed data from the interviews were thematically analysed to uncover the participants' attributed causes for their post-natal depression. A number of common themes emerged and could be broadly grouped under ""interpersonal factors"" (such as the impact of the woman's relationship with her own mother); ""psychological factors"" (such as the impact of unresolved issues and feelings of loss on the new mother) and ""biological factors"" (such as hormonal factors). The dominant theme that emerged from this study was that of ""motherhood"". Included under this heading were all those factors specifically associated with being a mother that were regarded by the women as being the cause of their postnatal depression (such as the experience of childbirth, breastfeeding and lack of sleep). At the core of this theme lay the realisation that motherhood was not what they had expected it to be. Their disappointment in not meeting their own expectations of motherhood contributed significantly to their postnatal depression. An interesting finding was that while many of the respondents located feelings of failure to live up to the ""ideal image"" of motherhood as a cause of their depression, few questioned the validity of the social construction of this ideal. This paper also examined the extent to which women's aetiological explanations resonate with existing models of post-natal depression. Their explanations were found to reflect some of the existing aetiological models of postnatal depression but no single model of explanation could be identified as the cause of their postnatal depression. Rather, women's attributions of cause were multi-layered and complex. They all attributed their depression following childbirth to a number of factors and they differed markedly from one another in their attributions. According to this research, postnatal depression results from a myriad of inter-related factors which interact with one another in different ways to produce a largely different picture for each and every woman. The limitations and contributions of this study are discussed.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 137-151). / Given the amount of literature on Islam in South Africa, very little has been written about the roles of Muslim women and their contributions to the development of Islam in this country. In addition, there is a dearth of academic work on the ways in which Muslim women in South Africa identify themselves. Of the writing that does exist, there is an almost exclusive focus on a binary distinction between modern and traditional women, which limits the multiplicity of expressions available to these women. This thesis examines through the analysis of narratives, the diversity of experiences and the fluidity of subjectivities for Muslim women, without conforming to binary divisions for analysis. Instead, the range of identities and the shifting processes of gender constructions are prioritised.

Bibliography: leaves 163-173. / This thesis examines marital discord and dissolution within the Muslim community in the Western Cape. The writer contends that the rising incidence of divorce in a community may indicate underlying social upheaval especially within its family unit. Marriage and divorce reveal individual characteristics, faulty norms and disfuntionality that may be generalised to greater societal trends within a community. The aim of this study is to identify the main reasons and contributing factors that lead to divorce. Such data will assist in planning and supporting proactive communal programmes to reduce the high divorce rate in the community.

Bibliography: leaves 201-209. / This descriptive study focused on two clinics in the Western Cape's South Peninsula (Retreat and Ocean View), with relatively successful cure rates. These successes were explored within the ecological frameworks of comprehensive primary health care (PHC) and the Healthy Cities concept. Clinic-based and community-based anti-tuberculosis treatments were compared in both areas. The relative influence of the Healthy Cities pilot project in Ocean View was also explored.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 125-136). / The aim of this study was to investigate the current crystal methamphetamine problem and its trends of abuse as manifested in the local context of Cape Town, South Africa. Twelve individuals (four ex-users, five users in recovery and three current users) who were dependent on crystal methamphetamine took part in the study. They ranged between the age of seventeen and twenty eight years. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in order to gather participants' stories about their subjective understanding of their dependence on crystal methamphetamine. Onset of use was often driven by curiosity and/or peer pressure, as well as to avoid states of psychological discomfort. Crystal methamphetamine use was usually maintained due to the enjoyment of its rewarding effects. Smoking the substance became especially important with more regular use as it served as a powerful, albeit temporary, stress eliminator. Crystal methamphetamine ubiquity appeared to be highly influential in the onset as well as maintenance of the substance's consumption. A range of debilitating physiological and psychological symptoms comprised the state of dependence. The presence of psychotic symptoms was rife within the sample and was often indicative of severe and prolonged crystal methamphetamine use. An inability to function within the external 'drug-free reality' was characterised by participants not being able to fulfill responsibilities and thus was also suggestive of maladaptive patterns of use. Polydrug use was generally common among participants. Some female participants' narratives also pointed towards the association of crystal methamphetamine use and sexual risk-taking behaviours. Identifying an external motivating factor was important in encouraging cessation of use but internal motivation often appeared to be just as significant in attaining as well as sustaining abstinence. Sleeping was the most common strategy used in dealing with the state of severe withdrawal which followed post use. In general, most participants did not perceive treatment as being the most useful means of achieving sobriety. Identifying goals and a perceived sense of purpose appeared important in motivating the individual along the path towards recovery as well as in the maintenance of abstinence.

Bibliography: leaves 126-139. / Given South Africa's ethnic complexities, comparatively little has been written about the group known as white English-speaking South Africans, or WESSAs. This is partly because of the lack of collective sentiment shared by people categorised as WESSAs, partly because the group boundaries are not clear-cut, and partly because on the surface there appears to be little that can be said about them. Besides a proclivity for business, a continued attachment to Europe and an apparent inability to organise politically, the acollectivity of the group has been the focus of the literature on the subject, and its cause has been a matter of some bewilderment on the part of authors. This work examines WESSA identity from a new perspective, one influenced by the proliferation of writings on the topic of "whiteness" in Europe and America in recent years. These writings concentrate on how whiteness as a set of discourses positions being white as neutral or "raceless", in contrast to other race groups who are constructed as "ethnic".