Includes bibliography. / The present study investigates the relationships between exposure to community violence, household demographic characteristics, social support , parenting attitudes and child/adolescent behavioural adjustment. Participants were drawn from two economically disadvantaged, high-violence neighbourhoods in the Western Cape. The total sample comprised 305 children aged between 9 and 16 years and their primary caregivers (N = 213) . Questionnaires were administered to children at primary and high schools . Caregivers were administered questionnaires in their homes by trained research assistants . Children completed the Survey of Exposure to Community Violence, the Piers-Harris Self-Concept Scale and the Social Support Scale for children. Caregivers completed a demographic questionnaire, the South African Child Assessment Schedule, the Adult-Adolescent Parenting Inventory and the Social Support Questionnaire for caregivers. Analyses of variance and covariance, Pearson's Product-Moment correlations, and hierarchical multiple regression procedures were conducted to establish direct and indirect relationships between exposure to community violence, household demographic characteristics, social support, parenting attitudes and child/adolescent behavioural adjustment. The results of this study indicate strikingly few violence-related behavioural disturbances in children and adolescents . Other variables, particularly parenting attitudes and child social support were identified as the most important determinants of child and adolescent outcomes . The findings additionally indicate that parental social support mediates the relationship between parental attitudes and internalising symptoms in participating children and adolescents . The need to develop more complex and comprehensive models of community, parental and child factors contributing to child/adolescent outcomes in high-risk South African neighbourhood contexts is discussed.

Bibliography: leaves 94-99. / This study investigates factors which affect the motivation of volunteer telephone counsellors, including demographic variables as well as volunteers' subjective perceptions of the factors which have influenced their involvement. The study was conducted in two stages. The first consisted of a demographic analysis of two groups of counsellors from an organisation in the Western Cape, while the second stage involved a qualitative analysis of semi-structured in-depth interviews with respondents who were drawn from these groups. 446 volunteers were selected for demographic analysis, of whom 247 were the full complement of current counsellors in the organisation as of April, 1993, and 199 were ex-volunteers who had terminated their involvement during the preceding three years. Eight demographic variables were recorded for each volunteer: current age, gender, age on joining the organisation, educational level, religious orientation, marital and parental status and length of service. Volunteers were predominantly female (75%), and were on average middle-aged, well-educated, and Christian (64%). Approximately half of the group were married. Parents comprised 50% of the group. The average length of service was approximately five years. Length of service was analysed in relation to each of the other demographic variables in turn in order to discover which factors, if any, were implicated in volunteer turnover. Parental status was the only variable found to be significant in terms of length of service across both current and ex-volunteer groups. A regression analysis performed on the data set as a whole identified parental status as a significant predictor of length of service. The second stage of the study consisted of 23 in-depth interviews. Respondents ( 12 current volunteers, 11 ex-volunteers) were selected according to a purposive technique which took the form of a systematic, structured sampling strategy in order to maximize the diversity of obtained responses. A descriptive phenomenological perspective was adopted in order to tap the rich, subjective experiences of respondents. Interview data was analysed according to an inductive, constantly comparative approach. Findings based on respondents' self-report suggest that motivational factors underlying volunteer participation are multifaceted and complex, changing in nature ii and salience during the course of involvement (from initial contact with the organisation until termination of participation). Although self-serving motives seemed to play a major role in influencing participation, especially during the early stages of involvement, altruistic motives appeared to be important in sustaining on-going involvement. On the basis of findings which have emerged from the study, recommendations have been made as to possible strategies that could be adopted by the organisation to improve volunteer management. The most important of these concerns the implementation of a supervision and support structure for all active volunteers.

Approximately 85% of the global cervical cancer deaths occur in women living in developing countries. In South Africa, cervical cancer is the second most common cancer amongst women, with Black South African women having the highest risk of developing cervical cancer. Previous research with the same population group found that there are structural (time, health education, age) and psychosocial (fear of screening and stigmatization) influences to cervical screening. The purpose of this research was to identify socio-cultural factors affecting cervical cancer screening adherence within a disadvantaged community in South Africa, a developing country. To identify the social-cultural factors four focus groups consisting of men and women between the ages of 18 and 60 were conducted. A combination of the Health Belief Model (HBM) and Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) provided a theoretical framework for this study. Thematic analysis was used to identify themes that emerged from the focus groups and participant observation. Through conducting these focus groups, themes emerged which strongly highlighted the role of cultural norms, gender roles, the western medical model and traditional medicine in a woman’s decision to adhere to cervical screening. It was found that factors such as knowledge and stigma, found previously in research, were also shared amongst this sample group. However, spiritual and religious beliefs (traditional healers, religion, and balancing paradigms), gender beliefs, social construction and acceptance of disease were factors which also emerged as exerting influence in a woman’s decision to adhere to cervical screening.

Bibliography: leaves 132-154. / This randomized controlled experimental study was designed to determine whether Kinesiology, as an adjunct to medical therapy, would improve the management of patients with Crohn's disease. One hundred and fifty consecutive Crohn's disease patients, attending the Gastrointestinal Clinic at Groote Schuur Hospital, were randomly assigned to a Kinesiology (n=50) and a Control Group (n=50). In order to assess the effect of physical contact, a third group who received Massage (n=50), was also included. All participants attended their monthly hospital visits and continued taking their prescribed medication.

Includes bibliography. / Most psychosocial services for people with cancer remain under-utilised. This phenomenon disturbs the logic of two facts: that people with cancer do experience psychosocial problems, and that most interventions are capable of alleviating psychological distress and improving quality of life. This dissertation approached the above problem using a multi-modal methodology. First, a multi-choice questionnaire survey was conducted at the out-patient oncology clinic, Groote Schuur Hospital, showing that interest in the more professionalised services such as psychiatry, psychotherapy, coping skills courses, and social work was low, while interest in less professionalised services such as self-help groups and veteran patient visits was relatively high. In the context of the narrative and discursive approaches to understanding human experience, it was argued that psychosocial oncology presents a particular view of the person 'ith cancer, rooted in positivist and medical frameworks, which may be out of sink with patients' own understandings of themselves. A discourse analytic study, using two focus group interviews and four individual interviews with people with cancer, served as an alternative approach to understanding the coping process and patients' attitudes towards psychosocial care. Two contrasting discourses were highlighted in this way: an individualistic discourse and a psychological discourse. Respondents employed various rhetorical strategies in order to ensure domination of the rational, individualistic, and coping 'I' over the emotional, psychologized mind. Taken together, these results suggest that less professionalised services, based largely on fellow patient support, should be central to a more consumer-friendly system of psychosocial care. An action research approach was recommended as a possible means of developing such a system of care.

Bibliography: leaves 127-136. / South African social psychological research on national identity has been limited. The current research aimed to address some of the gaps in the local literature. Two studies were conducted among Grade 11 learners at Cape Town high schools. Study 1 (N=565) included Black African-language speakers, Coloured English-speakers, White Afrikaans-speakers and White English-speakers aged between 16.5 and 18.5. This study was an experimental test of hypotheses based on the principle of 'functional antagonism' within Self-Categorisation Theory (Turner, 1987), as well as on other concepts derived from European and local research. Based on methods used by Cinnirella (1998) and Rutland and Cinnirella (2000), participants were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions designed to make national, sub-national, or personal identity salient. The effect of this experimental manipulation on identification with South Africa and with Africa was then assessed across ethnic groups. Study 1 also investigated the relationship between attitudes towards diversity, perceived sub-national group security, and strength of identification with South Africa. Study 2 (N=91) was restricted to Coloured English-speakers within the same age range as in Study 1. Study 2 tested a hypothesis about the relative sensitivity to the experimental manipulation, of alternative measures of identification. No effects for the experimental manipulation of identity salience were found on any of the dependent variables. Significant differences were, however, found between ethnic groups on absolute and relative identification with South African and Africa, as well as on certain pertinent attitudes and beliefs. The result of Study 2 provided a degree of methodological triangulation for Study 1, while also providing additional information about the relative strength of South African, Africa, and nine other social identities. The results are discussed in the light of findings from prior South African research.

Bibliography: leaves 162-180. / This dissertation applies the theoretical ideas of Michel Foucault -viz. confession, surveillance and subjectivity - to advice columns from three South African women's magazines. An interpretative analysis effects of discourse, renders salient the relationship between knowledges, discursive practices, power and institutions. Using, as a standing point, Wendy Hollway's work on subject positioning of women in discourses concerning heterosexual relationship practice, the ways in which women are impelled to ""work"" in psychologized and medicalized ways to effect normalization in ""crises"" of ""physical attractiveness"" and ""monogamy"" are examined in advice texts. These technologies and practices produce rewards of power for Subjection, and these powers are critically discussed in terms of (a) ""liberal"" / ""humanist"", ''feminist'' and ""Foucauldian"" strategies of women's empowerment, and (b) the formal dynamics and constraints of advice columns.

Bibliography: leaves 194-227. / In recent years there has been increasing recognition of the turmoil of the adolescent developmental period. This has primarily been the result of research demonstrating high morbidity, and at times mortality, for this age group. With the acknowledgement of adolescent mental health problems, and adolescent depression in particular, came the application of a range of treatments for adolescent problems and disorders. This in tum gave rise to a need, from funders and practitioners alike, to demonstrate the efficacy of the interventions. While traditional social science methods were utilised for this purpose, the rise of the field of evaluation brought new vigour to the area of efficacy of psychological treatments. It was this new approach that informed the structure and methodology for the present thesis. The aim of this thesis was to evaluate the William Slater Centre for Adolescents and Young Adults' psychotherapeutic milieu treatment programme. The efficacy of this milieu treatment programme was determined by analysing the following: (i) the structure of the programme; (ii) the process of the programme; and (iii) the short-term outcome of the programme. A combination of qualitative and quantitative methods were used. Results of the evaluation are manifold, with each chapter of the thesis providing insight into varying aspects of the Centre's therapeutic programme. Detailed descriptions of the structure and process of the William Slater Centre and its therapeutic programme is provided. This is followed by an in-depth account of the implementation of the therapeutic programme, where details of the day-to-day functioning of the programme is provided. The final part of the thesis is a brief examination of the short-term outcome of the programme and the staff and adolescent patients' perceptions of the strengths and limitations of the Centre's programme. The thesis provides a comprehensive overview of the structure and functioning of the William Slater Centre and its programme. Emphasis is placed on the concordance of the therapeutic programme with milieu therapy principles. The thesis demonstrates that while the Centre provides an essential service to the adolescent psychiatric population, significant organisational problems of the Centre and the programme require attention.

Bibliography: leaves 137-141. / The non-governmental organisation U Managing Conflict (UMAC) is responsible for the implementation of a local crime prevention initiative in the Western Cape. The pilot project involves establishing community safety forums (CSFs) consisting of representation from government departments, communities and civil society. The CSFs project has two primary goals. The first is to facilitate information sharing and co-operation between relevant local stakeholders, and the second is to ensure that role players participate in multi-agency crime prevention planning and project initiation.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 122-130). / This research aimed to provide an in-depth analysis of the experiences of unmarried women subjected to prolonged psychological and emotional abuse within intimate relationships. The manifestations of trauma were investigated, including the psychological ramifications of exposure to repeated emotional abuse, as well as the nature of psychological captivity and the factors that prevented these women from leaving their abusers. The influence of societal gender relations on the women's experiences of abuse was explored, and an examination of the women's processes of recovery was conducted. The sample consisted of 10 women: four white participants, four black participants, and two coloured participants. The age of the participants at the time of interviewing ranged from 19 years of age to 30 years of age. Individual, in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted, and data was analysed using thematic analysis.