The dissertation presents a participatory research process in organisational change with social work supervision. The study was conducted with a group of social work supervisors employed by the Department of Health and Welfare in the Central region of the Northern Province from September 1997 to November 1998. The participatory research process engaged the participants in a consciousness-raising and educational process. They were enabled to identify problems which rendered them ineffective, brought about by the socio-political transformation process in South Africa since 1994, and were strengthened as a collaborative group to work together to bring about change in their situation. Going through the process of dialogue as a group, the participants became empowered and more confident to do participatory supervision, which in tum would empower the supervisees as direct service providers. / Health Studies / M.A. (Social Science (Mental Health))

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / In the fields of formal and informal online adult education, the absence of a social context for instruction has been found to present significant limitations for learner persistence and retention. In the field of online psychoeducational intervention, self-administered and self-paced individualized prevention programs have been developed for delivery to large populations of anonymous users. These delivery models provide limited social context for instructional activities, due in part to the anonymity of their participants. When social interaction is included in their prevention programs through voluntary, asynchronous self-help/mutual aid discussion forums, anonymity may still limit social interaction, in favor of observational learning advantages for self-efficacy appraisals derived from "lurking". When these large-group models have been applied to online psychoeducation intervention programs for the purposes of encouraging mutual aid, interactive participation has been limited. This mixed methods study focused on a model for the design of an online small group psychoeducational intervention that integrated individual and social learning in a parent management training program. Self-paced participation was replaced with facilitator-led participation in an asynchronous discussion forum where topics were prioritized and sequenced with learning content from individual web-based training modules. Social interaction was facilitated through online problem-based learning discussion group. Despite assertions that interactive participation in online psychoeducational discussion forums may only be accomplished once a subscriber threshold of several hundred participants has been reached, this study found that small group participation through the program's integrated design resulted large effects for increases in parent self-agency and reduction of over-reactive, coercive parenting behaviors. Participation in the online problem-based group discussion forum was found to have contributed to participant outcomes when posting characteristics revealed the presence of both mutual aid processes and the application of individual learning module content.

The report is about participatory action research with caregivers at the 'Tsoga 0 ltirele" centre for the mentally disabled. It was a process where the caregivers were involved in a series of action, plan and reflection in researching their situation. The facilitation process assisted the caregivers to look at their problems at the centre and improve service delivery in caring for the mentally disabled children. Several meetings were held where action, plan and reflection took place. Caregivers decided on their own when to meet and discuss issues that concerned them. They planned what needed to be dealt with and took collective action to address these needs. The facilitation process enabled caregivers to research their own problems, embrace errors experienced and recognise progress. People Centred Approach, Community Development and Participatory Action Research complemented one another in capacitating caregivers. Through it they learned to improve their own programmes and to run their meetings, improve marketing skills and fundraising. / Social Work / M.A. (Social Science (Mental Health))

The report is about participatory action research with caregivers at the 'Tsoga 0 ltirele" centre for the mentally disabled. It was a process where the caregivers were involved in a series of action, plan and reflection in researching their situation. The facilitation process assisted the caregivers to look at their problems at the centre and improve service delivery in caring for the mentally disabled children. Several meetings were held where action, plan and reflection took place. Caregivers decided on their own when to meet and discuss issues that concerned them. They planned what needed to be dealt with and took collective action to address these needs. The facilitation process enabled caregivers to research their own problems, embrace errors experienced and recognise progress. People Centred Approach, Community Development and Participatory Action Research complemented one another in capacitating caregivers. Through it they learned to improve their own programmes and to run their meetings, improve marketing skills and fundraising. / Social Work / M.A. (Social Science (Mental Health))