This thesis argues that truth-telling in high level (nursing home) aged care is a undamentally important aspect of care that ought to reside equally alongside instrumental care. The health of the resident in a nursing home, as with individuals in other care contexts, is directly linked to care provision that allows the resident to be self determining about their care and thus allows them to make reasonable choices and decisions. This qualitative study explores the meaning of truth-telling in the care providerresident dyad in high level (nursing home) aged care. Grounded within the epistemology of social constructionism and the theoretical stance of symbolic interactionism, this study relied on oral and written text from care providers (personal care assistants and registered nurses) and residents. Thematic analysis of data relied on practices within grounded theory to determine their understanding and the conditions and consequences of their understanding about truth-telling in the nursing home. Through an understanding of the relationship-role-residency trinity, truth-telling in high level (nursing home) care comes to be understood. It has been determined that the link between truth-telling and the nature of the care provider-resident (and residents' families) relationship is that both personal carers and nurses in this study premise their understanding of truth disclosure on knowing a resident's (and resident's family's) capacity for coping with the truth and therefore catering for the resident's or family's best interests. The breadth and depth of this knowing and how the relationship is perceived and described determine what care providers will or will not tell. That is, the perceptions both personal carers and nurses have about the relationship - how they describe themselves as 'family like', 'friend' and 'stranger', has implications for the way disclosure operates and is described. Additionally, how care providers perceive and understand their role determines what care providers will or will not tell. That is, the perceptions both carers and nurses have about their own and each other's role - how they describe themselves for example as 'hands-on' carer and 'happy good nurse' has implications for the way disclosure operates and is described. Furthermore, care providers' meaning and understanding of truth-telling in aged care is not possible in the absence of an appreciation of how the care providers give meaning to and come to understand the care circumstance - residency, the aged care facility, the nursing home. That is, the perceptions both personal carers and nurses have about the aged care facility - how they describe residency as 'Home away from Home' (and what this means), as a place of little time and a plethora of situations have implications for the operation of truth-telling as a whole. Recommendations from the study include the implementation of a telling audit to better serve the truth-telling preferences of residents and the reorientation of care practices to emphasise affective care (talk rather than tasks). Furthermore, it is recommended that changes occur to the care provider roles, that care providers define themselves as facilitators rather than protectors, and education be ongoing to improve communication with and care of residents with dementia and those dying. Finally, the language of residency as 'home' needs to capture an alternate philosophy and attendant practices for improved open communication.

No description available.

Equatorial Guinea is the only former Spanish colony in Africa south of the Sahara. Consequently, the Spanish-language literature produced by its authors has been resistant to classification in both the fields of Hispanic and African literary studies. This thesis examines a selection of contemporary narratives written between 1994 and 2007 by the following authors: José Fernando Siale Djangany, Maximiliano Nkogo Esono, Juan Tomás Ávila Laurel and Joaquín Mbomio Bacheng. My main objective in this dissertation is to identify, explain and relate the ways in which post-independence authors express identity in their respective texts. In order to accomplish this task, this thesis posits situational interactions as the key sites for identity expression. Developed from the tenets of symbolic interactionism, the syncretic theoretical model of identity views it as telescopic. It is expected that, through the examination of the chosen texts, a contribution can be made to the understanding of the way in which each author expresses identity and can therefore feed into the larger discussion of identity in Equatorial Guinean narrative.

Extant literature on academic identities claims that academic identities not only represent academics’ subjectively construed understandings of who they are but they also derive from roles, statuses, membership in disciplinary communities and characteristics that make academics unique individuals. Even so, research focusing exclusively on academic identities is unprecedented in the Lesotho higher education (HE) sector; therefore, this study describes how narratives of experiences and meanings attached to being an academic relate to the construction of academic identities at the National University of Lesotho (NUL). How do reflexive interpretations of cultural expectations tied to membership in disciplinary communities influence the negotiation of academic identities and work behaviour of academic staff? How do descriptions of the (mis)alignment between job facets, individual values and expectations influence the meaningfulness and fulfilment for academics’ professional self-concepts? How do stories of internalised meanings of involvement and symbolic identification with NUL influence academic identity trajectories? Being interpretive in nature, this study used narrative interviews to collect data from a sample of thirty-one academics from NUL. The findings revealed that ‘who’ an academic is derives from meanings of ‘lived experiences’ of work enjoyment, applicability, exploitation, facilitation, multitasking, prestige and burnout. The findings also showed that academic identities were negotiated by reflexively interpreting the cultural expectation of ‘finishing work on time’ through work behaviours such as managing time, working overtime, self-motivation, underperforming, balancing roles and seeking work assistance. The participants’ narratives also revealed that the fulfilment for academics’ professional self-concepts derived from autonomy, accomplishments, learning, interdependencies, work environment, students’ attitudes and recognition. Lastly, the study showed that participants’ academic identity trajectories were influenced by altruism, passion, options, disillusions and relations. Overall, the ‘narratives of experience’ reiterated that academic identities at NUL were contextualised constructs of ‘work experiences’, ‘membership in communities’, ‘job attitudes’ and ‘self -discovery,’ based on the self as a unique individual, a group member and a role holder. Consistent with the interactionist perspective, academic identities at NUL represent structurally, culturally and institutionally located stories of experiences and meanings derived from the work situation, the setting and social relationships that academics participate in daily at NUL. / Sociology / D. Phil. (Sociology)

Summaries in English and Afrikaans / This research explores the potential value for the application of the visual expressionistic arts, as well as the application of forensic art for the emancipation of victims of violent crime. Qualitative research methods are used in order to make certain assumptions and recommendations for the application of the forensic arts in the emancipation of traumatized victims. The research is based on the view that human behaviour is influenced by different internal and external contextual influences. The theoretical basis for the research is further supported by the grounding principals of the psycho-analytic, symbolic interactionistic and the phenomenological theoretical approaches. The potential for the application of the forensic arts during crisis intervention and trauma counselling as a therapeutic technique and a communication medium are investigated. The potential forensic value of the victims’ art for the criminal justice system is also explored during the research. / Die navorsing ondersoek die potensiele waarde vir die aanwending van die tradisionele visuele beeldende kunste asook die aanwending van die forensiese kunste vir die emansipasie van slagoffers van geweldsmisdaad. Kwalitatiewe navorsingsmetodes word tydens die navorsing gebruik ten einde sekere afleidings en aanbevelings te maak aangaande die aanwending van die forensiese kuns vir die emansipasie van getraumatiseerde misdaadslagoffers. Die navorsing word teoreties gebaseer op die beskouing van die mens wie se gedrag beinvloed word deur verskillende interne en eksterne kontekstuele invloede. Die teoretiese basis vir die navorsing word verder ondersteun deur die grondbeginsels van die psigo-analise, simboliese interaksionisme en die fenomenologiese teoretiese benaderings. Die potensiaal vir die aanwending van forensiese kuns as 'n terapeutiese tegniek en kommunikasiemedium tydens krisisingryping en berading word ondersoek. Die potensiele forensiese waarde van misdaadslagoffers se kuns in die regsplegingstelsel word ook in die navorsing ondersoek. / Criminology and Security Science / M.A. (Criminology)

An immense degree of linguistic diversity exists in the work force where it is possible for speakers of twenty-three home languages to come into contact on the work floor. The language of management in industry is predominantly English; while supervisors are primarily English- or Afrikaans-speaking. Misinterpretation of speaker intent plays a significant role in communication breakdown that occurs when management or foremen/supervisors communicate directly with workers who do not understand the two erstwhile official languages sufficiently or not at all. Reagan ( 1 986) hypothesized that the greatest number of problems are caused by what might be termed mutual ignorance, rather than by language difficulties. The aim of the thesis was therefore to establish what constitutes the mutual ignorance that leads to misinterpretation of speaker intent. The Hymesian model, the ethnography of speaking, was used as a model for an analysis of sociolinguistic features in factories in the Pretoria-WitwatersrandVereeniging area. For data collection a process of triangulation was used and qualitative and quantitative methods used. The Free Attitude Interview technique was used for unstructured interviews. Other methods include observation, and elicitation procedures such as the Discourse Completion Test, which were used in structured interviews. Language preference, forms of address and politeness markers were examined. Findings revealed that the major differences were found to be in the area of non-verbal behaviour. Speakers of Afrikaans and English are, on the whole, unaware of politeness markers used by speakers of African languages. Afrikaans and English speakers are unaware of offensive non-verbal behaviour used by them. It is revealing that speakers of the official languages believe this to be the very area that makes communication possible, but it is the area in which they may cause offence. It was also found that speakers of African languages have adopted many of the features of the power dominant group at work. The findings of the research are important for the development of strategies for overcoming misinterpretation of speaker intent and negative stereotyping. This research was undertaken as part of the Human Sciences Research Council's programme entitled Language in the labour situation. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / D.Litt. et Phil. (Linguistics)

The purpose of this study is to investigate the lived experiences and treatment of Muslim women in their encounters with the social services. The primal themes for this study was: How does Muslim women experience the treatment of their case in the social services in a situation of need? How can the encounter and experience with the social services affect the clients trust in the social services?  What is the ideal treatment of women with a Muslim identity by the social services? The aim of this study was to investigate and capture the respondents lived perceptions and experiences with the social services, and thus the qualitative interview methodology was implemented to answer the research questions and hypotheses. Seven interviews with Muslim women were conducted in various districts of Stockholm, a city in northern Sweden. Five of the respondents were of ethnic Swedish origin and two were of other ethic origin. The results show that the majority of the respondents experienced a negative response at least once when in contact with the social services. Respondents emphasize that the unsafe and insecure meeting with the social worker was due to a non-verbal body language which they experience as an indication of preconceived notions about Muslim women, which is particularly experienced and described by the respondents with the Islamic headscarf. The trust in the social services decline in connection with the negative reflection of the respondents. However, the lived experiences with the social worker and the social services have not all been of a negative nature. The suggested ideal is also taken from the respondents own lived experiences with the social services.  A pervasive and consistent ideal is that the respondents want to be listened to, understood and respected for who they are as well as empowered rather than suppressed.  Key words: treatment, attitudes, Muslim women, social services, symbolic interactionism, trust, reliance (confidence) ideal, Rothstein, Mead, structural discrimination.   Nyckelord: bemötande, muslimska kvinnor, socialtjänsten, symbolisk interaktionism, tillit, förtroende, ideal, Rothstein, Mead, strukturell diskriminering.

In critical times of reawakening right-wing ideologies in Germany, the social movement OMAS GEGEN RECHTS (transl. ‘Grannies against the far right’) sets a determined, yet by many unexpected, political statement against fascism. This thesis draws on collective identity theory and symbolic interactionism to conceptualize the activists’ communicative and strategic use of the grandmother self-designation. Based on semi- structured interviews, photo elicitation method, participant observation, and song lyrics, the work explores the expressive and symbolic meaning of their collective action, communicative objects and processes. The grounded analysis points to four themes of identity negotiations – (1) loudness, (2) visibility, (3) commemoration and (4) peacefulness versus ruthlessness – to reveal how OMAS GEGEN RECHTS re-appropriate grandmotherhood. With the lens of feminist gerontology, it becomes apparent that the activists’ self-designation ‘OMA’ extends far beyond anti-fascist commitment by challenging traditional images of female ageing. / In kritischen Zeiten wiedererstarkender rechter Ideologien in Deutschland setzt die soziale Bewegung OMAS GEGEN RECHTS ein entschlossenes, wenngleich für viele unerwartetes politisches Zeichen gegen den Faschismus. Mit Theorien der kollektiven Identität und des symbolischen Interaktionismus konzeptualisiert diese Arbeit den kommunikativen und strategischen Gebrauch der Selbstbezeichnung ‚Oma‘. Deren expressive und symbolische Bedeutung in Form von kollektiver Aktion sowie kommunikativer Objekte und Prozesse wird auf Grundlage von Interviews (mit visueller Unterstützung), teilnehmenden Beobachtungen und Liedtexten untersucht. Die fundierte Analyse verweist auf vier Themen der Identitätsverhandlungen – (1) Lautstärke, (2) Sichtbarkeit, (3) Gedenken und (4) Friedfertigkeit versus Wehrhaftigkeit. Die Themen zeigen auf, wie OMAS GEGEN RECHTS den Begriff der ‚Großmutterschaft‘ neu interpretieren und ihn sich aneignen. Aus der Perspektive der feministischen Gerontologie wird deutlich, dass die Selbstbezeichnung der Aktivistinnen ‚OMA‘ weit über antifaschistisches Engagement hinausgeht, indem sie traditionelle Bilder des weiblichen Alterns in Frage stellen.

Emotional abuse is a problem experienced worldwide, crossing all economic, educational, social and ethnic segments of all societies. Overtime, many empirical researchers concentrated on studying the occurrence and impact of physical abuse on women but neglected to study the effects of emotional abuse on the woman's physical and mental health. But with time, researchers began to realise that emotional abuse also had a great impact on the lives of women. Therefore, a detailed exploration of emotional abuse between intimate adult partners has only recently emerged in the literature. Though it is difficult to separate emotional abuse from other forms of abuse, many women in our research who were provided with a definition of emotional abuse identified and confirmed that they have been emotionally abused in their past or are being abused in their current intimate relationships. This research project focused mainly on women who suffered and have survived the wounds of emotional abuse in intimate relationships. Group work is aimed at the growth and development of the individual. This study reports on an in-depth analysis of the arrangements and formulation of the structure of support groups, and the effectiveness of the functioning of these groups. Participants who joined the support groups in this research, were women who have undergone therapeutic intervention and are/or were engaged in a healing process that involved reintegration, implementation and maintenance of therapeutic goals. Support groups do provide a place where people can share their experiences in a safe environment, and where they can symbolise their experiences and consequently make them more acceptable to the self. It has been concluded in this research that support groups were effective in giving members the opportunity of helping each other to heal from the wounds of emotional abuse by being supportive, giving feedback, making helpful suggestions and providing useful information necessary for their growth and development. Therefore, participants who joined the support groups agreed that they have benefited by receiving the encouragement and support from one another, which contributed towards their process of healing emotionally, and in turn, caused them to change from being helpless victims to survivors of emotional abuse. / Sociology / D. Phil (Sociology)

Emotional abuse is a problem experienced worldwide, crossing all economic, educational, social and ethnic segments of all societies. Overtime, many empirical researchers concentrated on studying the occurrence and impact of physical abuse on women but neglected to study the effects of emotional abuse on the woman's physical and mental health. But with time, researchers began to realise that emotional abuse also had a great impact on the lives of women. Therefore, a detailed exploration of emotional abuse between intimate adult partners has only recently emerged in the literature. Though it is difficult to separate emotional abuse from other forms of abuse, many women in our research who were provided with a definition of emotional abuse identified and confirmed that they have been emotionally abused in their past or are being abused in their current intimate relationships. This research project focused mainly on women who suffered and have survived the wounds of emotional abuse in intimate relationships. Group work is aimed at the growth and development of the individual. This study reports on an in-depth analysis of the arrangements and formulation of the structure of support groups, and the effectiveness of the functioning of these groups. Participants who joined the support groups in this research, were women who have undergone therapeutic intervention and are/or were engaged in a healing process that involved reintegration, implementation and maintenance of therapeutic goals. Support groups do provide a place where people can share their experiences in a safe environment, and where they can symbolise their experiences and consequently make them more acceptable to the self. It has been concluded in this research that support groups were effective in giving members the opportunity of helping each other to heal from the wounds of emotional abuse by being supportive, giving feedback, making helpful suggestions and providing useful information necessary for their growth and development. Therefore, participants who joined the support groups agreed that they have benefited by receiving the encouragement and support from one another, which contributed towards their process of healing emotionally, and in turn, caused them to change from being helpless victims to survivors of emotional abuse. / Sociology / D. Phil (Sociology)