Educators are currently faced with numerous challenges, among them the prospect of working with OBE as well as dealing with growing class sizes and diminishing resources. Educators can no longer survive by using the text book, but are having to rely on a far greater range of resources both within themselves and in the world outside. In dealing with the injustices of the past, and in an attempt to move forward, it was recognised that a study exploring the impact of educators on the learners that they teach, was warranted - with particular emphasis on the facilitation of learning (as recommended within the new OBE system) . This particular study set out to discover whether there was a KwaZulu-Natal profile of the 'effective educator' as commonly agreed upon by learners and educators from different learning environments. In a partial replication of a study by Burns (1987), 237 participants (comprising educators and learners from a former 'DEC' and a former 'Model C' school) completed the 30-item Effective Educator Questionnaire which was then analysed in order to explore the patterns which might emerge. Responses were grouped into 11 areas of educator effectiveness and responses were compared between (i) former 'DEC' and former 'Model C' participants and (ii) educators and learners for each of the 30 questions which were grouped into the 11 areas as used by Burns in his original study. The study revealed similar findings to Burns' original study, and also found that there is a broad concept of the effective educator in the KwaZulu-Natal context - with the effective educator possessing both skills and qualities which facilitate learning. As a result of the findings, future research was recommended in the field in order to assist in educator selection programmes as well as action-research conducted by educators themselves in order to facilitate educational development within the country. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2001.

This qualitative study attempted to develop a process theory of suicidal behaviour. The Arthur Inman diary, which documents the thoughts and feelings of a suicidal individual (Arthur Crew Inman) who eventually died by suicide, was the primary data source from which the theory emerged. Aspects of the qualitative grounded theory procedure were used to develop the theory. Purposeful intensity sampling, theoretical sampling, open and discriminant sampling were applied at different stages of the research process. In addition, the constant comparative method, which forms the hallmark of grounded theory procedures, was an integral part of the analytic procedure. The emergent process theory, which was firmly grounded in the primary data source and extant literature sources, hopefully offers a new paradigm within which suicidal behaviour can be understood. It proposes the processional aspects of suicide and puts forward phases, which a potentially suicidal individual goes through. It thus attempts to bridge a major gap in the study of suicidal behaviour by providing dynamic pathways that link vulnerability to suicide with the suicide act. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sci.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2002.

The problem investigated is the contribution of non-intellectual factors, in particular the level of psychosocial maturity, to the academic achievement of the high school pupil. It has generally been shown that Intelligence and Achievement correlate. (Robbertse 1968; Moerdyk 1973). However, according to Ausubel (1968) this correlation is only moderate and he suggests that this can be attributed to the influence of other variables, such as personality traits, adjustment and interests. Robbertse (1968) has stated that Intelligence alone is not a good predictor of school achievement for all pupils, that personality is an integral part of an individual's psychological make-up and it is, therefore, imperative to look at its contribution to the prediction of achievement. Eysenck (1969) and Cattell (1966) have found low but significant correlations between various personality scales and achievement. Verhage (1977) mentioned that relatively little research has been done in South Africa to determine the relationship between non-academic factors, such as personality characteristics, and academic achievement. Psychosocial maturity as conceived in this thesis is the outcome of the process of personality development with the emphasis on the person as a healthy individual in his interaction with society. A multiple correlation technique is used to relate academic results, intelligence scores and psychosocial maturity in an attempt to improve the prediction of achievement from Intelligence by using maturity scores. Results that are generally supporting of the hypothesis are presented, and factors that emerge and their implications are discussed. The characteristics of the maturity scale as found in a South African sample are also discussed. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, 1977.

From West Street to Dr Pixley kaSeme Street:1 How contemporary racialised subjectivities are (re)p roduced in the city of Durban This thesis is part of the larger mission to understand and challenge the ongoing reproduction of race. The focus of this particular project is on how race is perpetuated through the continuing construction of our racialised subjectivities in/through place. This idea is broadly epitomised by the idea that „who we are is where we are? (Dixon and Durrheim, 2000) and the recognition that this process is highly racialised. This emphasis locates this project squarely within the social psychology of race, place and identity. To collect data that could facilitate access to racialised place-identity constructions I used a mobile methodology wherein black and white city government officials (who had grown up in Durban) took me on a walking and/or driving tour of the city of Durban talking with me about the racial transformation of this city from our childhood (in apartheid times) to the present (post-apartheid) city. These conversations were digitally recorded and transcribed for analysis. I also recorded various activities that took place during the tour and made extensive pre-tour and post-tour notes. All of this material was utilised analytically. Initially I analysed the discursive practices which we (the participants) engaged in as we constructed the racialised city historically and contemporaneously and reflected on the attendant subjectivities of blackness and whiteness invoked by this particular place-identity talk. When it became apparent that there was more to the production of race on the tours than that which was produced by our implaced talk my analysis progressed to an examination of other practices which produced race on the tours, namely, our material/embodied interactive practices. Through paying close analytic attention to our interaction on the tours it became evident that key practices which produced race on the tours – the spatial, discursive and embodied practices – were inextricably connected to each other in a „trialectical? (tri-constitutional) relationship. I argue that we need to analyse this trialectical relationship further because of the ways in which it facilitates the creation of racial sticking points which obfuscate racial transformation in South Africa. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2009.

The meaning of, and motives for, participation in satanic cult organisations was explored using a hermeneutic methodology based on psychoanalytic object relations theory. Fifteen self-professed ex-Satanists, ranging from 19 to 45 years of age, were interviewed using a semi-structured interview format. The transcribed interviews of seven of these participants (six males and one female) were selected for analysis. The interviews and interpretive analyses addressed five main questions: (1) what psychological factors predispose certain individuals to satanic cult involvement; (2) what is the process whereby individuals become satanic cult initiates, and what meaning does this have for them; (3) how do they experience life in the cult; (4) what is the psychological status of demons, and how may we understand the phenomena of demonic possession and invocation; and, (5) what prompts members to leave satanic cults, and how do they experience this process. The interpretive phase comprised three stages. In the first stage, the self and object representations in the subjects' narratives were identified, along with their associated affect links, interpersonal contexts, and fantasies about these interactional contexts. In the second stage, the underlying personality organisations structuring subjects' self and object representations were identified and employed to formulate a comprehensive interpretation of each subject's intrapsychic world, in order to illuminate the influence of this inner world on their cult experience. In the final stage, features common to the individual analyses were integrated into a general psychoanalytic interpretation of subjects' satanic involvement. A model based on a dialogue between object relations theory and analytical psychology was applied to extend the interpretive findings of the data analysis phase. This integrative archetypal object relations perspective was suggested to provide a richer and more encompassing understanding of satanic cult phenomena. The fact that Satanism in South Africa appears to be largely confined to the white sector of the population is located in the socio-historical context of recent political changes in South African society. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1997.

Masculinity is considered to be a fundamental aspect of a male identity while living with a disability has a negative impact on the construction of this identity. The notion of masculinity has been highly influenced by Connell’s idea of hegemonic masculinity which claims that masculinity is not fixed but is fluid and hierarchical in nature (Connell, 1995; 2000). The construction of masculinity introduces the notion of “masculinities” rather than a “single” universal masculinity. The idea of masculinities contends that one masculinity tends to dominate other masculinities within a particular social context. For men living with disabilities this has resulted in the subjugation of their masculine identity because of the negative attitudes and assumptions attached to living with a disability. As a result of masculinity being constructed differently with each social context as well as the construction of a disabled identity, there is a need to explore this occurrence within the university environment. This study explores how blind male students construct and negotiate their masculinity within the university environment. To evaluate how blind male students construct their masculinity, the construction and experiences of their masculinity and their sexuality was explored. The barriers and enablers experienced by blind male students in the process of performing an acceptable masculinity and sexuality were explored. This study used a sample of 7 blind male students. All participants were recruited from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Howard College campus. A qualitative research design was used as a method of investigation. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews and it was analysed thematically. The participants brought forward the negative attitudes and assumptions held by sighted male students that are contiguous to blindness. These attitudes and assumptions were directed mainly to their sexuality and sexual relationships. To mitigate the subordination of these important aspects of their masculinity, the findings put forward that blind male students take on different positions in opposition to hegemonic masculinity. Ordinary position, reformulation of the standards of masculinity, rebellious position, reliance and subordination of masculinity emerged as different positions that used by blind male students in the process of negotiation their masculinity. Therefore this study gives evidence that blind male students position themselves inconsistently in relation to hegemonic standards masculinity. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2013.

Thesis (PhD)--University of Stellenbosch, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Very little is known about the psychological experiences related to childcare use among lowincome mothers in South Africa. In rural and semi-rural communities, where affordable and accessible childcare is almost non-existent, low-income mothers often have no alternative but to rely on their own mothers for childcare. Despite strong theoretically based indications that these particular childcare arrangements are psychologically complex, research on this topic is almost completely lacking. This dissertation sets out to investigate (a) how childcare arrangements (including multigenerational childcare) manifest in one particular low-income South African community, and (b) how low-income South African mothers experienced the use of childcare psychologically. This study was set in a poor, semi-rural, so-called Coloured community in the Western Cape, South Africa. Two open-ended, in-depth interviews were conducted with eight participants. The transcribed interviews were analysed using constructivist grounded theory and case studies in a sequential data analysis approach. Theoretically, this study was informed by postmodernism, social constructionism, feminism and psychoanalytic theory. The data analysis resulted in a detailed documentation of the range of childcare arrangements utilised by the participants. It further showed that contextual, relational and personal constraints made it impossible for the participants to mother and care for their children as they wanted to. The participants had to compromise on their childcare ideals and this created a range of psychological and emotional sequelae. In order to cope with these, the participants resorted to both conscious and unconscious coping mechanisms and processes. The findings indicated that the use of multigenerational childcare was psychologically complex, as mother-daughter relationships consciously and unconsciously impacted on childcare decision-making, the emotional and psychological repercussions and the participants’ coping therewith. The absence of men and fathers in the provision of childcare concurred with international findings on the gendered nature of childcare. Based on the findings of this study, it can be concluded that mothering and childcare are indeed issues of concern to low-income mothers. It is also a subject that warrants further investigation in the discipline of psychology. Recommendations in this regard are included and highlight the need to use theoretical frameworks and research methods that are sensitive to the multilayered, complex psychological experiences of motherhood and childcare among low-income women. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Baie min is bekend oor die sielkundige ervarings wat verband hou met kindersorg onder laeinkomste moeders in Suid-Afrika. In landelike en semi-landelike gebiede waar bekostigbare en toeganklike kindersorg feitlik niebestaande is, het lae-inkomstemoeders dikwels geen ander keuse as om op hul eie moeders staat te maak vir kindersorg nie. Ten spyte van sterk teoreties gebaseerde aanduidings dat hierdie spesifieke kindersorgreëlings sielkundig kompleks is, ontbreek navorsing oor hierdie onderwerp feitlik heeltemal. Hierdie proefskrif ondersoek (a) hoe kindersorgreëlings (met inbegrip van multigeneratiewe kindersorg) manifesteer in een spesifieke Suid-Afrikaanse lae-inkomstegemeenskap en (b) hoe laeinkomste Suid-Afrikaanse moeders die gebruik van kindersorg sielkundig beleef. Die studie is in ’n behoeftige, semi-landelike, sogenaamde bruin gemeenskap in die Wes- Kaap geplaas. Twee oop, diepgaande onderhoude is met agt deelnemers gevoer. Die getranskribeerde onderhoude is geanaliseer met gebruikmaking van konstruktivisties gegronde teorie en gevallestudies volgens ’n sekwensiële data-ontledingsbenadering. Teoreties is hierdie studie beïnvloed deur postmodernisme, sosiale konstruksionisme, feminisme en psigo-analitiese teorie. Die data-ontleding het gelei tot ’n gedetailleerde dokumentasie van die omvang van kindersorgreëlings wat deur die deelnemers gebruik is. Dit het verder gewys dat kontekstuele, relasionele en persoonlike beperkings dit vir die deelnemers onmoontlik gemaak het om hul kinders te bemoeder en te versorg soos hulle graag wou. Die deelnemers moes hul kindersorgideale kompromitteer en dit het ’n reeks sielkundige en emosionele gevolge geskep. Ten einde dit te hanteer, het die deelnemers gebruik gemaak van sowel bewuste as onbewuste hanteringsmeganismes en -prosesse. Die bevindinge het aangedui dat die gebruik van multigeneratiewe kindersorg sielkundig kompleks was, aangesien moeder-dogter verhoudings bewustelik en onbewustelik ’n uitwerking gehad het op kindersorgbesluite, die emosionele en sielkundige belewing daarvan, en die deelnemers se hantering daarvan. Die afwesigheid van mans en vaders in die voorsiening van kindersorg het ooreengestem met internasionale bevindinge oor die gender-gebaseerde aard van kindersorg. Gebaseer op die bevindinge van hierdie studie kan tot die slotsom gekom word dat moedersorg en kindersorg inderdaad kwessies van belang onder lae-inkomstemoeders is. Dit is ook ’n onderwerp wat verdere navorsing in die sielkunde vakgebied regverdig. Aanbevelings in hierdie verband word ingesluit en vestig die aandag op die behoefte om teoretiese raamwerke en navorsingsmetodes te gebruik wat sensitief is ten opsigte van die veelvlakkige, komplekse sielkundige ervarings van moederskap en kindersorg onder laeinkomstevroue.

Thesis (MA (Psychology))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Families of people with schizophrenia often experience difficult challenges when it comes to dealing with this illness. Contemporary researchers suggest that families often take on the task of caring for their ill relatives with limited resources and support. Mental health professionals often fail to include the families in the treatment of their relatives. Although psychoeducation has been shown to be an important process that helps not only the families but relatives as well, mental health professionals commonly do not involve families in such activities. This study explored the experiences of families of people with schizophrenia and their subsequent contact with mental health professionals, as well as their understanding of schizophrenia as a mental disorder. To this end, a small sample of 10 families (four Xhosa speaking families as well as six Coloured families) was drawn in the Western Cape area on a convenience basis. In each case a family caregiver was interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire. Data were content analyzed. The findings of the study indicate that families find it difficult to deal with their ill relatives. Families often experience stigma-related incidents because of their relatives. They feel isolated and alone. Families often yearn to receive more information about the illness of their relatives. Also, the contact between mental health professionals and families was reported to be minimal at best. Family members reported that mental health professionals do not include them in the treatment process. Recommendations for further research and practice are made. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die families van mense met skisofrenie kom moeilike uitdagings teë op hul pad met hierdie versteuring. Hedendaagse navorsers vind dat die families gereeld die verantwoordelikheid aanneem om na die siek familielid om te sien met beperkte hulpbronne en ondersteuning. Geestesgesondheidswerkers sluit dikwels nie die families in by die behandeling van hul familielede nie. Alhoewel psigo-opvoeding as 'n belangrike proses erken word, wat nie net die families nie, maar ook die siek familielid help, word dit nie in die praktyk toegepas deur geestesgesondheidwerkers nie. Hierdie studie verken die ervaringe van die families van mense met skisofrenie en hul daaropvolgende kontak met geestesgesondheid werkers, asook hul begrip van skisofrenie as ’n versteuring. Heirvoor is ’n klein steekproef (vier Xhosa-sprekende asook ses Kleurling families) geneem in die Wes-Kaap op ’n gerieflikheidsbasis. In elke geval is ’n semigestruktureerde onderhoud gevoer met ’n familie versorger. Die data is geanaliseer volgens inhoud. Die bevindinge van die studie dui aan dat families dit moeilik vind om hul siek familielede te hanteer. Families ervaar dikwels stigma as gevolg van hul siek familielede. Hulle voel geïsoleerd en alleen. Families smag dikwels daarna om inligting te bekom oor die versteuring van hul familielede. Verder is die kontak tussen families en geestesgesondheidswerkers minimaal ten beste van tye. Families rapporteer dat geestesgesondheid werkers hulle as families nie by die behandelingsproses insluit nie. Voorstelle vir verdure navorsing en die praktyk word gemaak.

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2000. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study evaluates the development of a discursive approach to social psychology in terms of this discipline's most pressing metatheoretical question: what is the relation between the individual and the social in social psychology? This question is illuminated through a discussion of traditional cognitive approaches to social psychology as well as postmodern critiques of the discipline, after which the discursive approach is introduced to address shortcomings in both these perspectives. The discursive approach incorporates a key insight of recent developments in the philosophy of language, namely that language is not primarily referential, but constructive of our experiences and relationship to reality. By taking seriously both the performative or rhetorical and the abstract-systemic characteristics of language, discursive social psychology addresses the traditional issues of individualism and the reduction of the social on two levels: first, as it is revealed in especially traditional cognitive approaches to social psychology; and secondly, as it supports a set of specifically Western cultural values that reproduce cultural and political practices and power imbalances. Discursive social psychology is subsequently presented as a definite advance with regard to providing richer conceptions of social-cognitive processes and the socio-cultural foundations of psychological phenomena. Despite this there are also important limitations that should be taken into account before discursive social psychology is imported to South Africa as a critical alternative: the focus on language goes along with a negation of the materiality and embodied nature of experience. Because experience cannot be pre-reflexively psychological meaningful, discursive social psychology remains to develop a theory of agency that indicates how criticism, resistance and change is possible. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie evalueer die ontwikkeling van 'n diskursiewe benadering tot die sosiale sielkunde in terme van hierdie dissipline se mees knellende metateoretiese vraag: wat is die verhouding tussen die individuele en die sosiale in sosiale sielkunde? Hierdie vraag word aangespreek deur eers te kyk na tradisioneel kognitiewe benaderings tot en postmodernistiese kritiek op die sosiale sielkunde, waarna die diskursiewe benadering bekendgestel word soos dit die tekortkominge in hierdie twee perspektiewe aanspreek. Die diskursiewe benadering inkorporeer 'n sleutel-insig van onlangse ontwikkelinge in die taalfilosofie, naamlik dat taal nie primêr referensieel is nie, maar konstruktief en medebepalend van ons ervaring van en verhouding tot die werklikheid. Deur beide die performatiewe of retoriese en die meer abstrak-sistemiese kenmerke van taal ernstig op te neem, spreek die diskursiewe sosiale sielkunde die tradisionele knelpunte van individualisme en reduksie van die sosiale op twee vlakke aan: eerstens, soos dit onthul word in veral tradisioneel kognitiewe benaderings tot sosiale sielkunde; en tweedens, soos dit 'n stel spesifiek Westers-kulturele waardes onderhou wat bydra tot die reproduksie van kulturele en politieke praktyke en mags-wanbalanse. Diskursiewe sosiale sielkunde word gevolglik aangetoon as 'n definitiewe vooruitgang wat betref die uiteensetting van ryker konsepsies van sosiaal kognitiewe prosesse en die sosiaal-kulturele grondslae van sielkundige fenomene. Ten spyte hiervan is daar egter ook belangrike gebreke wat in ag geneem moet word voordat diskursiewe sosiale sielkunde as kritiese alternatief na Suid-Afrika ingevoer word: die fokus op taal gaan qepaard met 'n negering van die materialiteit en liggaamlikheid van ervaring. Omdat ervaring nie pre-refleksief sielkundige betekenis kan hê nie, bly hierdie ontwikkeling se verstaan van agentskap in gebreke om te verduidelik hoe kritiek, teenstand en verandering moontlik is.

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2001. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The problem of gangsterism in the Western Cape is taking on huge proportions especially among high school youth. Previous studies found that the initial expectations of gang members and their actual experience of gang membership differed. An ethnographic study was done with high school pupils from a semi-urban setting in the Western Cape who were gang members to find out how they constructed meaning out of their membership to the gangs. Transcripts of unstructured interviews with five participants were analysed using Strauss and Corbin's method of Grounded Theo . The analysis - showed that the pupils from this setting predominantly joined the gangs because they were exposed to the gang members, who operated in the same streets that they live in, and as a result received much more positive information about the gang from their friends. They chose to remain committed to the gang because the gang members were perceived as being very supportive, providing for them financially, emotionally (by giving them acceptance) and physically (protecting them). The study found tha COnfl~!).,as a major part of the gang life or culture. Members could not escape the violent gang activities, despite all their attempts to make peace. The gang culture which resembled that of the prison gang c~, was perpetuated and sustained by the persistent group dynamics and processes that imposed social roles and expectations on members. The members became more deviant in behaviour out of loyalty to the gang. Contrary to current beliefs on the causes of gangsterism, the present study found that social control and feelings of relative deprivation had no conscious influence on the participants' decision to become gang members. The research suggests that future gang intervention should seek to develop programs around providing alternative modes of support to youth at risk. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die bendevraagstuk in die Westelike Kaap neem groot afmetings aan onder die jeug van verskeie plaaslike hoerskole. Vorige studies het getoon dat die aanvanklike verwagtinge van die jeug en hulle werklike ervaring van bendelidmaatskap verskil het. 'n Etnografiese ondersoek is geloods waarin hoerskoolleerlinge uit 'n semi-stedelike gebied van die Westelike Kaap betrek is om die betekenis van bendelidmaatskap te konstrueer. Die ongestruktureerde onderhoude met vyf deelnemers is aan die hand van Strauss en Corbin se metode van analise ontleed. Die daaropvolgende analise het getoon dat hulle hoofsaaklik by 'n bende in hul woonbuurt aangesluit het omdat hulle baie blootstelling aan, en positiewe terugvoer van die bendelede gekry het. Die deelnemers het verkies om lojaal teenoor die bende te bly omdat die bende hulle emosionele (aanvaarding), fisiese (beskerming) en finansiele ondersteuning gebied het. Die huidige studie het gevind dat konflik 'n integrale kern van die bendekultuur gevorm het. Ten spyte van die vele pogings wat bendelede aangewend het om vrede te bewerkstellig, kon hulle nie daarin slaag om die geweldadige akitiwiteite te stuit nie. Hierdie bendekultuur wat sterk ooreenstem met die tronkbende-sisteem is in stand gehou deur groepsdinamika wat sekere sosiale rolle en verwagtinge op lede afgedwing het. Bendelede het groter gedragsafwykings getoon soos wat die lojaliteit aan die bende toegeneem het. In teenstelling met algemene bevindings betreffende die oorsprong van bendelidmaatskap, het hierdie studie getoon dat sosiale beheer en die ervaring van relatiewe deprivasie geen noemenswaardige invloed gehad het nie. Daar word voorgestel dat programme vir intervensies moet konsentreer op alternatiewe vorme van ondersteuning vir hierdie "riskante" jeug.