Relationships, according to national and international research, play a crucial role in the promotion of holistic well-being in school communities. However, the central role of relationships in school communities is not fully appreciated in the South African context. Concurrently, a gap in research on the promotion of relational well-being in South African school communities exists. The importance of addressing this shortcoming is especially evident when viewing recent research literature and media reports on dysfunctional behaviour in school communities, such as violence, bullying, child abuse, inappropriate sexual behaviour, and alcohol and substance abuse. These dysfunctional behaviours indicate the extent to which relational well-being is currently compromised in South African school communities. This study intends to address the abovementioned gap in knowledge regarding the promotion of relational well-being in school communities. The aim was obtained by involving a group of postgraduate students, enrolled for a Master’s or Doctoral programme with a focus on relational well-being, and who work in school environments in various capacities and contexts. The research was informed by a combination of theoretical lenses that offer a holistic, multi-dimensional, strength-based approach to the understanding of relational well-being, and acknowledge the complexity of relationships. A qualitative phenomenological research design was applied using the World Café method, to facilitate a space within which these students could reflect on the promotion of relational well-being in school communities. A total of 29 participants, selected by means of purposive and convenience sampling, were involved in a World Café event, and twenty of these participants completed an open-ended questionnaire, developed with the aim of crystallising the data obtained from the World Café. Thematic analysis of the data was conducted and four main themes were identified: Firstly, the participants reflected on the complex, integrated nature of the process of promoting relational well-being, from an eco-systemic perspective. Based on this understanding, they viewed members of the school community as inseparably integrated and bi-directionally influencing one another, as also indicated by complex dynamic interactive systems theorists. They also mentioned that certain environmental influences could impair relational well-being. Secondly, they reflected on the promotion of relational well-being as a collaborative and inclusive process that involves all the members of the school community and requires all of them to take responsibility. The teachers’ and school managements’ role as leaders in facilitating the process was specifically highlighted, although the parents/caretakers were also seen as bearing a responsibility in this regard. Therefore, home-school collaboration was emphasised. Thirdly, they reflected on the challenges relating to the promotion of relational well-being in school communities. These challenges encompassed the need to equip and support teachers and parents to be able to promote relational well-being, addressing the imbalanced focus on academics and achievement in schools at the expense of relationships, and the need to promote relational well-being more proactively by addressing the way in which limited time and large class sizes jeopardise relational well-being. Lastly, perceived key elements of interrelatedness for the promotion of relational well-being in school communities were highlighted. These key elements include respectful engagements, acceptance of one another, positive communication based on trust, a sense of belonging or connectedness, and care and support. In view of the findings of the study, recommendations are made to the Department of Education as well as to school management teams. Finally, recommendations regarding future research are offered. / MA (Psychology), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

The importance of promoting the health and wellbeing of children in educational contexts are recognised in national and international policy developments. However, according to international and local research, many challenges regarding the promotion of relational wellbeing prevail, despite various efforts to improve relationships within school communities. The continuous media and research reports on the escalation of violence in schools suggest that there are certain vices that act as barriers to the promotion of relational wellbeing in school communities, restraining relationships between all those involved in the school community. However, challenges relating to relational wellbeing are often construed as a matter to be addressed by professionals either in the service of the government or in private practice, who are expected to work with individuals who experience relational problems. Limited attention is given to barriers that might arise within the everyday interactions between the members of the school communities. The need to understand what hinders the promotion of wellbeing in school communities as interactive spaces was therefore evident. The aim of this study, therefore, was to explore perceived barriers to the promotion of relational wellbeing of children in South African school communities. In order to explore such barriers to the promotion of relational wellbeing, a group of postgraduate students, enrolled for a master’s or doctoral programme in Psychology and who work in various school contexts, was involved in a World Café event with a focus on relational wellbeing in school contexts. A combination of theoretical perspectives was applied as a basis for understanding the educational context in which the study was situated. In order to secure the capturing of the complex nature of relationships and relational wellbeing, a qualitative, interpretive descriptive research design was applied. The application of the World Café method created a context suitable to the interpretive and descriptive nature of the research and granted participants the opportunity to render rich and vigorous descriptions of how they perceived the relational wellbeing of children in South African school communities. Twelve postgraduate students were selected through purposive and convenience sampling to take part in the World Café event, hosted in collaboration with a senior research professor on campus. The data gathered during the World Café event was used as the main data source. In addition, three semi-structured Skype interviews were conducted, following the thematic analysis of the data gathered during the World Café event. In order to ensure that the data was trustworthy, crystallization was applied throughout the data collection process. Thematic analysis was conducted and three main themes with subthemes were identified. Firstly, the participants identified a predominant focus on academics. They perceived this uncontested focus on academic results within the school community as a barrier to the enhancement of relational wellbeing in their places of work. The main concern was that this unequivocal focus on academic results held certain consequences for both teachers and learners. One of the consequences of this focus on academics is the stress that it creates for teachers. The participants indicated that the most attention in their school environments was paid to delivering good academic results and that the development of other needs of learners, such as emotional needs, were not deemed important. In addition, the participants indicated that they were most often appraised and rewarded according to the academic performance of their learners and to the extent to which they reached predetermined departmental goals within their schools. In addition to academic pressures to perform, teachers are often over-burdened with additional duties which leave them emotionally drained. As a result of their tapped emotional energy, teachers felt that they could not invest in connecting and caring for learners as they would like to, due to the overwhelming amount of other responsibilities. Furthermore, the participants indicated that, in addition to too little time to connect and care for learners and develop healthy relationships, they also experienced little collegial support. The participants also indicated that, in addition to the stress caused by the predominant focus on academic achievement, the consequence of this stance created the following: limited capacity to develop learners’ social-emotional skills; situations where harm to learners’ self-concept was experienced; and a general problem-focused approach in addressing challenges experienced by learners. Secondly, adults seemed to have a limited capacity to promote relational wellbeing. The participants indicated that, in the contexts and places where they worked, adults, such as teachers and parents, who were mainly responsible to guide and equip learners to create, develop, and maintain healthy and meaningful relationships, were perceived to lack the necessary skills themselves in order to engage in meaningful relationships with one another. With regard to parents’ capacities, the participants argued that the lack of social skills displayed by children in their classrooms might be ascribed to the home environment and the specific contextual challenges that parents and caregivers have to face, in addition to a general limited ability of parents to equip their children with the necessary social and emotional skills to be able to establish healthy and meaningful relationships. Concerning teachers’ capacities, the participants indicated that some teachers were not equipped with adequate knowledge to develop healthy relationships with children and therefore lacked skills to promote relational wellbeing of children in general. In addition to inadequate knowledge, the participants felt that teachers’ attitudes about relationships also played a role in the lack of promoting healthy relationships. Although inadequate knowledge and negative attitudes by teachers were perceived to compromise the development of healthy relationships, participants indicated that, even if teachers had the desire to develop healthy relationships, there were few or no opportunities created for them by their schools to focus on developing healthy relationships; there was also little opportunity to be models of healthy relational beings, due to a lack of time or system-related support, as well as personal contextual restraints. Thirdly, the perception of the participants was that unresolved conflict between role-players often created a barrier to the promotion of healthy relationships. The participants indicated that the conflict between role-players in the school communities were often excessive and remained unresolved, and that the conflict existed on all levels of interrelatedness. The unresolved conflict was perceived as a serious barrier to the promotion of relational wellbeing within their school environments; this conflict was mainly experienced between teachers and learners, teachers and staff, as well as between parents and teachers. / MA (Psychology), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Relationships, according to national and international research, play a crucial role in the promotion of holistic well-being in school communities. However, the central role of relationships in school communities is not fully appreciated in the South African context. Concurrently, a gap in research on the promotion of relational well-being in South African school communities exists. The importance of addressing this shortcoming is especially evident when viewing recent research literature and media reports on dysfunctional behaviour in school communities, such as violence, bullying, child abuse, inappropriate sexual behaviour, and alcohol and substance abuse. These dysfunctional behaviours indicate the extent to which relational well-being is currently compromised in South African school communities. This study intends to address the abovementioned gap in knowledge regarding the promotion of relational well-being in school communities. The aim was obtained by involving a group of postgraduate students, enrolled for a Master’s or Doctoral programme with a focus on relational well-being, and who work in school environments in various capacities and contexts. The research was informed by a combination of theoretical lenses that offer a holistic, multi-dimensional, strength-based approach to the understanding of relational well-being, and acknowledge the complexity of relationships. A qualitative phenomenological research design was applied using the World Café method, to facilitate a space within which these students could reflect on the promotion of relational well-being in school communities. A total of 29 participants, selected by means of purposive and convenience sampling, were involved in a World Café event, and twenty of these participants completed an open-ended questionnaire, developed with the aim of crystallising the data obtained from the World Café. Thematic analysis of the data was conducted and four main themes were identified: Firstly, the participants reflected on the complex, integrated nature of the process of promoting relational well-being, from an eco-systemic perspective. Based on this understanding, they viewed members of the school community as inseparably integrated and bi-directionally influencing one another, as also indicated by complex dynamic interactive systems theorists. They also mentioned that certain environmental influences could impair relational well-being. Secondly, they reflected on the promotion of relational well-being as a collaborative and inclusive process that involves all the members of the school community and requires all of them to take responsibility. The teachers’ and school managements’ role as leaders in facilitating the process was specifically highlighted, although the parents/caretakers were also seen as bearing a responsibility in this regard. Therefore, home-school collaboration was emphasised. Thirdly, they reflected on the challenges relating to the promotion of relational well-being in school communities. These challenges encompassed the need to equip and support teachers and parents to be able to promote relational well-being, addressing the imbalanced focus on academics and achievement in schools at the expense of relationships, and the need to promote relational well-being more proactively by addressing the way in which limited time and large class sizes jeopardise relational well-being. Lastly, perceived key elements of interrelatedness for the promotion of relational well-being in school communities were highlighted. These key elements include respectful engagements, acceptance of one another, positive communication based on trust, a sense of belonging or connectedness, and care and support. In view of the findings of the study, recommendations are made to the Department of Education as well as to school management teams. Finally, recommendations regarding future research are offered. / MA (Psychology), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

The importance of promoting the health and wellbeing of children in educational contexts are recognised in national and international policy developments. However, according to international and local research, many challenges regarding the promotion of relational wellbeing prevail, despite various efforts to improve relationships within school communities. The continuous media and research reports on the escalation of violence in schools suggest that there are certain vices that act as barriers to the promotion of relational wellbeing in school communities, restraining relationships between all those involved in the school community. However, challenges relating to relational wellbeing are often construed as a matter to be addressed by professionals either in the service of the government or in private practice, who are expected to work with individuals who experience relational problems. Limited attention is given to barriers that might arise within the everyday interactions between the members of the school communities. The need to understand what hinders the promotion of wellbeing in school communities as interactive spaces was therefore evident. The aim of this study, therefore, was to explore perceived barriers to the promotion of relational wellbeing of children in South African school communities. In order to explore such barriers to the promotion of relational wellbeing, a group of postgraduate students, enrolled for a master’s or doctoral programme in Psychology and who work in various school contexts, was involved in a World Café event with a focus on relational wellbeing in school contexts. A combination of theoretical perspectives was applied as a basis for understanding the educational context in which the study was situated. In order to secure the capturing of the complex nature of relationships and relational wellbeing, a qualitative, interpretive descriptive research design was applied. The application of the World Café method created a context suitable to the interpretive and descriptive nature of the research and granted participants the opportunity to render rich and vigorous descriptions of how they perceived the relational wellbeing of children in South African school communities. Twelve postgraduate students were selected through purposive and convenience sampling to take part in the World Café event, hosted in collaboration with a senior research professor on campus. The data gathered during the World Café event was used as the main data source. In addition, three semi-structured Skype interviews were conducted, following the thematic analysis of the data gathered during the World Café event. In order to ensure that the data was trustworthy, crystallization was applied throughout the data collection process. Thematic analysis was conducted and three main themes with subthemes were identified. Firstly, the participants identified a predominant focus on academics. They perceived this uncontested focus on academic results within the school community as a barrier to the enhancement of relational wellbeing in their places of work. The main concern was that this unequivocal focus on academic results held certain consequences for both teachers and learners. One of the consequences of this focus on academics is the stress that it creates for teachers. The participants indicated that the most attention in their school environments was paid to delivering good academic results and that the development of other needs of learners, such as emotional needs, were not deemed important. In addition, the participants indicated that they were most often appraised and rewarded according to the academic performance of their learners and to the extent to which they reached predetermined departmental goals within their schools. In addition to academic pressures to perform, teachers are often over-burdened with additional duties which leave them emotionally drained. As a result of their tapped emotional energy, teachers felt that they could not invest in connecting and caring for learners as they would like to, due to the overwhelming amount of other responsibilities. Furthermore, the participants indicated that, in addition to too little time to connect and care for learners and develop healthy relationships, they also experienced little collegial support. The participants also indicated that, in addition to the stress caused by the predominant focus on academic achievement, the consequence of this stance created the following: limited capacity to develop learners’ social-emotional skills; situations where harm to learners’ self-concept was experienced; and a general problem-focused approach in addressing challenges experienced by learners. Secondly, adults seemed to have a limited capacity to promote relational wellbeing. The participants indicated that, in the contexts and places where they worked, adults, such as teachers and parents, who were mainly responsible to guide and equip learners to create, develop, and maintain healthy and meaningful relationships, were perceived to lack the necessary skills themselves in order to engage in meaningful relationships with one another. With regard to parents’ capacities, the participants argued that the lack of social skills displayed by children in their classrooms might be ascribed to the home environment and the specific contextual challenges that parents and caregivers have to face, in addition to a general limited ability of parents to equip their children with the necessary social and emotional skills to be able to establish healthy and meaningful relationships. Concerning teachers’ capacities, the participants indicated that some teachers were not equipped with adequate knowledge to develop healthy relationships with children and therefore lacked skills to promote relational wellbeing of children in general. In addition to inadequate knowledge, the participants felt that teachers’ attitudes about relationships also played a role in the lack of promoting healthy relationships. Although inadequate knowledge and negative attitudes by teachers were perceived to compromise the development of healthy relationships, participants indicated that, even if teachers had the desire to develop healthy relationships, there were few or no opportunities created for them by their schools to focus on developing healthy relationships; there was also little opportunity to be models of healthy relational beings, due to a lack of time or system-related support, as well as personal contextual restraints. Thirdly, the perception of the participants was that unresolved conflict between role-players often created a barrier to the promotion of healthy relationships. The participants indicated that the conflict between role-players in the school communities were often excessive and remained unresolved, and that the conflict existed on all levels of interrelatedness. The unresolved conflict was perceived as a serious barrier to the promotion of relational wellbeing within their school environments; this conflict was mainly experienced between teachers and learners, teachers and staff, as well as between parents and teachers. / MA (Psychology), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Older people often experience loneliness and depression, especially those dependent on institutional care. The loneliness can be attributed to multiple losses such as the loss of physical and cognitive abilities, the loss of relationships with familiar environments, the loss of significant others, as well as changing contact with family members and friends. The strategy commonly used by older people to deal with such feelings of loss, is to reminisce on such losses as well as on the lost or altered relationships. This strategy might result in a situation where the focus older people have on the past prevents them from recognizing the potential of relationships in their immediate environment. In order to make older people more aware of meaningful relationships in their immediate environment, the method of appreciative inquiry was used. Appreciative inquiry uses questioning as an intervention. Questions were formulated in such a way that the positive aspects of possible relationships in interpersonal environments were emphasised. The aim of the appreciative inquiry was to determine what relationship qualities older people experience as meaningful or effective. A qualitative and investigative research method was used in an attempt to investigate older people's subjective experiences of the relationships they have in the residential care facility. Participants to the study were volunteers who permanently reside in a residential care facility for older people in Gauteng, South Africa. Textual- and visual data was collected through the use of the World Café method, where the participants were divided into three separate groups of approximately six members each. Group discussions were facilitated as group leaders alternated with various activities between the groups. Sheets of A2 paper served as tablecloths allowing participants to conveniently jot down notes from the group discussion, and also to draw symbolic representations of their subjective experiences of the relationships they enjoy in their immediate environment. Data gathered in the various groups was then visually displayed so that a focus group discussion could occur. Crystallization confirmed the trustworthiness of the findings. Crystallization is an approach where data is combined using two or more genres of representation of socially constructed meanings as well as different methods of data analysis. In this study, several different data collection methods were used, including the use of symbols, group discussions and a focus group. The data analysis comprised of a combination of several methods of analysis, being thematic analysis, interactive pattern analysis and the visual analysis of posters. Approval pertaining to the ethical aspects of the research project was obtained from the North-West University. From the findings it became apparent that essential relationship qualities such as confirmation, empathy, unconditional acceptance and clarity of self-presentation between the residents spontaneously developed out of the safe and enabling interpersonal environment created by the management. This safe and enabling interpersonal environment is characterized by predictability, interpersonal flexibility, confirmation, congruence and empathy. According to this research, it can be argued that residents in this specific care facility were still able to identify and describe relationships that could effectively satisfy their needs – despite having experienced multiple losses associated with the aging process and/or losses in their particular lives. This study hence holds important implications for the creation of an interpersonal context by management in order to promote wellbeing among older people that reside in residential care facilities. / Thesis (MA (Clinical Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

Older people often experience loneliness and depression, especially those dependent on institutional care. The loneliness can be attributed to multiple losses such as the loss of physical and cognitive abilities, the loss of relationships with familiar environments, the loss of significant others, as well as changing contact with family members and friends. The strategy commonly used by older people to deal with such feelings of loss, is to reminisce on such losses as well as on the lost or altered relationships. This strategy might result in a situation where the focus older people have on the past prevents them from recognizing the potential of relationships in their immediate environment. In order to make older people more aware of meaningful relationships in their immediate environment, the method of appreciative inquiry was used. Appreciative inquiry uses questioning as an intervention. Questions were formulated in such a way that the positive aspects of possible relationships in interpersonal environments were emphasised. The aim of the appreciative inquiry was to determine what relationship qualities older people experience as meaningful or effective. A qualitative and investigative research method was used in an attempt to investigate older people's subjective experiences of the relationships they have in the residential care facility. Participants to the study were volunteers who permanently reside in a residential care facility for older people in Gauteng, South Africa. Textual- and visual data was collected through the use of the World Café method, where the participants were divided into three separate groups of approximately six members each. Group discussions were facilitated as group leaders alternated with various activities between the groups. Sheets of A2 paper served as tablecloths allowing participants to conveniently jot down notes from the group discussion, and also to draw symbolic representations of their subjective experiences of the relationships they enjoy in their immediate environment. Data gathered in the various groups was then visually displayed so that a focus group discussion could occur. Crystallization confirmed the trustworthiness of the findings. Crystallization is an approach where data is combined using two or more genres of representation of socially constructed meanings as well as different methods of data analysis. In this study, several different data collection methods were used, including the use of symbols, group discussions and a focus group. The data analysis comprised of a combination of several methods of analysis, being thematic analysis, interactive pattern analysis and the visual analysis of posters. Approval pertaining to the ethical aspects of the research project was obtained from the North-West University. From the findings it became apparent that essential relationship qualities such as confirmation, empathy, unconditional acceptance and clarity of self-presentation between the residents spontaneously developed out of the safe and enabling interpersonal environment created by the management. This safe and enabling interpersonal environment is characterized by predictability, interpersonal flexibility, confirmation, congruence and empathy. According to this research, it can be argued that residents in this specific care facility were still able to identify and describe relationships that could effectively satisfy their needs – despite having experienced multiple losses associated with the aging process and/or losses in their particular lives. This study hence holds important implications for the creation of an interpersonal context by management in order to promote wellbeing among older people that reside in residential care facilities. / Thesis (MA (Clinical Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.