published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Work

M.Cur. (Advanced Psychiatric Nursing Science) / I am a survivor of a multiple sexual traumas, some more brutal than others but the scar is just as deep. This happened in my teens and into my young adulthood years. During those years I perceived a great lack of support and mostly rejection from my mother, and saw the reoccurrence of these sexual traumas as a result of this. But through growth and education I have learned that my mother did the best that she could at that time, given her position and circumstances. I have also been able to acknowledge and accept my responsibilities in my past and, therefore, my future. It was a very difficult process to conquer, for both my mother and I, but it is worth it and it is possible. Today my mother is my best friend and my biggest fear is life without her. Understanding and overcoming this challenge has eased a lot of emotional pain that I had carried with me over the years and so I wished the same could happen for other women that might have perceived rejection from their mothers. To begin the journey, this research study was born. The purpose of my research study was to explore and describe the life stories of young women who have perceived rejection from their mothers, in order to formulate guidelines and recommendations that may help them to deal effectively with their situation. My research study also aims to stimulate interest among other role players within the academic field, communities and the health profession to assist with other meaningful interventions with regard to this challenge. My research study was implemented in two phases. I used a qualitative, explorative, and contextual research design in my approach. The first phase focused on the life stories of young women who have perceived rejection from their mothers. The second phase dealt with the findings gathered from the field work from which the guidelines and recommendations were formulated to assist the participants in coping with the challenge of their life stories. Eight in-depth interviews were conducted, transcribed and analysed by means of Tesch’s method of analysis. Guba’s method of trustworthiness was used together with the services of a well-experienced independent coder, to establish validity and reliability of the data. A signed voluntary consent form was obtained from the participants beforehand for participation in the research study, as well as for the conduction and recording of the interviews. Thematic analysis was used where themes and the central storyline were identified according to the life stories told in each individual interview. The limitations of my research study were also discussed. It was found that more research studies need to be conducted into this phenomenon in order to formulate other effective intervention strategies to help address the challenges that arise from the phenomenon. Recommendations for psychiatric nursing research, psychiatric nursing education, and psychiatric nursing practice were suggested. The knowledge and expertise of a language editor was also used in the research study.

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In this study the sex-role identities of 280 female students at Stellenbosch University were compared with regards to attributional style and self-esteem. Three self report questionnaires were used to measure the variables: The Bem Sex-Role Inventory, the Attributional Style Questionnaire and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. The results showed that the androgynous sex-role identity group had a significantly more optimistic attributional style and a higher degree of self-esteem than the feminine and undifferentiated groups. The results also showed a significant positive correlation between general attributional style and self-esteem. A pessimistic attributional style and a lower degree of self-esteem have been associated with a wide variety of psychological problems in research literature. The results of this study provide support for the theory that an androgynous sex-role identity might be significantly better than a feminine sex-role identity for the psychological health of women. The researcher suggests that the effects of traditional sex-role socialization on the psychological well-being of women should be considered in the planning of prevention and empowerment programs.

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of requirements for the degree of Master of Arts At the University of Witwatersrand Johannesburg 2016 / This study explored the subjective experiences of a population who appear to be at relatively high risk of potential violence and harm, specifically female university students who are compelled to commute by taxi on a daily basis. The study aimed to explore and document the psychological experiences of these female university students including their anxieties, levels of traumatic stress related responses, cognitions and fantasies, and conscious and unconscious adaptations to their circumstances. It was hoped that information gleaned would contribute to, and possibly expand the understanding of what the lived experience of Continuous Traumatic Stress (CTS) might entail. In order to investigate the research questions, ten students who were identified as being compelled to use minibus taxis as their primary mode of transport to and from university participated in semi-structured interviews on the topic of their experiences in this space and how they adapt to and survive in their circumstances. The study was located in the qualitative research tradition and the interview transcripts were analysed using critical thematic analysis. The main themes were identified and presented under four sections; exposure to traumatic events, the effects and impacts of these events, managing and coping, and gender related experiences in the taxi commuting space. Exposure to traumatic events included taxi driver aggression, motor vehicle accidents, crime and violence, xenophobic attacks and gender related trauma. The most prominent effects or impacts that were identified were firstly, anxiety, fear and preoccupation with danger and secondly, numbing, resignation and hopelessness. The tactics which were employed by participants in managing and coping with their circumstances included, prayer and observation and management of their commuting environment. It was through observation and self-management that participants practiced strategies that allowed them some measure of control in terms of how they conducted themselves in the taxi commuting space. Under the final section, participants revealed their gender related experiences reporting a sense of being exploited, being subject to sexual harassment, and the constant fear of rape or sexual violation. The links between these participants’ experience and the concept of CTS are presented and it is argued that many aspects of their experience appear consistent with CTS. / GR2017

The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of parental divorce and family conflict during adolescence on young adult females' social support and psychological adjustment. The three areas explored were perceptions of relationship satisfaction and closeness, sources and amount of social support and adjustment. One hundred and forty-one female undergraduates, 53% from families in which their parents are still married and 47% from families in which a parental divorce occurred during adolescence, completed the following measures: the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (Spanier, 1976), the Social Provisions Scale-Source Specific (Cutrona, 1989), the Inventory of Common Problems (Hoffman & Weiss, 1986), the Family Environment Scale (Moos & Moos, 1981), and the Sibling Relationship Questionnaire (Furman & Buhrmester, 1985).

University of the Witwatersrand Department of Humanities Wits School of the Arts Drama for Life: (MADT) Master of Arts in Drama Therapy / The body has always fascinated me! As a classically trained dancer with a Physical Theatre background, I learnt to use my body as a means of expressing myself. I saw the body as a means to performance, but I believed there was more to the body than just being put on show. In University I learnt about and came to understand the mind-body connection (Plamer, 2009). This interested me and I began to search deeper, with the question that if the body and mind are connected, where are our human memories stored? I have always wondered what moves me and what moves the people around me… This research was a platform for me to look into the notion of the mind, body connection and memory. Through the use of story and movement, I began to consider bullying as a memory which the body and mind both experience. Through the research I focused on where the body had stored this experience and what were the effects of this stored memory (the aftermath). The rest of this paper unpacks my research and my findings working with a client centred approach. In this paper I speak back to the approach I took during the research process, using Laban’s 8 Effort actions, Lahad’s 6 Part Story Method and Whitehouse’s Authentic Movement as part of the integration process speaking back to bullying.

Young women’s sexual attitudes, experiences, and sense of self develop within multiple social contexts, including the schools in which they spend so much of their time, their romantic and sexual relationships, and a larger normative climate of expectations and beliefs about sexuality. Girls may struggle to develop a healthy view of their sexuality in the face of prevailing sexual beliefs that in many ways deny girls’ sexual desire and define female sexuality as passive and vulnerable. Despite these negative messages, however, many girls do develop positive attitudes about their sexuality, feeling entitled to sexual pleasure and safety. This study explores how young women develop this sense of sexual agency during adolescence and the transition to adulthood. Using longitudinal data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, I place adolescent sexual development in a social context, by considering the role of schools and early sexual relationships in young women’s developing sexual agency. Additionally, I consider the consequences of girls’ sexual attitudes and first sexual experiences not only for their sexual health but for their later sexual relationships as well. Finally, I consider how young women’s experience of sexual agency may be connected to another manifestation of gender inequality in relationships - housework. Findings suggest that girls’ attitudes toward sex and contraception are related to their sexual relationships in adulthood: girls who see sex as having negative consequences - either for their social relationships, their sense of self, or their future - are less likely to experience sexual agency in their adult relationships. Results also suggest that schools may play contradictory roles in girls’ sexual empowerment, as girls who do well in school were more confident about their ability to use contraception but were also more likely to associate sex with guilt and shame. Additionally, schools provide a peer context for the development of sexual attitudes. Finally, results suggest that explanations for gender inequality in housework are less relevant for sexual behavior, though women and men who are committed to equality in their relationships are likely to be more egalitarian in both housework and sex. / text