Thesis (M.A.)--The Master's College, 2004. / Includes bibliographic references (leaves 126-128).

Thesis (M.A.)--Rowan University, 2004. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--The Master's College, 2004. / Includes bibliographic references (leaves 126-128).

A research report submitted to the 'Faculty of Education, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education (Educational Psychology) / The primary aim of the study was to investigate the effect upon growth toward self-actualization; and to explore changes in cross-cultural attitudes for Guidance pre service teachers who were participants in a Youth Counselling program. It was hypothesised that participants would grow significantly toward self-actualization. The data were collected through pre- and posttest administration of Shostrom's Personal Orientation Inventory (POI) and through a researcher-designed questionnaire, the Attitude Inventory. The control group consisted of English Methodology students, The results indicated that participation in the Youth Counselling program was not effective in increasing self-actualizing attitudes. Significant change in the Youth Counsellor's perceptions of her/his ability to form interpersonal relationships with individuals from racial groups different from her/his own was also not confirmed. Nevertheless, as, a by-product of the study. certain Interesting findings were noted, namely South African preservice teachers (of Guidance and English Methodology) centre excessively on the past or the future relative to the present and tend to misuse time. Further, they are bound by social pressures and social expectations, and are unclear as to whether to conform or to act autonomously, Empirical observation demonstrated the Youth Counselling program was the first time that many of the Youth Counsellors had entered into a relationship with an individual of another race, Recommendations for further research include a Youth Counselling program which is voluntary and not mandatory, of a greater length than five months, more closely monitored and less ambiguous. It was suggested that a more reliable method of measuring self-actualisation, which is more appropriate to South African conditions should be developed. It was also suggested that further use of the Attitude Inventory is postponed until validity and control studies have occurred. / Andrew Chakane 2018

In the discourses of the outreach youth workers, it seemed to reveal a discourse and practice gap in their work with 'youth-at-disadvantage'. At the discourse level, many workers had quite high consciousness to the impacts of the broader social, contextual and familial related changes to the behaviours of young people though they did not deny young people's individual responsibility for their behaviours. However, in their actual practice, many workers felt inadequate and were not confident enough both in working with family and intervening into the social and contextual factors including their clients' participation to advocate for their needs. Moreover, in the complex relation of power with the policy demands on the work focus and output standards of the service and the service directions of their agencies, workers' discourses on the situations of young people were usually subjugated. As a result, what workers could do still remained at the person and remedial level handling young people's problem behaviours and their relationship with peers. Indeed, when so many workers had such high consciousness to the social impacts to the problem behaviours of young people and did not prefer to be strict social control agents, they could be a force for social change. However, when what they could do were still person and remedial oriented without the vision to facilitate necessary social or structural changes, what they did was still a kind of confessional control regulating young people's behaviours to conform to norms of society only. / This study is a discourse analysis on the construction of 'youth-at-disadvantage' in the context of outreaching social work service in Hong Kong across the turn of the new millennium. Instead of taking 'youth-at-disadvantage' pre-existingly as problematic and destructive in nature, Foucault's discourse analytic approach was used as a framework of conceptualization and a method of data analysis (1) to unmask its constitutive nature and (2) to reveal the discourses and complex relations of power at work in the process of its constitution. In the study, fifteen pairs of 'youth-at-disadvantage' and outreach youth workers with different lengths of service and positions were widely recruited from ten out of the sixteen District Youth Outreaching Social Work Teams in Hong Kong. Each youth interviewee and the workers were interviewed twice successfully. / Though a discourse of individual deficits is usually constructed in society to talk about the problem behaviours of young people, in the revelation of this study, both the youth interviewees and the workers considered their problem behaviours as natural and common at their adolescent phase of life. In talking about their problem situations, obvious gender differences were revealed in the language uses of the male and female youth interviewees. While peer companionship and harsh control from parents were drawn upon by the female youth interviewees as the key reasons leading to their problem behaviours, the males attributed it to their poor performance and low interest in study, their employment situations and use of pocket money. Though family influence was not the key reason initiating them begin to play or associate with peers, eventually when their relationship with parents was further affected, it became the key reason leading to the continuation of their problem behaviours. In the service, many youth interviewees revealed that they could debate with their workers with alternative discourses. However, in the face of the adult society, what they could do was either to rebel or escape with their bodies. They hoped that the adult society could assure their abilities and respect what they were thinking and doing. / To a certain extent, the discourses revealed in this study are not only reflexive and worth to be heard for the adult society, but also critical and worth to be reviewed in the actual practice of the workers. Based on the discourses rehabilitated in the study, recommendations are made in five areas: social work practice and research on 'youth-at-disadvantage', social work training, related policy changes and the general public's understanding to the situations of young people. Though this type of social research is not so common in social work, it is hoped that this study can begin the debate and more similar researches with rich empirical data support can be done to disrupt the apparently taken for granted problematic discourses on young people and the possible regulatory effect of social work practice. / Tam, Hau Lin. / "March 2008." / Adviser: Ngan Pun Ngai. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-03, Section: A, page: 1035. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 526-553). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / School code: 1307.

The Internet is becoming a more realistic means of accessing support, especially for those who are unable to or are uncomfortable with accessing supports in person. One population that experiences barriers to accessing face-to-face support is youth, and online counselling is an option available for youth to overcome these barriers (King, Bambling, Lloyd, et al., 2006). Online counselling can occur through e-mail and chat services; however, due to the text-based nature of these services, their effectiveness is criticized for having a lack of verbal and nonverbal communication (Cook & Doyle, 2002). Research, however, has suggested that it is possibly this lack of verbal and nonverbal cues that make online counselling effective. Research has also suggested that the effectiveness of counselling can be measured by the working alliance (Fletcher-Tomenius & Vossler, 2009; Hanley, 2009). This study explored if an effective working alliance can be established in online counselling mediums with youth who are in crisis. A quantitative research approach was taken, in which 91 youth completed an online survey that asked how they felt towards online support services. The results of this study suggest that youth respond positively to the lack of verbal and nonverbal cues; youth appear to enjoy an increase sense of anonymity that is created within online support services, which can contribute to open communication. In addition, the results suggest that an effective working alliance is established in online counselling services, as it was found that youth typical felt happy and satisfied with the services they received. / x, 135 leaves ; 29 cm

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references. / Also available by subscription via World Wide Web / xiii, 222 leaves, bound ill. (some col.) 29 cm. +

School guidance aims to meet the social/personality, educational and vocational needs of pupils, and the curriculum, organised and drawn up by the relevant State education departments, attempts to address these needs. This investigation set out to discover the guidance needs of pupils specifically in the social/personality area, and further, to state these needs in such a way as to allow the logical development of guidance programmes. Group and individual interviews were conducted using a sample of 72 high school pupils, selected from standards six to eight. The results show clearly the areas in which the pupils perceive their needs to lie. It is also apparent that further research in this area is strongly indicated.

Voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) for HIV is a vital tool in HIV prevention and care, available information indicates low uptake among Nigerian adolescents despite effort at combating the scourge of HIV/AIDS. A cross sectional quantitative descriptive study was conducted to describe the knowledge, understand the attitudes and practices of VCT among adolescents of senior high school in Nigeria with the aim of informing VCT services and policies. A systematic random sampling of 100 adolescents was done and data collected by means of structured self-administered questionnaires. The study revealed inadequate knowledge on VCT among the study participants which is probably responsible for their poor VCT uptake. Free VCT services and availability of VCT services within the school are factors that could motivate VCT uptake among the students. There is need to enhance dissemination of VCT information among youth and create youth-friendly VCT services to increase VCT uptake among adolescents / Health Studies / M.A. (Public Health)

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Work