<p>Mentoring has gained a great deal of popularity across various professional fields and disciplines over the past few years. More recently, planned mentoring has become an important form of intervention with young people (Philip, 2003). Although mentoring can be an effective strategy for dealing with youth, the mentoring is only as good as the relationship that develops out of the process between mentors and mentees and the match that is made between the two parties. The number of mentor programmes that is running continues to grow yet the quality of these programmes remains unknown as this area lacks agreed upon sets of standards and / bench marks that could be used to determine the effectiveness of these programmes (Sipe, 1988 -1995). The primary aim of this study is to evaluate the mentors&rsquo / perceptions of the effectiveness of a mentor training programme run by Big Brother Big Sister South Africa.</p>

<p>Mentoring has gained a great deal of popularity across various professional fields and disciplines over the past few years. More recently, planned mentoring has become an important form of intervention with young people (Philip, 2003). Although mentoring can be an effective strategy for dealing with youth, the mentoring is only as good as the relationship that develops out of the process between mentors and mentees and the match that is made between the two parties. The number of mentor programmes that is running continues to grow yet the quality of these programmes remains unknown as this area lacks agreed upon sets of standards and / bench marks that could be used to determine the effectiveness of these programmes (Sipe, 1988 -1995). The primary aim of this study is to evaluate the mentors&rsquo / perceptions of the effectiveness of a mentor training programme run by Big Brother Big Sister South Africa.</p>

Magister Psychologiae - MPsych / Mentoring has gained a great deal of popularity across various professional fields and disciplines over the past few years. More recently, planned mentoring has become an important form of intervention with young people (Philip, 2003). Although mentoring can be an effective strategy for dealing with youth, the mentoring is only as good as the relationship that develops out of the process between mentors and mentees and the match that is made between the two parties. The number of mentor programmes that is running continues to grow yet the quality of these programmes remains unknown as this area lacks agreed upon sets of standards and / bench marks that could be used to determine the effectiveness of these programmes (Sipe, 1988 -1995). The primary aim of this study is to evaluate the mentors' perceptions of the effectiveness of a mentor training programme run by Big Brother Big Sister South Africa. / South Africa

Ce mémoire se penche sur les processus de constructions des relations fraternelles auprès d’adultes qui ont précédemment vécu dans une famille recomposée. Il a pour point de départ un constat ressorti des études antérieures sur les fratries : celles-ci portent majoritairement sur la situation des familles dites « intactes » où les liens biologiques sont pris pour acquis dans la définition de ce qu’est une fratrie. Or l’augmentation des familles recomposées, phénomène observé dans la plupart des pays occidentaux et au Québec en particulier, met en présence des fratries dont les liens débordent du cadre biologique. Quelles spécificités présentent ces « fratries recomposées » par rapport à ce que les études nous apprennent du fonctionnement des fratries « intactes », notamment à l’âge adulte ? Deux concepts sont particulièrement mobilisés dans ces études, ceux de temps et de mémoire. Ces concepts nous sont apparus des plus pertinents pour comprendre comment s’établissent les relations fraternelles en contexte de recomposition familiale à l’âge adulte. Cette étude exploratoire a pour objectifs de comprendre les formes que prennent les relations fraternelles à travers le temps jusqu’à l’âge adulte et d’identifier les moments clés dans le parcours des frères et sœurs qui ont marqué leurs relations. La méthodologie est de type qualitatif, inspirée de la méthode du récit de vie. Ainsi, nous avons recueilli les récits de quatorze participant.es ayant vécu dans une famille recomposée durant l’enfance et/ou l’adolescence. L’analyse de ces discours met en évidence le fait que les liens établis entre frères et sœurs en contexte de recomposition familiale ont une portée tout aussi significative que les liens existant dans les familles où frères et sœurs sont reliés exclusivement par le sang. Des spécificités apparaissent certes, mais au-delà du statut biologique ou recomposé des liens, c’est davantage l’expérience du temps, d’une histoire partagée et d’une mémoire commune qui contribuent à la configuration et au maintien ou non des relations entre frères et sœurs à l’âge adulte. Le caractère exploratoire de l’étude ne permet évidemment pas de généraliser ces résultats, il reste que ce mémoire invite à élargir le regard sur cet objet trop peu étudié en sociologie de la famille que sont les relations entre frères et sœurs. / This master thesis focuses on the construction process of relationships between adult full-, half- and step- siblings who previously lived in a stepfamily. This research originates from observations made from earlier studies on siblings: they focus mainly on full sibling relationships in non-divorced families, in which biological links are taken for granted in the definition of siblings. Conversely, the increase in stepfamilies, a phenomenon observed in most western countries and particularly in Quebec, suggests that siblings from different family backgrounds are prone to live together. This implies that their links extend beyond the biological framework. How does these full-, half- and step- sibling relationships differ from findings on studies of full siblings in adulthood? From these researches on adult full siblings, two concepts particularly stand out: time and memory. Drawing from these findings, we speculate that these concepts are most relevant when examining the establishment of relationships amongst full-, half- and step- siblings in adulthood. This exploratory study aims to understand the construct of adult full-, half- and step- sibling relationships over time and to identify the key moments in their life course which impacted their relationships. The methodology used was qualitative in nature and based on life stories. Therefore, we collected the life stories of fourteen participants who lived in a stepfamily during their childhood and/or adolescence. The analysis of their speeches highlights that the bonds established between brothers and sisters in stepfamilies are as important as the bonds existing in families where siblings are exclusively related by blood. However, we found that sibling relationships in stepfamilies go beyond their sharing of biological ties: it is more the time experienced in stepfamilies, a shared history and a shared memory which contribute to the configuration and maintenance or not of their relationships in adulthood. Even though the exploratory nature of this study clearly does not allow the generalisation of our findings, we believe that this research invites us to broaden our focus on sibling relationships, an understudied object in the sociology of family.