Thesis (doctoral)--La Salle University, 2002. / ProQuest dissertations and theses ; AAT 3064085. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 82-86).

L'aidant naturel d'un proche souffrant de schizophrénie qui suit une thérapie familiale perçoit certains éléments liés au processus à l'œuvre. Le but de cette étude est de recueillir des éléments susceptibles d'être communs à plusieurs prises en charge familiales. Il s'agit d'apporter des hypothèses de travail sur un domaine inexploré, et d'envisager un lien entre les exposés des aidants naturels et les concepts pratiques. Après avoir parcouru les références théoriques sur la thérapie familiale et sur les aidants naturels, une analyse thématique du contenu de cinq entretiens a été réalisée. Il s'agit d'entretiens ouverts afin de récolter un plus grand nombre d'hypothèses de travail. Les suivis des aidants sont hétérogènes par la durée et le type de suivi familial. Les résultats permettent de relever 29 thèmes. Parmi ceux-ci, deux semblent de premier ordre: la communication intrafamiliale et le positionnement. Ces thèmes semblent liés entre eux ainsi qu'à d'autres. Cela laisse penser qu'ils sont élaborés par les aidants comme occupant une place centrale dans le travail effectué avec les praticiens en psychothérapie familiale. Le moment spécifique de l’avènement du trouble est une période de grande détresse pour la famille. Celle-ci manifeste des attentes en termes de soutien, et d’accompagnement de la part des professionnels. Si elles sont négligées, la création de l’alliance thérapeutique peut être mise à mal, et entraver la prise en charge. Par ailleurs, il semble que perception circulaire et linéaire coexistent dans la représentation du problème que se fait le praticien. Cette étude propose des hypothèses qui demandent à être vérifiées par des recherches ultérieures. / Caregivers dealing with a family member with schizophrenia and undergoing a family therapy feel some effects related to the process. This research aims to identify perceived family features likely to be common to the various family care programs. Thus, this study has to do with working hypotheses based on a still unexplored field of psychology, and also, to seek a link between stories of caregivers and practical concepts. Having gone through references on family therapy and caregivers, a thematic analysis of five interviews has been carried out. Follow-up of caregivers is heterogeneous in terms of duration and type of family supervision. The interviews were open in order to collect a larger number of working hypotheses. The results can take up 29 topics. Among these, two of them seem to be high-order issues: intrafamilial communication and family status. These subjects appear to be connected to each other and to other areas. This suggests that both of them are elaborated by caregivers as a strong emphasis in the work of the family therapist. At the specific time when the disorder occurs, it's a period of extreme distress for all the family members. So that the family expresses expectations in counseling and support from professionals. If the demands are neglected, building the therapeutic alliance may be harmed and can, therefore, hinder the psychological management of patients with schizophrenia. Moreover, it appears that circular and linear perceptions co-exist in the problem representation of practitioners. This study proposes hypotheses that require subsequent verification during further research.

No abstract available / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / M. Diac. (Youth Work)

The objective of this study was to investigate the conditions under which family counseling was terminated and the relationship of the type of termination to children's self-concepts and parents' attitudes. For the purposes of this study, family counseling was terminated by either mutual termination or by family termination. Mutual termination referred to the family and the counselor mutually agreeing that termination from counseling was appropriate. Family termination referred to the family deciding without counselor agreement that termination from counseling was appropriate. For the purposes of this study a family's degree of commitment to the counseling process was indicated by the type of termination the families chose, that is, mutual or family termination.

The purpose of this study was to compare western family therapy to the "imbizo" system that is used as a kind of family therapy in the black cultural environment. The "imbizo" system is different from western therapy in its composition. Relatives play a more prominent role than in western family therapy. The imbizo system provides unique support and aftercare to its clients. Unlike western therapy, it requires no payment of fees. The "imbizo" excludes children while western family therapy includes every family member as part of the system in the therapeutic process. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with three male respondents from the Nguni ethnic group and one male and two females from the Sotho ethnic group. / Psychology of Education / M. Ed. (Guidance and Counselling)

M.Ed. / New legislation on the termination of pregnancy (Number 92 of 1996) was approved by President Mandela on 12 November 1996, and came into effect on 1 February 1997. This law allows any pregnant woman above the age of 12, thus including adolescents, to decide to have her pregnancy terminated. Furthermore, the adolescents do not need parental permission to have their pregnancies terminated. The question arising from this is the following: how do the parents, and more specifically the mother, experience the termination of their adolescent daughter's pregnancy? To explore and describe the feelings of these mothers, qualitative, explorative, descriptive and contextual research was utilized in two phases. During Phase I, in depth phenomenological interviews were conducted. During Phase II logical inference was used to generate guidelines for educational psychologists to enable them to assist and guide these mothers whose adolescent daughters had had their pregnancies terminated. The research showed that the following themes were observed recurringly: > Shock, disillusionment and internal conflict due to the decision to have the pregnancy terminated. > Sorrow due to overwhelming emotions after the termination of the pregnancy. > Helplessness due to the inability to deal with the course of events. > Mechanisms of defense in an attempt to protect themselves. The guidelines that have been set, are as follows: > Setting of goals and rational emotive therapy. > Guidelines regarding unconditional acceptance of the mother, the verbalising of emotions and the addressing of irrational thoughts. > Guidelines to empower mothers to assist both themselves and their daughters. > Guidelines to assist mothers to apply the mechanisms of defense in a positive way.

Afrikaans: In hierdie proefskrif word die pastorale begeleiding van gesinne waarin kindermishandeling voorkom, nagevors. Die navorser het toenemend met gesinne waarin kindermishandeling voorkom te doen gekry. Daar bestaan by pastorale werkers (almal wat op een of ander wyse pastorale hulp verleen) onsekerheid en onkunde oor die begeleiding van hierdie gesinne. Daar bestaan ook 'n behoefte aan 'n pastorale benadering, aangesien kindermishandeling nog altyd binne die maatskaplike en psigologiese studievelde geressorteer het. Samelewingsprobleme, soos geweld, immorele dade en emosionele probleme gee dikwels tot kindermishandeling aanleiding. Hierdie studie neem die narratiewe benadering as uitgangspunt en wil aan die hand van enkele gevallestudies, op die bruikbaarheid van die narratiewe benadering reflekteer. Die mens word binne sy lewensverhaal en konteks verstaan, want die praktiese teologie as handelingswetenskap, kies sy uitgangspunt in die ervaringswêreld van mense en die situasie van die kerk in die samelewing. God het die mens as Sy verteenwoordiger en as kroon van die skepping gemaak. Met die sondeval het daar 'n skeiding in al die mens se verhoudings gekom. In sy genade rig God 'n verbond op waarin Hy homself aan die mens verbind. Die pastorale perspektief maak ems met die verhaal van 'n handelende Verbondsgod wat verlore mense red en in die versoeningswerk van Jesus Christus, Sy oneindige liefde vir die sondaar bewys. Die Koninkryk van God kry in elke mens gestalte as die mens die waardes van die Koninkryk erken en daarvolgens lewe. Die waardes is Iiefde, geregtigheid, vrede en hoop. In die gesin waarin kindermishandeling plaasvind, ontbreek hierdie waardes dikwels, want mishandeling is teenstrydig met God se plan vir die gesin en kinders. Deur die simbiotiese werk van die Heilige Gees word die mens in nood op die toekoms gerig, met hoop, nuwe groeipotensiaal en oorwinning. Die navorsing toon dat ‘n gesin wat met sy noodstorie van mishandeling weer oor die toekoms, onder leiding van ‘n bekende God begin droom, in die hede weer liefde, vrede, duursaamheid en veiligheid kan vind. Die benaderings van Müller en Freedman&Combs, asook die benutting van die genogram, stel pastors in staat om, saam met die gesin waarin kindermishandeling voorkom, dominante verhale te dekonstrueer en ‘n nuwe realiteit te konstrueer. English: This dissertation reports on a study of the pastoral counselling of families in which child abuse occurs. As research progressed, the researcher came into contact with increasing numbers of such families. Many pastoral workers (this includes all those who render pastoral assistance of some kind) are not adequately qualified to work with these families, and their lack of knowledge gives rise to uncertainty. There is also a need for a pastoral approach, since child abuse has always fallen with the specific fields of study of Social Science and Psychology. This study is based on the narrative approach and reflects on its usefulness by referring to a number of case studies. Since practical theology as an active science chooses as its point of departure the world as experienced by individuals, and the role of the church in society, man is viewed in the context of all his life experiences or his personal history. God created man as His representative on earth and as the pinnacle of His creation. The Fall resulted in the disintegration of man's relationship with God and with his fellow men. In His mercy God established a covenant, binding himself to mankind. The pastoral perspective is serious about this God of the Covenant who acts to save those that are lost and who, through the redeeming work of Jesus Christ, demonstrates His boundless love for sinners. The Kingdom of God is reflected in every person who acknowledges the values of the Kingdom and lives according to them. These values are love, justice, peace and hope. In families where children are abused, these values are often absent, since abuse is in conflict with God's plan for the family and for children. Through the symbiotic working of the Holy Spirit, people in need are helped to face the future with hope and a new potential for growth that can ultimately lead to victory. The research revealed that a family with a history of abuse can, under the guidance of a God that they know, again begin to dream about the future and can once again experience love, peace, stability and security. The approaches followed by Müller, Freedman&Combs, as well as the use of the genogram, enable pastors to assist members of families where child abuse occurs in deconstructing dominant experiences and constructing new realities. / Thesis (PhD (Practical Theology))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Practical Theology / unrestricted

The aim of this study was to explore and describe the intergenerational interactional patterns in a Coloured family where the mother has abused alcohol. Researchers have found that drinking behaviours of parents can have major effects on the children’s lives throughout generations. Substance abuse of a parent has major influences on the family, their interactions, and relationships, mostly between the parent and the child. There is a major gap in the study of the Coloured families and how substance abuse affects their families and children. The study employed Bowen’s constructs of differentiation of self, multigenerational transmission process, triangulation, emotional cut-off, nuclear family emotional system, sibling position, family projection process, and societal regression and utilized analytical generalization of the concepts to achieve its aim. The mother, an older sibling and maternal mother were the main sources of data although the perspective of the mother herself was privileged in the study. Semi-structured interviews were utilized to gather the data. This allowed participants to freely narrate their personal perceptions and experiences of interaction in both the family of origin and the current nuclear family. The research used a single case study of a purposively sampled family. The researcher is a Coloured female who had specific interest in this specific cultural group and their interactional patterns, which optimised cultural familiarity during the research process and reduced the likelihood of potential discriminatory racial bias of the participants. The findings demonstrate that perceptions of interactional patterns in the nuclear family and family of origin coincided with certain of Bowen’s Family Systems concepts, particularly, triangulation and differentiation. However, the need for further exploration of concepts such as the nuclear family emotional system and the family projection process in Coloured families are still needed in future studies. The findings provided insight into the functioning of the relationships and FAMILY INTERACTION IN MATERNAL ALCOHOL ABUSE interactions in both the nuclear family and the family of origin. Limitations of the current study are identified and recommendations for future studies in this field are also offered.

Surveys have shown that alcohol misuse is the biggest substance misuse problem in the world today, affecting millions of people. With the disease being part of a family, all members of the family experience the distress of parental alcohol misuse. While the challenges that these families have to face are many, they seem to have the ability to “bounce back”, in other words, have resilience. There has been limited research to date on family relations and alcohol misuse in South Africa, especially in terms of the parental member as the alcohol misuser. The proposed research aimed to explore and describe the factors that facilitate adjustment and adaptation in families where a member misuses alcohol. The Resiliency Model of Family Stress, Adjustment and Adaptation was used to analyze the factors that enable a family to adapt to the alcohol misuse, as outlined in the broader study at the University of Stellenbosch. An exploratory descriptive research design was employed in the proposed study. For the purposes of this study, the researcher combined qualitative and quantitative research methods in order to use their complementary strengths to enrich the data obtained from the proposed study. Sixty three families were surveyed using a biographical questionnaire and seven pencil-and-paper questionnaires. These families were accessed via drug and alcohol rehabilitation facilities throughout South Africa. The data from the biographical questionnaire was analyzed using descriptive statistics, while the qualitative data was analyzed using content analysis. The quantitative data was analyzed using correlation and regression analysis. The findings of the proposed research allow for better management of the alcohol misuser’s condition through the understanding of what resiliency areas the family may improve upon. Furthermore, the study can be used as a stepping stone for future research of resilience in families living with a parental member who misuses alcohol, and ultimately contributes to the broader context of family resilience research in South Africa. Key words: alcohol misuse, alcohol abuse, alcohol dependence, family, resilience, adjustment, adaptability.

This study investigates the differential treatment efficacy of Experiential Systemic Therapy (ExST) with a comparison treatment called Supported Feedback Therapy (SFT) as it is applied to the problem of alcohol dependency. The inquiry also compares the treatment effectiveness of ExST when offered to the individual alcoholic (ExST-I) and when provided in couples therapy conjoint treatment (ExST-C). An ecological approach to assessment was developed for the investigation. Selfreport questionnaires tapping an array of areas including indices of alcohol use, intrapersonal functioning, couples adjustment, and family characteristics were employed to measure treatment effects from the perspectives of father, mother, and eldest child. Participating families met inclusion criteria including an alcoholic dependent father and a non-alcohol abusing mother in a state of marital distress residing in an intact family situation with at least one child living at home. One hundred and fourteen families were randomly assigned to participating therapists and one of three treatment conditions including ExST-I, ExST-C,or SFT. Therapy was conducted at two out-patient clinics, one located in an urban setting and the other operating in a rural context. Data were collected from all participating families before and after treatment. Data were also gathered at a three month follow-up from participants in the ExST-I and ExST-C treatment conditions. The results of the mixed model multivariate analyses indicated that there were no significant differences between ExST and SFT evident at post-treatment; however, both treatments were found to have promoted highly significant improvements on measures of drinking behavior, intrapersonal symptomology, marital adjustment and family satisfaction. When ExST-I and ExST-C were compared, the results revealed no significant differences between the treatment formats although both parents reported highly significant post treatment changes on all instruments. Additionally, the significant changes associated with ExST-I and ExST-C which were reported by both parents at post-treatment were found to be equally durable at the end of a three month follow-up. The results of the analyses based on the eldest child’s perspective showed that the assessments of family satisfaction were unaffected by the treatment conditions and remained consistent across all measurement occasions. Within system analyses which provided detailed examination of the magnitude of changes reported by both parents at post-treatment were performed. The within system results based on measures probing the assessment domains of alcohol, intrapersonal, couple and family from the father and mother perspectives, revealed that the improvements achieved by the treatments were far reaching and touched a wide array of areas in statistically significant and clinically relevant fashions. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate