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This study was designed to understand the meaning of the lived experiences of incarcerated male juveniles who had committed drug-related crimes and to suggest guidelines for their rehabilitation with specific reference to their health care needs. In order to achieve these objectives, the researcher used Parse’s (1998) Theory of Human Becoming as a theoretical framework for the study and Parse’s (1998, 2005) phenomenological-hermeneutic research method. This study was restricted to three juvenile correctional centres in the Gauteng province, Republic of South Africa (RSA). A sample of 15 male juveniles (5 at each of the three juvenile correctional centres) was used for the purpose of individual dialogical engagements with the participants. Focus group interview sessions were held with two groups (5 members per group) at two identified juvenile correctional centres. A qualitative content analysis according to methods recommended by Graneheim and Lundman (2004) was performed on the data that was collected from the individual dialogical-engagements and the focus group interviews. The researcher attempted to elucidate the meanings that the participants attached to their experiences of incarceration as narrated by them and analysed the data according to Parse’s (1998; 2005) phenomenological-hermeneutic method comprising of extraction-synthesis and heuristic interpretation. The findings of this research confirm that problems of drug abuse and criminal activity represent a multifaceted, complex and often intractable phenomenon. The research also confirmed that the participants suffer from a variety of emotional and psychological problems such as depression, anxiety, fear, guilt, remorse, regret and a craving for the drugs that they had abused before their incarceration. It appears that the participants find it extremely difficult to deal effectively with these disorders on their own and that they are generally averse to asking for professional help and assistance. Interventions to alleviate these problems are crucial for the success of the current rehabilitation programmes being pursued in the correctional centres where the participants are accommodated. / Health Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (Health Studies)

A growing body of research recognizes spirituality as a key element in well-being, but the agency of individual spirituality remains unclear. This study explores the role of embodied knowledge in reality construction and its effect on illness by considering how spirituality as embodied existence shapes reality. Spirituality, as a form of embodied knowing, is shown to reach deeply into the fundamental relatedness of existence. The study argues for a mindbody- spirit unity, making no distinction between self and spirit, emotions and subjective experiences situated in the spirit. As the medium between body and self, spirituality gives form to the felt reality of embodied knowledge and meaning, shaping language, cognition, thought and action towards lived reality. New ways of thinking about eating disorders were stimulated by innovative discoveries through investigating the lived reality of the illness within an epistemology that included subjective experiences as part of reality. While acknowledging the influence of social discourse, the study calls for a recognition of vulnerability in the human condition giving rise to the embodiment of a wounded self or disenabling spirituality, manifested in the development of an eating disorder. It uncovers the anti-spiritual properties involved in the lived reality of people struggling with anorexia/bulimia, evident in social withdrawal and/or self-injury. Behavioural patterns of obsession and repetition underscore similarities to addiction and ritual. The study synthesised pastoral therapy and research. A postmodern approach to illness and a qualitative design with interpretive phenomenology were used. Three young women struggling with anorexia/bulimia participated in semi-structured research interviews. Their narrative accounts provided a chronology of developing, living with and healing from anorexia /bulimia. Emphasis shifted from an approach aimed at fixing the body to focusing on individual experiences of the illness; what she brought to the encounter in her own resources and potential to heal. Healing is envisaged as the ongoing development of a renewed sense of self, an inherently spiritual process orchestrated from within. Previous disassociation of body and self is replaced with reconnection between body, self and other, care of the spirit became care of the body, expressed in harmony and wholeness of being. / Practical Theology / D.Div. (Pastoral therapy)

When conducting research on crime, scholars are generally inclined to focus on the aetiology, hence our comprehension of biological and/or environmental factors as antecedents of crime. In this study, however, acknowledgement was given to ex-offenders who, once released from prison showed positive signs of disengagement from crime and posed the following questions: what are the lived experiences of ex-offenders who desist from crime and what are the reasons influencing their decisions to stop offending? Four adult male ex-offenders of African descent between the ages of 30 and 42 participated in the study. The researcher, inspired by his insider position as an ex-offender aimed to explore and describe the lived experiences of other ex-offenders who had stopped offending, or who were in the process of disengaging from crime. An interpretive phenomenological approach including three theories of criminal desistance were used to ground the study. Data were collected via semi-structured interviews and analysed thematically. Results showed that the processes of criminal desistance are unique and contextual, particular rather than universal, and that change can be attributed to intra-individual factors facilitated by strong quality social bonds / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)

Literature reveals that reproductive coercion is a major contributor to unwanted pregnancy and a factor that influences the choice to terminate pregnancy in many adolescents. Adolescents represent a population vulnerable to a number of physical and psychological problems. Purpose The overall aim of this thesis was to develop a model of self-forgiveness for women who terminated pregnancy in adolescence. Objectives The study objectives are aligned according to the phases of the study as follows: Phase 1: Desk review Explore what is already known about the topic and identify gaps. Phase 2: Lived experiences of participants about TOP Explore the lived experiences of participants who terminated pregnancy in adolescence. Phase 3: Development of a model Develop a model of self-forgiveness for women who terminated pregnancy in adolescence. The social-ecological model (Bronfenbrenner 1992), through which individuals are understood to influence and be influenced by people, organisations, institutions, societal norms, rules and beliefs with whom they interact, was followed. The model offered a holistic framework for exploring interrelationships related to TOP Methodology A qualitative approach based on Heidegger (1962) interpretive phenomenological approach was used. The study was conducted at a Health Care Centre in Tshwane Municipality, Gauteng Province, South Africa. The population consisted of women, 20-35 years old, who terminated pregnancy in adolescence. A purposive and snowball sampling techniques were used to recruit 30 participants who had terminated pregnancy in adolescence. An interview guide was used to solicit information from participants. Audiotaped interviews were held at the time, date and place agreed by participants. Colaizzi’s (1978) approach of data analysis was used. Results Five major themes emerged, with 17 sub-themes as transgressing one of nature’s strongest instincts: the mother’s protection of her young; unplanned pregnancy; intra-and interpersonal relationships; experience of caring by health care professionals and a need for counselling. A model of self-forgiveness for women who did TOP in adolescence, based on the components of self-condemnation and self-blame, cultural and spiritual, as well as reproductive coercion, was developed. Conclusion Participants carried the burden of shame and guilt of having terminated pregnancy in adolescence. The influence of culture and religion were the major contributing factors to women failing to forgive themselves after termination of pregnancy. A model of self-forgiveness is needed to allow those who terminated pregnancy in adolescence to move on with their life. / Health Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (Health Studies)

This study was designed to understand the meaning of the lived experiences of incarcerated male juveniles who had committed drug-related crimes and to suggest guidelines for their rehabilitation with specific reference to their health care needs. In order to achieve these objectives, the researcher used Parse’s (1998) Theory of Human Becoming as a theoretical framework for the study and Parse’s (1998, 2005) phenomenological-hermeneutic research method. This study was restricted to three juvenile correctional centres in the Gauteng province, Republic of South Africa (RSA). A sample of 15 male juveniles (5 at each of the three juvenile correctional centres) was used for the purpose of individual dialogical engagements with the participants. Focus group interview sessions were held with two groups (5 members per group) at two identified juvenile correctional centres. A qualitative content analysis according to methods recommended by Graneheim and Lundman (2004) was performed on the data that was collected from the individual dialogical-engagements and the focus group interviews. The researcher attempted to elucidate the meanings that the participants attached to their experiences of incarceration as narrated by them and analysed the data according to Parse’s (1998; 2005) phenomenological-hermeneutic method comprising of extraction-synthesis and heuristic interpretation. The findings of this research confirm that problems of drug abuse and criminal activity represent a multifaceted, complex and often intractable phenomenon. The research also confirmed that the participants suffer from a variety of emotional and psychological problems such as depression, anxiety, fear, guilt, remorse, regret and a craving for the drugs that they had abused before their incarceration. It appears that the participants find it extremely difficult to deal effectively with these disorders on their own and that they are generally averse to asking for professional help and assistance. Interventions to alleviate these problems are crucial for the success of the current rehabilitation programmes being pursued in the correctional centres where the participants are accommodated. / Health Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (Health Studies)

A growing body of research recognizes spirituality as a key element in well-being, but the agency of individual spirituality remains unclear. This study explores the role of embodied knowledge in reality construction and its effect on illness by considering how spirituality as embodied existence shapes reality. Spirituality, as a form of embodied knowing, is shown to reach deeply into the fundamental relatedness of existence. The study argues for a mindbody- spirit unity, making no distinction between self and spirit, emotions and subjective experiences situated in the spirit. As the medium between body and self, spirituality gives form to the felt reality of embodied knowledge and meaning, shaping language, cognition, thought and action towards lived reality. New ways of thinking about eating disorders were stimulated by innovative discoveries through investigating the lived reality of the illness within an epistemology that included subjective experiences as part of reality. While acknowledging the influence of social discourse, the study calls for a recognition of vulnerability in the human condition giving rise to the embodiment of a wounded self or disenabling spirituality, manifested in the development of an eating disorder. It uncovers the anti-spiritual properties involved in the lived reality of people struggling with anorexia/bulimia, evident in social withdrawal and/or self-injury. Behavioural patterns of obsession and repetition underscore similarities to addiction and ritual. The study synthesised pastoral therapy and research. A postmodern approach to illness and a qualitative design with interpretive phenomenology were used. Three young women struggling with anorexia/bulimia participated in semi-structured research interviews. Their narrative accounts provided a chronology of developing, living with and healing from anorexia /bulimia. Emphasis shifted from an approach aimed at fixing the body to focusing on individual experiences of the illness; what she brought to the encounter in her own resources and potential to heal. Healing is envisaged as the ongoing development of a renewed sense of self, an inherently spiritual process orchestrated from within. Previous disassociation of body and self is replaced with reconnection between body, self and other, care of the spirit became care of the body, expressed in harmony and wholeness of being. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / Th. D. (Pastoral therapy)

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Descriptions about the matting of hair given by medical practitioners show a significant commonality indicating it as a historic health problem prevalent across the globe, however with less clarity about its etiopathogenesis. In southwestern India, the emergence of matting of hair is considered a deific phenomenon; consequently, people worship the emerged matted hair and restrict its removal. Superstitious beliefs impose a ritualistic lifestyle on affected women depriving them of health and well-being, further leading to stigma, social isolation, and marginalization. For unmarried females, the matting of hair can result in dedication to the coercive devadasi custom whereby women end up marrying a god or goddess. To date, the state, academia, and disciplines such as medicine and psychology have paid far too little attention to the social, cultural, and health concerns of the women affected by matted hair. A Heideggerian interpretive phenomenological study was conducted to document the lived experience of women affected by the phenomenon of matting of hair. The subjective accounts of 13 jata-affected women selected through purposive sampling were documented to understand their health and human rights marginalization through harmful cultural practices surrounding matting of hair. Seven distinct thematic areas emerged from the study exemplified their lived experience as jata-affected women. The prevalent gender-based inequity revealed substantial vulnerability of women to health and human rights marginalization through harmful cultural practices. The ontological structure of the lived experience of matting of hair highlighted the unreflective internalization of religious-based discourse of matting of hair. The hermeneutic exploration revealed events that exemplified jata-affected women’s compromised religiosity, and control of their well-being, human development, and ontological security. The religious-based interpretation of matting of hair and associated practices marginalize the health and human rights of affected women through family members, institutions, society, and religious-based systems. The study demonstrates the need for collaborative, evidence-based interventions and for effective domestic as well as global policies to prevent the health and human rights violations of women through cultural practices. The study offered foundational evidential documentation of the phenomenon of matting of hair as a harmful cultural practice that compromises women’s right to health and well-being.

Text in English with abstracts in English, Afrikaans and isiZulu. Translated titles in Afrikaans and isiZulu supplied / Alarming global crime levels lead to increased incarcerations, resulting in changes in the dynamics of the offender population. Developments that call for urgent progressive reforms of corrections, thereby fast-tracking the employment of female officers. A qualitative study was conducted to explore the lived work experiences of 17 female correctional officers, at Kgoši Mampuru II Management Area in Pretoria, South Africa, to determine how they shape their work identity in this male-dominated sector. An interpretive phenomenological analysis methodology is applied, informed by the Social Identity Theory (SIT) to conceptualise the factors that shape these officers’ work identity. Themes identified include the role of the corrections environment as a social institution, corrections operating as separate communities, and how being different contributes to the distinct attributes of female correctional officers. Emotional labour, vigilance and their uniform also proved significant tools these female officers applied as a means to cope and assert their rightful place in this harsh, strained environment. / Ubugebengu obuphakeme kakhulu emhlabeni sebuholele ekutheni sikhule isibalo seziboshwa emajele, okwenza ukuthi silokhu sidlondlobale njalo isibalo seziboshwa nakuba amajele esegcwele ngokweqile. Izinguquko esimweni sesibalo seziboshwa esikhulayo sezibeke ingcindezi engeziwe phezu kwamahlombe ojele nakuba sebevele bethwele kanzima. Lokhu sekudale isidingo esiphuthumayo sokuthi kwenziwe izinguquko ezinohlonze okuhloswe ngazo ukuphucula nokuthuthukisa isimo, ngokuthi kusheshiwe ukuqashwa kojele besifazane. Lolu cwaningo lwenziwe ngaphansi kwalesi simo-ke ngenhloso yokuhlola nokucubungula impilo ephilwa ngojele besifazane uma besemsebenzini nezigameko zansukuzonke abahlangabezana nazo ukuze kubhekwe ukuthi basibumba futhi basibonakalise kanjani isimo-bunjalo sabo njengabantu ukuze bathathe indawo yabo ngeqholo kulo mkhakha okukhonya kuwona kakhulu abantu besilisa. Ulwazi locwaningo lwaqoqwa ngokusebenzisa izingxoxo zokubonana ubuso nobuso ezingama-semi-structured interviews ezabanjwa nojele besifazane abayi-17 e-Kgoši Mampuru II Management Area ePitoli, eNingizimu Afrika. Izindlela zocwaningo ezasetshenziswa kwaba yindlela yocwaningo olukhwalithethivu kanye nohlaziyo olubizwa nge-interpretive phenomenological analysis. Ithiyori yokuzihlonza komuntu isimo sakhe emphakathini nokuthi ungubani iveza umbono wokuthi umuntu wakha izimo-bunjalo ezihlukahlukene okuyizimo-bunjalo zakhe uqobo ngaphakathi kanye nezimo-bunjalo afuna ukuziveza ngazo futhi azibonakalise ngazo emphakathini ukuze akwazi ukwenza izinto kahle futhi ngendlela efanele endaweni ethile azithola ekuyona. Izingqikithi eziyinhloko ezahlozwa ngenhloso yokweseka lo mgomo zibandakanya indima yesikhungo okwenzelwa kusona umsebenzi wokuhlunyeleliswa kwezimilo njengesikhungo zomphakathi, isikhungo sokuhlunyeleliswa kwezimilo uma sisebenza njengesikhungo somphakathi oseceleni noma ohlukile, kanye nokuthi ukwehluka kwaso kusifaka kanjani isandla ekuvezeni izimo-binjalo ezicacile futhi ezihlukile zojele besifazane. Ikhono labo lokulawula imizwa yabo ukuze bakwazi ukwenza umsebenzi wabo ngendlela efanele kanye nokucophelela kwabo kwahlonzwa njengamathuluzi asetshenziswa ngojele besifazane ukuze bakwazi ukumelana nesimo esilukhuni, esishubile futhi esimazonzo abasebenza ngaphansi kwaso. Indima edlalwa ngumfaniswano ekubumbeni isimo-bunjalo sabo emsebenzini nayo yabonisa ingqikithi encikile esemqoka eyahlonzwa ngenkathi kwenziwa uhlaziyo. / Toenemende misdaadsyfers lei globaal tot al hoër getalle oortreders in gevangenskap, wat onvermydelik die dinamiek van dié groeiende populasie verander. Die tendens noodsaak die transformasie van korrektiewe dienste, wat gevolglik die indiensneming van vroulike korrektiewe beamptes bespoedig het. ‘n Kwalitatiewe studie is onderneem met 17 vroulike beamptes te Kgoši Mampuru II Korrektiewe Bestuursarea, Pretoria, Suid-Afrika. ‘n Interpretiewe fenomenologiese analisemetode is toegepas, met die beginsels van die Sosiale Identitieitsteorie as grondslag, om die faktore te konseptualiseer wat bydra tot werksidentiteitvorming van vroue in hierdie manlik gedomineerde sektor. Temas geidentifiseer behels die rol van die korrektiewe omgewing as sosiale instelling, korrektiewe dienste wat funksioneer as afsonderlike gemeenskap, en die besondere bydraes wat die vroulike beampte, juis deur haar uniekheid lewer. Emosionele arbeid, voortdurende waaksaamheid, asook die rol van haar uniform, is verder aangedui as betekenisvolle meganismes wat dié beamptes aanwend in ‘n uitdagende omgewing en so hul regmatige plek inneem in hierdie onkonvensionele werksmilieu. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)