Includes bibliographical references (leaves 149-190) / Abstract in English and Afrikaans / This study aimed to determine whether classroom climate or school climate is a greater predictor of emotional intelligence in South African primary school learners from Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, as well as which factors promote and which inhibit its development. A purposive sample of 119 primary school learners from six classes in two government schools in Durban was obtained. The learners assessed their classroom climate with the My Class Inventory (short form) (MCI-SF), and their emotional intelligence with the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (Child Short Form) (TEIQue-CSF). The six teachers assessed the school climate with the School Level Environment Questionnaire (SLEQ). Results suggest that classroom climate is a predictor of emotional intelligence while school climate is not; that satisfaction and cohesiveness positively correlate with emotional intelligence levels, and friction, competitiveness, and difficulty negatively correlate with emotional intelligence levels. The identified relationship between classroom climate factors and emotional intelligence warrants further research into the topic. / M.A. (Psychology) / Hierdie studie het ten doel gehad om te bepaal of klaskamerklimaat of skoolklimaat 'n groter voorspeller van emosionele intelligensie by Suid-Afrikaanse laerskool leerlinge van Durban, Kwazulu-Natal is, asook watter faktore die ontwikkeling bevorder en watter die ontwikkeling daarvan belemmer. 'n Doelgerigte steekproef van 119 laerskool leerlinge van ses klasse in twee regering skole in Durban is verkry. Die leerlinge het hulle klasklimaat beoordeel met behulp van die ‘My Class Inventory (short form) (MCI-SF)’, en hulle emosionele intelligensie met die ‘Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (Child Short Form) (TEIQue-CSF)’. Die ses onderwysers het die skoolklimaat beoordeel met die ‘School Level Environment Questionnaire (SLEQ)’.. Resultate dui daarop dat klasklimaat 'n voorspeller van emosionele intelligensie is terwyl skoolklimaat nie is nie; dat tevredenheid en samehorigheid positief korreleer met emosionele intelligensievlakke, en wrywing, mededingendheid en probleme negatief korreleer met emosionele intelligensievlakke. Die geïdentifiseerde verwantskap tussen klimaatfaktore in die klaskamer en emosionele intelligensie regverdig verdere navorsing oor die onderwerp. / Psychology

Text in Afrikaans / Approximately 50 percent of all marriages end up in divorce according to estimates. Thirty percent of divorcees enter into wedlock again within one year from being divorced, thereby creating a reconstructed family. The child in the late middle childhood years experiences some unique challenges during the reconstruction of the family due to influences such as the parent-child relationship, parenting styles and the start of puberty. The purpose of this qualitative study is to determine the child's psychological experience within the reconstructed family and to provide guidelines to parents (and co-therapists) on how to deal with children during the reconstruction process. The qualitative method of research was applied as it is a more informal research procedure and the boundaries of the study subject are reasonably wide and undefined. The method provides an adaptable strategy regarding problem formulation and data collection, which allow semi-structured interviews, observations and field notes, and enable the researcher to obtain first hand knowledge and understanding of the problem. / Social Work / M. Diac.(Play Therapy)

In this study, guidelines were developed for used by social workers to provide emotional support to children in foster care. The child in foster care as well as the services rendered in respect of such a child have been discussed in a literature study. The principles of Gestalt therapy were also discussed as these were used as part of the empirical study and as basis for the guidelines for social workers. A qualitative research design was used to complete the empirical study and case studies were used. Children between six and twelve years who have been in foster care for less than two years and who needed emotional support were selected for the study by means of a purposeful test sample. The research results showed that children in foster care are in need of emotional support. To provide such emotional support to the child in foster care, guidelines have been developed for social workers which they can apply when providing services to the child. These guidelines also serve as the conclusions and recommendations of the study. / Social Work / (M. Diac. (Play Therapy))

This research aimed to reflect upon the experiences of children in middle childhood regarding economically unstable circumstances within the family system. The theoretical underpinnings of this study were the ecological systems theory as proposed by Bronfenbrenner, the family systems theory as well as the field theory within the gestalt paradigm. Exploratory, qualitative research design with instrumental case studies was used during this research and data collection was conducted by means of semi-structured interviews with randomly sampled participants and their parents. The researcher interviewed 16 individual children, consisting of seven male and nine female participants. The focus group consisted of seven parents, consisting of two male and five female participants. The researcher arrived at a conclusion that children are indeed influenced by the world wide economic turmoil. The researcher found that children experience the impact of economic instability in various contexts within their field of existence. They experience the effects of economic instability within the household as changes to daily luxuries are visible, conflict between parents increase and they experience an escalation in peer pressure to keep up with the financial expectations of their peers. The researcher is therefore of the opinion that the extent to which the economic unstable circumstances influence and affect children can easily be overlooked. In the absence of voicing the experiences of children, they cannot be fully understood and the researcher recommends that significant role players, such as parents and teachers should be assisted and guided to understand and support their children in a changing world. / Social Work / M. Diac. (Play Therapy)

In this study, guidelines were developed for used by social workers to provide emotional support to children in foster care. The child in foster care as well as the services rendered in respect of such a child have been discussed in a literature study. The principles of Gestalt therapy were also discussed as these were used as part of the empirical study and as basis for the guidelines for social workers. A qualitative research design was used to complete the empirical study and case studies were used. Children between six and twelve years who have been in foster care for less than two years and who needed emotional support were selected for the study by means of a purposeful test sample. The research results showed that children in foster care are in need of emotional support. To provide such emotional support to the child in foster care, guidelines have been developed for social workers which they can apply when providing services to the child. These guidelines also serve as the conclusions and recommendations of the study. / Social Work / (M. Diac. (Play Therapy))

Text in Afrikaans / Approximately 50 percent of all marriages end up in divorce according to estimates. Thirty percent of divorcees enter into wedlock again within one year from being divorced, thereby creating a reconstructed family. The child in the late middle childhood years experiences some unique challenges during the reconstruction of the family due to influences such as the parent-child relationship, parenting styles and the start of puberty. The purpose of this qualitative study is to determine the child's psychological experience within the reconstructed family and to provide guidelines to parents (and co-therapists) on how to deal with children during the reconstruction process. The qualitative method of research was applied as it is a more informal research procedure and the boundaries of the study subject are reasonably wide and undefined. The method provides an adaptable strategy regarding problem formulation and data collection, which allow semi-structured interviews, observations and field notes, and enable the researcher to obtain first hand knowledge and understanding of the problem. / Social Work / M. Diac.(Play Therapy)

This research aimed to reflect upon the experiences of children in middle childhood regarding economically unstable circumstances within the family system. The theoretical underpinnings of this study were the ecological systems theory as proposed by Bronfenbrenner, the family systems theory as well as the field theory within the gestalt paradigm. Exploratory, qualitative research design with instrumental case studies was used during this research and data collection was conducted by means of semi-structured interviews with randomly sampled participants and their parents. The researcher interviewed 16 individual children, consisting of seven male and nine female participants. The focus group consisted of seven parents, consisting of two male and five female participants. The researcher arrived at a conclusion that children are indeed influenced by the world wide economic turmoil. The researcher found that children experience the impact of economic instability in various contexts within their field of existence. They experience the effects of economic instability within the household as changes to daily luxuries are visible, conflict between parents increase and they experience an escalation in peer pressure to keep up with the financial expectations of their peers. The researcher is therefore of the opinion that the extent to which the economic unstable circumstances influence and affect children can easily be overlooked. In the absence of voicing the experiences of children, they cannot be fully understood and the researcher recommends that significant role players, such as parents and teachers should be assisted and guided to understand and support their children in a changing world. / Social Work / M. Diac. (Play Therapy)

Text in Afrikaans / The goal of the research is to explore the personality profile of aggressive victims of bullying in a special school. Qualitative, applied research of an explorative and descriptive nature was followed. In order to address the problem, namely that the personality profile of children can lead to aggressive victims, the researcher undertook a literature study to describe bullying in middle childhood with the focus on aggressive victims, the Five Factor Model of Personality, bullying in special schools and organismic selfregulation within Gestalt therapy. The researcher's knowledge of the Five Factor Model of Personality enabled her to compile the interview schedules for the semi-structured interviews. Purposeful sampling was conducted to identify respondents for the interviews. The interviews were conducted with four aggressive victims of bullying, their parents, as well as their class teachers. During the analysis of data, themes were identified. These themes were verified with literature and recommendations were made. / Social work / M.Diac.(Play therapy)

Summary With the rise of the divorce rate and the decline of the nuclear family, boys are more frequently being deprived of a father-presence in their homes. The aim of this study was to qualitatively explore and describe boys' experiences of their relationships with their absent fathers. Three boys from different racial and cultural groups were chosen as case studies and worked with from a Gestalt Play Therapy Perspective. Data was gathered from the therapeutic sessions, as well as from semi structured interviews with the childcare workers of the boys. The findings of the study appear to concur with existing literature, namely that boys with absent fathers experience difficulties in the areas of emotional, social, cognitive and moral development. Recommendations are made as to how boys with absent fathers may best be supported. Opsomming Met die toename in egskeidings en die afname van nukleêre gesinne, word daar gevind dat seuns meer dikwels die teenwoordigheid van die vader in die huis ontneem word. Die doel van hierdie studie is `n kwalitatiewe ondersoek en beskrywing van seuns se ervaring van hulle verhouding met hulle afwesige vaders. Drie seuns van erskillende rasse- en kulturele groepe is gekies vir die gevallestudies en vanuit `n Gestalt Spelterapeutiese perspektief is met hulle gewerk. Data is versamel vanuit die terapeutiese sessies sowel as vanuit semigestruktureerde onderhoude met die seuns se kinderoppassers. Die bevindinge van die studie blyk ooreen te stem met bestaande literatuur, naamlik dat seuns met afwesige vaders probleme ondervind ten opsigte van emosionele, sosiale, kognitiewe en morele ontwikkeling. Aanbevelings word gemaak oor hoe om dié seuns ten beste te ondersteun. / SOCIAL WORK / MDIAC (PLAY THERAPY)

Text in Afrikaans / The goal of the research is to explore the personality profile of aggressive victims of bullying in a special school. Qualitative, applied research of an explorative and descriptive nature was followed. In order to address the problem, namely that the personality profile of children can lead to aggressive victims, the researcher undertook a literature study to describe bullying in middle childhood with the focus on aggressive victims, the Five Factor Model of Personality, bullying in special schools and organismic selfregulation within Gestalt therapy. The researcher's knowledge of the Five Factor Model of Personality enabled her to compile the interview schedules for the semi-structured interviews. Purposeful sampling was conducted to identify respondents for the interviews. The interviews were conducted with four aggressive victims of bullying, their parents, as well as their class teachers. During the analysis of data, themes were identified. These themes were verified with literature and recommendations were made. / Social work / M.Diac.(Play therapy)