Consequences of acquired brain injury (ABI) can be life long and complex. The majority of those who sustain an ABI are cared for by family members. Many are young adults who are cared for by parents. A systematic review highlighted that there is little in the way of research that focused on the experience of parent caregivers, particularly in the traumatic brain injury (TBI) population and in the early days of caregiving post discharge from hospital. Method A qualitative design using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used. Six participants were recruited; three from the NHS and three from Headway. Results Four superordinate themes emerged: carrying on with the parenting role; barriers to caregiving; factors that engender mastery; and the psychological, physical and social impact on parents. Conclusion The early weeks at home following discharge from hospital are exciting but exhausting and parents were ill-prepared to meet some of the challenges. Parents wanted more TBI specific services for their family members and themselves. Some experienced difficult emotions during the first few weeks at home and so there is a need for regular, on-going input that starts before discharge from hospital. This has relevance for professionals as parents should be involved in the care and decision making from the acute stage onwards as they will be the people assuming responsibility on discharge from hospital. They should be assessed early on to see what psychological or practical support must be in place before their family member leaves hospital.

M.A. / In this study the high school youth and ethnic integration in South African socio-political and rugby context is explored. It is hypothesized that sport psychology can make a valuable contribution to the process of integration and transformation in the South African sporting context. The historical context of sport in South Africa and the role of rugby as mediator in the process of racial integration on the high school rugby field is explored, as well as social concepts influenced by transformation and integration such as prejudice, discrimination, racism and territoriality. In South Africa change in the political context has brought about transformation on the sporting field and a resurgence in articulations of sporting identities amongst the youth. For this reason attention is given to different aspects of the high school youth experience, including culture, identity, prejudice and integration. Affiliation with a group offers the individual security, and this is where high school rugby can play a pivotal role in the future. In the context of high school rugby, in South Africa’s culturally diverse society, adolescents are often confronted with opposing viewpoints, especially as pertains to adult influence and peer interaction. Contact theory proposes that experiencing social success in pluralistic settings can break down cognitive barriers. Negative experience of contact however can result in a negative attitude to other races. It is hypothesized that integration in the context of high school rugby may have a significant effect on team cohesion, stress, coping mechanisms, sport devaluation and withdrawal, and collective efficacy and competitive performance. Cohesion can be considered to be one of the most important small group or team variables in rugby. Cohesion is positively and strongly associated with success in sports teams. Stress, particularly acute stress, has been recognized as a major stumbling block to satisfaction and to continued participation among youth sport participants. Sources of stress have unfortunately not in general been widely examined in the sport psychology literature, and among the rugby playing youth in particular. It is suggested that investigating stress caused by integration is imperative to help prevent the high withdrawal rate in youth sport. Participating in sport can place specific technical, physical and psychological demands and constraints on rugby players in terms of coping. In the high school rugby context, coping with stress caused by integration is explored. Factors such as selection based on merit and the quota system contributes to determining the attitude of high school rugby players towards ethnic integration. The need for rugby skills identification and development and concomitant issues such as sport devaluation and withdrawal are tentatively explored. Emphasis on skill and merit on the sporting field plays an important role in the avoidance of sport devaluation. Devaluation is reflected in players developing a negative attitude toward sport wherein they stop caring about the sport and their performance and as a result withdraw from sport. The development of qualitative methodologies such as phenomenology and hermeneutics has played a vital role in especially cultural studies in developing grounded analyses. This includes analysis of the complex ways in which people come to understand identity and culture as dynamic social processes, as well as connecting the acted experience of individual and collective people to wider structures of power. Qualitative analysis deals with explaining meaningful action, as well as with the concept of culture as the result of the process of interaction. In this research project, a qualitative approach to psychological research was followed. Use was made of non- empirical and subjective phenomenological research methodology. The purpose of this study was to examine high school rugby players’ perspectives in order to identify points of sameness and difference between players’ perspectives. The goal was to gain insight into the phenomenon of integration in rugby at a high school level. Interviewing players provide a rich source of information, which can potentially shed insights on key facets related to the issue. The Golden Lions Rugby Union (GLRU) expressed an interest in this study, and volunteered the use of their own research as well as high school rugby players as participants for the purpose of this study. Black, coloured and white GLRU players between the ages of 16 and 18 yrs participated in the study. Research took the form of an individual interview with the researcher. Written consent to record and transcribe the interviews were obtained from each participant. Participants were assured of confidentiality and anonymity. The interviews were taped, and the themes that emerged from this process as well as from the literature review was used as guide to determine, focus on and refine the final constructs. The participants in this study’s phenomenological experience of ethnic integration on high school rugby showed wide variations. The historical influence of South Africa’s past had a different effect on how the participants of the various races experience concepts such as prejudice, discrimination, racism and the influence of language on the high school rugby field. These areas all have an influence on how factors such as stress, coping mechanisms, group cohesion and the quota system is experienced, and this in turn affects on the one hand individual sport devaluation and withdrawal and on the other collective efficacy and the competitive performance of the team as a whole. The participants shared the vision that in the future rugby can play a positive role in the integration process of South Africa. In this respect rugby as a shared territory can provide an essential service in the process of integration and transformation in South Africa. This study may be exposed to several limitations that should be acknowledged for future research in this area. Examples, inherent in qualitative research, include the possible presence of interviewer bias, social desirability, and problems associated with self-report. Due to the paucity of exploration of the integration process in sport psychology literature, extensive use of the general (non-sport) psychology literature was needed to establish a conceptual framework. The researcher did not have the opportunity to present the participants with a final account to validate findings. A word of caution about this study concerns certain characteristics of the present sample. This study exhibited several strengths. Through the use of phenomenological methodology, the participants were given the opportunity to describe their experiences in their own words. The participants were also given an opportunity to voice their feelings about the process of integration on the high school rugby field. The study illustrated that in the South African context the fields of social- and sport psychology cannot be separated from each other. The adoption of a phenomenological stance allowed the researcher to become absorbed by the essence of the social and cultural construction of sport in general and the world of high school rugby specifically. The fact that the researcher is a woman added an empathic dimension to this study. In terms of recommendations for future research it is recognized that coaches and administrators have a wealth of experiential knowledge that can contribute to sport psychology knowledge. Quantitative research about the topic of ethnic integration on the high school rugby field needs to be undertaken. This type of research should ideally be done using longitudinal and cross-sectional methods in order to be able to report on the progress of the integration process in high school rugby. In addition, this type of research needs to be done on all levels of participation in South African rugby, from primary school- to national level. Future studies could also explore the possibility of developing therapeutic interventions to help the rugby playing youth of South Africa to deal with negative experiences of ethnic integration, to develop strategies to cope with stressful situations, and to increase high school rugby teams’ collective efficacy and competitive performance. It seems that sport in general and rugby in particular can be instrumental in the forging of a positive, integrated high school youth sport culture. Hopefully, this study will contribute to the further understanding of the phenomenological experience of high school youths of ethnic integration on the rugby field, and also have heuristic effect.

D.Litt et Phil. / The present study employed an existential phenomenological research method in order to explore the experience of violence in adolescent girls. Five young women between the ages of 13 and 18 years, and from different ethnic groups and cultures participated in the study that was conducted in the area of Johannesburg, Gauteng. Participation was on a voluntary basis and followed a presentation on the issue of violence by the researcher to learners at various schools within the environs of Johannesburg. Only girls whose parents or caregivers gave consent were included in the study. A central research question was formulated and put as follows to each participant in a recorded interview: Tell me in as much detail and as honestly as possible about experiences of violence that have been most meaningful to you. Van Kaam’s (1969) method of analysing phenomenological data, which was employed for the study, revealed that violence took place predominantly in an interpersonal context, mainly within the confines of the home. It occurred mostly at the hands of persons known to the young women and the prime aggressors were male. Various forms of violence were experienced, including sexual violations and verbal, physical and emotional abuse. Exposure to domestic violence was a common experience. A number of themes were identified and explored from within the framework of a phenomenological approach that focused on the life-worlds of participants. Central themes included feelings of powerlessness, isolation, loss of life purpose and direction, and a sense of meaninglessness. Without exception all the participants had considered, or attempted, suicide as a result of their experiences. A life-span perspective directed attention towards the cultural and historical influences that underlie the violent experiences of adolescent girls. Feminist theory was utilised to further explore these influences and to examine the social construction of gendered power and violence in South Africa. The biological, psychological and social changes that characterise the adolescent stage of development were also considered. Participants’ descriptions of their experiences suggested that violence prevented them from satisfying relational needs and that this had consequences for the development of an identity. In particular, self-esteem was adversely affected and participants were unable to envisage a future role for themselves. Disturbances in peer relationships that are central to the development of adolescent girls, limited opportunities to benefit from more positive experiences in a social context. Heterosexual interactions were also negatively affected. The abstract thinking abilities that emerge in adolescence were discussed in the context of existential concerns and conflicts. The study indicated that when participants could become active in the design of their life, their actions were experienced as meaningful and restorative. This suggested the usefulness of an existential approach that emphasises the necessity of choice, an awareness of the possibilities of life, and an acceptance of the responsibility for bringing about change within the limitations of a person’s existence. The study recommends that this approach could be utilised in a group context where participants would also be given an opportunity to express themselves, to be heard and to experience a sense of community in interaction with their peers. It is suggested that in a school setting, the group could provide an accessible and affordable means of support, particularly in disadvantaged communities. Peer counselling is also advocated as a way of responding to the needs of young women who have had negative life experiences. Further research was encouraged in order to obtain a better appreciation of the ways in which adolescent girls understand their life-worlds and to explore what they deem to be of significance in those worlds. This would provide a basis for the structuring of interventions to assist young women in meeting the challenges that confront them in adolescence.

Textiles are a ubiquitous facet of global culture, with the potential to become records of significant relationships, events, and stories over their lifetime. This research project investigates textiles which have been informally gathered together, and kept within the home, for their emotional or symbolic resonance. No longer used for their designed function, these textiles are saved from disposal for their ability to prompt personal and family histories and stories, in a phenomenon identified within the study as the personal textile archive. Textile design research is increasingly concerned with incorporating interdisciplinary social and cultural frameworks within its traditional research fields of technology, innovation and creativity, to frame a textile's socio-cultural relevance. This shift in the field requires the development of specific textile design research tools which are capable of producing purposeful research which analyses the material and designed properties of textiles in relation to their symbolic or affective experience, in order to understand the user-experience of a textile. Phenomenological research methods are established as tools for investigating phenomena and lived experience from a first-person perspective, which the investigation of the personally significant textiles within this study requires. A particular method, interpretative phenomenological analysis, has been specifically adapted for textile design research, and it is demonstrated within this research project that is is able to investigate and analyse the personal textile archive, producing original insights into this phenomenon. Through this application of this adaptation of interpretative phenomenological analysis, the design, affordances and craftsmanship of a textile are revealed as interweaving with its emotional, sentimental, biographical orfamily historical meaning. This is a useful and important original contribution to textile design research, and the recommendation is made that other researchers in the field will be able to utilise and further test this tool within future textile design research studies.

Historical and contemporary literature on post-abortion issues draws attention to the complexity of women’s experiences in this regard. The literature observes a vast range of potential effects of abortion on the mental health of women. This study contributes to the current understanding of post-abortion issues, by exploring women’s subjective experiences of post-abortion distress and the impact on interpersonal relationships. The relational impact is further situated in the context of its importance to psychological well-being. Four women, between the ages of 23 and 45, described their lived experiences of post-abortion distress during semi-structured interviews. Each participant gave detailed accounts of the abortion event, the difficulties experienced afterwards and the perceived impact that this kind of distress had on their lives and specifically, their relationships with others. The data was subsequently analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Twelve main themes emerged from the transcripts, each of which is discussed separately as well as in relation to other pertinent literature. The critical examination of the findings presented in this study revealed divergent aspects to those found in some of the existing literature, as well as understandings comparable with previous research. The meanings that emerged from these women’s stories revealed intense cognitive, emotional and behavioural dilemmas, all of which highlight the subjective experience of post-abortion distress as a complicated and deeply personal issue, with profound effects on their relational worlds. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Psychology / Unrestricted

This research examined leadership in difficult situations using phenomenological and critical incident analyses of 14 interviews with respected leaders. Leadership in difficult situations was examined as a personal experience consistent with the perspective of counselling psychology. The phenomenological analysis has produced four voices. The first voice captures the participants' description of leadership as a paradox of personal and situational dynamics. The second voice forms an uncommon elucidation of the lived experience of leadership in difficult situations. The participants are seen to be striving in a resilient manner characterized by a sense of acceptance and authenticity. The third and fourth voices describe the means by which the participants are effective in difficult situations. The third voice captures the intra-personal process of resonance, personal and social awareness, personal supports, mastery of the issues, and the capacity to generate remarkable outcomes. The fourth phenomenological voice captures the participant's active engagement in connecting with people, shaping the work context and leading collaboration to develop a successful process. Five categories have been produced by the Critical Incident Technique, which examined what helps and what hinders in the experience of leadership through difficult situations. The five categories are: being experienced, principled and self-aware; having personal supports and influences; being interested and skilled in connecting with people; being both energetic and able to withdraw appropriately; finally, actively cultivating their perspective or vision. These five categories indicate the capacity of the participants for diverse means of participation in difficult situations. Results are discussed in terms of implications for research and practice. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

History is replete with reports of anomalous experiences. The out-of-body experience (OBE), where the person's self and body are phenomenologically separate, is a relatively common anomalous experience, and has been a topic of scientific psychological research for over a century. OBEs have been reported to occur under a multiplicity of circumstances, however, research has mostly concentrated on OBEs occurring spontaneously, or arising under life-threatening scenarios. Much of this research has focused on either confirming the authenticity of the OBE or determining the underlying processes by which these phenomena may manifest themselves. This research agenda has been largely nomothetic in nature. Yet, traditionally, there exists a third strand of exploration - phenomenological research - which in recent times has been somewhat overlooked in this field of work. In an attempt to redress this shortcoming, I argue for the use of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) as a method of qualitative investigation to address important fundamental research questions posed by the study of OBEs. The aim of this programme of work was to therefore to investigate the lived experience of having an OBE as it occurred in five different circumstances of occurrence, viz., during or near the point of sleep, during meditation, while consuming alcohol or drugs, while feeling physically or psychologically threatened, and as part of a near-death experience. A rationale for including these circumstances and discounting others is provided. To achieve this aim, five studies were conducted. Fifteen participants - three per study - were recruited to take part in recorded, face-to-face, semi-structured interviews. An IPA of the data identified four main clusters of themes across the five studies. One cluster concerned the potential for the OBE to be viewed as an adaptive experience; occurring at times of personal significance and helping individuals cope with difficult life events. A second cluster highlighted the benefits and challenges that experients encountered when sharing their OBEs with other people as part of their sense-making endeavours. A third cluster of themes centred on the embodied nature of the OBE and the attributions and beliefs experients had about the perceived control and mastery they had over their OBEs. Also identified in this theme was the transactive nature of the out-of-body environments themselves, which were seen as meaningful places that facilitated experients' embodied, goal-oriented behaviours. The fourth cluster focused on the abundance of rarely discussed OBE features and the corresponding attribution experients made of some kind of meaning to certain features, many of which were bound to previously held desires and beliefs, and tied in closely with their future anticipations and expectations. The theoretical implications for all of these findings are discussed. By examining in-depth the experience and meaning of these critical life events, IPA research findings can better furnish psychologists and health care professionals with information to further appreciate and understand their clients' OBEs. In turn this may help professionals deal with any potential personality transformations or psycho-spiritual crises that may arise in the wake of an OBE occurrence.

Magister Psychologiae - MPsych / Community violence has been found to have profound negative effects on the lives of those exposed to it daily. The victims often tend to be adolescents, who, while striving for a better future, are often quite vulnerable to its effects. The present study focuses on the perception’s parents hold of their adolescent’s sense of safety and future aspirations in a community with high levels of violence. The data was collected by means of semi-structured interviews with participants residing in a community prone to violence. The researcher purposively sampled eight participants and conducted interviews in both English and Afrikaans.

The role of the principal has become increasingly complex and challenging. Recent emphasis has been placed on the role of principals as leaders who can build a culture of learning in schools to close the student achievement gap. Outside factors such as fast-growth in Texas have caused schools to change and grow quickly, which increases the learning demands placed on principals as they seek to develop the knowledge and skills needed for effective leadership. Developing and sustaining a professional learning community is a powerful strategy that has been found to improve teaching and learning, however developing professional learning communities requires skilled leadership. Limited research exists regarding how principals learn to implement and sustain professional learning communities within fast-growth districts, therefore, with this phenomenological qualitative research, I explored the lived experiences of seven principals within one fast-growth district in Texas to explore how they learned to develop and sustain a professional learning community.

Emergency department (ED) nurses exposed to pediatric resuscitations are at a high risk of developing posttraumatic stress (Adriaenssens et al., 2012; Lavoie et al., 2016). This may be especially true in community hospital EDs where nurses have less exposure to, knowledge about, and resources for managing these events (Gangadharan et al., 2018; Gilleland et al., 2014; Goldman et al., 2018). Interventions to proactively prevent nurse trauma in these contexts remain uninvestigated. To inform such interventions, this study aimed to understand the largely unknown lived experiences of these nurses. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with four registered nurses who experienced at least one pediatric resuscitation while working in a community hospital ED in Ontario. Data analyzed using Smith et al.’s (2009) interpretive phenomenological analysis revealed three superordinate themes (i.e., “Conceptualizing Pediatric Resuscitations,” “Seeing What I See,” and “Making Sense of What I Saw”) and nine corresponding subthemes. This study provides insight into the infrequent but profound experiences of nurses resuscitating children in community hospital EDs. Participants, who conceptualized these events as unnatural, emotional, and chaotic, were comforted by those who understood their experiences and distressed by those who could not see what they saw. To reconcile what they saw, the nurses reflected and ruminated on the event, ultimately restructuring their experiences of themselves, others, and the world to make room for a new reality where the safety of childhood is not certain. The findings of this study have implications for nursing practice, education, leadership, and research that may enhance nurse coping following these events.