M.Cur. (Midwifery and Neonatal Nursing) / The purpose of this study is to determine the experiences of the parents after the death of a congenital abnormal baby. Parents who have lost a baby go through a process of grief. This also applies to parents of a baby with congenital abnormalities. Parents whose congenital abnormal baby dies, not only grieve because of the abnormality of their baby, but also because it died Unstructured in-depth interviews were held with six couples within a year after the death of their babies. The experiences of the six couples were afterwards compared. A literature study was undertaken in order to determine what the conclusions of other researchers field were. The result of the literature study was compared with that of the present study. Recommendations are made at the end of this study on the practical applications, education and further research that can be undertaken on this subject.

M.A. (Psychology) / The purpose of this study was to determine whether psychological factors contribute to the rejection of a transplanted kidney. After a review of existing literature on the relationship between various psychological factors and immunological system of the body, it was hypothesized that psychological factors such as state- and trait anxiety, stress, locus of control as well as hopelessness would affect immune responses, and therefore contribute to the acceptance or rejection of a transplanted kidney. In order to test the hypothesis, patients of the Johannesburg Hospital undergoing haemodialysis and on the waiting list for kidney transplant were tested. Out of the initial sample, 12 of these patients, who had undergone a renal transplant, were used in the study. Out of the 12 patients, 6 patients had accepted the graft, while 6 patients had rejected the graft. The tests used in the study were the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Scale, Hopelessness Scale, Health Locus of Control and the Rotter Internal-External Locus of Control Scale. The analysis of the data indicated a significant difference in the mean score for the two groups with relation to state anxiety, trait anxiety and health locus of control. The results indicated that the higher the state and trait anxiety, and the more internal the health locus of control of the patient, the greater the chances that the graft would be accepted. The results of this study indicated that psychological factors do contribute to the immune response of the body to a transplanted kidney. This would imply that more research is necessary to establish influence of various psychological as well as social variables in transplants and medical immunology.

The research reported here examines how a person's knowledge of the world is used in language recognition and production. Essentially it is concerned with the importance of a word's meaning as a factor in its recognition by a listener or reader and is its production by a speaker or writer. This area of research overlays with a great many areas in psychology, drawing upon research in attention, pattern recognition, memory, psycholinguistics and thought . It is necessary to give some working definitions of the terms used. The definition of semantic memory used here is that supplied by Tulving (1972, p 386): "Semantic memory is the memory necessary for the use of a language. It is a mental thesaurus, the organized knowledge a person possesses about words and other verbal symbols, their meanings and referents, about relations among them and about rules, formulas and algorithms for the manipulation of these symbols, concepts and relations." The contents of semantic memory are typically what a person would say that he "knows" rather than what he "remembers". e . g. a person might say "I know canaries are yellow" whereas "I remember canaries are yellow" would not "sound right" to most native English speakers. This also illustrates an important property of semantic memory. The knowledge it contains is to a large extent common to members of a given culture. There will of course be individual differences but a sufficient body of knowledge will be shared in order to allow communication between persons. Retrieval from semantic memory is used here to refer to any process that involves making use of such stored knowledge. This may range from simply deciding that a particular sound pattern has occurred in speech before to verifying complex propositions. Context is restricted here to linguistic context. The question asked is how information provided by previous linguistic input affects processing of later input or output of language. The view of language comprehension taken here is similar to Goodman's (1967) approach to reading. This approach is described as follows: " ... Reading is a psycholinguistic guessing game. It involves an interaction between thought and language. Efficient reading does not result from precise perceptions and identification of all elements but from skill in selecting the fewest, most productive cues necessary to produce guesses which are right first time. The ability to anticipate that which has not been seen, of course, is vital in reading, just as the ability to anticipate what has not yet been heard is vital in listening." (p 260) It is assumed here that a person's ability to anticipate is dependent upon the knowledge stored in semantic memory. The way this knowledge is used will in turn depend upon how it is organized. Since the Ancient Greeks the importance of organization in memory has been recognized but it is only relatively recently that psychologists have attempted to determine the principles underlying this organization. Since Quillian (1966) a number of models of how semantic memory is organized have been proposed. These will be discussed in the following sections. Many of the experiments reported here are concerned with what might be called "micro-context", that is how individual words, phrases and sentences affect recognition of incoming stimuli. Of course, the use of context goes far beyond the immediately preceding input but as yet there are no satisfactory theories, linguistic or psychological, that can deal with these wider aspects of language use. In fact there is still considerable disagreement over the processes involved in the recognition of single words, (see, for example, Rubenstein, Lewis and Rubenstein, 1971; Baron, 1973) . The approach taken to word recognition here is similar to Norman (1968) and Morton (1969). The notion which is central to both these authors and Goodman (see above) is the realization that no process can be analysed in isolation. The language system cannot decode the incoming sensory information without reference to stored knowledge. As Norman (1969, p 3) describes the role of memory, "it provides the information about the past necessary for proper understanding of the present". Thus context indicates to the memory system what knowledge is relevant to the analysis of the current input. To summarize this approach the information provided by context (immediate past) is referred to semantic memory (past) which in turn helps to produce the best guess as to the nature of the current sensory input (present) or even the nature of input which has not yet arrived (future) . The problem examined in this research is how the organizational structure of knowledge in semantic memory influences this guessing process . Whether such guessing is an active process as suggested by some investigators (e . g. Liberman, Stevens and Halle) or a passive process suggested by others (e . g. Morton, Treisman) will be discussed in a later section.

This study investigated family grief and resilience following a child’s death. Representing 23 families, 35 bereaved parents completed biographical questionnaires, the Family Hardiness Index, and the Family Attachment and Changeability Index 8. Significant positive correlations were found between family hardiness and family adaptation, and between parents’ age and family hardiness. Using grounded theory, interviews allowed for the formulation of categories including grief, continuing bonds, external support, religion, and family hardiness. The study reveals the need for exploring unique experiences of families bereaved by children’s deaths and identifies family hardiness as a potential resilience factor for this population

The evaluation of physical fitness is dependent upon the body and its capacity to generate requisite degrees of strength, speed, mobility and endurance, for effective physical performance. The physical properties of the body, and in particular the degree of muscularity and adiposity, are affected substantially by varying levels of physical fitness. This degree of muscularity and adiposity is closely related to the shape or physique of the body, which in turn, can influence the attitudes an individual adopts toward his body and himself (body cathexis). The purpose of this study was to investigate the reciprocal relationship between physical fitness, somatotype (physique) and body cathexis (satisfaction). A secondary objective was to examine the relationship between these variables and personality. The subjects who participated in this study were white schoolboys completing Standard Eight. Seventy seven subjects, all of whom were either 14 or 15 years of age, were studied. A total of 22 observations were made on each subject, which included a battery of physical fitness tests, anthropometric and somatotypological observations, and two questionnaires. Fleishman's Basic Fitness Test battery, which was slightly modified, was utilized to evaluate the subjects' level of physical fitness. Standardized anthropometric techniques and equipment were used to measure heights, mass, diameters, girths, and skinfolds. These basic anthropometric observations were then utilized to determine the subjects' Heath-Carter somatotype rating, absolute and relative body fat, and lean body mass. Body cathexis was measured by the Secord-Jourard Body Cathexis Scale and personality was assessed by the Howarth personality Questionnaire. The results indicated that physical fitness performance on the events which required the body mass to be displaced were highly and negatively related to the degree of excess adipose tissue. Significant differences in endomorphy (p < 0,005) were apparent in high and low fit groups, but no somatotypological differences were indicated for those events which did not involve the displacement of the body mass. The one exception to this was a static strength event, in which significant somatotypological differences between high and low fit groups were indicated for mesomorphy (p < 0,005) and ectomorphy (p < 0,01). Body cathexis was not closely related to physical fitness, somatotype, or personality. A number of weak relationships were apparent: there was a negative correlation between body cathexis and the personality trait of inferiority; high levels of adipose tissue negatively influenced the level of body cathexis; and good performance on the strength events was positively associated with body cathexis. In the physical fitness events requiring strength and the body mass to be displaced, the body cathexis levels of high fit subjects exceeded that of low fit subjects at a statistically significant level (p < 0,005). No significant differences in body cathexis were indicated for those events which did not require the displacement of the body mass. Personality was not related to physical fitness, somatotype or body cathexis. The only relationship that was discerned was the low correlation between inferiority and body cathexis . The findings of this investigation suggest that, in this context, dynamic physical fitness performance, is closely related to physique; and in particular a high endomorphic content is a limiting factor. Body cathexis is not closely related to physical fitness, somatotype or personality. It is likely, however, that feelings of inferiority and excess adipose tissue are associated with a low body cathexis, while strength is related to a high body cathexis. Personality is not related to physical fitness, physique or body.

M.A. / Death and loss accompany us throughout our lives and are experienced in a variety of forms and situations. Numerous researches have been undertaken to gain some perspective on death. and loss, however these attempts have proven to be impersonal, incomplete and of limited use, as death tends to evade direct scrutiny. An attempt is made here to observe death and loss from a stance that respects the human element. The personal experiences of adults who have lost parent/s at a young age are examined. This paper explores the constructions of death and loss, as well as the meanings that are attributed to these experiences. A social constructionist approach is used to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the participants' relationships with death and loss. One of the primary aims of this paper is to investigate the implications that these constructions of death and loss have for the way people live and make sense of their lives. This study focusses on how death requires the individual to reconstruct a sense of identity and relationship with the world. Some of the major conceptualisations of death, loss and mourning are reviewed in conjunction with the input of philosophers, poets and creative writers allowing for a richer, fuller perception of these events. The aim of this paper is not to develop a comprehensive understanding of death and loss, but rather to approach these constructs from a more personal perspective. This paper moves away from modernist thinking and includes the researcher as a participant where personal biases, experiences and understandings are included.

An experiment was conducted to compare the functional performance of young and old adults on familiar and unfamiliar tasks under two conditions of perceived control. Specifically, the relation between age and motor and process skills was examined. The familiar tasks were simple cooking tasks, whereas the unfamiliar tasks were contrived, meaningless tasks developed for this study. Young and old did not differ in the ratings of the familiarity of the tasks, but results from two Age by Task by Choice ANOVAs demonstrated a significant age difference for motor and process skills under all conditions. For the process skill scale, there was also a significant main effect for choice. This suggests that older adults demonstrate age-related decline even with activities that take motivational, experiential, and ecological validity components into account. Results also support the concept that perceived control can improve performance, but not differentially for older adults; that is, young and old adults both demonstrated improved performance when given their choice of tasks.

Massively multiplayer online games (MMOG’s) are a specific form of online computer games that allow for millions of people to simultaneously play online at any time. This form of online gaming has become a huge phenomenon worldwide both as a popular past time and a business endeavour for many individuals. There are more than 16 million people worldwide who subscribe to fantasy role-playing online games. Although such games can provide entertainment for many people, they can also lead to problematic Internet use (PIU). PIU has also been referred to as Internet addiction, and can cause significant problems in an individual’s functioning. The study aimed to enhance a greater understanding of the phenomenon of male adults’ experiences PIU with MMOG’s. More specifically the study aims to identify if PIU with MMOG’s can be considered a form of Internet addiction within South Africa. Furthermore, assisting in the further development of online addiction diagnosis and treatment strategies. The study utilised an interpretive phenomenological approach (IPA) and participants were purposively sampled. The data was collected using semi-structured individual interviews. Furthermore, Braun and Clarks thematic analysis was used during data analysis while incorporating the four major processes in phenomenological research, namely 1) epoche, 2) phenomenological reduction, 3) imaginative variation and, 4) synthesis. Themes that emerged from the analysis of the participants’ experiences included, initial description of use, motives for continued use of MMOG’s, consequences of PIU with MMOG’s, perceptions of PIU with MMOG’s, and treatment considerations. This study provided a thick description of South African and international literature and combines the literature with the themes that emerged from the participants experiences in order to produce discussions based on the findings of this qualitative study. Conclusions, recommendations, and limitations of this study informed future research on cyber citizenship by providing a detailed understanding of the context of South African male adults’ experiences of PIU with MMOG’s.

The incidence of congenital anomalies or potential congenital anomalies of fetuses is two to three percent. Most women who have a positive diagnosis of a congenital anomaly choose to terminate the pregnancy. A review of the literature identifies conflict preabortion and grief postabortion as key variables for women terminating pregnancies for genetic indications. The purpose of this study was to study the degree of conflict in the decision-making process preabortion and the intensity of grief six weeks postabortion and to determine if a relationship exists between the conflict and grief variables. This was a descriptive, correlational study which used summary statistics to analyze the data. Women responded to a questionnaire six weeks postabortion about conflict experienced pretermination and current grief experienced. The sample included nine women who aborted in the second trimester of pregnancy following either ultrasound, chorionic villi sampling, or alpha-fetoprotein analysis of the fetus. The findings indicated that the women experienced conflict while deciding whether or not to abort the fetus and that at six weeks posttermination the intensity of grief experienced was still high. A scatter plot revealed a curvilinear relationship showing grief plateauing and then decreasing as the conflict scores rose. Recommendations were that objective counselling in the decision-making period prior to the termination be provided, and grief counselling should continue longer than six weeks posttermination for those who need counselling. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Nursing, School of / Graduate

This work examines the use of psychoanalytic terms and concepts in postcolonial theory, with attention to the social and historical contexts in which those terms and models originated. The thesis provides an overview of the different academic and political contexts out of which postcolonial theory evolved, focusing on how identity came to be a central term within postcolonial debates. Drawing on the work of scholars such as Anne McClintock, it critiques the current use of psychoanalytic models by postcolonial theorists, arguing that psychoanalysis is itself implicated in the history of European imperialism and brings with it concomitant assumptions about the nature of race, class, gender, and sexuality. The thesis provides an overview of the work of Charcot, Freud and Lacan. It takes up some of their major contributions to psychoanalysis, and discusses the social and political contexts in which those works were developed. The thesis goes on to provide a detailed analysis of the intersection of postcolonial theory and psychoanalysis in the work of Frantz Fanon, Edward Said, Homi Bhabha and Helene Cixous. The thesis concludes by discussing what I view as the two major ethical and intellectual problems that arise from the use of psychoanalysis in postcolonial theory. I argue, first, that psychoanalysis developed within the same cultural and political context as European colonialism. In spite of its moments of self-consciousness, psychoanalysis, nonetheless, reproduces some of the models of identity that supported European imperialism, both in Europe and abroad. Secondly, I argue that psychoanalysis takes, at root, a pessimistic view of human nature and this pessimism is fundamentally at odds with the emancipatory motives of postcolonial theory. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate