The mimicry of Europe and United States of America (US) in South African psychology in the early 1900s and the continual presence of Euroamericanised psychology continues to marginalise Black, poor, and working-class people. In this dissertation, I investigated the misalignment of counselling and clinical psychologists’ professional training, specifically the first-year Masters psychology training programme with the South African socio-political context. To counter the usual reliance on hegemonic Euroamerican-centric approaches I elaborated on an Africa(n)-centred perspective so as to make sense of the training of counselling and clinical psychologists in the South African context. I argued that the Africa(n)-centred perspective was pluriversal (accepting of multiple epistemologies), endogenous (developing from within), and focuses on Africans not as the excluded Other but rather as the Subject at the centre of their lifeworlds. I elucidated curriculum practices within the professional training programmes as part of the investigation into the intransigence of Euroamerican-centric epistemologies in the professional training curriculum. I conducted in-depth semi-structured interviews with 23 people, 8 of whom were course coordinators and 15 intern psychologists. The participants were from 5 universities falling into the 4 generic categories: Historically Black University (HBU), Historically White Afrikaans-speaking University (HWASU), merged university (MU), and Historically White English-speaking University (HWESU). For my analysis, I employed what I termed an Africa(n)-centred critical discourse analysis, which builds on the discursive turn in psychology, taking seriously the talk of people in the reproduction of socially unjust practices. All the interviews with the course coordinators and intern psychologists were dominated by talk of race and the Professional Board for Psychology. The interviews yielded a number of discourses, namely: 1) meritocracy, 2) diversity (which referenced issues of race, gender, and curriculum), 3) access, exclusion and privilege as related to language, 4) class, and 5) relevance (including social, market, and cultural relevance, with cultural relevance spoken about in relation to the curriculum). I conclude the dissertation by gesturing towards a constructive engagement (by which I mean a building) of an Africa(n)-centred professional training of counselling and clinical psychologists. / Psychology / Ph. D. (Psychology)

Объектом исследования явились представления психологов о трудностях психологического консультирования. Предметом исследования стало содержание представлений о трудностях психологического консультирования у практикующих психологов и студентов психологических направлений подготовки. Магистерская диссертация состоит из введения, двух глав, заключения, списка литературы (80 источников) и приложения, включающего в себя бланки применявшихся методик. Объем магистерской диссертации 140 страниц, на которых размещены 11 рисунков и 47 таблиц. Во введении раскрывается актуальность проблемы исследования, разработанность проблематики, ставятся цель и задачи исследования, определяются объект и предмет исследования, формулируются основная и дополнительные гипотезы, указываются методы и эмпирическая база, а также этапы проведения исследования, научная новизна, теоретическая и практическая значимость работы. Первая глава включает в себя обзор иностранной и отечественной литературы по теме трудностей психологического консультирования. Представлены разделы, посвященные особенностям клиента и особенностям консультанта. Выводы по первой главе представляют собой итоги по изучению теоретического материала. Вторая глава посвящена эмпирической части исследования. В ней представлено описание организации и методов проведенного исследования и результатов, полученных по всем использованным методикам: методу опроса экспертов; методу семантического дифференциала; методике незаконченных предложений; методике самооценки эмоционально-личностного благополучия Л.В. Карапетян, Г.А. Глотова; Методике диагностики эмоционального интеллекта Н. Холла; Методике диагностики уровня субъективного контроля Е. Ф. Бажина, Е. А. Голынкиной, Л. М. Эткинда. В главе представлен дескриптивный, сравнительный и корреляционный анализ результатов исследования, а также контент-анализ результатов исследования по методике незаконченных предложений и угловое преобразование Фишера. В заключении в обобщенном виде изложены результаты теоретической и эмпирической частей работы, а также выводы по выдвинутым гипотезам. / The research object was the representations of psychologists about the difficulties of psychological counseling. The research subject was the content of representations about the difficulties of psychological counseling among practicing psychologists and students of psychological training areas. The master’s thesis consists of an introduction, two chapters, a conclusion, a list of references (80 sources), and an appendix, which includes forms of the applied techniques. The master’s thesis volume is 140 pages, which contain 11 figures and 47 tables. The introduction reveals the relevance of the research problem, the degree of development of the problem, sets the goal and objectives of the research, defines the research object and subject, formulates the main and additional hypotheses, specifies the methods and empirical base, as well as the research stages, scientific novelty, the theoretical and practical significance of the work. The first chapter includes a review of foreign and domestic literature on the subject of the difficulties of psychological counseling. The sections devoted to the peculiar features of the client and the characteristics of the consultant are presented. The conclusions of the first chapter represent the results of the research of the theoretical material. The second chapter is devoted to the research empirical part. It contains the description of the organization and methods of the conducted research and the results obtained by all the techniques used: the method of interviewing experts; the method of semantic differential; the method of unfinished sentences; the method of self-assessment of emotional and personal well-being by L.V. Karapetyan, G.A. Glotova; the method for diagnosing emotional intelligence by N. Hall; the method of diagnosis of the level of subjective control by E.F. Bazhin, E.A. Golynkina, L.M. Etkind. The chapter presents a descriptive, comparative, and correlation analysis of the research results, as well as a content analysis of the research results under the method of unfinished sentences and the Fisher angular transformation. The conclusion summarizes the results of the research theoretical and empirical parts, as well as the findings on the hypotheses put forward.

Det inträffar omkring 17 000 självmordsförsök i Sverige per år och hälften av dessa leder till psykiatrisk vård. Suicidriskbedömningar görs i psykiatrisk öppenvård av bland annat psykologer. Genom fem intervjuer undersökte vi ett i stort sett outforskat område: hur psykologer inom psykiatrisk öppenvård upplevde sitt arbete med suicidnära patienter. Vi använde tematisk analys för att analysera materialet vilket resulterade i två huvudteman: Att jobba på gränsen – med undertemana Mellan liv och död, Mellan arbete och fritid och Mellan att vara psykolog och människa – respektive Att balansera mellan acceptans och intervention – med undertemana Förr eller senare så händer det samt Resurser och coping. En återkommande dimension i temana var Emotionella reaktioner. Resultatet ger en bild av att psykologerna känner oro för patienterna och att denna oro kan användas som en del i suicidriskbedömningen. Vår tolkning är att psykologernas arbete kan spilla över på deras fritid och att detta i förlängningen kan tänkas ge konsekvenser så som medkänsleutmattning. Vi har tolkat psykologernas berättelser som att de använder copingstrategier för att återhämta sig från sin arbetsbelastning. I vårt resultat framträder en bild av att arbetet med suicidnära patienter kan vara vardag för psykologer inom psykiatrin. Vidare kan arbetet utgöra en känslomässig belastning för psykologer som är annorlunda jämfört med den belastning som uppstår i arbetet med icke-suicidnära patienter. / About 17,000 suicide attempts occur in Sweden each year, half of which lead to psychiatric care. Psychologists are one of the professional groups that conduct suicide risk assessments in psychiatric outpatient care. In this study we examine an relatively unexplored area: how psychologists in outpatient psychiatric care experience their work with suicidal patients. A thematic analysis of five interviews was conducted. The analysis resulted in two main themes: Working at the boundary – with sub themes Between life and death, Between work and leisure time and Between being a psychologist and a human – and Balancing between acceptance and intervention – with sub themes Sooner or later it will happen and Resources and coping. A recurring dimension in all themes was Emotional reactions. The findings provide a picture that the psychologists worry about the patients and that this worry can be used as a part of the suicide risk assessment. Our analysis shows that the psychologists’ work can spill over into their leisure time. This may eventually have effects, such as compassion fatigue. Our interpretation of the narratives suggests that the psychologists use coping-strategies to recover from their workload. The results also show that working with suicidal patients can be part of the daily work of psychologists in psychiatric care. Further more, our analysis shows that working with suicidal patients can include an emotional exhaustion on psychologists that is different from the exhaustion that might arise in the work with non-suicidal patients.

This auto-ethnographic study (i.e. an autobiographical genre of writing and research, written in the first-person voice, where the workings of self are expressed both cognitively and emotionally) qualitatively explores the changing assumptions of a training therapist. It shows how various therapies were negotiated during the training period, and explores how meaning was constructed according to basic, underlying epistemological assumptions. Significant experiences and therapies are presented, showing how the therapist's most basic, linear assumptions, were directly challenged by eco-systemic training. The study produces an in-depth, thick description of both the emotional and the cognitive journey of a training therapist, and traces the therapist's movement away from the stability and certainty of a linear epistemological 'way of knowing' to the instability and uncertainty characteristic of an eco-systemic 'way of knowing'. Conclusions are idiosyncratic and are not intended for generalization. / Psychology / M.A. (Clinical Psychology)

Family Therapy training programmes have recently come to appreciate the importance of addressing the personal growth of the trainee-therapist, in addition to the traditional focus on skill development. Suggestions in the available literature on how this "person-of-the-therapist" issue could best be addressed, represent almost exclusively the ideas of authorities (authors, clinicians and trainers) in the field of systemic therapy. Constructivist thought endorsed by the UNISA training programme, encourages and values different viewpoints. According to this view, students and faculty co-construct the training process. The aim of this study is therefore to present the voice of the trainee. Several training contexts, the essential qualities of the different supervisory relationships and difficulties encountered, are explored from the trainee's perspective. It is hoped that this "inside story" about the author's experiences on her journey toward becoming a psychotherapist, will engender sensitivity for and a deeper understanding of the complexity involved in training the person of the therapist. / Psychology / M.A. (Clinical Psychology)

Aim: According to the existing evidence-base, the experience of the death of a therapy client (from a cause other than suicide) for Clinical Psychologists is substantially under researched. Moreover, previous studies into the experience of patient or client death for healthcare professionals indicate this may be an important focus for research. The present study aimed to explore the often unheard, lived experiences of client death for Clinical Psychologists at the beginning of their career. It was hoped that these research findings may assist training courses, clinical supervisors and other Psychologists of all grades to make sense of this experience in greater depth. Method: A qualitative approach was adopted for this study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine female junior Clinical Psychologists (Trainee, Newly Qualified) who had experienced the death of a client. The accounts were analysed using IPA, which attempts to illuminate the lived experience of a phenomenon for small samples of individuals. Results: The analytic procedure highlighted three main themes as emerging from participants’ accounts in the context of their client’s death: Connected and affected: Being unprepared for initial reactions to the client's death; "we do it so why can't you?" facing institutional denial and avoidance; "It's not something I've forgotten about", The lasting impact of client death: Learning reluctant lessons and experiencing continuing bonds. Implications: This study highlights the importance of recognising the impact of client death on Clinical Psychologists in particular, and healthcare professionals in general. Client death, by all causes, appears much overlooked within the current research base, which may have led to a self-perpetuating cycle of hidden and unspoken stories. The findings indicate death needs to be on the research and teaching agenda within the institution of Clinical Psychology. As a result we may be able to begin to break the current cycle of silence which has served to potentially disservice us as professionals, our teams and most importantly our clients.

This small-scale study is positioned within a social constructionist interpretive paradigm using a mixed methodology employing principles of adapted grounded theory, simple scale-based questionnaires and action research. Fourteen disabled young people from one specialist and three secondary mainstream settings were interviewed using semi-structured interviews to gain their views on friendship and belonging in schools. Three groups of parents, TAs, SENCos and allied education professionals engaged in action research to examine these views, their own views and values and those of disabled young people in their families and schools in order to better understand the sensitivities and subtleties of successful social inclusion and to consider change to whole school practice. The limitations that non-disabled adults unwittingly ‘construct’ that act as barriers to friendship and social inclusion were explicitly recognised in this interpretive research as a contribution to informing practice and theory in this domain. Paper One focuses on the views of young people and the meaning and importance they placed on friendship and social relationships in their lives. Findings included that young people in specialist and mainstream setting highly valued friendships but that sustaining friendships in the wider community was often problematic for those participants who attended schools outside their local community. This mainly affected the specialist setting students but was also recognised as an issue by some of the mainstream parents who lived outside the catchment area. Findings also revealed that young people gained their sense of belonging from the positive relationships they formed with TAs and teachers as well as friends. In order for friendship and positive social inclusion to develop, however, participants required schools to provide a supportive environment of accessible rooms, doors and lifts and adults who trusted them to have the competency and agency to manage their social times and spaces with choice and autonomy. The issue of ‘surplus visibility’ was highlighted by disabled young people who spoke of an experience of school where lack of choice concerning where and with whom to spend break times limited their friendship opportunities and sense of well-being and inclusion. This was compounded by an expectation of compliance by adults and automatic assumption of their belonging to a disabled group despite differences of sex, gender or common interests. The participants valued genuine connection through humour, interests and social support and were active in seeking private time for talking with friends. Schools that provided a range of highly social or quieter, more private, locations for students were highly valued. Paper Two describes using these views as stimulus for action research to bring about change towards improved social inclusion. Groups of parents, senior management, SENCos, TAs and other education professionals met formally three times over a four month period. These groups examined vignettes selected from data from paper one, engaged in debate and discussions, interviewed disabled young people themselves, formulated key concept maps leading to revised theoretical frameworks, reflected and evaluated the process of the action research and considered practice change or further research. This stage was a continued process of seeking to hear authentic voices, in depth discussion and reflection on what we were learning from disabled young people combined with our own knowledge, values, and beliefs. This led to the development of conceptual models and practical change intentions to promote social inclusion. Intentions to change included •Developing alternative social rooms with minimal TA presence •Including disabled young people in TA selection processes •Involving parents in reviewing the school inclusion policy •Establishing a regular parents’ support group •A commitment to keep listening to young people’s voices and preferences on key matters rather than ‘assuming that we already know!’ •Lengthening the lunch break in the specialist setting to ensure time for socialising and friendship building These commitments to change demonstrated that schools were able to engage successfully in the action research process, valued parents’contributions further and were willing to change practice towards greater social inclusion of disabled young people and parents.

Service integration is central to current government strategy for promoting positive outcomes for young people with educational and additional needs, yet evidence to support the efficacy of this strategy remains elusive. A review of the literature finds that many of the facilitators of successful multi-agency working are at the intra-group level. These barriers and facilitating factors are organised into an Eco-systemic Model of Multi-Agency Working (EMMA) which addresses leadership processes, group-level interactions and problem-solving processes. The first stage of the study generates data for intervention materials to be used in the second stage. This is achieved by comparing the purposes and practices of each group at different systemic levels. This stage of the study also provides baseline questionnaire data for the second stage of the study. Consideration is given to the sources of conflict within each group, the strategies used to resolve these conflicts and the levels of hierarchical and systemic thinking within the participating multi-agency groups. The resulting analysis is found to fit well within the EMMA model and the distinctiveness of each of the systemic levels as well as their interdependence is discussed. Suggestions are made for improved multi-agency practices and new directions for the educational psychologist in facilitating improved practice are explored. Paper II Abstract In the first phase of this two-stage study, self-organised learning principles were proposed as a useful knowledge base upon which to draw when facilitating change in multi-agency groups. In this second phase, this hypothesis is put to the test. Data from the first phase is used in combination with wider research findings to design feedback materials for participating groups. Evidence gathered from ensuing meeting transcripts, interviews and questionnaire data is compared with baseline data gathered in the first phase to assess the impact of this intervention on group functioning. Evidence is presented of improved clarity of purpose, improved group functioning and early signs of improved outcomes, though results are highly variable between groups. Different levels of group functioning were found to be inter-dependent, lending support to an eco-systemic model of multi-agency working. Trait-based models of leadership and conflict resolution are challenged. It is argued that improving outcomes for young people is dependent upon the healthy functioning of multi-agency groups and that investing resources in reflective learning in multi-agency groups is a worthwhile step towards securing better outcomes for young people.

Teaching is a central role of counselor educators. However, teaching in counselor education lacks guiding standards or best practice recommendations. Existing scholarly dialogue predominantly features the perspectives of educators and addresses content knowledge, techniques, activities, and assignments for courses across the curriculum with relatively less emphasis on foundations of teaching. The purpose of this study was to develop greater understanding of counselor educator dispositions, orientations, and behaviors that students perceive as important to their learning. Q methodology was utilized to gather and distill counselor education students’ (N = 48) preferences for characteristics identified via focus groups and a comprehensive literature review. Factor analysis revealed four distinct factors, upon which 45 participants’ sorts loaded and which accounted for 41% of total variance. The findings of this study support the importance of the person of the counselor educator in the teaching and learning process in addition to behavioral characteristics. Moreover, these findings support the use of student learning style assessments and customization of course facilitation to fit students’ unique preferences and values.

In our sedentary society, physical inactivity has become the biggest public health concern of the 21st century. In addition to physical health promotion, physical activity has been associated with a number of positive psychological and social outcomes. Psychologists are well positioned to provide physical activity counseling and may have ethical obligations to address physical activity with their clients. Training the next generation of psychologists about the role of physical activity and health is critical to ensure best practices in graduate education. Researchers have cited insufficient training as a barrier to integrating physical activity into clinical work, yet little is known about effective training in physical activity counseling. One way to address these barriers is to employ an online-based training program allowing greater accessibility for doctoral psychology students across the United States. This exploratory study evaluated the effectiveness of a constructivist online interactive intervention, and compared it with a more traditional online content intervention and a control group, for enhancing doctoral psychology students’ self-efficacy in using physical activity counseling. It was hypothesized that 1) online interactive intervention would enhance self-efficacy, knowledge, and use of physical activity counseling compared to the online content intervention; and 2) both of these active treatments would yield improvements in physical activity counseling outcomes (e.g. self-efficacy, knowledge of health benefits of exercise, practice of physical activity counseling with clients, and personal level physical activity) compared with a control group. Results partially supported the original hypotheses. Mixed ANCOVA analyses indicated that participants in both intervention groups showed more self-efficacy at post-intervention assessment compared to their control group peers but the interactive intervention was not more effective than the content based intervention. Participants in the intervention groups demonstrated more targeted knowledge of physical activity counseling at post-intervention compared to their control group peers. No differences were found in the practice of physical activity counseling with clients post intervention. This study indicates there may be promise in using online platforms for enhancing physical activity counseling self-efficacy among psychologists in training. Future studies should continue to assess the effectiveness of physical activity counseling and refine training interventions to examine the effects of such interventions among the next generation of psychologists.