A new model was developed to enhance the understanding of the full context of work associated hazards, to explore the connection between OHS performance and a systematic approach to safety, and to simplify approaches to OHS management. This Safe Place, Safe Person, Safe Systems model was derived from the literature and used as the basis for the development of a framework, consisting of 60 elements which was transformed into an assessment tool. This assessment tool was trialled with a pilot study on a medium sized manufacturing plant in the plastics industry, and the tool and Preliminary Report peer reviewed by an expert panel using the Nominal Group Technique. After refinements were made to the assessment tool it was applied to eight case studies that were drawn from advertisements. This qualitative study consisted of two parts: firstly the assessment using the Safe Place, Safe Person, Safe Systems framework; and secondly a controlled self assessment exercise to target improvements to three of the elements over a period of four months. The study illustrated that the Safe Place, Safe Person, Safe Systems framework could be successfully applied in a range of industries to promote OHS improvements and to provide a systematic, planned approach to fulfilling OHS responsibilities. The application of this framework highlighted that: there is a need for further education on the correct application of the risk assessment process and the responsibilities owed to contractors; techniques such as dynamic risk assessments are more suitable where the place of work is variable and hazards are unpredictable; more focus is needed on the appropriate management of hazardous substances with long term health consequences; and that the level of formality invoked for treating hazards does not necessarily equate to improved risk reduction outcomes. The Safe Place, Safe Person, Safe Systems framework was found to be applicable to small, medium and large organisations provided the assessment was scoped to a small division of relatively homogeneous activity to ensure a more representative hazard profile. This approach has provided a way forward to simplify OHS management and also offers practical direction for implementing a targeted OHS improvement program.

This study explores the one-child policy as viewed by the present generation of single daughters who grew up in urban China, and the extent to which this policy has affected their family values. Through snowball sampling methods, semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 12 unmarried only-child daughters from urban China now studying in Victoria and Vancouver. For purposes of comparison, 11 unmarried only-child daughters of the same generation were also interviewed in Hong Kong during the same time period. The findings revealed that some only-child daughters from urban China experienced low dissemination and enforcement of the one-child policy and expressed noncompliance and dissatisfaction towards the policy. A comparison between the China and Hong Kong samples indicates that the one-child policy has limited effect on the family values of the only-child daughters in urban China. By exploring the concept of governmentality, the demographic transition theory, and the concept of resistance, this thesis aims to address the dynamics between action of state power and the reaction of only-child daughters from urban China born under the one-child policy.

The hospice volunteer is viewed as an integral member of a multidisciplinary team, with various roles directed at enhancing the quality of life of patients and their families. The purpose of this study is to provide an integrated picture of the hospice volunteer, their role, the human dimensions of this role and the impact this has on their lives as not much has been written in literature about this specific sub-group of hospice workers. The context of the study is a hospice in Gauteng where the researcher works as a volunteer. The ethnographic case study has been chosen as an appropriate research design as it explores the above phenomenon from the volunteers' point of view. The subjects are three volunteers who have been active at the hospice for at least twelve months. Evidence in terms of specific interviews and observations are used to draw conclusions. The interviews are based on a minimal number of open-ended questions. The primary method of analysis is the examination of transcripts from these in-depth interviews. A thematic analysis is carried out in which a detailed description of the emerging themes are given. Four major themes are identified and explored: Description of the role; The experience of being a volunteer; A way of coping; and The influence of the hospice culture. Sub-themes that emerge within each case study vary due to the individual nature of the experience of the role. Themes are explored in light of current theory and findings. This was to note the similarities and differences of this specific sub-group of volunteers compared to others found in the literature reviewed for this study. As there is a scarcity of literature pertaining specifically to hospice volunteers, the study depends mostly on writings pertaining to hospice staff and volunteers in general. A summary and integration of the core findings of the three case studies is given and their similarities and differences are explored. How some of the different themes interlink is also discussed. Although various sub-themes found in the individual case studies are significant to the individual cases, some of them can be incorporated into common themes when looking at the volunteers as a group. The strengths and limitations of the study are discussed as well as recommendations for the hospice organisation and further research. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)

Text in Afrikaans / This study is aimed at the development of a guiding framework for fathers and their adolescent sons by focusing on male identity as the main binding factor in the relationship between father a and son. The establishment, as well as the confusion regarding male identity, have been stated as starting point and problem statement of the study. The need regarding the way in which the father and son can be guided within this dynamic relationship in order to establish male identity, has been stated as motivation for the study. The need regarding the guidance of fathers and their sons was thus the primary aim with the research question, namely what the most applicable factors in a guiding framework should be that would guide fathers and their sons in order to support the formation of male identity within the sons. The research methodology that has been followed, was from a Gestalt perspective as meta theoretical assumption from which qualitative, explorative and descriptive strategies were followed. The qualitative strategy consisted of an auto-ethnography and semi-structured interviews. The trustworthiness of the research has been strengthened by a quantitative component of the research by utilizing questionnaires, after which data was collected and analysed. A purposive sample was drawn that included respondents from the Drakenstein municipal area in the Boland district. Categories that were identified from data from the semi-structured interviews, as well as indicators from the questionnaires, have been integrated, from which propositions were constructed. Six themes and resulting guiding strategies were presented in the form of a guiding framework. / Hierdie studie is gerig op die ontwikkeling van 'n begeleidingsraamwerk vir vaders en hulle adolessente seuns deur te fokus op manlike identiteit as die samebindende faktor in die verhouding tussen vader en seun. Die vestiging, asook die verwarring ten opsigte van manlike identiteit, is as vertrekpunt en probleemstelling vir die studie gestel. Die behoefte ten opsigte van die manier waarop vader en seun binne hierdie dinamiese verhouding begelei kan word ten einde manlike identiteit te vestig, is as motivering vir die studie gestel. Die behoefte aan begeleiding vir vaders en huile seuns was dus die primere doel met 'n navorsingsvraag, naamlik wat die mees toepaslike faktore sal wees wat in 'n begeleidingsraamwerk aan vaders en hulle seuns leiding sal bied ten einde die vorming van manlike identiteit by die seuns te ondersteun. Die navorsingsmetodologie wat gevolg is, was vanuit die Gestaltperspekief as metateoretiese aanname waaruit kwalitatiewe, verkennende en beskrywende strategies gevolg is. Die kwalitatiewe strategie het bestaan uit 'n outoetnografie en semi-gestruktureerde onderhoude. Die vertrouenswaardigheid van die navorsing is deur 'n kwantitatiewe komponent van die navorsing versterk deur vraelyste te benut waarna data ingesamel en geanaliseer is. 'n Doelgerigte steekproef is getrek, wat respondente ingesluit het uit die Drakenstein munisipale gebied in die Boland distrik. Kategoriee wat vanuit die data van die semi-gestruktureerde onderhoude geidentifiseer is, asook indikatore vanuit die vraelyste, is geintegreer waaruit proposisies saamgestel is. Ses temas en voortspruitende begeleidingstrategiee is aangebied in die vorm van 'n begeleidingsraamwerk. / Social Work / D.Diac. (Spelterapie)

Barbora Neuwirthová ABSTRACT Thesis "Childrens' life with and within media" explores and describes ways in which children handle digital media and how this media influence their lives. It aims to describe in ethnographic manner how children live their puberty with and within media. Main research was done through school ethnography, collected data were analyzed using systemic approach and interpretive socialization model. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews with 13 young people between 11 and 15 years old. Secondary source for research was in- school participant observation and analysis of respondent media products. Data analysis used open coding for creating codes and categories which were used in later analysis. Result of my research is thick description of childrens' life with and within media, which shows, that media are both tool and factor in children behavior and actions. Digital media create environment, in which children live in their own different, individual, ways, influenced by their personality or hobbies. Media usage manifest itself also in development and quality of peer and parent-child relationships. KEYWORDS Children' culture; role of media in children' lives; media and formal education; quaternary media; adolescence; qualitative approach; school ethnography; systemic...

The primary aim of the study was to explore positive experiences of academic employees working in an academic environment with specific reference to an Open Distance Learning (ODL) institution. The study was further envisaged as serving as the foundation for future studies which aim to develop a measuring tool for understanding positive experiences of working in academia. A qualitative approach was used to answer the research question by adopting a case study method that allowed for an in-depth study of understanding positive behaviour. A total of 12 academics were selected purposively to participate in the study. In-depth face-to-face interviews were used to gather information about the positive experiences of working in academia. In line with Seligman‘s (2000) integrated model of happiness, a happy academic was described through the adoption of (sometimes contradictory) metaphoric themes. The main themes identified were: the mother hen role, creating positive spaces, it is not a bed of roses, the just and unjust world and us versus them.In a meta-reflection on the research, contradictions were revealed in the theoretical approach adopted in this study, the literature reviewed, the empirical research and pragmatic considerations. As a result, a deconstruction of understanding positive experiences of working in academia by applying Lekgotla as an indigenous South African model was conducted. Healey‘s (2011) notion of transformative dialogue and Bujo‘s (1998) model of palaver were used as part of the framework within which Lekgotla was contextualised to understand positive experiences of working in academia. In conclusion, as an alternative, higher learning institutions (HLI) could adopt other ways that are different from Western ways of understanding the authentic experiences of diverse people in an African university. This could be done through a process of what Smith (2012) described as ―considering carefully and critically the methodologies and methods of research, the theories that inform them, the questions which they generate and the writing styles they employ‖ (p. 41). She refers to this process as decolonisation. According to her, decolonisation offers an alternative way out of colonialism since it exists as a different, oppositional way of knowing. / Psychology / D. Litt. et Phil. (Consulting Psychology)

Text in Afrikaans / Gemotiveerde onderwysers speel 'n belangrike rol in suksesvolle onderrig en leer. Die doelwit van hierdie studie was om faktore te identifiseer wat 'n invloed uitoefen op onderwysermotivering. 'n Kwalitatiewe navorsingsontwerp van individiduele onderhoud-voering met agt doelgerig geselekteerde deelnemers is gebruik ten einde antwoorde te kry op faktore wat „n invloed uitoefen op die motivering van grondslagfase-onderwysers. Die doelwitte van hierdie studie was ook om riglyne aan onderwysers te verskaf oor hoe om hulself te motiveer en aan skoolhoofde oor hoe om hul onderwysers te motiveer. Daar is bevind dat faktore wat 'n invloed uitoefen op die motivering van onderwysers verband hou met die spesifieke skoolomgewing, die finansiële vergoeding van onderwysers, die werksverhoudings met ander onderwysers, die invloed van ouers, die verhoudings met die skoolhoof en die gedrag van leerders. As belangrikste motiveringsfaktor geld die onderwyser se eie lewensingesteldheid wat of op 'n positiewe of negatiewe lewensuitkyk gesentreer kan wees. / Motivated teachers play an important role in successful teaching and learning. The aim of this study was to identify factors that have an influence on teacher motivation. A qualitative research design was used. Individual interviews with eight purposefully selected participants were held to get answers to the factors that have an influence on the motivation of foundation phase teachers. The aim of this study was also to give guidelines to teachers on how to motivate themselves and to school principles on how to motivate teachers. The results indicate that factors influencing the motivation of teachers have to do with the specific school environment, the financial reward of teachers, the work relationship with other teachers, the influence of parents, therelationship with the school principal and the behaviour of learners. The most important motivation factor is the teacher‟s own attitude towards lifewhichcanrepresenta positive or negative life view. / Educational Leadership and Management / M. Ed. (Onderwysbestuur)

This dissertation study, entitled ‘The development of a reading culture in the Foundation Phase through comprehensive parent involvement’, focused on the challenge of developing a reading culture in which a positive change takes place in the learners’ attitudes towards reading and in particular, towards reading for enjoyment, when parents are comprehensively involved in the process. The research is found to be relevant as many of the learners in the participating school showed little to no interest in reading for enjoyment and saw reading merely as a means of studying. The methodology used in the study is qualitative in nature and included a literature review, case studies and semi-structured interviews. The results of the study showed that the implementation of a comprehensive parent involvement model has a positive impact on the creation of a reading culture. The learners were more inclined to read for enjoyment when their parents participated both in reading programmes and in fun reading activities at home. The learners and parents who actively participated in this study all indicated that they had a greater appreciation of reading for enjoyment after the implementation of the programme. Based on the study findings, recommendations were made for improvements to assist in the issue of creating a reading culture in schools. / Die studie getiteld ‘Die ontwikkeling van ‘n lees-kultuur in die Grondslagfase deur omvattende ouerbetrokkenheid’, het gefokus op die uitdaging om ‘n lees-kultuur te ontwikkel waar ‘n positiewe verandering in leerders se gevoel teenoor lees plaasvind, spesifiek lees vir genot, wanneer hulle ouers intensief betrokke is in die proses. Die navorsing is relevant aangesien baie van die leerders in die betrokke skool min tot geen belangstelling getoon het teenoor lees vir genot en het lees bloot as ‘n metode van studie beleef. Die metodologie wat in die studie gebruik was was kwalitatief van aard en het ‘n literatuurstudie, gevallestudies en semi-gestruktureerde onderhoude ingesluit. Die resultate van die studie het getoon dat die implementering van ‘n omvattende ouer-betrokkenheid model ‘n positiewe impak op die ontwikkeling van ‘n lees-kultuur gehad het. Die leerders was meer geneig om vir genot te lees wanneer hulle ouers deelgeneem het aan die lees-program en aan die pret lees-aktiwiteite tuis. Die leerders en hulle ouers wat aktief deelgeneem het aan die studie, het almal aangedui dat hulle ‘n groter waardering vir lees vir genot gehad het na die implementering van die program. Voorstelle om te help met die ontwikkeling van ‘n lees-kultuur is gemaak wat gebaseer was op die bevindings van die studie. / Thuto, e nang le sehlooho se reng 'Ho nts'etsa pele setso sa ho bala ka Sekhahla sa Motheo ka ho kenyeletsa ho kopanyelletsa ha motsoali', ho lebisitse phephetso ea ho hlaolela setso sa ho bala moo phetoho e ntle e etsoang ka maikutlo a barupeluoa ho bala le ka ho khetheha, ho bala bakeng sa thabo, ha batsoali ba ikakhela ka setotsoana mosebetsing ona. Phuputso e fumanoa e le ea bohlokoa ha ba bangata ho baithuti sekolong se kenang sekolo ba sa bontše thahasello ho bala bakeng sa thabo 'me ba bona ho bala feela e le mokhoa oa ho ithuta. Mokhoa o sebelisoang thuputsong ea lipatlisiso e ne e le mokhoa oa boleng bo botle 'me o kenyelelitse tlhahlobo ea lingoliloeng, lipatlisiso tsa liketsahalo le lipuisano tse sa tšoaneng. Liphello tsa phuputso li bontšitse hore ts'ebetso ea kakaretso ea ho kenya letsoho ho motsoali e na le tšusumetso e matla ho thehoa ha setso sa ho bala. Barupeluoa ba ne ba rata ho bala bakeng sa thabo ha batsoali ba bona ba ne ba kopanela ka bobeli mananeong a ho bala le mesebetsing e monate ea ho bala lapeng. Baithuti le batsoali ba ileng ba kenya letsoho thuputsong ena bohle ba bontšitse hore ba ananela haholo ho bala bakeng sa thabo ka mor'a kopo ea ts'ebetso. Ho itšetlehile ka liphuputso tsa lithuto, liphuputso li entsoe bakeng sa ntlafatso ea ho thusa tabeng ea ho theha setso sa ho bala likolong. / Educational Foundations / M. Ed. (Socio-Education)

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)

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)