M.Tech. (Medical Technology) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.A. / Child sexual abuse is a phenomenon that affects children all over the world. Over the past years we have seen an increase in child sexual abuse cases being reported (Richter and Dawes (2008). Parents and professionals are all concerned about children's safety, and the alarming number of cases reported daily makes it an even more difficult and destructive phenomenon to deal with. The South African government have gone to great lengths to put measures in place to protect our children. The new Child Care Act (act 38 of 2005) which came into effect in 2008, acknowledge certain rights of children, sets out principles relating to the care and protection of children, defines parental responsibilities and rights, and it makes provision for matters such as children's courts, adoption, child abduction and surrogate motherhood. There are currently scores of literature on child sexual abuse, but hardly any could be found that specifically relate to the non-abusive mothers and their experiences. The aims of the current study are: 1) to explore the lived experiences of non-abusive mothers whose children have been sexually abused by their intimate male partners, and 2) to add to the discourse of sexual abuse within the South African context. It is imperative to understand the experiences of non-abusive mothers, as this will provide new insights into our understanding of a phenomenon like child sexual abuse. The investigation elicited some of the common themes, thoughts and feelings, which describe the experiences that non-abusive mothers share. In order to conceptualise the experiences of non-abusive mothers, this study drew upon an existential phenomenological framework. This framework is useful, as it allows for mothers' own subjective experiences, and their own interpretations and understanding of these experiences to come to the fore, as opposed to the researcher's understanding of the non-abusive mothers' experiences. Non-abusive mothers seem to go through a similar process as those who grief the loss of a loved one, or who has experienced some kind of loss in their lives. This study elicited some of the themes that correspond with this process of grief. The experience for each of the mothers has been different; however there are commonalities in the way in which they describe their experiences. It would seem that non-abusive mothers experience an intense and overwhelming sense of loss, anger, disbelief, blame, shock, guilt, and depression.

M.A. / “Child abuse and neglect is a serious and growing problem. In 1994, the South African Police Service’s Child Protection Unit dealt with 22911 cases of child abuse, which represents a 36% increase over the previous year” (Staatskoerant, no. 18166:60). / Prof. A. Senekal Dr. E. Oliphant

Thousands of adolescents in South Africa are victims of long-term sexual abuse and violence. Their life narratives are saturated with oppression and suffering, and their therapeutic needs differ from those who experience single-event traumas (Brown, Scheflin & Hammond, 1998; Draucker & Stern, 2000). Little has been documented about the unique outcomes they have experienced throughout their lifetimes, perhaps because, as Narrative therapists suggest, these experiences often remain unstoried. This study therefore focuses on an exploration of unique outcomes (stories of strength, autonomy and emotional vitality) in the life narratives of two black adolescent girls who have suffered long-term violence and sexual abuse. Contributing to a better understanding of the nature and the type of unique outcomes they experience in the face of trauma may ultimately assist Narrative therapists who highlight such stories for therapeutic use. This research is theoretically situated in a social constructionist framework. The research was conducted in a qualitative research paradigm and a narrative research approach was employed. A multiple case study research design was used, guided by the storying metaphor according to which participants tell their stories during unstructured narrative conversations or Narrative therapy. In addition to collection through unstructured conversations, data was also collected through active observation and field notes by the researcher. Two black adolescent girls aged eighteen years were purposefully selected as participants in order to increase the likelihood that rich data relevant to the research question would be obtained. Narrative categorical content analysis was used as method of data analysis to answer the research questions. It was found that unique outcomes were present in the participants’ life stories and six unique outcome categories were identified. These categories include rebellion stories, breaking-free stories, retreat stories, a spiritual revival story, self-worth stories and a support story. There was also some correspondence between the unique outcome categories of the two participants. Finally, recommendations to other therapists concerning the utilization of unique outcomes in Narrative therapy were made based on die identified unique outcome categories. / Prof. J. Byrne

The prevalence of male-centric pornography has been attributed to accepted (heteronormative) notions of gender specific sexual arousal, with men being characterized as visually stimulated and women naturally more aurally and emotionally receptive (cf. Christensen 1990, Faust 1980, Soble 2002). It has been argued that “if women reject the freedom to enjoy pornography and even male cheesecake, it must be because – no matter what permissions society gives us – women do not want it” (Abramson and Pinkerton 1995: 184). As women are not imagined as the intended recipients of these materials, this study was interested in how women connect their use of sexually explicit materials to their sexual biographies in the on-going process of (re)presenting their sexual identities. I wanted to not only explore what women conceptualize as sexually explicit materials and how they make sense of what they are seeing, but how and why these materials are used, the meanings attributed to these materials and the pleasures derived from them. To this end, 26 women between the ages of 25-35 were interviewed, either individually or as part of a focus group. A theoretical analytic, which bridged interactionist accounts of meaning-making and Foucauldian accounts of discourse, discipline and docile bodies, was articulated to account for how pornographic spectatorship is created, maintained and regulated. Regulation and resistance were situated within broader understandings of sexual scripts and governmentality, focusing on the construction (meaning-making) and deconstruction (resistance) of understandings of mainstream/malestream pornography. This research resulted in two interesting outcomes: (a) the redefinition of ‘gaze’ to account for active female spectatorship, as described by the women who participated in this study; and (b) discussion surrounding the ‘ethical use’ of pornographic materials, conceptualized via a governmentality lens. For the women who participated in this study, engaging with sexually explicit materials was not a passive experience. The narratives elicited demonstrate that these women did not merely absorb pornographic representations unquestioningly; they interrogated them, both subconsciously and consciously, brought new meanings to them and understood them through a decidedly female gaze – their own. These findings suggest a disruption to the assumption of female sexual passivity reverberated throughout patriarchal society.

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Arts in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of African Languages at the University Of Zululand, South Africa, 2017 / This research looks into details different ways of circumcision and the teachings of different Zulu communities and their role in fighting the spread of Sexually Transmitted Diseases. It also looks at the role of the society and royal house in the fight against STDs. This research also investigates the advantages and disadvantages of cultural circumcision and medical circumcision so that there would be necessary recommendations that will make men to be willing to circumcise. It looks at good cultures that can be followed to decrease STDs and also the procedures that are followed if a man wants to get married. It looks into details the channels to be followed to prevent teenage pregnancy and prevent STDs. It also investigates the present dangers in people who are homosexual. The research looks closely the reasons that lead people to homosexuality. The study will listen to the views of different societies in regards to STD’s especially AIDS. This research has seven chapters: Chapter one: It is the introduction where the drive of the research is looked, the purpose of the study, methods of research, scope of the study, different critics, beneficiaries of the study and organization of study. Chapter two: Looks at the history of men circumcision, the circumcision and its role in reducing STD’s and the symptoms of the STD’s in a person. Chapter three: Looks at advantages and disadvantages of cultural circumcision and medical circumcision during circumcision and after circumcision. While that is looked after there is going to be the testing of the good that can be done to save the Zulu Nation, and the bad will also be looked at so that the recommendations will be made. Chapter four: Looks at the training of the circumcised men and their behaviour, structures that are supposed to train circumcised men about how to handle themselves. Structures like parents, education, health, traditional leaders and religion. Chapter five: Looks at the results of good behaviour of circumcised men, those who are going to benefit by good behaviour during the first periods of a girl, coming of age, virginity testing to male and female, reed dance, and channels to be followed by men until they get married. Chapter six: It analyses in details the information that has been taken from different structures of communities. Questions concerning circumcising and non-circumcising, age, married and single, ethnical groups, society belief, employment and unemployment, educated and not educated, patients availability and nationality. The second list of question is about believing in removing certain body parts, information about the culture of circumcision and ways of circumcising. It analyses what can be done to reduce the rate of sex in youth. Chapter seven: It is the analysis of research where recommendations are made and concluded.

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Suicide has been recognized as a major public health concern, and recent trends suggest that youth and young adults are two populations in which rates of suicide are increasing (Hedegaard et al., 2018; Miron et al., 2019). Joiner’s (2005) Interpersonal Theory of Suicide (IPTS) is one theoretical mechanism with regard to suicidal behavior that has gained empirical support. This theory involves three proposed constructs: thwarted belongingness, perceived burdensomeness, and acquired capability for suicide. According to the theory, suicide attempts occur when all three constructs are present for an individual. Although the IPTS has evidenced support for a variety of populations, it has scarcely been examined in youth who have engaged in sexually abusive behaviors thus far. Youth who have engaged in sexually abusive behaviors represent a high-risk population with regard to suicide for several reasons. First, it is documented within the literature that youth involved with the juvenile justice system are at a higher risk for suicidal behaviors (Scott et al., 2015; Shreeram & Malik, 2008). Second, these youth are likely to have experienced a high number of adverse childhood experiences (Barra et al., 2017; Hall et al., 2017; Seto & Lalumière, 2010). Third, many of these youth are involved with the Department of Children Services and oftentimes are relocated to out-of-home placements (e.g., Hall et al., 2017). The combination of adverse childhood experiences and out-of-home placements creates additional suicidal risk for these youth who are already at an increased risk for suicidal behaviors. . The current study will be apply the IPTS to this unique population, utilizing discrete archival variables, rather than data from self-report questionnaires. The aim of the current study is to conduct an exploratory factor analysis of variables that are hypothesized to be related to the three constructs proposed by Joiner’s (2005) IPTS, and then to use logistic regression analyses to examine if these factors predict suicide attempts. . Variables of interest include: death of a caregiver, parental divorce/separation, duration of sexual abuse, duration of neglect, witnessing intimate partner violence, number of residential out of-home placements, and number of group out-of-home placements (i.e., thwarted belongingness); number of serious illnesses, duration of incarceration, number of arrests, duration of emotional abuse, number of inpatient psychiatric placements, and homelessness (i.e., perceived burdensomeness); duration of physical abuse, number of caregiver suicide attempts, history of caregiver death by suicide, history of self-harm behaviors, history of animal cruelty, history of aggression towards others, and gang involvement. (i.e., acquired capability for suicide). . Data for this study were extracted from archival records of male adolescents at a private nonprofit facility who have engaged in sexually abusive behavior. The sample contains 290 adolescent males who have engaged in sexually abusive behaviors ranging from age ten to seventeen (M = 14.81, SD = 1.56) at time of admission. Participants were 82.8% Caucasian/White, 9.7% African American/Black, 4.5% mixed race, 0.7% Hispanic, and 2.4% other/unknown race. The average length of stay for the participants was 13.16 months (SD = 9.85). Frequencies will be run on the variables of interest. Exploratory factor analysis and regression analyses will be conducted. Analyses will be conducted in R. Further implications of this research will be discussed.

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