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
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uj/uj:7826 |
| Date | 15 August 2008 |
| Creators | Engelbrecht, Leonora |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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