M.Cur / The country and education system is after apartheid in a process of renewal and transformation. Adolescents in secondary schools are increasingly in interaction with adolescents who have different values. The media reports that violence and conflict in secondary schools is common. Adolescents find themselves already in a developmental period characterised by physical, emotional, social and intellectual change (Vermaak, 1993: i). It is apparent that today' s adolescent in South Africa is confronted with more than love disappointments and exam stress. This research tells the story of a group of adolescents within a specific public secondary school in Gauteng in an attempt to give the adolescent a voice. The objectives for this research are: 1. To explore and describe the adolescents' experience of interaction between adolescents with different values in a specific public secondary school in Gauteng. 2. To describe guidelines for the advanced psychiatric nurse practitioner to mobilise resources for facilitating interaction between these adolescents in order to promote their mental health. The Theory for Health Promotion in Nursing as applied by the Nursing Department of the Rand Afrikaans University forms the basis of this research. From this perspective, the human is seen as holistically in interaction with the environment in an integrated manner, and are the four central components of this theory, namely the human, nursing, environment and health defined. The purpose of this theory is aimed at enhancing individual, family, group and community health (Rand Afrikaans University; Department of nursing, 2000: 4) and in this case, mental health. A Functional approach to nursing (Botes, 1991: 19-23) is followed, which implies that the research in nursing is mainly applied research that addresses recent health problems of the South-African community and provide solutions to these problems. It is clear that this research addresses a recent problem/trend in the South African school going adolescent community, namely the interaction between adolescents with different values in schools. The research in nursing, as developed by Botes (1995: 1-21), applies. A qualitative (Cresswell, 1994: 162), explorative (Mouton, 1996: 103), descriptive (Mouton, 1996: 102) and contextual (Mouton, 1996: 133) research design was used, and data was gathered through means ofthree focus groups (Folch-Lyon & Trost, 1981: 443; Krueger, 1994: 14,19 ,29) consisting of adolescents who complied with the sampling criteria. The researcher took field notes during and after the focus groups (Wilson, 1989: 434 ). The Gauteng Department of Education, the schools principal, the parents/guardians of the adolescents and the participating adolescents themselves gave their consent for the conducting of the research. The researcher did analyse the data using Tech's (in Cresswell, 1994: 155) descriptive method and did open coding. An independent coder analysed the data with the researcher and they held consensus discussions (Poggenpoel, 1998: 245). After the data was analysed, a literature control was conducted in order to recontextualise the data (Morse & Field, 1996: 106) and to indicate differences and similarities with other research. In phase one of the research, the researcher concluded that the adolescents experienced that certain practises and incidents in the school contribute to the deconstructive atmosphere in the school. These incidents and practises entail aspects related to discipline, respect, disempowerment, communication, expectations relating to academic issues and the confirmation of certain practises. The practises related to the deconstructive atmosphere contribute to the experiencing of emotions like frustration, anxiety, fear of rejection and victimisation, powerlessness, sadness and disappointment, uncertainty and fury. Discipline, caring and support, friendship and taking responsibility for choices made by the adolescent were practises identified that relate to a constructive atmosphere. Guidelines in phase two describe to the advanced psychiatric nurse practitioner how to facilitate interaction between these adolescents in the specific secondary school in order to contribute to the promotion of their mental health. The researcher generated and describes guidelines, within the survey list as suggested by Dickoff, James & Wiedenbach (1968: 423), for a multicultural empowerment program. The researcher discussed conclusions, limitations and practical problems of the research and made suggestions for the nursing practise, education and research.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uj/uj:2052 |
| Date | 27 February 2012 |
| Creators | Havenga, Yolanda |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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