Farm dwellers in the North West Province have been identified as an extremely
vulnerable group. in terms of physical, physiological and mental health.
Therefore the North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus (Focus Area 9.1)
launched the FLAGH study with the broad aim of gaining reliable information on
the reasons for and contributing factors to their poor health status, which could
be used to design appropriate intervention programmes. The research formed
part of this multidisciplinary study and focused on farm dwellers' experience of
the farm as the environment in which they live and work.
While a great deal is already known about the psychological strengths of people
that protect them against psychological malfunctioning, far less is known about
environmental elements protecting people against adversity. From a social
work perspective it is a long-cherished conviction that individual outcomes are
the results of a transactional process between personal and environmental
influences. However, it is also a conviction that is often not reflected in social
work practice. Strength-based assessment models are, for example,
overwhelmingly concerned with individual human factors, while practice
guidelines and specific practice knowledge about environmental factors are
lagging behind. This situation consequently pointed to the need for further
theoretical and empirical research. The concept of social niche was identified
as a possible framework for organising strengths and risks as experienced by a
specific group within a specific context (in this case people living on farms).
Against this background a research need was identified to develop an approach
to assess environmental strengths and risks. This was done by means of a
literature study and an empirical investigation.
The strengths perspective and the concept of social niche are described and
evaluated as a paradigm and theoretical construct (or perspective) for
developing an approach to assess environmental strengths and risks. It is
concluded that, from the strengths perspective, an environment can be
considered strong when it consists of human beings who are connected to their
innate strengths and capacity for healing, where there is community,
membership, mutuality and connection among people and the environment, and
people who experience the environment as strong and contribute to creating a
strong environment. From the social niche perspective, an optimal niche refers
to conditions and resources that would enable people to function at the best
possible level, while a realised niche refers to the more limited spectrum of
conditions and resources which allows people to survive. These niche types
have enabling and entrapping elements to a greater or lesser degree.
It was found that the social niche concept does provide a theoretical approach
to assessing the environment in terms of strengths and risks and gives better
insight into the result of the transactional process between person and
environment. It was also found that the niche construct does not fully reflect the
assumptions of the strengths perspective in terms of mainly two points: (1) the
belief in the inherent strengths and capacity for healing of people (human
agency), and (2) understanding reality as it is subjectively constructed. Based
on this evaluation, it was thus endeavoured to broaden both the description of
social niche, based on a critical evaluation of the ecological analogy, and to
reflect more fully the strengths perspective. A revised definition of social niche
is proposed and each of the niche components presented in the definition are
discussed, evaluated and in some instances broadened, as indicated earlier.
Farm dwellers' experience of their environment is explored and described,
following a qualitative approach in order to promote an understanding of their
specific experience from their own viewpoint. The social niche is used, in
addition, as a tentative conceptual framework to describe the main dimensions
of their experience. Analysis of the farm dwellers' narratives produced six
categories (each with several sub-categories), namely:
employment (unhealthy working conditions for men, employment security
threatened, grievance procedures unsatisfactory, limited work
opportunities and underemployment of women);
income and spending (inadequate income and high cost of living, debt
trap, a longing for the former practice of 'mahala', and supplementing
income);
housing (housing security threatened, and availability and access to
housing outside the neighbourhood a concern);
transportation (distance, means of transport and cost involved are major
considerations);
community life (the importance of family and friends, lack of connection
between residents, community life in the past being better, and
ambivalence about the employer as support system); and
people, places and services outside the immediate farm environment
(importance of extended family, church as a source of strength, and
health services a link with the outside world).
It is concluded that numerous entrapping elements are present in the account of
farm dwellers of their life on the farm, namely a lack of tangible resources, a
lack of social resources and a low sense of power. The entrapping nature of
farm dwellers' social niche, however, can not only be understood in terms of
lack of social and tangible resources. The experiences and the meanings the
farm dwellers attach to their environment provide the key to a better
understanding of the living experiences of farm dwellers and the entrapment
contained in their narratives. However, it also reveals their experience of a few
enabling elements within this environment.
Based on the critical analysis of viewing the environment from a strengths
perspective, the evaluation and broadening of the concept of social niche, and
findings from the fieldwork done with farm dwellers, a social niche approach for
assessing environmental strengths and risks is proposed. The goal of the
social niche assessment approach is to provide a framework to review people's
environmental strengths and risks/stressors, based on their own experience and
understanding, in collaboration with another person (social worker), so as to co-construct
a description of their human environment. A diagram and description
of the approach is provided. This approach has already been validated through
peer evaluation. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Social Work))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2004.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nwu/oai:dspace.nwu.ac.za:10394/224 |
| Date | January 2004 |
| Creators | Ryke, Elma |
| Publisher | North-West University |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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