Thesis (MEdPsych)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / Bibliography / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In recent years there has been an expanse in the literature that is drawing attention to selfinjury
and research studies indicate that self-injurious behaviour is prevalent in the age
group of thirteen to fifteen years. Although it remains unclear, whether the increased focus
on self-injury is due to a greater amount of adolescents who engage in self-injury, or
whether it is due to more young people identifying themselves as self-injurers, it has now
become an integral component of adolescent behaviour that teachers, parents and other
significant role players have to be knowledgeable about, as the likelihood that they will
encounter self-injury amongst a young adolescent population is on the increase.
As research studies in this arena have been mostly of a quantitative nature and have
focused predominately on psychiatric populations, there was a gap in the research to
contribute to the limited qualitatively generated knowledge base on self-injury. In this study,
a narrative inquiry design was used to make sense of the stories of self-injury that the
participants told. Four adolescent girls between the ages of fourteen and seventeen years
with no history of mental illness and who were not receiving psychiatric or psychological
intervention or showed significant levels of anxiety or depressive symptoms, were selected
for the study. Two interviews were conducted with each girl using the fish bowl game and
the memory box making to explore their stories of self-injury.
The findings of this study suggest that cutting behaviour has purpose in the lives of the
girls who participated in this study. Apart from having meaning in their lives, cutting
behaviour also served to fulfill various functions, depending on the kind of problem and
feelings that would be experienced in that moment. These functions ranged from providing
relief, to being a form of punishment, to being a temptation, to becoming a comforting habit
and a way to feel alive again. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Oor die afgelope paar jaar is daar ‘n toename in die literatuur wat handel oor selfbesering
en navorsingstudies dui daarop dat die voorkoms van selfbeserende gedrag veral ‘n faktor
is in die ouderdomsgroep tussen dertien en vyftien jaar. Dit is egter steeds onbekend of
die toenemende fokus op selfbeserende gedrag toegeskryf kan word aan ‘n toename in
die voorkoms van selfbesering en of dit eerder toegeskryf kan word aan meer jong mense
wat hulself identifiseer as selfbeseerders. Hoe dit ookal sy, selfbesering is tans 'n integrale
komponent van adolessente gedrag en om hierdie rede is dit 'n noodsaaklikheid dat
onderwysers, ouers en ander belanghebbende rolspelers kennis moet dra daaroor omdat
die waarskynlikheid dat hulle sulke gedrag sal teëkom, onder 'n jong adolessente
populasie, aan die toeneem is.
Aangesien navorsingstudies binne hierdie veld hoofsaaklik kwantitatief van aard is, is daar
'n leemte m.b.t. navorsing wat kan bydra tot die klein hoeveelheid kwalitatiewe studies wat
wel al gedoen is. In hierdie studie, is 'n narratieweondersoekontwerp gekies omdat die
studie wou sin maak van die stories van selfbesering wat die deelnemers vertel het. Vier
adolessente meisies tussen die ouderdom van veertien en sewentien jaar het aan die
studie deelgeneem wat geen geskiedenis van geestessiekte gehad het nie en ook nie ten
tyde van die ondersoek psigiatriese of sielkundige intervensie ontvang het nie. Die
deelnemers moes verder ook geen betekenisvolle hoë vlakke van angs of depressie
getoon het nie. Twee onderhoude is met elke deelnemer gevoer waartydens die Visbak
speletjie (Fish Bowl game) en 'n Herrinneringdosie (Memory Box) gebruik is om die
meisies se stories van selfbesering te ontgin.
Die bevindinge van hierdie studie stel voor dat snygedrag 'n besliste funksie in die lewens
van die deelnemers gehad het. Buiten die feit dat snygedrag vir hulle betekenisvol was,
het snygedrag ook verskeie funksies vervul wat hoofsaaklik afgehang het van die tipe
probleem en die emosies wat daarmee gepaard gegaan het. Snyfunksies het gewissel van
'n manier om verligting te kry, 'n manier om die self te straf, 'n vertroostende gewoonte en
'n manier om weer iets te kan voel.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:sun/oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/80093 |
| Date | 03 1900 |
| Creators | Ridgway, Melissa Joy |
| Contributors | Daniels, Doria, Perold, Mariechen, Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Education. Dept. of Educational Psychology. |
| Publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en_ZA |
| Detected Language | Unknown |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | xi, 129 p. : ill. |
| Rights | Stellenbosch University |
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