The effectiveness of the Therapeutic Sandstory Method as a focused intervention with a child: a descriptive single case study
- Authors: Francis, Staci
- Date: 2023-10-13
- Subjects: Sandplay therapy , Storytelling Psychological aspects , Social constructionism , Narrative therapy , Child psychotherapy Case studies , Thematic analysis , Data reduction
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/424973 , vital:72198
- Description: This study explores and describes a phenomenological case study, illustrating a postmodern constructionist orientation to sandtray work with a South African child. The Therapeutic Sandstory Method (TSM) involves the innovative integration of a variety of tenets when working with children– constructing sandworlds, storytelling, the reflection of stories and coherent therapeutic documents in therapy collectively facilitating the healing process. This novel method enables children to translate and communicate their own personal experiences and traumas into a concrete form through storytelling and metaphoric connections constructed in their sandworld. It is anticipated that the TSM is a brief yet feasible, child-centered therapeutic engagement designed to continue the therapeutic process outside of the therapy setting, making it ideally suited for children and adolescents from under-resourced communities. The results of the study revealed improved interpersonal functioning and emotional wellbeing after eight sessions. Contextualized narrative and social constructionist findings are discussed and recommendations made pertaining to future research and practice using TSM with children in therapy. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, Psychology, 2023
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- Date Issued: 2023-10-13
Teachers’ narratives of their experience of teaching Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) -affected children in mainstream schooling
- Authors: Makasi-Simukonda, Mihlali
- Date: 2022-10-14
- Subjects: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders South Africa Buffalo City , Inclusive education South Africa Buffalo City , Teachers of children with disabilities South Africa Buffalo City , Children of prenatal alcohol abuse South Africa Buffalo City Social conditions , Social constructionism
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/406183 , vital:70246
- Description: This study considers the experiences of teachers working with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD)-affected children in mainstream schooling. FASD refers to a range of conditions in children resulting from maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy. Prevalence rates in South Africa are said to be among the highest in the world. There is a paucity of research on FASD-affected children in the Eastern Cape. This study was thus conducted in the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality (BCMM). Teachers told stories of their experiences of teaching undiagnosed FASD-affected children in mainstream schooling. The stories reveal the quality of life for children in classrooms and socio-contextual influences of their experiences at school, as well as the responsibilisation of teachers in these settings. This qualitative research is situated within a social constructionism paradigm. The social model of disability was utilised as a theoretical framework for this study to represent the systemic barriers against which FASD-affected learner support in the mainstream school can be conceptualised. A sample of five (5) Black female teachers were interviewed. Data gathering was done by conducting telephonic interviews using the single question inducing narrative, known as SQUIN. A thematic analysis of the data was conducted for the purpose of identifying themes within the data collected. Four superordinate themes emerged from the data, viz. narratives of FASD-affected learners, narratives of parental involvement, narratives of the role of teachers and narratives of stakeholder support. This study reveals a significant level of responsibilisation of teachers. Teachers appear to play a bigger role than just being teachers and they positioned themselves as playing a parental role in relation to FASD-affected learners. FASD-affected learners were positioned as “the problem” in the mainstream classroom whereas the environment is a disabling factor to FASD-affected learners. There is a need for a holistic approach in working with FASD-affected learners from all relevant stakeholders. Key recommendations are made for effective inclusion of FASD-affected learners in mainstream schooling. Future research recommendations include repeating this study in a different geographical area, a focus on senior phase learners and/or a more diverse sample. The findings assist in the development of policies of inclusive education in mainstream schooling and supportive strategies to enhance the developmental trajectory of FASD-affected children. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, Psychology, 2022
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- Date Issued: 2022-10-14
Constructions of United States government development funding in response to the global gag rule
- Authors: Molobela, Reabetswe Lee-Anne
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Pro-choice movement -- South Africa , Abortion -- Law and legislation -- South Africa , Abortion -- Moral and ethical aspects -- South Africa , Abortion -- Psychological aspects , Reproductive rights -- South Africa , Economic assistance, American -- South Africa , Non-governmental organizations -- South Africa , Discourse analysis , Social constructionism , Global Gag Rule
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/148295 , vital:38727
- Description: Despite South Africa’s progressive abortion law, barriers to safe abortion are numerous and exist at both the macro and micro level. Barriers include abortion stigma, discrimination, strong moral judgements against abortion within society and conscientious objection among health care workers. Furthermore, women’s lack of knowledge regarding the legal status of abortion and the voluminous illegal advertisements of back street abortions undermines the legislation and promotes unsafe abortions. Sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR) non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have served as a link between service and people by providing information about safe abortion to women, especially in rural areas and have received funding from various platforms including United States government. However, the United States government has established the global gag rule which forbids foreign non-governmental organizations receiving United States government funding from using United States government and non-United States funds for abortion related activities. The global gag rule has been reinstated and extended by the current United States president. As such the global gag rule is expected to have an adverse effect on sexual and reproductive health rights in South Africa and on Sexual and reproductive health rights non-governmental organizations. The aim of the study is to highlight the constructions and responses to the global gag rule by sexual and reproductive health rights non-government organization workers in the South African context. This study used semi-structured individual interviews to collect data through purposive and snowball sampling of 10 South African Sexual and reproductive health rights non-governmental organizations workers. The study is situated within the social constructionist framework with emphasis on Fairclough’s three aspects of the constructive effects of discourse as an analytic tool in conjunction with Braun and Clarke’s social constructionist thematic analysis. The results of the study reflect on participants’ construction of United States government as imposing conservative agendas and taking regressive steps towards Sexual and reproductive health rights, which have in turn invoked indirect and direct resistance from non-governmental organizations. Additionally, NGO workers have constructed subject positions that highlight the vulnerability of non-governmental organizations dependency on United States government 1funding as it destabilizes and fragments civil society organization while it compromises the effectiveness of non-governmental organizations in serving the needs of intended communities. United States government is also constructed as strengthening abortion stigma and strengthening barriers to safe abortion that already exist in the country.
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- Date Issued: 2020
Transformations in Hlengwe ethnicity in Chiredzi, Zimbabwe, 1890 to 2014
- Authors: Chisi, Taderera Hebert
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Hlengwe (African people) -- Zimbabwe -- Chiredzi Rural District , Ethnicity -- Zimbabwe -- Chiredzi Rural District , Social constructionism , Black people -- Race identity -- Zimbabwe -- Chiredzi Rural District , Zimbabwe -- History , Imperialism -- History
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/62296 , vital:28152
- Description: Studies of ethnicity have shifted from primordialism to diverse variants of social constructivism, which include instrumentalism, invention of tribalism by the colonial elite and missionaries and demotic constructivism or creation of ethnicity from below. The studies have generally generated two broad schools of thought. One school avers that African ethnicity was invented by the colonial elite and missionaries in the colonial period whilst the other and more recent asserts that ethnicity had a precolonial currency and the generality of Africans also played a key role in identity formation. Also most notable is that most studies have tended to focus on larger and more visible ethnic groups, ignoring the stories of small communities mostly found in remote border areas of modern ‘nation’ states. Using archival material, colonial records, autobiographies, oral and secondary sources, this thesis, which is largely guided by the demotic constructivist theoretical perspective examines the evolution of the ethnic identity of an ‘obscure’ Hlengwe ethnic community of the south-east lowveld of Zimbabwe from the pre-colonial period to 2014. History of the Hlengwe history has been blurred by the use of the term “Shangaan” to denote the Hlengwe, yet they were not ethnically so. A chronological approach and demotic constuctivism have been used to enable a deeper analysis of the critical historical phases, key players and processes in Hlengwe identity formation as time wore on. While we acknowledge that identity formation involves diverse players, we also focus on the role of the generally neglected commoners in the making of African ethnicity. This study differs from other works on ethnicity which focus on events of short historical phases and the role of selected elitist agents in the making of African ethnicity, by analysing the making of Hlengwe ethnicity from the precolonial to the postcolonial period. We prove that Hlengwe ethnicity was created in the pre-colonial period but did not remain static as it was perpetually reshaped by unpredictable historical events right up to 2014. The Hlengwe community was subjected to processes of social transformation over a long period of time to an extent that the one time docile, ‘uncivilised”, inward looking community bearing an identity of shame had evolved by the close of the 20th century and early 21st century to an assertive community, proud of its identity and actively seeking political, economic and cultural recognition and rights for its ‘underdog’ Hlengwe constituency in a country where diverse Shona groups andNdebele form the dominant ethnic communities.
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- Date Issued: 2018