ETD Collection

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    Empathy and the personal experiences of trainees in an emotional literacy persona doll training programme in South Africa.
    (2013-03-18) Barnfather, Nikki
    Many devastating problems face South Africa’s young children that can hamper their emotional and social development. The Emotional Literacy and Persona Doll programme (Buchanan, 2007) attempts to intervene in the young child’s emotional development. Persona Dolls are used to encourage emotional expression and management in young children. Previous research has indicated the positive effects of the Persona Dolls and Emotional Literacy programmes with children. However, the development in the trainees and practitioners who use these dolls has yet to be researched. This research study assessed the development of empathy, and the personal experiences of trainees who underwent the emotional literacy and Persona Doll training programme in South Africa. Participants included social workers, psychologists, and preschool and foundation phase teachers. Participants’ empathy was assessed before the first training session, and at the end of the training through Davis Interpersonal Reactivity Index (1980). Participants also documented their feelings, experiences, and thoughts while undergoing the training, in a journal. Process notes of persona doll sessions and evaluation forms were also used in the study. Although the quantitative results did not show any significant results in terms of an improvement in empathy for the trainees, the qualitative results demonstrated that the participants found that they were more able to think and talk about their own emotions, and the emotions of others. This is a crucial aspect of emotional literacy, where one is able to identify and think about one’s own emotions. Furthermore, the group of participants learnt important reflection and containment skills, which they believe they can and are using in their work with others, and with their families. While there is no statistically grounded argument for the improvement of empathy, and in extension emotional literacy, the participants in the training seemed to have developed their own emotional literacy skills, and found that they are better able to work with children and adults in the realm of emotional work. Implications and suggestions for further research are discussed.
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    Participation in a community service programme has a positive effect on high school volunteers' empathy.
    (2008-06-09T05:35:53Z) Barclay, Heather
    ABSTRACT There is a growing body of research that demonstrates the relationship between identity development, the development of citizenship, and the pedagogy of service learning (Eyler & Giles, 1999; Jones & Hill, 2001, 2003; Rhoad, 1997; Youniss &Yates, 1997). While a review of the effects of community service on elementary and high school participants in the USA provide some indication that participating in service-learning programmes is beneficial to young people, Alt & Medrich (1994) state that there is still relatively little clear, systematic evidence demonstrating the connection between community service and particular affective and educational objectives. It is of concern in the light of the Further Education and Training (FET) Life Orientation (LO) Curriculum’s call for citizenship education (Department of Education, 2003), that no research on ‘community service’ work done by high school learners in South Africa can be located. The studies that link a service- learning or community work pedagogy to the development of empathy have primarily been conducted with college students (Burnett, Hamel, & Long, (2004); Giles, & Eyler, (1993); Jones & Hill (2003); Pratt, (2001); Rhoad, (1997)). Although there is some research with adolescents (Hamilton & Fenzel, (1988); Leming, (2001); Middleton, & Kelly (1996); Yates. & Youniss, (1996), it has primarily focused on social and identity development in community service settings and not specifically on empathy. However Hatcher’s (1994) research with adolescents and college students provides indications that empathy is developmental and can be elicited by environmental intervention and that some aspects of empathy can be taught to adolescents if a developmental shift is caught. Key words: empathy, service learning, community work, identity, citizenship