3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions

Permanent URI for this communityhttps://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/handle/10539/45

Browse

Subject: search.filters.subject.South African Police Service

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Perceptions and experiences of police officers and social workers within saps when assisting women who survived sexual violence in Mamelodi, Pretoria
    (2023) Bahula, Ikageng
    Many women are often reluctant to disclose cases of sexual violence to healthcare workers, police officers, family members etc. mainly due to the stigma attached. Few studies have been conducted to explore the experiences and perceptions of different role players within South African Police Officers (SAPS) when assisting women who survived sexual violence. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the perceptions and experiences of police officers and social workers within SAPS when assisting women who survived sexual violence. This study adopted a qualitative research approach, specifically a multiple case study design. The feminist poststructuralist theory was employed to guide the study. Three different interview guides were used as the research instrument. Individual face-to-face semi-structured interviews were used as the method of data collection. The sample size comprised twenty-five (25) different role players within SAPS in Mamelodi, Pretoria; five (5) client service centre police officers who work at both Mamelodi east and west police stations; ten (10) police officers who work in the special unit addressing sexual violence (FCS) at Mamelodi and ten (10) social workers who assist the survivors of sexual violence at both Mamelodi east and west police stations. The data gathered from the research were analysed using thematic analysis. The research showed that some participants perceived sexual violence in different ways. The study revealed that social workers, CSC police officers and police officers at FCS play different roles within SAPS. Participants portrayed that they encounter challenges in when handling cases of sexual violence for instance, lack of resources and support. Participants also complained of too much workload, trauma that comes with handling of sexual violence cases and that survivors withdraw the reported cases of sexual violence. Additionally, Participants reported that media and awareness campaigns encourages women to seek social work services. The study showed that some police officers are not aware of the strategies that exist with SAPS to address cases of sexual violence. Participants reported that they undergo certain trainings in order to equip themselves with knowledge on handling cases of sexual violence. This study may provide valuable insights into the experiences of police officers and social workers when handling cases of sexual violence as well as the strategies adopted by SAPS to address sexual violence cases in order to strengthen the support offered to women who are survivors of sexual violence.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Secondary traumatic stress and coping: a case study of the social workers employed at the South African Police Service
    (2016) Masson, Francine Julia
    South Africa is regarded as one of the most violent countries in the world. Colonialism and apartheid laid the foundations for a divided and segregated society where violence was accepted as a legitimate means of conflict resolution in order to ensure the domination of one racial group over all other groups. As social and economic inequalities have become more entrenched in South African society, criminal violence has escalated. However, the nature of violence in the country has changed from political violence to criminal violence. Against this backdrop of violence and associated trauma, the South African Police have the insurmountable task of trying to maintain law and order. The science of traumatology is a burgeoning field; traditionally empirical research has focused on the responses of primary trauma victims. However, in recent decades the secondary effects of traumatisation on those who counsel the victims of primary trauma, has received significant attention. Located within the South African Police Service, is an often forgotten secondary group of professionals who assist the police officials through assuming the roles of occupational and forensic social work. The profession of social work is inherently stressful and demanding, especially in a country like South Africa, where social problems are ubiquitous and pervade every facet of South African society. Furthermore, a particular occupational stressor significantly impacting on these social workers as they investigate child abuse or provide counselling for a police officer, is secondary traumatisation. The questions arise: firstly, how these social workers are affected by the amount of traumatic material to which they are exposed by the very nature of their work, and secondly, what coping strategies they employ. It was therefore deemed imperative to explore the effects of secondary traumatisation experienced by these social workers in the South African Police Service in order to understand and ameliorate the negative effects of secondary traumatic stress. Furthermore, social work supervisors can enhance the quality of care their social workers provide to clients if they are adequately supported. It was therefore also considered necessary to explore the stressors these social workers experience and to identify the necessary support mechanisms appropriate to such therapeutic endeavors. The primary aim of this study was therefore to explore the nature and extent of secondary traumatic stress experienced by social workers employed by the South African Police Service. The research design adopted for this study was exploratory, descriptive and correlational, while the research methodology employed was a hybrid of both quantitative and qualitative paradigms. As this study involved an in-depth analysis of a bounded system comprising social workers employed at SAPS, the research was considered a case study. The study comprised two phases: In the first phase questionnaire booklets containing seven standardised research tools and open-ended questions, were administered in group settings. In addition, questionnaires were posted to social workers who were not able to attend the group meetings along with a self-addressed envelope. The research tools measured the nature of secondary trauma exposure, levels of secondary traumatic stress, vicarious trauma, compassion satisfaction, burnout, coping resources and dimensions of the work environment. Two hundred questionnaire booklets were distributed and 128 usable questionnaires were returned. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the quantitative data, through the use of statistical programmes, SAS and SPSS. In the second stage of the study, 30 participants who participated in the first part of the study and who indicated that they were willing to be interviewed, were purposively selected. A structured research tool was used to guide the interview in order to explore the participants’ perceptions and experiences of secondary trauma while working for SAPS. The interviews were conducted either face-to face, telephonically or through Skype. The qualitative data that emerged from the interviews were analysed through the use of Atlasti, a qualitative computer programme, which assisted the researcher in the thematic analysis. Through the process of incorporating qualitative techniques, the researcher also made use of reflexivity when analysing the qualitative data. In total 128 social workers participated in the study, of whom 102 were occupational social workers while 26 were forensic social workers, all located within South Africa. The extent of exposure to secondary trauma varied substantially between both occupational and forensic social work when considered as separate divisions, as well as within each discipline. This variation manifested in frequencies and duration of cases. In the interviews forensic social workers identified particularly traumatic cases as those where the sexual abuse was severe or the child had died as a result of extreme abuse. In comparison, occupational social workers identified some of the worst cases they had dealt with as cases where the police officers became disabled; and where they were required to deal with police suicides and police family murders or femicide-suicides. Most participants presented with high or average levels of secondary traumatic stress and vicarious trauma as well as with moderate and low levels of burnout. Furthermore, there was a strong positive correlation between levels of secondary traumatic stress and burnout. The majority of participants experienced average levels of compassion satisfaction from their work. Participants identified various coping strategies and resources incorporating different individual dimensions, namely, physical, emotional, cognitive, social and spiritual. Participants showed high levels of resilience and findings indicated that resilience was negatively correlated with vicarious trauma. There were numerous significant differences between the different ranks of the participants. Participants of higher rank reported greater trauma exposure and had significantly higher secondary traumatic scores. Coloured participants experienced significantly lower levels of vicarious traumatisation than Black participants. Furthermore, there were numerous statistically significant differences apparent between the forensic and occupational social workers. Forensic social workers manifested significantly higher levels of vicarious trauma than occupational social workers, and forensic social workers had greater distortions regarding self-intimacy than occupational social workers. In addition, forensic social workers presented with lower coping resources and lower levels of resilience than occupational social workers. Participants also experienced below average levels of satisfaction within the work environment at SAPS. The results from the work environment scale showed that in particular the relationship aspects in the work environment were problematic and that colleague support levels were below average. There were also significant differences in work satisfaction levels between Black and White participants. These findings enhance understanding of trauma in racially polarised societies. Multivariate analysis revealed the complex relationships existing between the numerous variables in the study, further contributing to the theory of trauma in divided societies. Two structural equation models were developed to show the relationships of the variables measured in the study which were identical apart from the vicarious trauma variable which was separated to incorporate beliefs about self and beliefs about others. The models revealed that coping mechanisms moderated the relationship between traumatic stress exposure and vicarious trauma (self) and that such mechanisms moderated the resilience and burnout relationship. These findings of the study highlight the need to involve social workers at SAPS in the drafting and implementation of a self-care policy which would help to promote empowerment and responsibility of social workers for their own mental health. Recommendations for social work policy, education, practice, supervision and support as well as future research are also provided.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Trauma in the South African Police force : personality and coping as risk factors for developing post-traumatic stress disorder.
    (2014-07-03) Waterston, Danielle
    The South African service (SAPS) has a reputation for being resilient despite the amounts of trauma they are exposed to. Research has shown that this occupation is one of the most stressful. However, research surrounding the SAPS suggests that police work is one of society’s most stressful occupations. The way in which individuals respond to such traumatisations is dependent on numerous factors, two being personality and coping. In so far, this study investigated three main areas around police reservists – a unit within the SAPS - in order to understand their responses to trauma: whether personality factors were related to post-traumatic stress symptomatology (PTSS) in the police reservist population; whether coping moderated the relationship between personality factors and PTSS; whether a personality factors predict coping style. A quantitative analysis was conducted among a sample of 36 reservists in the Gauteng area of South Africa. This study found that the relationship between Neuroticism and PTSS is mediated by coping, specifically Emotion-Focused and Dysfunctional Coping styles. A relationship between Conscientiousness and PTSS showed to be prevalent, however this is not due to the mediation affect of coping. Furthermore, Neuroticism and Extraversion showed to predict coping style. Specifically, Neuroticism showed to affect EFC and DC and Extraversion showed to affect EFC. The descriptive statistics showed that this sample of police reservists is suffering from PTSD. Implications of these findings are discussed and directions for future research are explored.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    The relationship between temperament styles and the effects of traumatic events on trained dog handlers within the South African Police Service.
    (2009-03-02T09:16:55Z) Olivier, Celeste
    Police officers are exposed to stress outside the range of usual human experience. The operational duties of police work, by their very nature, may at any time place officers in life threatening situations (McCraty, Tomasino, Atkinson and Sundram, 1999). These life threatening situations often lead police officers to experience different kinds of trauma. Certain temperament characteristics have throughout time been implicated as vulnerabilities toward trauma (Marais, 2005). This research study aimed to investigate this relationship between temperament styles and the effects of traumatic events on police officers working as dog handlers at the SAPS Dog Unit, Soweto. An exploratory-descriptive research design with a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods was used to address the aims of the study. Use of the Keirsey’s Temperament Sorter indicated that from the fifteen respondents who took part in this study the majority demonstrated a tendency towards extraversion, sensation, feeling and judging. The sensation subscales showed a weak, yet significant relationship with both intrusion and avoidance symptoms which were measured by the Impact of Event Scale – Revised (IES-R). In addition to the IES-R the researcher made use of a semi-structured interview schedule to determine the effects that traumatic work incidents had on the respondents. Common themes that emerged from the interviews included: denial, emotional detachment, lack of trust and a lack of selfknowledge. The main conclusion that emerged from the study was the need to empower police officers by helping them gain self-awareness in terms of their unique ways of coping with trauma.
Copyright Ownership Is Guided By The University's

Intellectual Property policy

Students submitting a Thesis or Dissertation must be aware of current copyright issues. Both for the protection of your original work as well as the protection of another's copyrighted work, you should follow all current copyright law.