3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
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Item Supervision - the power to save? an exploration of the role supervision can play in a social worker's decision to resign in the child protection field(2016) Hunter, Kirsty AnneSocial work in South Africa is challenged by high caseloads, dangerous working environments and poor remuneration (Social Work Indaba, 2015). These challenges combined with high voluntary staff turnover rates (40.4% in 2006) have negative consequences for the protection of South Africa`s vulnerable children (Earle-Malleson (2009). In this context, supervision is often proposed as a potential cure-all for the tensions in social work. This study utilises an instrumental case study design to describe and explore child protection social workers’ perceptions of supervision and retention. The key aim of the study is to interrogate the role of effective social work supervision on a social worker’s decision to leave the employment of a child protection organisation in Gauteng. Twelve participants were identified through a combination of purposive and snowball sampling. Utilising a semi structured interview schedule, face to face interviews were conducted with each participant. The data obtained from the interviews was transcribed and analysed thematically. The research findings yielded concerning results on the supervision the participants had received with only 25% of the participants indicating that they found their supervision supportive and educational. High levels of organisational disengagement were noted, which created an organisational climate of neglect. This contributed indirectly to ten participant’s decision to resign as a lack of supervision heightened their frustrations with the system and their increased perceptions of child protection work as monotonous. A lack of a supportive and educational focus also closed off opportunities for participants to grow as social workers and learn adaptive coping skills. This led to some participants feeling emotionally overwhelmed. Both of these factors were cited as reasons for exiting child protection organisations. These findings reaffirm the importance of supervision as a reflexive process and provide insight into the targeting of interventions aimed at retaining child protection social workers in South Africa. Keywords: Child protection; retention; effective supervision; job embeddedness; social worker; disengagement; voluntary staff turnoverItem The experience of becoming a PHD.(2012-02-28) Hadingham, Jennifer AnnThe development of the next generation of researchers is a priority if South Africa is to make a significant contribution to the international knowledge economy and establish itself as a force to be reckoned with in international research circles. In the context of this knowledge economy, researchers are increasingly being recognised as agents of economic growth. In order to be competitive, therefore, an extensive pool of active researchers needs to be cultivated. One way of doing this is to promote and develop doctoral capacity at the country’s universities. This entails, among other things, a move away from the traditional focus on what the supervisor does, to a more student-centred understanding of how the doctoral candidate experiences the process, and by implication, how this impacts on their research contribution. In this qualitative study, thirty doctoral candidates from the Faculties of Science and Humanities at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, were interviewed in order to establish firstly, how they had experienced their supervision at this level, and secondly, whether or not these experiences had influenced the successful completion of their doctorates. One of the principal findings of the research was that the role of the supervisor was not central to the achievement of their degree; rather, many of the doctoral candidates asserted a significant level of agency in both identifying and making contact with experts beyond their university-appointed supervisors in order to supplement their access to relevant knowledge. In the majority of cases, this was encouraged by the supervisors. Such enterprises represent a marked departure from the traditional models of supervision in the Science and Humanities faculties. In the case of the former, the customary co-supervision arrangement is increasingly being augmented by student-initiated collaboration with authorities located outside the formal boundaries of the institution. The traditional Humanities model of supervision is also transforming from a one-on-one relationship to a style characterised by multiple supervisors, each from separate but cognate disciplines. The research suggested that these emergent models are eclipsing their predecessors as doctoral candidates increasingly recognise the value of extending the breadth of their disciplinary exposure beyond the confines of the university.Item Supervision and containment in community clinic contexts : a study of trainee clinical psychologists' experiences.(2009-01-07T07:16:22Z) Revington, NicolaThis study conceptualises the workings of supervision within a South African community clinic setting, focusing specifically on trainees’ experiences of work and supervision in such contexts. Training and working in community contexts has become increasingly important in the field of clinical psychology in South Africa. Multiple and varied challenges face trainees learning and working in these contexts. The experience may evoke overwhelming emotional responses for trainees. Supervision can play an important role in offering support and providing a reflective space for trainees, thus helping to render their experiences manageable and meaningful. A qualitative research design was used in this study to explore the experiences of trainee psychologists learning and working at a community clinic in Johannesburg as a component of their clinical psychology Masters training. Six past clinical psychology trainees from the University of the Witwatersrand were interviewed in order to gain understanding of their experiences of work and supervision from their own perspectives. What emerged from analysis of the interview material was a rich description of the community clinic and the challenges trainees are faced with in working there. The impact of being a new therapist within the environment was an area commonly discussed in interviews. Most significantly, the importance of supervision within the context was highlighted, with interviewees focusing on the need for containment and a space to think. Bearing these ideas in mind, the study draws on psychodynamic theory, particularly that of Wilfred R. Bion, to help conceptualise the workings of supervision in such a context. The study illustrates that considerable and meaningful work and learning can be done in less than ideal circumstances.