School of Human and Community Development (ETDs)

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Subject: search.filters.subject.SDG-17: Partnerships for the goals

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Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
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    The Legacy of Parental Divorce as an Adverse Childhood Experience on Emerging Adults
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Presence, Jewel Christina
    The impact of parental divorce on children is well documented, yet there is a significant gap in literature regarding its long-term effects on emerging adults. This qualitative study addresses this gap by exploring how emerging adults narrate and make meaning of their experiences of parental divorce during childhood. The study aims to understand how emerging adults interpret their childhood experiences of parental divorce and how it has affected their emotional, psychological, and social development in emerging adulthood. The study uses Arnett’s theory of emerging adulthood and Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development as theoretical frameworks. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews with 11 emerging adults, aged 18 to 24 years, who experienced parental divorce during childhood. Reflexive thematic analysis was employed to analyse the data. Three overarching themes emerged from the study: (1) navigating interpersonal relationships, (2) developmental transitions and parental divorce impact; as well as (3) family dynamics and support shifts. Findings reveal that parental divorce, during childhood, has emotional implications, leading to maladaptive coping strategies, difficulties within the home environment, and challenges in forming secure attachments in emerging adulthood. Despite these hardships, participants demonstrated resilience and adaptability, often reinterpreting their experiences in a positive light as they navigated self- identity and emerging adulthood. The effects of parental divorce on emerging adults were deeply embedded in their individual experiences including how they related to their parents during their childhood. This study provides valuable subjective insights into the long-term impacts of parental divorce on emerging adults by presenting data derived from participants’ experiences and includes recommendations for future research and practical applications.
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    Factors Influencing Listener Comprehension in Multicultural Dysarthria
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Jones, Dilys
    The dysarthrias are a group of motor speech disorders which may be congenital, or may be acquired due to neurological injury or disease. Dysarthria frequently affects the intelligibility of speech, that is, the ability of the listener to decode the signals produced by the speaker, as well as the ability of the listener to understand the meaning of the speaker's message. As such, it has a great impact on the ability of the speaker to function in daily life and on quality of life. Most research is focused on the speaker with the impairment, but the listener plays a key role in the chain of communication. This study examined listeners in an attempt to describe some of the variables which may affect their ability to comprehend dysarthric speech. Given the multilingual and multicultural environment of South Africa, a particular focus was on language mismatch between speaker and listener. A mixed methods design was used in which the main aim was to identify barriers and facilitators of listener comprehension in dysarthria. Sub-aims were to compare the performance of listeners on tasks of intelligibility evaluation and comprehension; to identify the role of second language use in listener comprehension and intelligibility; to identify the role of experience in listener comprehension and intelligibility; to evaluate whether a training programme could be effective in improving listeners' comprehension and to describe the strategies used by a small group of successful listeners to decode dysarthric speech. The research comprised three sub-studies: The first quasi-experimental sub-study examined the variables of language use and experience in groups of listeners (n=93) on tasks evaluating the intelligibility and comprehensibility of the speech of four speakers with dysarthria; The second, qualitative sub-study focused on the listening strategies used by a small group of people (n=3) identified as being “successful” listeners; The third was an experimental study to investigate the effect of a training intervention, in which a group of 15 listeners were evaluated on intelligibility and comprehension tasks before and after receiving training. The results indicated that neither speaking the same language as the speaker nor previous iv experience with dysarthric speakers was a predictor of success in comprehending dysarthric speech. However, the combination of experience and matching language was a significant facilitator. The group who underwent the short training programme performed significantly better than the untrained control group, suggesting that training could be an important facilitator of comprehension. These results provide a very preliminary understanding of how the comprehension of dysarthric speech may be affected in the multilingual environment, a completely neglected area of research, and thus have potential theoretical implications as well as raising several implications for future research in the area. They also have important clinical implications, especially for resource-limited populations who do not have access to intensive rehabilitation, and for those whose dysarthria is progressive and whose speech will thus deteriorate. For both of these groups, greater focus on the listener, rather than the speaker, is likely to be more effective in improving communication.
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    The experience of attempting to become a present father: Perspectives of absent Black South African fathers
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023) Matee, Hopolang
    This research investigates the experiences of Black South African fathers who have been absent from their children’s lives, who have attempted to or have reconnected with their children. It was focused on understanding what this process of reconnection entails, as well as the motivations, challenges, failures and successes these fathers experienced. The research was interested in what fathers regarded as a successful or unsuccessful reconnection according to their personal experiences. A qualitative, psychosocial approach for this study was chosen to allow for an exploration of both the social and personal psychological influences on this process of reconnection from the perspective of the seven fathers who participated in the study. These participants were recruited via social media and through purposive, snowball sampling. They were all between the ages of 30-45 years old, and all of them had previously been absent from their child/ren’s lives and had attempted to reconnect or had successfully reconnected with their child/ren. Two of the men had managed to successfully reconnect with their children, whilst the other five had tried and been unsuccessful. Hollway and Jefferson’s (2013) psychosocial approach using the Free Association Narrative Interview (FANI) was used to guide the collection and analysis of data. Two semi- structured interviews that largely offered space for their narratives were conducted with each participant. The research showcased several factors that are important for research that were novel and were found to shape and influence their subjective experiences of this reconnection, such as socio-political factors, cultural influences, socio-economic factors and the intergenerational transmission of past relational patterns to their relationships with their children. This research documents the ways in which these factors intersect in this sample reconnection experiences. Experiences of both successful and unsuccessful reconnection with their children are discussed. Particular attention is given to the participants’ understandings of their fatherhood roles and how such understanding has been reconstructed within this reconnection process. Motivations for attempting to reconnect with their children are presented, alongside the meanings they made of unsuccessful attempts at reconnection. The findings suggest that a combination of both personal and contextual factors influence which fathers manage to form positive fatherhood identities and forge successful reconnections, and which do not.
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    On The Nature and Rationality of Desire
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2018) Mtshali, Khondlo; Leon, Mark
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    Anxiety as a Mediator of the Associations Between Stressful Life Events and Social Media Use Intensity in Young Adults
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2022-05) Ramoroka, Morongwa Rebaabetswe Elina; Price, Esther
    Introduction: This study quantitatively explored the associations between SLEs, anxiety, and social media use intensity. The study explores whether anxiety mediates the relationship between SLEs and social media use intensity across all four domains. This study further aims to explore whether social media use intensity, operationalized as an avoidance coping strategy, is possibly due to poor emotional regulation and distress tolerance skills. The first-time undergraduate student population are often inadequately prepared for the transition to university during a critical period of their development. As a result, they may drift towards health compromising behaviours such as intense social media use. The findings will set a precedent for the development of preventative programs and/or interventions in order to assist young adults with emotional regulation. Methods: This was a cross-sectional design that was analysed quantitatively. The participants were invited to participate in online questionnaires which assessed stressful life events, anxiety, and social media use intensity. While a total sample of 402 students completed parts of the online survey questionnaires, a final sample of 360 participants was used in the study as their data sets were complete for all the variables. The Social Readjustment Rating Scale, Beck's Anxiety Inventory, and the Facebook Intensity Scale were the measures used. Results: Positive associations were found between SLEs, anxiety and social media use intensity. Anxiety mediated the relationship between SLEs and social media use intensity across all four domains. This reflected that social media use intensity is a form of avoidance coping mechanism that emerges due to poor emotional regulation and distress tolerance skills. Conclusions: The present study highlights the challenges experienced and how to set a precedent for the development of preventative programs and interventions. Keywords: stressful life events, anxiety, avoidance coping, social media use intensity
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    Experiences of loveLife Trust telephone counsellors about the EWP employed within Gauteng
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2022) Mpekana, Rebecca
    Globally, most Non-Profit Organisations (NPOs) do not prioritise employee wellness programmes (EWPs). NPOs’ funding is often allocated for rendering their primary programmes rather than improving their employees’ wellness. Employees in NPOs are left to devise their own means to best cope with work-related stress and challenges. Some employees rely on support from community-based organisations or their colleagues. loveLife Trust is a South African NPO that operates nation-wide. loveLife Trust recently introduced EWP to be utilised by its employees who are telephone counsellors. As of year 2022, loveLife Trust employs about 12 telephone counsellors. The loveLife Trust counsellors render psychological support to youth country-wide. Dealing with the youth’s presenting problems exposes the telephone counsellors to burnout and anxiety. This study aimed to explore how telephone counsellors experience the loveLife Trust EWP service. This was a qualitative study that allowed the participants to openly share their views. The total participants for this study were 12 telephone counsellors who were working on the toll-free line which is based in Gauteng. In addition, two key informants; the team supervisor and an EWP account manager, were interviewed. All participants were interviewed through ZOOM Cloud Meetings. A qualitative interview schedule that was guided by open-ended one-on-one interview questions was used for data collection. Thematic data analysis was used to derive different themes for the study. The aim of the study was to explore the experiences of telephone counsellors on EWP at loveLife Trust. The telephone counsellors are based in the call centre in Gauteng. The study revealed that telephone counsellors have not utilised the EWP as a way of support. The telephone counsellors prefer collegial support for taking care of their wellness. To spark interest amongst telephone counsellors to utilise the service, loveLife management should prioritise EWP awareness.