Doctoral Degrees (Psychology)

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Browsing Doctoral Degrees (Psychology) by browse.metadata.advisor "Kruger, Lou-Marie"

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    Female adolescent sexuality in a coloured community
    (Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2000-12) Lesch, Elmien; Kruger, Lou-Marie; University of Stellenbosch. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Philosophy.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Little is known about women's sexuality and even less about female adolescent sexuality. Sex researchers have neglected women, young women and specifically young women of colour and of lower socio-economic status. These gaps in sex research have to be addressed for at least two important reasons. In the first place an understanding of female adolescent sexuality will enhance our understanding of female development in general. More specifically, the prevalence of reproductive health problems like sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and unplanned pregnancies among female adolescents warrant urgent attention. This study attempted to address the need for data on female sexuality by focusing on coloured female adolescents in the Stellenbosch district. This target group has been chosen because of the extent of adolescent reproductive health problems, specifically the prevalence of teenage pregnancy, in the low-income coloured community. The objective of the study was to gain an understanding of adolescent female sexuality in a specific community. This goal was reached by collecting quantitative and qualitative data about sexuality from a group of high school learners from a historically coloured community in the Stellenbosch district. Structured questionnaires were used to elicit the quantitative data. The quantitative data were analysed to determine the following (i) the range of sexual behaviours, and (ii) the prevalence of high-risk behaviours that the respondents engaged in. The quantitative results indicate that the research respondents did not represent a sexually high-risk community. Sexual intercourse was limited to a relatively small number of respondents. The sexual behaviour of these respondents, in general, did not differ meaningfully from the sexual behaviour reported in other adolescent communities. Open-ended interviews were used to generate the qualitative data. Twenty-five sexually active girls were interviewed. The grounded theory method was used to analyse the qualitative data and to explore the respondents' constructions of sexuality. Lack of sexual agency and need for connection were identified as the core categories in the interview data. The interview data indicated that the respondents had limited sexual agency and the researcher argued that mothers and boyfriends, as agents of the community, were prominent contributors to sexual disempowerment. The use of the term "coloured" is controversial. It is viewed by some as derogatory, whilst others argue the importance of a 'coloured' identity. Here and throughout the term "coloured" will be used descriptively. The researcher concluded that a new discourse of sexual agency for young women must be developed.
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    A feminist phenomenological description of depression in low-income South African women
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2014-04) Dukas, Carla Justine; Kruger, Lou-Marie; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Psychology.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: A review of the past decade of literature on the subject of depression in South African women revealed a paucity of research that documents the perspectives of low-income women who have been diagnosed with depression. Informed by this and recent feminist critiques of the concept of depression, this study aimed to bring traditionally overlooked perspectives to the fore by providing rich descriptions of the subjectively lived experience of depression, as recounted by low-income women themselves. This feminist phenomenological study took place in a poor, rural community in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with ten low-income women who had been diagnosed with depression. The transcribed interviews were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. A number of important findings emerged. Firstly, participants were seen to express somatic complaints ahead of (and more frequently than) disclosures of sadness. Secondly, participants often described experiencing their psychological distress as anger, anxiety and a changed sense of self. Thirdly, participants generally attributed these experiences (and their overall distress) to a history of childhood trauma, the loss of important relationships, being physically, sexually or emotionally abused, feeling under supported and overburdened by multiple responsibilities, living in dangerous communities, and/or the various consequences of poverty. Finally, it was observed that while symptoms of suicidal ideation and intent were present in many of the women interviewed, strong religious and cultural norms existed and generally functioned to silence and deny the subject. Overall, the women’s subjective experiences, understandings and descriptions of depression allowed a more complex picture to emerge than that which is currently offered by mainstream biomedical models. Consequentially, the current conceptualisation of the term “depression” was deemed to be inadequate, specifically because it does not fully capture low-income women’s experiences of distress, and also because it tends to obscure the possible impact of socio-economic and political contexts on their mental health. Implications of these findings include firstly, that not only does the diagnosis of depression serve to medicalise women’s misery, but it may simultaneously serve to obscure their feelings of anger, anxiety, sadness, hopelessness and other symptoms of distress that are intrinsically linked to their disadvantageous social and living conditions. Secondly, the findings indicate that the use of traditional diagnostic and suicide assessment interviews may be unhelpful or even irresponsible in some South African contexts. Finally, many of the study findings warrant further investigation and psychological research. Recommendations to this end are thus included and stress the need to use theoretical perspectives and research methodologies that are sensitive to the multilayered, complex psychological experiences of depression in low-income women.
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    First contact : an exploratory study of the role of psychoanalytic infant observation in South African community psychology interventions
    (Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2007-12) Lazarus, Jana; Kruger, Lou-Marie; University of Stellenbosch. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Psychology.
    Very little is known about the experiences of black children living in poverty in South Africa. This compromises the delivery of appropriate psychological services. This dissertation considers the contribution that psychoanalytic infant observation might make to a needs assessment process within the community psychology paradigm. To date, infant observation has predominantly been used for training psychotherapists and other professionals in Western contexts. The goal of the present project was to conduct a "classical" observation of a mother and child in a lowincome South African community in the first year of the infant's life, in order to ascertain what kind of description it would yield. The question was whether such a description is useful for the needs assessment process, and ultimately, whether infant observation is a viable tool for psychologists working in low-income communities in South Africa. The study was set in a poor, semi-rural, so-called coloured township in the Western Cape. The data were analysed using an intersubjective psychoanalytic lens and a social constructionist grounded theory approach. In overview, the findings relate to two main areas, namely a) the nature and content of the resultant description, and b) the effect of the process. The analysis of the case material showed that the observation produced an extremely detailed account of the experience of poverty and oppression, involving the way in which it influences all relationships, including the one between mother and child. The knowledge gained offers clear pointers to the kind of intervention that would benefit the particular infant in the present study, and potentially other infants in vulnerable social contexts as well. One surprising outcome was the extensive way in which the observation functioned therapeutically for the whole family. It is therefore concluded that infant observation can provide a very rich contribution to low-income communities on a number of levels, if it is able to make both the theoretical and practical adjustments needed. It is thus argued that it is necessary to look at infant observation in more critical ways, both in terms of how it has traditionally been conceptualised and how it is and can be applied across all contexts.
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    The illness experience of HIV-infected low-income Coloured mothers in the Winelands region : theoretical and practical implications
    (Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2006-03) Herbst, Elsa; Kruger, Lou-Marie; University of Stellenbosch. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Psychology.
    Statistics show that young, heterosexual, low-income women are the fastest growing HIVinfected population in South Africa and in the rest of the world. Despite the rapidly growing numbers of women with HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) and AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome), there is a scarcity of research that focuses primarily on how poor minority and disadvantaged women of colour experience being HIV-positive, how these women actually live and cope with their diagnosis. Furthermore, no research studies on minority groups, such as the Coloured women in the Western Cape, exploring these issues have been reported. Consequently, there is an urgent need for research studies in South Africa to explore the range of discourses revealed by low-income and minority women regarding their lives and experiences of HIV/AIDS, in order to generate understanding and knowledge which could contribute to possible interventions, support and care. The present study aimed to: 1) explore the psychosocial concerns and mental health needs of HIV-infected low-income Coloured mothers in everyday life; 2) construct a testable Grounded Theory regarding the illness experience of low-income Coloured mothers; and 3) recommend guidelines for health workers. The study was a systematic analysis and documentation of how the illness (HIV/AIDS) was constructed in narratives of one particular group of women in South Africa. Eleven suitable and willing HIV-infected Coloured mothers were recruited by means of convenience and theoretical sampling. The research study was conducted within a socialconstructionist framework where the focus was on how HIV-infected, low-income Coloured women make sense of their world and illness experience. Grounded Theory was applied within the framework of qualitative research to analyse the data and to explore the participants’ constructions of the illness. As qualitative measure, a semi-structured in-depth interview schedule was developed according to Grounded Theory protocol. To reach the aims of the present study, questions focused on specific behaviours, experiences, thoughts and feelings that related to living with a positive HIV-diagnosis. In the participants’ accounts of their illness experience, two dominant discourses were identified: a discourse of HIV/AIDS, within which the illness was constructed as an stigmatised, incurable and deadly illness; as a shameful illness that someone should be blamed for; and as being associated with secrecy, silence, separation, pain and suffering, loss, and loneliness, as well as a discourse of mothering, what it means to be a “good” woman/mother; constructed as someone that should primarily take care of her children and family, and not be separated from them, or neglect or abandon them through illness or death. It is suggested that the two dominant discourses found in the participants’ accounts of their illness experiences, namely the meaning of HIV/AIDS as an illness (a stigmatised, incurable, and deadly illness, a shameful and blameworthy illness, an illness of secrecy, silence, separation, pain and suffering, loss, and loneliness), and the imperatives of mothering, what it means to be a “good” woman/mother (the primary caregiver of children, someone who is connected, physically strong, healthy and productive, and someone who is able to cope with her caregiving responsibilities even when in distress herself) are irreconcilable. It seems that these distressing and disempowering experiences of being HIV-infected, while also being a primary caregiver and mother of children, caused the participants in the present study severe psychological distress and suffering. Given these discourses and the context of the participants’ lives within their specific socio-economic circumstances, namely their lack of emotional and social support from friends and family, abusive relationships, substance abuse, economic hardships, absence of treatment options, as well as their experience of an incapacitating, incurable, stigmatised illness causing them severe physical and psychological distress, it was argued that the majority of the participants in the present study were in some state of depression and were in need of psychosocial support and mental healthcare.
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    Mothering as a three-generational process : the psychological experience of low-income mothers sharing childcare with their mothers
    (Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2011-03) De Villiers, Suzanne; Kruger, Lou-Marie; University of Stellenbosch. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Psychology.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Very little is known about the psychological experiences related to childcare use among lowincome mothers in South Africa. In rural and semi-rural communities, where affordable and accessible childcare is almost non-existent, low-income mothers often have no alternative but to rely on their own mothers for childcare. Despite strong theoretically based indications that these particular childcare arrangements are psychologically complex, research on this topic is almost completely lacking. This dissertation sets out to investigate (a) how childcare arrangements (including multigenerational childcare) manifest in one particular low-income South African community, and (b) how low-income South African mothers experienced the use of childcare psychologically. This study was set in a poor, semi-rural, so-called Coloured community in the Western Cape, South Africa. Two open-ended, in-depth interviews were conducted with eight participants. The transcribed interviews were analysed using constructivist grounded theory and case studies in a sequential data analysis approach. Theoretically, this study was informed by postmodernism, social constructionism, feminism and psychoanalytic theory. The data analysis resulted in a detailed documentation of the range of childcare arrangements utilised by the participants. It further showed that contextual, relational and personal constraints made it impossible for the participants to mother and care for their children as they wanted to. The participants had to compromise on their childcare ideals and this created a range of psychological and emotional sequelae. In order to cope with these, the participants resorted to both conscious and unconscious coping mechanisms and processes. The findings indicated that the use of multigenerational childcare was psychologically complex, as mother-daughter relationships consciously and unconsciously impacted on childcare decision-making, the emotional and psychological repercussions and the participants’ coping therewith. The absence of men and fathers in the provision of childcare concurred with international findings on the gendered nature of childcare. Based on the findings of this study, it can be concluded that mothering and childcare are indeed issues of concern to low-income mothers. It is also a subject that warrants further investigation in the discipline of psychology. Recommendations in this regard are included and highlight the need to use theoretical frameworks and research methods that are sensitive to the multilayered, complex psychological experiences of motherhood and childcare among low-income women.