Browsing by Author "De la Rey, Cheryl"

Now showing 1 - 9 of 9
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    An analysis of client trends in gay and lesbian counselling service
    (2001) Clayton, Janine Lydia; De la Rey, Cheryl
    Due to experiences of homophobia encountered within mainstream mental health services, sexual minorities have established mental health services that address their needs. This study explored client patterns and trends at Triangle Project, a counselling service, aimed at gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered (GLBT) individuals. The data was collected and analysed by examining existing documentation that contained clients’ information. This method of secondary analysis also included looking at the organisation's annual reports and an evaluation report. The findings indicated that GLBT communities favour counselling services aimed specifically at meeting their needs. Furthermore, GLBT individuals do not necessarily present with concerns relating to their sexuality, but there are commonalities with heterosexual individuals’ presenting concerns. In addition, it was apparent that gay men and lesbians presented with different concerns. Lesbians expressed their primary concern as relationship difficulties, followed by depression, while gay men reported issues such loneliness and other situational concerns. White gay men made use of services more so than other sexual minorities of colour. The findings also revealed that youth, lesbians and gay men of colour, were not well represented, and that youth, particularly, were at risk of possibly experiencing mental ill health. This study recommends that it is crucial for mental health workers to be equipped to provide effective mental health services for GLBT communities and that interventions are designed to facilitate and promote the mental health of GLBT individuals. It is also imperative that the GLBT community is not viewed as a monolithic group and that mental health workers are sensitive to differences of culture and ethnicity.
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    An evaluation of the representation of gender and gender violence in a sexuality and lifeskills programmes for adolescents
    (2000) Owens, Ingrid; De la Rey, Cheryl
    Sexuality education programmes have a crucial role to play in empowering adolescents to understand and engage with issues of gender. This study aimed to evaluate how relations of gender and gender violence are represented in a Lifeskills and Sexuality programme for 15 - 21 year oids.
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    Greener grass? : international students' experiences at universities in the Western Cape
    (2002) Atkins, Salla; De la Rey, Cheryl
    Literature has indicated that international students may experience difficulties when entering their country of sojourn. Previous studies have not addressed the experience of these students in South Africa. Given the unique social and historical context of the country, students may encounter issues dissimilar to other countries. The objective of this study was to explore the experiences of international students in South Africa, in terms of the social, academic and general experience. Additionally, students' motivations and expectations were explored. For this purpose, a survey was conducted via e-mail to students at three Western Cape universities. The final sample comprised 142 postgraduate international students from three universities. The participants were from a variety of faculties, and originated from a variety of countries, most of them coming from the African continent.( A questionnaire, comprising closed-and open-ended questions, was constructed from findings in international research. The collected data were analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The quantitative analysis included chi-squares, Fischer's exact tests and logistic regression. The qualitative data were analysed using thematic content analysis. The main finding of this study was that students, although in most respects faring well, experienced problems in social interaction with South Africans.) Specifically, students reported having experienced discrimination. Their worst experiences were crime and social problems, and the experiences they enjoyed the most were mainly sightseeing and social activities, as well as faring well socially. Most students had arrived in the country in search of education, and with realistic expectations. The academic lives of most students were satisfactory. However, most students did not wish to remain in South African after the completion of their studies. Thus, there was no brain gain in favour of South Africa.
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    Perception of menopause : black and white working-class women's experiences
    (1997) Orner, Phyllis; De la Rey, Cheryl
    This thesis aimed to address the ways in which class, race, culture, gender and power shape experiences of menopause by exploring the experiences of South African black and white working-class women. The main implications for theorization on menopause from this study are that (1) there is no single comprehensive model or perspective which alone adequately explains the meanings of menopause for women, and (2) that it is essential to understand the ways in which bodies (the "lived body") shape experiences of menopause when conceptualising theory, taking into account the specific historical and socioeconomic conditions in South Africa. Health policy recommendations in this thesis are aimed towards promotion of more equitable health care for older women, but also to help promote gender equity more generally.
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    The relational construction of woman abuse : narratives of gender, subjectivity and violence in South Africa
    (2005) Boonzaier, Floretta; De la Rey, Cheryl
    This study examined how women and men in intimate heterosexual relationships attribute meaning to the man's perpetration of violence against a woman partner. Narrative interviews were conducted with women and men who constituted 15 heterosexual couples (30 individual women and men). Narrative analytical methods, informed by feminist poststructuralism, revealed that participants located themselves within multiple and ambiguous gendered subject positions. In their talk about violence and relationships, women and men 'performed' gender and enacted diverse culturally available constructions of femininity and masculinity. The analysis also showed that participants' talk about violence was embedded in broader sociocultural mechanisms that construct woman abuse as a serious social problem in South Africa. Within-case and across-case narrative analytical methods revealed that couples' narratives were either constructed collaboratively or incongruently across partners. In collaborative narratives, couples' stories were congruent in terms of their content, structure and aims, for example, explaining the ending of the marriage. Incongruent narratives, on the other hand, were characterised by major disconnections in the content and function. It was concluded that, although presumptions about homogeneity prevail, greater sensitivity to heterogeneity amongst victims, perpetrators and couples is appropriate. This study provides insight into the dynamics of abusive relationships as well as a basis for suggestions about interventions for perpetrators and victims of woman abuse.
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    The call for relevance: South African psychology ten years after democracy
    (2004) De la Rey, Cheryl; Ipser, Jonathan
    A number of scholars during the 1980s and early 1990s questioned the relevance of psychology in South Africa. In this paper we characterise the nature of what became known as the ‘relevance debate’, and then investigate whether South African psychology has become more relevant during the nation's first ten years of democracy. Themes which are identified with respect to this issue include the apparent increasing representation of marginalised groups within South African psychology, the conscious responsiveness of psychologists to post-apartheid policy imperatives and issues, their alignment with international theoretical trends, and finally, an increasing recognition of the political nature of South African psychology. The authors conclude that a more productive approach within future debates regarding relevance in psychology would be to examine the nature of knowledge production within the discipline.
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    Truth commission testimony : relation to psychiatric status and forgiveness among South African survivors of human rights violations
    (2005) Kaminer, Debra; De la Rey, Cheryl
    The present study aimed to examine the degree to which giving TRC testimony is related to current psychiatric status and forgiveness attitudes among survivors of human rights abuses. A literature review examined the degree to which the TRC's claims are supported by the existing theoretical and empirical literature on trauma narratives and on forgiveness, and guided the way that psychological outcomes were assessed in the current study. Sunivors (n=134) who gave public, private or no testimony to the TRC completed standardised instruments measuring demographic variables, exposure to human rights abuses, current psychiatric status and forgiveness attitudes towards the perpetrator(s).
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    Women abuse : exploring women's narratives of violence and resistance in Mitchell's Plain
    (2001) Boonzaaier, Floretta; De la Rey, Cheryl
    Woman abuse is a pervasive social problem and there is a paucity of South African research exploring women's experiences of violence. This study focused on how women endure abusive relationships by examining how women construct and give meaning to their experiences, within a particular socio-cultural context. Interviews were conducted with 15 participants who volunteered participation in response to advertisements. All research participants resided in Mitchell's Plain or surrounding areas. In-depth, narrative interviews were used to investigate women's experiences of violence from their partners. The interview topics included women's daily concerns and problems, their experiences of and responses to their partners' violence, and their feelings toward their partners and staying in the relationships. The interviews lasted approximately one to two hours and were tape-recorded and transcribed. The interview data was analysed by utilising a narrative approach, taking the content of women's stories into account. A close attention to language and discourse also shaped the analysis of women's narratives. In their narratives, women named their experiences of violation and abuse, explored the impact of abuse, and discussed their help-seeking attempts. Women also constructed particular gendered identities for themselves and their partners. Hegemonic gendered identities were sometimes adopted or resisted and reflected contradictory subjective experiences. This study showed how women in abusive relationships utilised a variety of strategies to end the violence in their lives and challenged constructions of women as passive victims of abuse. The meanings women attached to their experiences of abuse were filtered through the particular socio-cultural context (characterised by poverty and deprivation) within which their experiences occurred. An important contribution of this study was the acknowledgement that change occurred as a result of the abuse. Women named their experiences of abuse, questioned a husband's violence against his wife, and made connections between their experiences and those of other women, thereby shifting toward a gendered consciousness.
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    Work-family interaction strain: coping strategies used by successful women in the public, corporate and self employed sectors of the economy
    (1999) Brink, Beatrix; De la Rey, Cheryl
    The main objective of this study was to identify the coping strategies used by successful women in dealing with work-family interaction strain. The study also investigated cognitive appraisal as a key antecedent of coping with a hypothetical description of a work-family interaction strain situation. A survey was conducted with a sample comprising 110 women in the public, corporate and self-employed sectors of the economy. All the participants were married with at least one child of pre school or school going age. The women worked in positions from middle- management and higher in corporate and public sector organizations or were business owners with at least four employees. Quantitative and qualitative data were obtained by means of a self-report questionnaire. Interaction strain was measured using the Home and Employment Role scale (HER scale), developed by Parry and Wart (1980). Cognitive appraisal and coping was measured from within the framework of the transactional approach, which defines coping in terms of the person-environment relationship and emphasises the dynamic and interactive nature of the stressful transaction. Cognitive appraisal was measured using the items devised by Folkman, Lazarus, Dunkel-Schetter, DeLongis and Gwen (1986) and coping was measured using, the Ways of Coping Questionnaire (WCQ), developed by Folkman and Lazarus (1988). Qualitative data was obtained via a request to the respondents asking them to describe what it was like to have work and family responsibilities. The main finding of the study showed that the participants in this project used both emotional and problem-focused coping strategies in dealing with the hypothetical work-family interaction strain situation. These strategies were positive reappraisal; planful problem solving; self-controlling; and seeking social support. Not one of these coping strategies, however, was significantly favoured above the others. The study did not find evidence of a relationship between the participants' cognitive appraisal of the hypothetical situation and their choice of coping strategy in dealing with this situation, except with regards to cognitive appraisal, control and the coping strategy, escape-avoidance; the higher the participant scored on cognitive appraisal, control, the less likely they were to choose escape-avoidance as a coping strategy in dealing with the situation. Overall, the results of the study showed that this sample of successful business women chose emotion-focused and problem-focused coping strategies in an integrated manner to deal with a hypothetical work-family situation.