Browsing by Subject "Family"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Distinctive nursing practices in working with mothers to care for hospitalised children at a district hospital in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: a descriptive observational study
    (2020-04-19) North, Natasha; Leonard, Angela; Bonaconsa, Candice; Duma, Thobeka; Coetzee, Minette
    Background The presence of family members and their active involvement in caring for hospitalised children is an established practice in many African paediatric settings, with family members often regarded as a resource. This aspect of African paediatric nursing practice lacks formal expression or a clear conceptual basis, and difficulties arise when applying concepts of family involvement originating from the culturally distinct practice environments of higher resourced settings including Europe and America. The aim of this study was to articulate a nurse-led practice innovation intended to facilitate family involvement in the care of hospitalised children, observed in a paediatric inpatient ward in a district hospital in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Methods A qualitative case study design was used. Data collection included visual research methods (graphic facilitation, sociograms and photo-elicitation) as well as a focus group, interviews and practice observation. Activities associated with 20 nurses and 22 mother-child dyads were observed. Data were subjected to content analysis, with Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research (SRQR) applied. Results Findings relate to six aspects of practice, categorised thematically as: preserving the mother-child pair; enabling continuous presence; psychological support and empathy; sharing knowledge; mothers as a resource; and belief and trust. Conclusion The nursing practices and organisational policies observed in this setting relating to the facilitation of continuous maternal presence represent a distinctive nursing practice innovation. This deliberate practice contrasts with models of care provision which originate in higher resourced settings including Europe and America, such as Family Centred Care, and contrasts with informal practices in local African settings which tolerate the presence of mothers in other settings, as well as local institutional policies which limit mothers’ presence to varying extents.
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    Exploring the role of family on the career development of Xhosa-speaking graduates
    (2021) Madyaka, Anela; Jaga, Ameeta
    This study explored the role of family on the career development of Xhosa-speaking graduates in South Africa. There are multiple environmental and individual influences on career development. However, this study focused specifically on family. The Xhosa culture, like other African cultures, endorses cultural values of deference and strong familial connections with extended family. Data from fourteen semi-structured in-depth interviews were analysed using thematic analysis. The key themes that emerged were (1) cultural beliefs, (2) social support and (3) the notion of black tax. The findings suggested that there is a strong relation between a family's cultural beliefs, family responsibilities and the perceived social support on graduate's career development. The understanding of ‘western' career aspirations with familial cultural expectations and support in forming a coherent self-concept could be considered a significant challenge in the career development of these Xhosa graduates. The findings supported the familial influences on graduates' career development and contributed new insights on how family influence is perceived and maintained from an intersectional perspective. The implications for career development in diverse contexts are offered.
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    Kinetic family drawings as indices of family functioning
    (1989) Betts, Jennifer; Faber, Phillip
    Kinetic Family Drawings (KFDs) are Projective drawings which require the drawer to give 'action' to the depicted figures. A number of studies have been conducted following its inception in 1970. (Burns & Kaufman, 1970; 1972). Upon examination of these studies, however, it is evident that those studies pertaining to aspects of family functioning obtained significant results to a greater degree. It was the contention of the present study, that the KFD may be measuring aspects of family functioning. The present study thus incorporated a measure of family functioning, the McMaster Family Assessment Device (FAD) (Epstein, Baldwin & Bishop, 1983), to assess whether KFD depictions were indices of family functioning. The results were obtained through KFDs of 96 individuals who constituted 24 families. These individuals consisted of (n=48) parents and (n=48) adolescents. Due to constraints of research design, there were unequal numbers of males and females i.e. 38 males and 58 females.
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    Meeting text-to-text: familial encounters of love, care, and transformation in autistic life writing
    (2026) Lee, Bianca Mercedes; Moosa, Hassana; Mohamed, Kharnita
    Historically, much of the literature on autism has been occupied by medical and psychoanalytic concerns, while the popular culture media tends to favour autistic stereotypes as the means of representation. The current autistic self-advocacy movement can be characterised by an increase in autistic life writing – mostly memoirs. This thesis analyses the nuances of love, care, and communication encounters between autistic people and their caregivers. This is conducted using three life writing texts centring on autism to provide alternative ways of approaching these interpersonal dynamics. It focuses on the co-authored memoir I Will Die On This Hill (2023) by Meghan Ashburn and Jules Edwards, the epistolary Sincerely, Your Autistic Child (2021) edited by Emily Paige Ballou, Sharon daVanport, and Morénike Giwa Onaiwu, and the memoir Children on the Bridge (2006) by Kirsten Miller. These life writing works utilise hybrid textual forms to convey the contradictions, transformations, and resolutions that arise from autistic and allistic love and care encounters. This hybridity subverts normative textual and communication forms, offering the potential to function as didactic tools for teaching and transforming current and future enactments of love, care, and family-making for autistic people. This research critiques the idealisation of the supermom trope to expose the anxiety that may occur due to the tension between idealised expectations of care and the lived experience of caring for autistic children. It then utilises love theories by Alice Walker and bell to transform the politicised family where acts of love become justice for autistic people. Lastly, the experiences of autistic people are analysed in terms of their hybrid textual and political forms to argue for autistic writing as a blueprint for alternative and adaptive love and care.
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    Sexual stereotyping and role transition in the family
    (1988) Alberts, Anne-Louise; Theron, Francois
    The family in Western society is increasingly perceived as threatened by a myriad of socio-cultural changes, and statistics suggest that family breakdown is cause for major concern to clinical practitioners working with families. This study attempts to examine the issue of female role transition within the family with a view to understanding the dynamics of conflict and breakdown which are generated by departure from the female role stereotype. A cross-disciplinary review of the literature has sought to place the discussion of case-study material within a broad psycho-social context. The emphasis throughout is on the interplay between the complex macro variables and the intra-psychic functioning of individual clients. Five case histories are used to identify the etiological and diagnostic features which interact within the family as a sub-system. Concluding discussion offers a psychodynamic interpretation of the case material.