http://hdl.handle.net/10386/41 2026-04-17T10:56:48Z http://hdl.handle.net/10386/5368 A narrative study on continuing bonds with deceased parents : a sample of University of Limpopo students, South Africa Molepo, Matome Calvonia Continuing bonds (CBs) after bereavement have been the subject of contemporary research interest. Unlike previously understood, maintaining bonds with deceased relatives has been shown to have some adaptive value. CBs have been investigated mainly within the general bereaved population, especially among bereaved spouses. However, comparative studies are lacking with parentally bereaved university students. The present study sought to fill this gap by exploring student narratives on the nature and role of CBs after the loss of a parent. A qualitative methodology was adopted using a narrative inquiry to capture the nuances of loss and CBs among the student population. Eleven (n = 11) participants were recruited and interviewed using the biographical interview strategy. Narrative thematic analysis was used to analyse the data wherein various facets of CBs were identified. The identified CBs were particularly magnified in times of distress or when the students were experiencing life challenges. The students reasoned CBs as comforting strategies that also improved their post-bereavement coping. The present study adds another dimension to CBs research and highlights the important role of CBs in the wake of bereavement. The outcomes of the study carry multiple implications for future research on continuing bonds (CBs) and for interventions regarding bereavement within the context of student population. Thesis (M.A. (Clinical Psychology)) -- University of Limpopo, 2025 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10386/5351 The role of an attachment style in COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among high school learners in the Johannesburg East Region of the Gauteng Province Maluka, Antonette Caron The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between attachment styles and COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among high school learners in the Johannesburg East region. Its aim was to understand how attachment styles affect health-related decision-making. A quantitative cross-sectional survey design was employed, utilising a sample of 303 participants. The study used established measures such as the Experiences in Close Relationships Scale—Revised Child Bried Version (ECR-RC Brief Version) to assess attachment styles; and self-constructed vaccination items to evaluate participants' attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccination. Data were analysed using logistic regression to explore the correlations between attachment styles as well as gender and age, and vaccine hesitancy. The results indicated that none of the independent variables reached statistical significance in their relationship vaccine hesitancy. Although students with anxious attachment styles exhibited tendencies towards higher vaccine hesitancy, and those with secure attachment styles demonstrated a greater willingness to vaccinate, these differences did not reach statistical significance. These findings suggest that while psychological factors like attachment styles may be relevant, they may not be the primary determinants of vaccine hesitancy among adolescents. Thesis (M.A. (Clinical Psychology)) -- University of Limpopo, 2025 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10386/5346 Nexus of indigenous knowledge systems and disability management : a case of Murombedzi Communal Area in Zvimba District in Mashonaland West Province, Zimbabwe Mukushi, Adam Tafadzwa Social work methods were adopted from Western countries and have not been fully indigenised to suit African cultures. People with disabilities are among some of the clients of social work. Persons with disabilities and their families become short-changed when social workers do not realise some of the key aspects that affect their day-to-day life. Other service professions such as social and care departments like Department of rehabilitation and Department of social development strongly coordinate at a professional level, leaving out some issues rooted in culture, traditions, and beliefs. This study sought to explore and describe the relationship between indigenous knowledge systems and the management of disabilities in the Murombedzi communal area of Zvimba district in Zimbabwe. The aim of the study was achieved through the following objectives: to appraise knowledge and belief systems on the causes of disabilities and how they shape care, coping mechanisms, and service-seeking behaviour of people with disabilities and their families; to assess traditional/alternative ways of managing disability in Zimbabwe – it was found that traditional methods of managing disabilities do exist; to establish how traditional practices and beliefs contribute to the resilience of people with disabilities and their circles of care; and to propose a hybrid model that takes into consideration contemporary as well as traditional practices and beliefs in disability management in Zimbabwe. The study was conducted after observing limited adherence to contemporary disability management programmes due to many reasons, including inaccessibility due to service and access costs, the belief that some disabilities are best dealt with using traditional methods, and limited sensitivity to cultural and spiritual issues by contemporary service providers despite a clear central role in African people. The study adopted an Afrocentric research methodology since it was about African people and their indigenous knowledge system. It was a qualitative study that allowed the voices of participants to come out and to understand in-depth traditional methods used in identifying, assessing, and managing disabilities, which all form disability management processes. The study was a case study. Descriptive case studies are in-depth studies of a certain situation, and in this case, the understanding and management of disability by indigenous Zimbabwean people. Case studies allow the research of complex situations to gain a full understanding of phenomena (Zainal, 2007). As disability management is complex, from identifying what disability is and coming up with a strategy to manage it, the researcher chose a case study design for the study. This allowed the researcher to systematically narrow down wide-ranging topics of disability to one researchable aspect of Zimbabwean aboriginal’s understanding of disability. Triangulation was used to sample participants. Three sampling techniques, that is, purposive, snowballing, and convenience, were adopted. In-depth Interviews were used to collect data from people with disabilities, traditional leaders, and healers; family interviews were conducted with families of persons with disabilities with communication challenges and mental illnesses. This was because the researcher was not able to communicate effectively with them. Lastly, focus group discussions were conducted with community leaders and people with disabilities to enable those who were not comfortable with talking about sensitive issues in individual interviews to openly speak feeling safe amongst others like them. Having an abnormality or malfunctioning body part was understood to be a disability. Disability was mainly linked to body parts as compared to contemporary definitions which suggest disability in terms of activity limitation. People with disabilities were, therefore. found to be people with problems; hence disability management processes focused on solving the problem as compared to eliminating barriers. Disability causes were highly linked with spiritual factors. Spiritual factors that were reported include witchcraft, backfiring juju or sacrificing family members for their success, violating taboos, avenging spirits, ancestral spirits, kutanda botso, love portions, and mombe yehumai. Other non-spiritual factors were reported, including aspects like stress, accidents, drug abuse, genetic factors, and malnutrition. Disability management strategies were highly linked with the believed cause of disability. Where disability is believed to have been caused by spiritual forces, then the interventions will also be spiritual in nature. Some of the reported interventions include the use of herbs, animals, animal, and birds’ products, rituals, kurasirira/kurasira (exorcism), kudzura or kuruma (where hands or teeth are used to extract the poison or dangerous items in one`s body) and kurutsisa (making someone vomit the evil stuff they have been fed). Resilience of persons with disabilities and their families was reported to come from idioms and proverbs, family, and community solidarity, ubuntu, and a general belief that disability is a sign that one is half human and half spiritual; hence the challenges faced by people with disabilities will be rewarded by God or Vadzimu (ancestors) later. The study recommends the involvement of family, extended family, and the community in disability management process, recognition of traditional leaders as key stakeholders in disability management, the upholding of the role of Ubuntu in social work practice, recognition of African spirituality in social work education and practice, and the strengthening of community-based disability management services Thesis (Ph. D. (Social Work)) -- University of Limpopo, 2024 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10386/5250 Framing femicide : critical discourse analysis of the Sunday Times and Sowetan print media newspapers Mphahlele, Kgothatso Shaun Introduction – Framing Femicide is an intervention through the convergence of politics and the media. This study set out to critically analyse how print media ‘frames’ femicide as a social phenomenon by placing at the centre of critique, politically influenced factors such as language and ownership of the media as the “fourth estate” and exploring how these two factors factor in how the framing of the death (read as femicide) of black womxn is undertaken in selected newspaper houses in South Africa. This study used Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and agenda setting theory both independently and simultaneously, as theoretical underpinnings. The study explored how language, central to doing critical inquiries, was employed by print media to frame femicide. Methodology - The study adopted a Qualitative Research outlook deemed “particularly good at examining and developing theories that deal with the role of meanings and interpretations” to conduct what Saidiya Hartman calls “a mode of close narration” by analyzing newspapers as documents. The study sampled the work of Fairclough (1992, 2012, 2013), Wodak (2014), and van Dijk (2015) to craft ways through which CDA can employed as part of a critical social analysis to interrogate the framing and representing femicide in selected print media houses. Motivation - The rationale of the study lay in the fact of numbers, which ranked South Africa among the highest nation states where femicide prevails. Scholarship reveals that a woman is murdered every 4 (four) hours, and 57 1% of those murders are done by intimate partners. Owing to this, South Africa’s femicide rate is arguably 5 times higher than the global rate. This warrants an interrogation on how the “fourth estate” as a critical tool in a society is a constituent element which reflects the social realities and power dynamics when framing femicide. Results – The study found that journalists in their framing of femicide conflate terms that relate to generalized gender-based violence which all-inclusive terms, which by default are not limited to women and specifically to violence against women. Recommendations – The study recommends that writers, authors, and journalists engaged in news production for print media take caution of the implications of writing about social phenomena and not conflating common terms deployed in framing particular discourses. Thesis (M. A. (Political Science)) -- University of Limpopo, 2025 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z