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A framework for management of digital records on the cloud in the public sector of South Africa
No full textPurpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate a framework for management of digital records on the cloud in South Africa.
Design/methodology/approach – This qualitative case study used semi-structured interviews and document analysis to collect data from
regulatory documents, records practitioners and chief information officers in the national government departments in South Africa.
Findings – This study reveals that despite the advent of cloud computing, government is still struggling with manual paper-based records
challenges, as they have not developed a government-owned cloud in which to manage and dispose records.
Practical implications – Technological advancements have brought about dramatic changes to the management and disposition of records since
cloud computing emerged. The traction gained by cloud computing influences how records are managed and disposed in the cloud storage.
Currently, the South African Government manages and disposes records in the government premises as stipulated by the National Archives and
Records Service of South Africa Act (1996). This is enforced by the National Archives and Records Service of South Africa, which is the government
records regulator because records are on paper-based, microfilms and audio-visual formats. It is hoped that the recommendations and framework
proposed in this study may assist the government and related sectors in the adoption and implementation of the cloud computing system for records
management and disposal. This may assist in resolving challenges such as missing files, damaged records and archives and long turnaround time for
retrieval of records.
Social implications – In South Africa, the digital records are securely stored in storage mediums such as hard drives and USBs, to mention but a
few. In addition to digital obsolescence faced by the storage mediums, global access to information is hindered because information is limited to
those who can visit the archival holdings. The alternative option is to manage and dispose of records in the cloud. The framework and
recommendations in this study may also assist in improving information, archives and records management policies and service delivery to the
community at large. The framework proposed may be applied as a theory for framing future studies in the same area of cloud computing and used
as a resource to guide other future studies and policymakers.
Originality/value – This study provides a framework for management of digital records on the cloud in South Africa. It also proposes the
promulgation of the Cloud Act to promote unlimited access to state heritage, regardless of time and location. This study is framed on the Digital
Curation Centre Life Cycle Model.Information Scienc
Death in abundance versus life in abundance in the context of COVID-19 and poverty : a practical theological reflection on the much-needed pastoral accompaniment of the grieving families through the various stages of grief
No full textPhilosophy, Practical and Systematic Theolog
Grade 9 mathematics teachers’ strategies to address mathematical proficiency in their teaching of linear equations : a case of selected schools in Gauteng North District
No full textThe purpose of this research was to look into Grade 9 mathematics teachers’ strategies to address mathematical proficiency in their teaching of linear equations. The study was intrigued by the performance of learners in the TIMSS study, and my personal experience as a mathematics teacher, departmental head, Senior Education Specialist for mathematics, and provincial moderator. Grade 9 mathematics teachers were purposively chosen for the study’s main subjects. A qualitative method, and case study strategy were used for this research. Videos of lessons conducted by the teachers were viewed to collect data, and interviews were conducted through Microsoft Teams as a follow-up to the lessons. The reason for conducting the research remotely was due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic; therefore, researchers were not allowed to visit the schools.
The research was conducted in Gauteng North District involving three schools, of which one school was for piloting purposes. Three Grade 9 mathematics teachers were observed on videos; one out of the three was for piloting purposes, and interviews were conducted based on their lessons. The data acquired for this study were analysed using thematic analysis. The study contributes towards a better understanding of teachers’ strategies to address learners’ mathematical proficiency. Also, some strategies are suggested on how to improve learners’ mathematical proficiency.
The research was inspired by Kilpatrick (2001) mathematical proficiency strands which comprise conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, strategic planning, adaptive reasoning, and productive disposition. The conceptual framework and the instruments used were derived from the above-mentioned strands. Each strand consisted of a criterion to use when data were collected.
The analysis shows that teachers were focusing mostly on strategies that addressed learners’ procedural fluency when teaching linear equations. The study further shows that lessons were teacher centred. Teachers were providing learners with methods to solve linear equations instead of allowing them to come up with their own initiatives. Thus, the study recommends that teachers should refrain from centralising the lesson around themselves, refresher training on mathematical proficiency to be conducted, enough time to be allocated for the concepts like linear equations to allow exploration of different methods and representations so that all the mathematical proficiency strands can be addressed.M. Ed. (Mathematics Education)Mathematics Educatio
Lifting the veil on ‘a good jam’: describing the coordination dynamics of an acoustic jazz trio
Get PDFAs a professional bass player and teacher I have experienced various instances of musicians interacting with one another in a group setting. These interactions varied from school ensembles,
music students at a tertiary level, to professional musicians. Through my own teaching and playing career, I have noticed that certain groups of musicians are better than others at communicating their ideas and to coordinate as a group during a musical performance.
Meadows(2008, 2) explains that a system is "a set of things – people, cells, molecules, or whatever – interconnected in such a way that they produce their own pattern over time" while Kelso (2009,
1539) states that coordination dynamics aims to identify and describe the nature of coordination within a part of a system. With these statements in mind, Bishop (2018, 4) argues that a musical
ensemble can be regarded as a system in which the individual musicians, their instruments, the audience, and the performance space, are components that are interacting as a system.
There is an apparent gap in the literature as authoritative texts on improvisation and coordination within the jazz rhythm section such as Saying Something by Ingrid Monson (1996) and Thinking in Jazz by Paul Berliner (1994) mainly focus on musicians in the United States.
This study examines the interaction and coordination of a South African jazz trio during a musical performance to address the apparent shortfall in the literature in a South African context. This lack of depth in the literature leads to the research question: What are the main methods of
communication and coordination within the Charl du Plessis Trio during a performance?
A summary of the history and circumstances that led to the formation of the jazz piano trio as a group format is included in this study. It highlights the work of prominent trios and compares them to the work of the trio led by Charl du Plessis, examining the ways that his trio performs traditional jazz works and how their interaction and coordination methods differ from traditional jazz performance conventions.
I undertook to describe the main communication and coordination dynamics to determine whether a jazz group in the South African context functions similarly to their American counterparts. This dissertation aims to contribute to the scholarly literature about the lived experience of musicians in such a trio.
The Charl du Plessis Trio, of which I am a member, was chosen as a sample group, considering its critical acclaim (see Section 2.2.4 Charl du Plessis sample group), its South African context, and its history of actively performing as a jazz trio between 2006 and 2021. This history is in contrast with the ad hoc zero history of groups studied by Bastien and Hostager (1988) in a jazz context.
This study describes the differences and similarities in each musician’s viewpoint or experience in the trio, specifically examining the work of the Charl du Plessis Trio, drawing on the work by Kelso (2003, 45) on how patterns of coordinated behaviour emerge from each member’s musical contributions over time.
Due to the small sample group, the research design of this study consists mainly of structured interviews with the participants using the Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis framework.
The participants’ interviews were transcribed and analysed to identify which of the Wittenbaum et al. (2002, 178–80) coordination methods (pre-plans, tacit pre-coordination, in-process planning, or in-process tacit coordination) were most relevant for describing the coordination between participants during a performance.
This study finds that in-process tacit coordination (members making mutual strategy adjustments tacitly while working to fit the observed behaviour of others) is the most common method of coordination during a performance within the sample group.
Other methods of coordination that were also found to contribute to the group's performance were pre-plans (members making explicit their planned actions), tacit pre-coordination (where members make assumptions about what is expected of them), and in-process planning (where members define their roles explicitly communicating their planned strategy).M. Mus. (Musicology)Art and Musi
A psychobiographical study of the life story of Ellen Pakkies
No full textEllen Pakkies’ memoir highlights numerous psychosocial issues, such as child abuse, gender based violence, sexual abuse, child neglect and, in particular, the aftermath of substance abuse.
The overarching aim of this study was to describe and interpret the unique and complex
development process of Ellen Pakkies across her lifespan and to understand her traumatic life
experiences and that as a caregiver of a methamphetamine addict, as well as the resilient
outcome of her ordeal. Ellen’s development over her lifespan and the resilient outcome
displayed was primarily guided by Kümpfer’s (2002) transactional resilience model and
supplemented by Baltes’ (1987) lifespan development perspective theory. This was a single case, qualitative psychobiographical study of the life of Ellen Pakkies. Ellen was chosen as the
research subject of this psychobiographical study due to the uniqueness and complexity of her
life story. Life history material in the form of the book Dealing in Death, radio interviews,
speeches, and court transcripts aided in creating a biographical sketch of Ellen’s life. This study
suggests that a single factor cannot be ascribed to the tragic occurrence of Ellen strangling her
son to death. It is rather the amalgamation of traumatic experiences and prolonged abuse that
Ellen was subjected to from childhood to adulthood that contributed to her reaching her limit.M.A. (Psychology)Psycholog
Word order and word order change in Northern Sotho
No full textText in Afrikaans, abstracts in Afrikaans and EnglishIn hierdie proefskrif is n aantal volgordeverskynsels in
Noord- Sotho geidentifiseer wat sinchronies as problematies
waardeer kan word.
Hierdie verskynsels word teen die agtergrond van die teorie
van taaltipologie en tipologiese verandering betrag, en raak
volgordeverskynsels op drie vlakke in die taal naamlik
(a) die sin : Hier gaan dit primer om die volgorde waarin
die subjek (S) , die objek (0) en die werkwoord (V)
in Noord- Sothosinne optree , sowel as die sintaksis
van vraagwoorde en vraagpartikels;
(b) die woordgroep : Die objek van die ondersoek is hier
die sintaktiese posisies wat naamwoordelike bepalers
ten opsigte van hulle naamwoordelike antesedente inneem,
en die voorkoms van partikels/voorsetsels;
(c) die woord : Hier geniet die morfologiese afleidingsisteem
in Noord-Sotho die aandag, en word daar besin
oor die historiese verband tussen die ontstaan van
pre- en suffikse in die taal.
Daar word beweer dat Noord-Sotho tipologies van dominant SOV
na dominant SVO verander het. Hierdie taaltipologiese veranderingsproses
het sekere veranderings op sinsvlak, en
binne woorde en woordgroepe tot gevolg gehad, omrede tale
neig om tipologies konstant te bly.
Naamwoordelike bepalers ontwikkel vanaf die tipiese OVstrategie
Bepaler:Naamwoord na Naamwoord:Bepaler wat kenmerkend
van VO-tale is. Dit beteken dat tipiese OV-volgordes
binne die woordgroep soos Relatief:Naamwoord, Genitief:Naamwoord,
Kwantitatief:Naamwoord,ensovoorts ontwikkel tot tipiese
VO- volgordes naamlik Naamwoord:Relatief, Naamwoord:Genitief,
Naamwoord:Kwantitatief, ensovoorts.
Preposisies (prefikse en voorsetsels /~artikels) ontwikkel ten
koste van postposisies (suffikse): Naamwoord- en werkwoordagtervoegsels
het ontwikkel op n tydstip toe die dominante
volgorde in Bantoe OV was. Hierteenoor ontwikkel werkwoord en
naamwoordprefikse asook partikels/voorsetsels uit die
huidige VO-volgordestrategiee in Noord-Sotho.
Vraagwoorde en vraagpartikels verskuif posisioneel na die
inisiele sinsposisie wat tipies van VO-tale is.
Pronominalisasie deur voorwerpskakels, wat n kenmerkende
OV- strategie verteenwoordig, verswak ten gunste van n
tipiese VO-strategie waarin objekspronomina soos ' die
absolute voornaamwoorde ' , demonstratiewe, kwantitatiewe,
ensovoorts, post-verbaal optree.
Ten slotte word gesuggereer dat sekere diskoers-pragmatiese
strukture in Noord-Sotho tot neutrale sintaktiese strukture
ontwikkel.In this thesis certain word order strategies in Northern
Sotho which can be regarded as inconsistent are examined
against the background of language typology and typological
change.
These strategies concern syntactic order at the level of
(a) the sentence : The attention is focused on t he
syntactic order in which the subject (S) , the object
(0) and the verb (V) occur in Northern Sotho sentences,
as well as the syntactic order prevailing in
interrogative clauses;
(b) the word group : The objective of the investigation
concerns the syntactic order between nouns and
modifiers of the noun and the occurrence of pre positions/particles ;
(c) the word : Here the interest lies in the development
of prefixes in opposition to suffixes.
It is argued that Northern Sotho has been subject to a
typological change regarding word order from dominant SOV
to dominant SVO . As a result of this syntactic change in
dominant word order, certain changes in the sentence , word
groups and words occur in order to keep the language typologically consistent :
Modifiers of the noun are being reinterpreted from the
typically OV strategy Modifier: Noun to Noun: Modifier; the
latter being the order in dominant VO languages . Subsequently typical OV strategies at the level of the word
group such as Relative :Noun, Genitive : Noun, Quantitative :Noun
etcetera develop towards typical VO strategies viz. Noun :
Relative, Noun : Genitive, Noun :Quantitative, etcetera .
Prepositions (prefixes and particles) develop instead of
postpositions (suffixes): Suffixes to the verbal word and
the noun originated when the dominant word order in Bantu
was OV . To the contrary, prefixes of the verbal word and
the noun as well as particles are representative of the
current VO strategy in Northern Sotho.
Interrogative words and interrogative particles tend to move
to clause initial position, the latter being typical of VO languages .
Object pronouns , which are bound to the verbal word as prefixes,
reflecting a typical SOV strategy, are being replaced
by post verbal object pronomina such as the so-called absolute,
demonstrative and quantitative pronouns.
Finally it is suggested that certain discourse- pragmatic
structures are gradually reinterpreted as neutral syntactic
structures.D. Litt. et Phil. (African Languages)African Language
The political life of Jacob Daniel Du Plessis ‘Japie’ Basson 1937–1989
No full textThis study of the working career of Jacob Daniel Du Plessis Basson (1918 - 2012), a South African politician, covers the years from when he started to work in politics in 1937 until 1989, when he finally retired from full time work in the political field. It traces influences from his early home life as a boy growing up in the town of Paarl in the Boland, processed in his political career, which started out with his involvement in student politics at the University of Stellenbosch where he was instrumental in forming the student branch of the United Party in 1937. His entry into politics at the University of Stellenbosch coincided with the debates around Fusion, when Afrikaners had to decide between the policies of Dr D. F. Malan and Dr J. B. M. Hertzog, and on South Africa’s future relations with Britain. The study also looks at Basson’s views on republicanism and other significant ideologies such as federalism. Preoccupations such as these, manifested themselves in regional and generational tensions, in Afrikanerdom as well as a broader South Africa, and with the sectionalist policies of the National Party government inaugurated in 1948. Further areas of contestation were between Afrikaners and English-speaking South Africans around issues such as the establishment of a republic in 1961, and federation as an alternative model of politics to the Westminster style/model. Left out of the constitutional landscape were black South Africans, whose strong political aspirations Basson was sensitive to, but he firmly believed that gradual and effective change could only be initiated from within party structures. Basson’s clashes with the National Party over the constitutional position of coloured people and black people’s representation in the 1950s are highlighted as an indication of the internecine struggles within white politics at the time. Basson was directly involved in these deliberations, always aware of these tensions, such as in the Progressive Federal Party, which he co-founded in 1978, over the establishment of the President’s Council in 1980 to direct the transition of white politics to a new political and constitutional dispensation for South Africa. By emphasizing these complexities, this thesis attempts to contribute to an understanding of South Africa’s turbulent political past and Basson’s role in it. It draws upon the memoirs he wrote from when he retired until his death and on primary material from archives in South Africa, as well as Basson’s personal papers.Ph. D (History)Histor
An investigation into stock capacity utilization of a manufacturing line at a catalyst manufacturer
No full textBottlenecks in a manufacturing line are the fundamental reason that obstructs productivity.Accurately and effectively recognizing bottleneck areas, can improve the use of limitedassembling resources, increment the framework throughput, and limit the complete expenseof production. This article focuses on improving the throughput of a manufacturing line in anautomotive component supplier plant. The project aims to develop a solution to increase thecapacity of the production system by following an adapted design thinking method to approachthe problem. The first step in the process is to Underline (Emphasize), followed by Define,Research, Analyse, Ideate, and Conclude with Testing and Verification. Tools used in thisproject are Process mapping, Genchi Gembutsu, Time studies, Ishikawa diagrams (Root causeanalysis), and five why analysis. Insight was gained in the Emphasize phase using Gemba walksand observation.Mechanical and Industrial Engineerin
The influence of business incubator mentorship strategies on building sustainable, successful and ethical small businesses
No full textSummaries in Afrikaans, English and ZuluThis study sought to understand the influence of various business incubator
mentorship strategies on creating sustainable, successful, and ethical SMMEs. The
study was conducted within business incubators in the eThekwini metropolitan region.
Mentorship forms a vital part of the business incubation process, serving to make a
positive impact on the success, sustainability, and ethical business practices of
SMMEs. Despite the efforts made by business incubators, the failure rate of SMMEs
remains very high, hence the need for this manner of exploratory study. The study was
qualitative in nature and made use of semi-structured face-to-face interviews with
mentees within a business incubator setting, management of business incubators, and
government officials to gain deep insight about their lived experiences of business
incubator mentorship. The information gathered from the interviews was analysed
through thematic analysis using Atlas.ti software.
In the main, the study revealed inconsistencies and challenges in the implementation
of mentorship strategies in business incubators. There is a need for mentorship to be
customised, based on the specific needs of certain categories such as women, youth,
and rural entrepreneurs, therefore, entrepreneurs do not prefer a “one-size-fits-all”
approach. There is greater need for the alignment of mentorship programmes to the
needs of the entrepreneurs. In addition, participants believed that programmes ought
to be structured and relevant and should offer a formal and informal (practical)
component, so as to ensure balance. There is a great need for a suitable mentor
reward system linked to mentee performance, to ensure that mentors remain
committed, and that they remain in mentorship programmes for longer. More
commitment is required from both mentees and mentors. Accessibility to business
incubators was cited as a challenge. A conceptual framework illustrating the
interconnectedness between the different variables is illustrated in chapter 5. There
are some key recommendations for various stakeholders involved in business
mentorship and if applied correctly, it could greatly assist in dealing with some of the
challenges and ultimately contribute to lowering the failure rate of SMMEs.Hierdie studie probeer om die invloed van verskillende inkubator mentorskapstrategieë in die sakewêreld te verstaan ten einde volhoubare, suksesvolle
en etiese KMMO’s te vestig. Die studie is onderneem in sake-inkubators in die
eThekwini- metropolitaanse streek. Mentorskap maak ’n belangrike deel uit van die
sake-inkubasieproses, wat bydra om ’n positiewe impak op die sukses,
volhoubaarheid en etiese sakepraktyke van KMMO’s te hê. Ondanks pogings deur
sake-inkubators bly die mislukkingskoers van KMMO’s baie hoog; daarom bestaan
die behoefte aan hierdie soort verkennende studie. Die studie was kwalitatief van aard
en het gebruik gemaak van semigestruktureerde onderhoude van aangesig tot
aangesig met mentees in ’n sake-inkubator-omgewing, bestuur van sake-inkubators,
en staatsdiensamptenare om insig te verwerf in hul geleefde ervarings van sake inkubatormentorskap. Die inligting wat uit die onderhoude ingesamel is, is tematies
ontleed deur gebruikmaking van Atlas.ti-sagteware.
Die studie het oor die algemeen inkonsekwenthede en uitdagings in die
implementering van mentorskapstrategieë in sake-inkubators blootgelê. Die behoefte
bestaan dat mentorskap doelgemaak moet word op grond van die spesifieke
behoeftes van sekere kategorieë soos vroue, die jeug, en landelike entrepreneurs.
Gevolglik verkies entrepreneurs nie ’n “een-grootte-pas-almal”-benadering nie. Daar
is ’n groter behoefte aan die instelling van mentorskapprogramme volgens die
entrepreneurs se behoeftes. Daarbenewens glo deelnemers dat programme
gestruktureer moet word en relevant moet wees, en ’n formele en informele (praktiese)
komponent moet bied om balans te verseker. Daar bestaan ’n groot behoefte aan ’n
geskikte mentorbeloningstelsel wat aan mentee-werkverrigting gekoppel is, om te
verseker dat mentors toegewyd bly, en dat hulle langer by mentorskapprogramme
betrokke bly. Groter toewyding word van sowel mentees as mentors vereis.
Toeganklikheid tot sake-inkubators word as ’n uitdaging beskou. ’n Konseptuele
raamwerk wat die onderlinge verband tussen die verskillende veranderlikes illustreer,
word in hoofstuk 5 gegee. Daar is enkele kernaanbevelings vir verskillende
belanghebbendes wat by sakementorskap betrokke is en, indien dit korrek toegepas
word, kan dit grootliks bydra tot die hantering van sommige uitdagings en uiteindelik
die mislukkingskoers van KMMO’s help verlaag.Lolu cwaningo lufune ukuqonda umthelela wamasu okwelulekwa ahlukene
wokufukanyelwa kwebhizinisi ekudaleni ama-SMME esimeme, aphumelelayo,
nanesimilo. Ucwaningo lwenziwe ngaphakathi kokufukanyelwa kwamabhizinisi
esifundeni seTheku. Umthelela nezeluleko ezinikwa ngumeluleki ziyingxenye
ebalulekile yenqubo yokufukanyelwa kwebhizinisi, usiza ukwenza umthelela omuhle
empumelelweni, ekusimameni, nasezinkambisweni zebhizinisi elinesimilo zama SMME. Naphezu kwemizamo eyenziwa ngokufukanyelwa kwebhizinisi, izinga
lokuhluleka kwama-SMME lisalokhu liphezulu kakhulu, yingakho kunesidingo salolu
hlobo locwaningo lokuhlola. Lolu cwaningo belusezingeni eliphezulu ngokwendalo
futhi lwasebenzisa izingxoxo zobuso nobuso ezingahlelekile nezenziwe endaweni
yokwelulekwa kokufukanyelwa kwebhizinisi, ukuphathwa kokufukanyelwa
kwebhizinisi, kanye nezikhulu zikahulumeni ukuze zithole ukuqonda okujulile
mayelana nempilo yazo ekwelulekweni kokufukanyelwa kwebhizinisi. Ulwazi
oluqoqwe ezingxoxweni lwahlaziywa ngendlela yokuhlaziya imininingwane esizingeni
eliphezulu kusetshenziswa uhlelo lwekhompyutha i-Atlas.ti.
Ngokuyinhloko, ucwaningo luveze ukungahambisani nezinselelo ekusetshenzisweni
kwamasu okwelulekwa ekufukanyelweni kwebhizinisi. Kunesidingo sokuthi
ukwelulekwa kwenziwe ngendlela efanele, kuncike ezidingweni ezithile zezigaba
ezithile njengabesifazane, intsha, nosomabhizinisi basemakhaya, ngakho-ke,
osomabhizinisi abakhethi indlela “yokulingana konke”. Kunesidingo esikhulu
sokuhambisana kwezinhlelo zokwelulekwa ngokwezidingo zosomabhizinisi.
Ukwengeza, ababambiqhaza babekholelwa ukuthi izinhlelo kufanele zakhiwe futhi
zifaneleke futhi kufanele zinikeze ingxenye esemthethweni nengakahleleki
(esebenzayo), ukuze kuqinisekiswe ukulingana. Kunesidingo esikhulu sohlelo olufanele lokuklomelisa umeluleki oluxhumene
nokusebenza kwabaqeqeshi, ukuze kuqinisekiswe ukuthi abeluleki bahlala bezinikele,
nokuthi bahlala ezinhlelweni zokweluleka isikhathi eside. Ukuzinikela okwengeziwe
kuyadingeka kubo bobabili abeluleki nabalulekwayo. Ukufinyeleleka kokufukanyelwa
kwebhizinisi kuchazwe njengenselele. Uhlaka lomqondo olukhombisa ukuxhumana phakathi kwezinhlobonhlobo ezahlukene luyakhonjiswa esahlukweni 5.
Kuneziphakamiso ezithile ezibalulekile kubabambiqhaza abahlukene ababambe
iqhaza ekuqeqesheni ibhizinisi futhi uma zisetshenziswa ngendlela efanele, zingasiza
kakhulu ekubhekaneni nezinye zezinselele futhi ekugcineni zibe negalelo ekwehliseni
izinga lokwehluleka kwama-SMMEsDoctor of Business Leadership (DBL)Business Leadershi
The experiences of social workers working in multi-disciplinary teams in state hospitals in the Waterberg District, Limpopo Province
Get PDFFollowing South Africa’s independence in 1994, the number of hospital social work posts in
state hospitals were substantially increased. Subsequently, unprecedented contextual
changes have affected hospital services, including hospital social workers. This study
focused on the experiences, challenges and coping strategies of social workers working in
multi- disciplinary teams in state hospitals in the Waterberg District, Limpopo Province,
amidst these changes.
A qualitative approach using a phenomenological research design, augmented by
exploratory, descriptive and contextual research designs was used. The purposive sample of
ten social workers based in eight state hospitals in the Waterberg District were interviewed
using semi-structured interviews facilitated by an interview guide. The analysis of the data
was achieved using Tesch’s eight steps in coding (1992:117). The bioecological systems
approach (Bronfenbrenner 2005) and the Life Model theory (Gitterman & Germain 2008)
were combined to frame the study. The data collected were supported by a virtual online
discussion forum. Guba and Lincoln’s (1981) concept of trustworthiness: principles of
credibility, transferability, dependability and neutrality were used to verify the data. Ethical
principles of informed consent, confidentiality and anonymity, beneficence and careful
management of data upheld the ethical integrity of study and the safety of research
participants.M.A. (Social Work)Social Wor