1,720,962 research outputs found
The therapeutic use of movies with gay men in a group context
Full text linkMovies or films may be integrated into psychosocial interventions as springboards for conversation to enhance therapeutic gains. Therapeutic and inspirational engagements with movie texts, as opposed to viewing for entertainment, provide narratives that describe, interrogate and revise unique histories and culturally-mediated subjectivities. To examine narrative outcomes of the application of this strategy, a study was conducted with self-identified gay men in a group context. A postmodern paradigm with philosophical correlates from literary and critical perspectives framed the research approach. A hermeneutic method of investigation involving a reading guide extracted themes that emerged from the therapeutic conversations about connections to pre-selected movies. The first theme, a developmental lens, offered narratives of social isolation, intimacy, coming out and identity turmoil. The second theme, a local community lens, offered narratives of social hostility, religious values and monetary forces. The impact of integrating movies into therapy was evaluated within these narratives. A qualitative and self-reflexive approach enabled the creation of a postmodern research product, including the representation of the theme of community meanings in a modified screenplay format as a negotiation between creative and traditional writing practices. The use of movies in this study offered distinctive narrative findings about the sexuality of the participants, although their engagement with movies implied that conditions for useful therapeutic conversation depend upon psychological viewing characteristics.Dr. Alban Burk
Representation of male infertility in newspaper reports
Full text linkAbstract: Infertility is a global issue. It is defined by the World Health Organization as the inability for sexually active couple who are not on contraceptives to achieve pregnancy over a period of a year. Infertility affects both men and women and has been found to result in feelings of anger, shock, denial, frustration, loss of control, isolation, guilt, lowered self-worth, and poor life quality. Although infertility affects men and women, it has throughout history been viewed as a woman’s problem. The media is frequently identified as being the central platform in the production and reproduction of rules of masculinity. The media shape the social representations in public spaces. Newspapers provide insight into community discussions and debates. Male infertility forms part of these discussions and debates. Traditionally for men, the ability to have children is associated with masculinity more than the role of being a father. This study used thematic analysis that was informed by procedures from grounded theory to explore the representations of male infertility in South African news reports. In the 43 news reports that were analysed, three global themes were identified. The first global theme was Risks and it was divided into two subthemes, environment and lifestyle. The second global theme was Stigma. The third global theme was Remedies and it was divided into two subthemes, supplements and biotechnology. The themes identified are important in adding to the literature on the psychosocial aspects of male infertility.M.A. (Psychology
Microaggressions against South African gay Indian men
Full text linkM.A. (Counselling Psychology)Abstract: Against oppressive heteronormative community and cultural norms, as well as conservatism and religious influences, South African gay men of Indian descent experience discrimination that has become less direct in the form of everyday homonegative verbal and nonverbal slights and insults known as microaggressions. Such sexual orientation discrimination is interpersonal, but also structural. The harm can be unintentional. Microaggressions have the effect of psychological harm, shame and invalidation of sexual orientation and gender performativity. This qualitative collective case study focussed on the microaggression accounts of South African gay Indian men. In the findings, both perpetrators and recipients of these microaggression messages were of Indian descent. The focus was on the receivers of these messages, who were four South African gay men of Indian descent. The men were interviewed about microaggressions perpetrated against them, and they also completed diaries where they wrote about these encounters. The data were analysed using a constructionist thematic analysis. The theory of microaggression and the theory of intersectionality were used to interpret the men’s accounts of those microaggressions that were directed at them. The findings showed that microaggressions ranged from direct microassaults to less direct microinsults and microinvalidations. Seven themes emerged from this study; they were: ‘frustration around gender expression’, ‘ugly words’, “coming out-rage”, ‘honour, respect and shame’, ‘reconciling religion and sexual orientation’, ‘double life’ and ‘loss of opportunity’. The findings were discussed the within ideological and discursive problems of heterosexism, heteronormativity, and Indian community values. Microaggressions that go unrecognised lead to oppressive positionings in social interactions
Counselling psychology in South Africa: Relevance, crossroads, or service road?
No full textIn the past decade, debates about the place of counselling psychology in South Africa escalated beyond academia to enter public, government, and juridicial spaces. These debates reappeared after amendments to the 1974 Health Professions Act had introduced scopes of practice in 2011. However, this scope-wars phase ended in the regulatory domain in 2019 when The Minister of Health gave notice not to proceed with the regulations. This followed after public comments and after the regulatory body set up processes to respond to both professional debates and a court judgement. This paper reviews this scope-wars phase and critically analyses the ways in which the professional vitality of counselling psychology was positioned. To do this I analyse the discursive frame of relevance and the trope of crossroads, asking how the crossroads was a professional cul-de-sac in disguise. I present an alternative discourse to consider a new route that can be chartered and built through transforming identities, ideologies, training, and practice. A service road metaphor is suggested as the alternative to show the value of counselling psychology practice in South Africa
An exploration of the psychological significance of soap opera viewing
Full text linkIn traditional research approaches, soap opera viewing has been studied quantitatively. Such studies ignore the subjectivities, the sociocultural contexts, and life contexts of individual viewers. To account for such shortcomings and to offer a qualitative research approach, an investigation was conducted into the engagement that viewers have with a particular soap opera, The bold and the beautiful. The collective case study research method was used. Three subjects were interviewed using in-depth phenomenological interviewing and the data obtained was subjected to.a hermeneutic method of investigation. This involved using a reading guide that extracted firstly, how pleasure is experienced in soap opera viewing, and secondly how the viewers' interpretations of the soap opera are linked to their everyday life contexts. Pleasure was found to be related to experiencing the soap opera world as real, the social context of the viewer, the openness of the text, selecting textual elements, identification and opening up the viewer's world. The viewers' interpretations were related to their life contexts in terms of the meanings that were constructed around emotions, identities, interpersonal relations and a cultural interface. Most notable for the South African context, is that viewing The bold and the beautiful provides a cultural interface because African identities are brought to this practice
Transgender microaggressions in health care across South Africa: A deductive content analysis
No full textIntroduction: For transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) persons, encounters with healthcare providers can be harmful and can compromise medical outcomes. This harm, which is not always overt and direct in these interpersonal relations, can be conceptualized as microaggressions. Aim: This study explored TGD persons’ accounts of microaggressions in healthcare settings. Methods: Unstructured interviews were conducted with TGD participants who had experienced harm in healthcare settings in South Africa. Deductive analysis was used. Findings: Ten of the 12 taxonomy’s themes were present. Offensive terminology, prominent amongst the themes, was directed at persons with (trans) feminine expression or nonbinary presentations. Conclusions: We propose ‘Conflation of Trans Identification With Sexual Orientation’ be added to the taxonomy to make one of the categories less overinclusive and improve on the taxonomy’s contextual transferability
Indicators for continuance of childhood gender dysphoria into adulthood: A critical interpretive synthesis of literature (2000–2020)
No full textIntroduction: Health professionals are unable to predict whether gender nonconforming distress or manifestations will continue after puberty. They also hold varied ideologies about gender. Information about these indicators lacks integration to benefit decision-making about how to intervene in childhood gender dysphoria. Aims: The aim of this review was to synthesize the literature on early indicators that anticipate the continuity of childhood gender dysphoria following puberty. A secondary aim, because of the ideological debates that underpin clinical decisions in transgender health care, was to critically interpret that literature. Methods: A critical interpretive synthesis was selected to integrate and offer a critical appraisal of literature (n=20). Results: A synthesizing argument was developed from four constructs: the intensity of gender dysphoric feelings, the child’s assertion of their gender identity, the stability of gender identity, and gender is a composite of multiple selves. Conclusions: The framing of experts’ arguments fed into presumed stability of gender identity. No single homogenous indicator can be postulated, but a compartmentalizing process is needed to understand the experiential world of a child’s gender nonconformity so that one concept (dysphoria about gender identity) can be teased apart from other investments of gender, body, and sexuality. Our constructs of the intensity of feelings and gender as a composite of multiple selves were found to challenge DSM-5 criteria. Understanding that multiple transitions may occur can help a child locate a gendered positioning in which they are comfortable. This could enable health practitioners offer affirmative care while remaining cautious about using medical treatments that cannot be reversed. The search for indicators itself, however, can be considered a historical moment, given the developments in the field in the 2 years after this review was conducted
#Blesser: A critical evaluation of conceptual antecedents and the allure of a transactional relationship
Full text linkAbstract : Blessed relationships (BRs) bring together technology, sexuality, and economics within a consumerist environment. Academic literature has used ‘blesser’ and ‘sugar daddy’ interchangeably, and online reports have explained how BRs, as a new South African cultural option of structuring relationships, differ from sugar relationships because they represent a new product on offer in relationship shopping. This essay critically evaluates academic and selected online sources to understand the allure and controversy of BRs. Research focuses predominantly on ‘controversial’ frames of health and moral risks. However, labels, such as ‘blesser’ and ‘sugar daddy’ discursively construct different sexual domains. After reviewing literature and online information, the essay presents a nomenclature of transactional relationships that considers the agential and discursive subtleties of BRs. Implications and research recommendations for the structuring of relationships, given newer options for lifestyle, companionship, and sexuality, which BRs have made publicly visible, conclude the essay
The male role in cervical cancer prevention and transmission: Representation of subject positions in South African press reports (1998-2014)
Full text linkCervical cancer (CC) media coverage neglects mention and interrogation of the role of men in sexually transmitting the virus linked to CC. Newspapers, in their public role of engaging with social debates, unlike other media forms, might be expected to interrogate misconceptions of CC. This study sought to analyse how male persons are represented in newspaper reports of CC. Using the discursive analytic tool of subject positioning, South African newspaper reports of CC were analysed. The findings revealed five categories of subject positions with male persons serving as protagonists who interact with subjects in the remaining four categories. In the male subjects’ category, the unaccountable man and circumcised saviour were the most commonly occurring positions. Reportage, however, also covered male positions traditionally marginalized or excluded from public and mainstream health campaigns, and the most pertinent of these were labelled as the sex-talk son and the boy saviour. CC should be conceptualized not merely as a health issue faced by individual women, but as a social issue with a need for increased public visibility of the male role in transmission and prevention
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