Browsing by Author "Mthombeni, Zinhle Cynthia."

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Exploring the journey of South African caregivers who have a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) symptoms.
Mthombeni, Zinhle Cynthia.; Nwoye, Augustine.
The principal aim of the present study was to explore the experiences of Black South African caregivers with children that present with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) symptoms. The specific objectives were, inter alia, to discover how these caregivers interpret and understand their children‘s symptoms, the kind of help providers (African and/or Western) they approached in search of diagnosis and healing for their children‘s illness, and the specific ways their efforts impacted on their lives. The findings showed that the participating caregivers were severely and negatively affected in four main ways in their journey towards obtaining an understanding and a cure for their children‘s ASD symptoms. These negative effects included firstly, the stress and demoralizing experience when discovering that they had children with ASD symptoms. Secondly, there was emotional restlessness and lack of closure that came with knowing that there would be no predictable way of finding a lasting solution to their children‘s illness. Thirdly, there was the pain of conflicted epistemology of healing that came with discovering that neither of the two worldviews for explaining people‘s illness, indigenous or Western, was able to give decisive and conclusive guidance in the interventions being sought. This forced most of the caregivers (five of the seven) to engage in multiple and emotionally draining back-and-forth approaches consulting with help providers drawing from conflicting and alternative epistemologies of healing. Finally, there was the damaging impact of excessive financial erosion and burden that go with the challenge of having to engage in multiple and alternative journeys in search of solutions to the problem of their children‘s ASD symptoms.
Psychological assessment: a study of perceptions of personnel undergoing assessment for occupational purposes in the South African National Defence Force (SANDF).
(2022) Mthombeni, Zinhle Cynthia.; Nwoye, Augustine.
Background and aim: This study sought to examine how personnel who work within the SANDF perceive psychological assessment measures in their workplace. In the South African military, psychological tests were seen by the organisation’s leadership as invaluable decision aids for recruiting efficient servicemen, procuring promotion recommendations and guiding personnel development. It was this official view of the value of psychological assessment measures in the SANDF, which was put to test in this research. In this regard, the crucial question was: Do the people from ‘below’, the personnel that work in the Defence Force and had undergone psychological testing, share this official view of the role of test measures in their organisation? Exploring this question was considered important given historic issues of negativity and contestation that surrounded psychological test use in the pre-democracy era of the SANDF’s history. Against this background, understanding how military personnel presently view psychological tests in their workplace would help to determine whether efforts by the field of psychological assessment in the South African military to redeem its past contested reputation are yielding the expected dividends. Method: To implement the study, perceptions of purposively selected SANDF military members were explored through qualitative enquiry that followed IQA methodology. Data were collected during two focus group, consisting of constituents from both senior and junior military ranks (N=29), followed by individual interviews (N=18) that were aimed at unpacking themes that emerged from the discussions. The study sample was diverse in terms of gender, age, ethnicity and years of service. Findings: Findings of the study were mixed. While some aspects of the data showed that some SANDF personnel entertained a positive view and were beginning to appreciate the value of the use of psychological tests in the Defence Force, not all constituents of the study sample shared this positive perspective. Conclusion and implications: The study concluded that considered against the background of the pervasive negative perceptions associated with psychological assessment measures in the South African military during the apartheid period, as reported in the literature, there was cause for optimism that transformative measures introduced to improve the quality and practice of psychological assessment in the SANDF were making the expected impact of changing people’s perceptions about psychological tests in the military. Based on this, a number of recommendations were made about how positive perceptions on psychological tests in the SANDF could be further enhanced and sustained.