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'I just want the pain to go away’: religious coping and sexual trauma recovery in South African, marginalised contexts
(Routledge, 2026) Morgan, Leona; Nadar, Sarojini; Keygnaert, Ines
There is increased recognition of the need to engage with psychosocial diversity in the psychotherapeutic treatment of sexual violence. Using a decolonial feminist community psychology lens, this paper explores how religious practices shape the trauma experiences of adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse in the Cape Flats region of South Africa. Drawing on data from qualitative semi-structured interviews and integrative trauma-informed care sessions with thirteen women who experienced childhood sexual abuse, this research explores how religion influences adult survivors’ efforts to process childhood sexual abuse and seek healing. Characterised by structural inequities, intergenerational trauma and limited mental health services resulting from apartheid, the Cape Flats provides a context in which religion plays a paradoxical role in study participants’ lives. Insights from reflexive inductive thematic analysis suggest that religion may provide supportive meaning, but also perpetuates trauma suppression through spiritual bypassing and premature forgiveness. This dynamic occurs where cultural and religious norms discourage trauma disclosure and institutionalised faith practices lack specialised trauma care. Integrative trauma-informed care sessions enable participants to engage with their trauma authentically, while cultivating an empowering connection to their faith. These findings highlight the necessity for trauma recovery approaches that address the intersections of structural inequity, gender and spirituality.
Proficiency enhancement in the workplace through informal learning
(University of the Western Cape, 2013) Ruiters, Astrid
The study examines three emerging salient themes. Firstly, it highlights the current perception of informal learning in the workplace which has multiple definitions and descriptions. The second theme draws attention to the sociocultural structures and the impact on individual engagement in workplace learning. The last theme illustrates the potential of informal learning and how individuals and their learning environment at work cannot function independently. Employees no longer have time for the inefficiencies of the past, old-style training they want to be co-participants in learning not simply receivers (Cross, 2007).By diagnosing the current status of informal workplace learning, the research examines the employee engagement, the perceived factors that affect learning engagement and explores the links between informal workplace learning and the performance of the organisation. Against the background of informal learning in the workplace, a learning organisation has been characterised, as an organisation that has development in place that supports learning and recognises the value of learning and extends itself towards the enhancement of employee’s proficiency and transfer of learning to others (Berg & Chyung, 2008).
The retention factors of call centre agents at a financial institution in the Western Cape
(University of the Western Cape, 2013) Barnes, Nina
Past employment relationships based on mutual commitment between employer and employee are no longer the norm in the workplace. Instead of a predictable linear rise up an organisation’s hierarchy, careers are now characterised by a ‘protean’ model of movement between many organisations during the course of individuals’ working lives (Coetzee & Gunz, 2012; Schreuder & Theron, 2001). This phenomenon adds to the historical concern of staff retention as it is identified as a factor that directly jeopardizes organisational objectives (Campion, 1991). While this is a concern in many industries (du Plooy & Roodt, 2013), Lee(2008) claims that staff turnover has been even more of a dilemma within the call centre environment. A worldwide study conducted by Lee (2008) indicated that on average, call centres lose up to 61% of their agents annually. The situation seems to be no different for South African call centres. Kgomo and Swarts (2010) found unacceptably high levels of staff turnover in the South African industry. De Vos and Meganck (2009) argue that the traditional response of organisations in relation to staff retention is reactive in nature, since they try to decrease the desire of staff to leave (de Vos & Meganck, 2009; Williams, 2008). This approach, however, is seldom successful – once people have expressed the desire to leave, efforts to retain them may already be too late (Milner, Russell & Simers, 2010; Mosley & Hurley, 1999).
Employees’ perceptions towards workplace diversity in a financial institution operating in the Western Cape
(University of the Western Cape, 2013) Carelse, Kareemah
Although South Africa is 18 years into creating a unique diversity management strategy, individuals - directly affected by diversity in organisation will differ completely from those individuals that have not been affected by diversity in organisations at all. The subject of diversity management has become a contentious issue causing disagreement and argument is in the last couple of years. Many organisations find it difficult to grasp the concept of diversity, thus creating an opportunity for organisational development consultants and management to make substantial profit (Dombai & Verwey, 1999). In the current working environment and the continuous change of the organisation‟s employees, the workforce has become more diverse. This resulted in wider employee knowledge, skills, experience and attitude which will allow the organisation to become more competitive globally. It is of utmost importance for organisations attract and retain staff from different cultural and diverse group of order to improve the employee performance and the competitive advantage of the organisation (Ferreira & Coetzee, 2010). Cumming and Worley (2009, p. 506-509) postulate that “organisational transformation – and more specifically diversity management - is impacting on the bottom line results of the organisation”. Organisational transformation implies radical changes in how members perceive, think, and behave at work. They are concerned with fundamentality altering the prevailing assumptions about how the organisation function and relates to its environment. The study aimed at determining the employees‟ perception towards workplace diversity in a financial institution operating in the Western Cape.
The relationship between transformational leadership, trust and peer mentoring: An exploratory study of the Peer Mentoring Programme at the University of the Western Cape.
(University of the Western Cape, 2012) Salasa, Niamat
Transformational leadership has received considerable attention within the organizational sphere in the last decade. Leadership in higher education institutions has also received attention as there is a concern about the retention rates of students. Academic leaders have identified unclear educational goals, dissatisfaction with academic programmes, and unclear career objectives as reasons for student attrition. Therefore, skills training and development programmes became the priority of academic institutions for the purpose of retaining students to sustain a competent and efficient workforce generation in all spheres. The University of the Western Cape’s Peer Mentoring Programme offers a strategy to increase retention of students because it addresses several causes of student drop out such as, inadequate academic preparation for tertiary institutions, lack of knowledge about social or academic resources and adapting to new surroundings for first year students. Based on a review of empirical findings, this research elucidated the theoretical terrain of mentoring, transformational leadership and trust. The exploration of the literature highlighted the similarities and differences between transformational leaders and mentors are discussed. An adapted version of the Multifactor leadership questionnaire (MLQ), and the workplace trust survey (WTS) was administered to a sample of 54 mentors in a university’s peer mentoring programme within the Western Cape South Africa. The University of the Western Cape’s peer mentoring programme (PMP) was utilised as a case study and a convenience sampling approach was employed. The results emanating from this research indicate that there is a significant relationship between transformational leadership and trust.