Abstract
M. Ed.
This instrumental case study explores the preferred psychotherapeutic interventions
used by a purposive sample of Black-African educational psychologists and intern
psychologists who had graduated from the same university between 1998 and 2008.
The sample also includes the therapeutic interventions lecturer at the university since
previous research carried out at the university revealed that Black Educational
Psychology students are at a much higher risk of dropping out of the master's course
(Holmes, 2006). This research inquiry aims at gaining a better understanding of the
therapies that Black-African Educational Psychologists use in their practice of
Educational Psychology. The research is done within a critical paradigm using a
social constructivist theoretical framework to seek an understanding of the world in
which these educational psychologists live and work (Creswell, 2007). The
researcher uses an interpretive approach to explore the data on the
psychotherapeutic interventions used by the group of Black-African educational
psychologists in their respective practices.
The research sample comprises eleven Black-African educational psychologists and
intern psychologists and the therapeutic interventions lecturer at the University. Once
informed consent was obtained, data were generated by means of eleven incomplete
sentence questionnaires and six semi-structured interviews which were captured
using an audio-recorder. Data were analysed according to the steps outlined by
Charmaz (2006; 2008) in her grounded theory approach to qualitative research.
Thus, initial data sets were coded using initial and selective coding and then
analysed simultaneously using the constant comparative method which generated
findings which fall under four sub-themes namely: 1) Using psychotherapeutic
interventions trained in, 2) Adapting Eurocentric interventions, 3) Using Indigenous
Knowledge and the 4) Need to advance learning. These sub-themes were integrated
to form a Culture-sensitive African perspective to psychotherapeutic intervention in
South Africa, which became the overarching theme of this study. The themes were
confirmed by sending a verification concept map to five participants.