Abstract
M.Cur
The country and education system is after apartheid in a process of renewal and
transformation. Adolescents in secondary schools are increasingly in interaction with
adolescents who have different values. The media reports that violence and conflict in
secondary schools is common. Adolescents find themselves already in a developmental
period characterised by physical, emotional, social and intellectual change (Vermaak, 1993:
i). It is apparent that today' s adolescent in South Africa is confronted with more than love
disappointments and exam stress.
This research tells the story of a group of adolescents within a specific public secondary
school in Gauteng in an attempt to give the adolescent a voice. The objectives for this
research are:
1. To explore and describe the adolescents' experience of interaction between
adolescents with different values in a specific public secondary school in Gauteng.
2. To describe guidelines for the advanced psychiatric nurse practitioner to mobilise
resources for facilitating interaction between these adolescents in order to promote
their mental health.
The Theory for Health Promotion in Nursing as applied by the Nursing Department of the
Rand Afrikaans University forms the basis of this research. From this perspective, the human
is seen as holistically in interaction with the environment in an integrated manner, and are the
four central components of this theory, namely the human, nursing, environment and health
defined. The purpose of this theory is aimed at enhancing individual, family, group and
community health (Rand Afrikaans University; Department of nursing, 2000: 4) and in this
case, mental health.
A Functional approach to nursing (Botes, 1991: 19-23) is followed, which implies that the
research in nursing is mainly applied research that addresses recent health problems of the
South-African community and provide solutions to these problems. It is clear that this
research addresses a recent problem/trend in the South African school going adolescent
community, namely the interaction between adolescents with different values in schools. The
research in nursing, as developed by Botes (1995: 1-21), applies.
A qualitative (Cresswell, 1994: 162), explorative (Mouton, 1996: 103), descriptive (Mouton,
1996: 102) and contextual (Mouton, 1996: 133) research design was used, and data was
gathered through means ofthree focus groups (Folch-Lyon & Trost, 1981: 443; Krueger,
1994: 14,19 ,29) consisting of adolescents who complied with the sampling criteria. The
researcher took field notes during and after the focus groups (Wilson, 1989: 434 ). The
Gauteng Department of Education, the schools principal, the parents/guardians of the
adolescents and the participating adolescents themselves gave their consent for the conducting
of the research. The researcher did analyse the data using Tech's (in Cresswell, 1994: 155)
descriptive method and did open coding. An independent coder analysed the data with the
researcher and they held consensus discussions (Poggenpoel, 1998: 245).
After the data was analysed, a literature control was conducted in order to recontextualise the
data (Morse & Field, 1996: 106) and to indicate differences and similarities with other
research.
In phase one of the research, the researcher concluded that the adolescents experienced that
certain practises and incidents in the school contribute to the deconstructive atmosphere in the
school. These incidents and practises entail aspects related to discipline, respect,
disempowerment, communication, expectations relating to academic issues and the
confirmation of certain practises. The practises related to the deconstructive atmosphere
contribute to the experiencing of emotions like frustration, anxiety, fear of rejection and
victimisation, powerlessness, sadness and disappointment, uncertainty and fury.
Discipline, caring and support, friendship and taking responsibility for choices made by the
adolescent were practises identified that relate to a constructive atmosphere.
Guidelines in phase two describe to the advanced psychiatric nurse practitioner how to
facilitate interaction between these adolescents in the specific secondary school in order to
contribute to the promotion of their mental health. The researcher generated and describes
guidelines, within the survey list as suggested by Dickoff, James & Wiedenbach (1968: 423),
for a multicultural empowerment program.
The researcher discussed conclusions, limitations and practical problems of the research and
made suggestions for the nursing practise, education and research.