Abstract
M.Ed. (Educational Psychology)
As an educator, psychologist, or counselor one is frequently confronted with the
devastation and turmoil Divorce brings to the lives of children and how it aims at
stealing their Hope and happiness. The aim in this research study was to consult
children about their relationship with Divorce in order to learn about hopefulness
from them when standing up to Divorce. To discover Hope in the face of Divorce,
this qualitative study was conducted with children utilising participatory action
research and narrative therapy.
The theoretical foundation operated from, was the post-modernist paradigm and
social constructionist discourse. This theoretical foundation was selected as it
draws from the same philosophical markers as participatory action research and
narrative therapy.
The children who participated in this research study were two girls that I
conversed with in therapy as part of my internship at a private practice. The two
young girls I conversed with, both referred themselves for therapeutic
conversations as they were being confronted by Divorce in their families. They
are respectively ten and eleven years of age. These two girls participated after
the finalisation of the divorce proceedings in their families.
In this study, I drew on multiple methods of data collection during the research
process in order to construct and generate rich data with the participants. The
data included therapeutic conversations, artworks, journal texts and whatever
else the children brought to our conversations. The recording of the children's
experiences (data) was done by gathering and reflecting thick descriptions.
These thick descriptions reflected their Hope and enriched my understanding of
Hope.