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The use of Gestalt therapy as an alternative assessment technique with primary school girls who have been sexually abused

Dissertation (MEd (Educational Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2008.

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Other Authors: Ebersohn, L. (Liesel)
Format: Thesis
Published: University of Pretoria 2013
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access_status_str Open Access
author2 Ebersohn, L. (Liesel)
author_browse Ebersohn, L. (Liesel)
author_facet Ebersohn, L. (Liesel)
collection Thesis
dc_rights_str_mv © University of Pretoria 2007 E761/
description Dissertation (MEd (Educational Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2008.
format Thesis
id oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/26563
institution University of Pretoria (South Africa)
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:36:56.065Z
license_str Other — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
publishDate 2013
publishDateRange 2013
publishDateSort 2013
publisher University of Pretoria
publisherStr University of Pretoria
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source_str UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
spelling oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/26563 The use of Gestalt therapy as an alternative assessment technique with primary school girls who have been sexually abused Ebersohn, L. (Liesel) Ferreira, Ronel melanie.oelofsen@hotmail.com Oelofsen, Melanie Educational psychological intervention Gestalt therapy Psychosocial support Primary school girls Qualitative research Sexual abuse Clinical case study Alternative assessment Psychotherapy outcome research Interpretivism UCTD Dissertation (MEd (Educational Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2008. The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the use of Gestalt therapy as an alternative assessment technique with two primary school girls who have been sexually abused. The empirical study of limited extent, was qualitative in nature and conducted from the interpretivist paradigm. I used two indepth clinical case studies situated within the context of psychotherapy outcome research as research design. I developed and implemented alternative assessment based on Gestalt therapy and employed observation, interviews, informal discussions, analysis of documentation, a reflective diary, field notes and visual data (photographs and original media) as data collection and documentation methods. I purposefully selected two primary school girls who have been sexually abused as participants in the study. The findings of the study were, firstly, that Gestalt therapy could be used as an effective alternative assessment technique with the target participants as it seemingly provided a safe setting to express emotions, fears and needs related to the trauma of sexual abuse. In this regard, a finding was that the primary participants had to deal with challenging emotions including anxiety, fear, aggression, anger, hatred, rage, sadness and depression. A related finding was that they experienced a need for love, unconditional acceptance, support and protection. Similarly, the study found that they also displayed negative behaviour such as inadequate social behaviour, restlessness and withdrawal from challenging social situations. Most importantly, utilising this mode of assessment rendered insight into the defence mechanisms they employed such as denial, avoidance, suppression and escapism. Secondly, alternative assessments based on Gestalt therapy seemed to have a positive effect on both participants, as indicated by change during and after the process of assessment in terms of emotions, behaviour and the use of defence mechanisms. Curriculum Studies unrestricted 2013-09-07T06:36:34Z 2008-08-06 2013-09-07T06:36:34Z 2007-09-06 2008-08-06 2008-07-23 Dissertation a 2007 E761/gm http://hdl.handle.net/2263/26563 http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-07232008-132444/ © University of Pretoria 2007 E761/ application/pdf University of Pretoria
spellingShingle Educational psychological intervention
Gestalt therapy
Psychosocial support
Primary school girls
Qualitative research
Sexual abuse
Clinical case study
Alternative assessment
Psychotherapy outcome research
Interpretivism
UCTD
The use of Gestalt therapy as an alternative assessment technique with primary school girls who have been sexually abused
title The use of Gestalt therapy as an alternative assessment technique with primary school girls who have been sexually abused
title_full The use of Gestalt therapy as an alternative assessment technique with primary school girls who have been sexually abused
title_fullStr The use of Gestalt therapy as an alternative assessment technique with primary school girls who have been sexually abused
title_full_unstemmed The use of Gestalt therapy as an alternative assessment technique with primary school girls who have been sexually abused
title_short The use of Gestalt therapy as an alternative assessment technique with primary school girls who have been sexually abused
title_sort use of gestalt therapy as an alternative assessment technique with primary school girls who have been sexually abused
topic Educational psychological intervention
Gestalt therapy
Psychosocial support
Primary school girls
Qualitative research
Sexual abuse
Clinical case study
Alternative assessment
Psychotherapy outcome research
Interpretivism
UCTD
url http://hdl.handle.net/2263/26563
http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-07232008-132444/