A psychological analysis of helping human relations in an African Independent Church
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Date
1994
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Abstract
The need for a psychology that addresses problems of all racial groups in South Africa has long been documented. Studies have indicated that modern health care services are inadequate and not accessible to all population groups in this country. The needs and problems in South Africa are too complicated to be treated by Western therapies alone. What seem to have been a viable alter¬native are the services rendered to Blacks by traditional doctors, diviners, faith healers and the African Independent Churches.
The aim of this study was an exploratory psychological investigation into the nature of helping human relations in an African Independent Church. A sample of 18 respondents was randomly selected from members of the St. John's Apostolic Faith Mission Church, Harrismith. The phenomenological research methodology was used to elicit descriptions from the subjects regarding their experiences and meaning of being members of that particular church.
The descriptions of the respondents were tape recorded, transcribed and dissected into natural meaning units which were blocked into themes. The natural meaning units and the themes of each subject were synthesised into a general concise description in psychological language. This descriptive statement, which was referred to as situated structure, disclosed the unique and es¬sential meaning the phenomenon had for each individual. Those themes that were expressed and shared by the majority of the sub¬jects were grouped into a general structure of six categories, namely, spiritual helping, prayer healing, holy water, cohesive-ness, existential assistance and catharsis.
The researcher validated the descriptions by going back to respondents and asking them whether his synthesis accurately revealed their experiences. Each respondent commented on the general structure by stating on a subjective eleven point scale (0-10) the degree to which the general structure reflected his/her experiences. The respondents' ratings indicated that the general structure was a fairly accurate reflection of their experiences as members of this particular church. There was sig¬nificant agreement among the eighteen respondents in ranking the six categories. This means that there was significant agreement¬about what the subj ects generally experienced as members of the St. John's Apostolic Faith Mission Church and about their ex¬periences .
In view of literature review of other African Independent Churches the researcher could generalize that human helping rela¬tions in the African Independent Churches exist essentially in the aforementioned six main forms.
It was recommended that similar research be conducted in other African Independent Churches such as the ZCC, Church of Nazarites and the Mahon Mission. The practices of the AIC's could be in¬cluded in the curricula of the training of mental health care workers, clients could benefit from cross referrals between West¬ern practitioners and the healers of the African Independent Churches.
Description
Submitted to the Faculty of Arts in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Psychology at the University of Zululand, 1994.
Keywords
Independent churches--South Africa.