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Studies on community engagement (CE) focus on its benefits but not enough on termination and difficulties experienced at the personal level with exiting projects. A study on CE with service-learning students and volunteers at a South African university identified issues and themes pertaining to termination as systematic process, emotional responses to termination, and the need to find closure. This paper argues that termination should be more integral to CE processes, and considering that CE experiences can influence further involvement, it is important to end engagement processes more conscientiously than currently happens.

This study set out to investigate the psychometric properties of the African Career Interest Inventory (ACII) in Ghana. The ACII is an interest measure developed in South Africa that operationalises Holland's model of vocational personality/interest types. We obtained 617 responses to the ACII from university students at a university in Ghana. Most of the items showed satisfactory fit to the Rasch model with only a few items showing poor fit. The ACII scale scores showed good reliability and the randomisation test of hypothesised order relations and covariance structure modelling supported circumplex structure of these scale scores. Implications for theory and practice are provided.

The current research presents the voices of black adolescents struggling to emerge from the shadow of the Apartheid legacy, focusing on the career beliefs that are perpetuated in low socio-economic communities and negatively influence career opportunities. Inaccurate information can result in career myths, which can have a negative impact on career development. The present study uses the Systems Theory Framework (STF) as a means of engaging with clients from marginalised groups. It also offers a mechanism to explore the impact of overlooked career influences such as culture, religion, community and socio-economic conditions. The qualitative career measure, My System of Career Influences (MSCI), was used to explore the factors that contribute to career decision-making. Specifically, widely shared irrational beliefs that had prevented participants from applying to tertiary institutions were examined. Career misconceptions were grouped according to Stead and Watson's (1993) career myths, namely: 1) test myths; 2) misconceptions of exactitude; 3) self-esteem myths; and 4) career anxiety myths. The meaning-making that adolescents from disadvantaged contexts undergo, based on their unique constellation of contextual career influences and their resultant story-telling, is intrinsic to understanding local South African career identities embedded in township communities.

A model proposing that causality and work salience moderate the influence of gender, educational level, and socioeconomic status on career maturity was tested with 288 African-American students. Work salience had the strongest direct effect on career maturity. For these students home/family had higher salience than did work. (SK)

162 female managers in dual-career families were surveyed about their perceived role conflict and support at home. While the majority expressed satisfaction with their careers, a significant proportion (72%) confirmed experiencing role conflict that impeded career development. Lack of husband's or partner's involvement in household chores was associated with role conflict. Involvement of the spouse or partner in household chores was also a significant correlate of the career aspirations of women in dual-career families. These female managers confirmed that, in spite of a current job meeting their career aspirations, role conflict was a major impediment to development.

Mothering in the context of a South African high-risk community has undue complexities. Apart from the compounding risks for families and the reality of many "poverty traps," when mothers' personal and parenting competencies within this context are compromised, then the entire family suffers. There is a need for the development and evaluation of a wellness program for mothers living in high-risk communities in the South African context. Moreover, scholars argue for a contextual understanding of structural conditions and, particularly, for the inclusion of a participatory and social justice approach to such program development. The aim of the program described in this paper was to strengthen the personal and parenting abilities of mothers living in a South African high-risk low-income community. We describe our modus operandi in combining research-generated academic information with contextual data obtained via participatory processes to inform the content and focus of the program. Additionally, thematic analysis of data obtained via a focus group discussion with social worker participants was used to identify prerequisite skills and competencies for this program to enhance mothers' well-being as well as appropriate parenting skills. We describe the content of the wellness program comprising concept mapping of four modules called Mattering; Mothering; Managing; and, Mentoring located within the theoretical framework of Community Psychology. Guidelines from various parenting programs were incorporated as best practices toward effective implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South African career counselling practices have predominantly been informed by vocational theories and models developed in the United States and Europe. In view of South Africa's peculiar history and its unique cultural and linguistic environment, the indiscriminate application of Western career models has become increasingly contentious, as the majority of these models fail to account for culture-specific values that influence an individual's career interests, decision-making, and development. The South African Career Interest Inventory was developed to address this contention, through operationalising John Holland's vocational personality theory in South Africa. This study adapted and translated the South African Career Interest Inventory into isiXhosa, in the process constructing the first career interest inventory in a South African indigenous language. Subsequently, we investigated the structural validity of the South African Career Interest Inventory, and therefore Holland's model, on a sample of isiXhosa-speaking secondary school learners (n = 266). The randomisation test of hypothesised order relations, multidimensional scaling, and covariance structure modelling were employed to examine the structural validity of the inventory. The results demonstrated the South African Career Interest Inventory–isiXhosa version to be a reliable and valid measure of vocational interest on an early isiXhosa adolescent sample, suggesting the tenability of Holland's model in the South African context. Implications for research and practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adventure programming provides an exemplar for interventions through which adolescents may experience holistic development, interdependence, competence, and learn to model pro-social values. This study used a phenomenographic methodology to investigate the different ways in which a sample of 37 adolescents experienced a 27-day school-based wilderness adventure programme and identify aspects of the programme that were critical to variation in programme outcomes. The analysis revealed four conceptions of the programme: (a) long gruelling school hike, (b) school initiation/rite of passage programme, (c) once-in-a-lifetime group adventure, and (d) multifaceted learning and development opportunity. These categories of description are structured hierarchically, relate directly to programme outcomes, and evolve from different levels of awareness in six critical dimensions of variation, including: (a) programme characterisation, (b) the nature of group processes and interactions, (c) the nature and level of connection and interactions with adult group leaders, (d) the depth of engagement in various components of the programme, (e) the personal relevance that experiences had for participants, and (f) the type of growth and learning that was perceived to have accrued from these experiences. These findings and their implications for both adventure programming design and implementation, and for research on psychological interventions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current research presents the voices of black adolescents struggling to emerge from the shadow of the Apartheid legacy, focusing on the career beliefs that are perpetuated in low socio-economic communities and negatively influence career opportunities. Inaccurate information can result in career myths, which can have a negative impact on career development. The present study uses the Systems Theory Framework (STF) as a means of engaging with clients from marginalised groups. It also offers a mechanism to explore the impact of overlooked career influences such as culture, religion, community and socio-economic conditions. The qualitative career measure, My System of Career Influences (MSCI), was used to explore the factors that contribute to career decision-making. Specifically, widely shared irrational beliefs that had prevented participants from applying to tertiary institutions were examined. Career misconceptions were grouped according to Stead and Watson's (1993) career myths, namely: 1) test myths; 2) misconceptions of exactitude; 3) self-esteem myths; and 4) career anxiety myths. The meaning-making that adolescents from disadvantaged contexts undergo, based on their unique constellation of contextual career influences and their resultant story-telling, is intrinsic to understanding local South African career identities embedded in township communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Africa's history of colonization, expressed particularly through the violent system of apartheid, calls for participatory approaches to research and practice that aim to decolonize knowledge construction, transform modes of community engagement, and address dominant power relations. This article reflects on how these challenges are addressed in the Spiritual Capacity and Religious Assets for Transforming Community Health through mobilising Males for Peace and Safety project in a low-income community in the Western Cape, South Africa. This analysis focuses on some of the possibilities and challenges relating to using community-based participatory research as a community engagement strategy for the purposes of enacting critical community psychology in an African context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exceptionally high levels of interpersonal violence have triggered a call by many experts for the need to determine effective ways to address the onset and effects of exposure to interpersonal violence. The specific aim of this study was to identify and draw on existing promising practices to make a more informed decision on strategies to develop a contextually relevant intervention that focused on the promotion of positive forms of masculinity to create safety and peace. This study used a qualitative meta-synthesis (QMS) technique to integrate and interpret findings from various intervention studies that focused on males and/or gender. An in-depth literature search yielded a total of 827 papers that met the search criteria. After removal of duplicates, abstract review, and review of the full texts, the subsequent sample for this meta-synthesis included 12 intervention programs and 23 studies. This QMS revealed the value of a comprehensive approach, using multiple strategies, employing participatory and interactive methods, and promoting social mobilization to address interpersonal violence. The promotion of positive forms of masculinity as an interpersonal violence prevention strategy is a much-needed, relatively untapped approach to generating safety and peace for both males and females. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]