Factors shaping condom use among South African university students: a thematic analysis

This study aimed to investigate contextual influences on condom use by South African university students. Twenty one-to-one, semi-structured interviews were conducted with male and female South African undergraduates. The data were thematically analysed. Results revealed that condom use was transient and often unrelated to disease prevention. Condom use was impeded by closer perceived intimacy, gender dynamics, and social stigma against proposing use of condoms in a presumably committed relationship. Public health policies regarding condom, pill and injection pricing / promotion, and religious toleration also hampered condom use, by encouraging a preference over hormonal contraception or proscribing contraceptive measures altogether. The results provide a basis for considering the impact of immediate and wider social contexts on condom use, as proposed by socio-ecological models of HIV risk behaviour.     

Mobility as a service and sustainable travel behaviour: A thematic analysis study

Mobility as a Service (MaaS) is a novel brand of transport that promises to replace private cars with multimodal personalised mobility packages enabled by a digital platform capable of integrating travel planning, booking and ticketing, and real-time information services. It is an intervention that through its digitisation, connectivity, information and sharing merits intends to inspire and support the transition to a more sustainable mobility paradigm. Recent research suggests, however, that the potential uptake of MaaS might not be overwhelming; current car drivers could face considerable difficulties in bypassing their personal car for it and, more worryingly, future MaaS users may substitute not only personal car trips but also public transport journeys with car-sharing and ride-sharing services. This means that MaaS might not be able to create travel behaviour change, and even if it does, the changes may not be always towards the right direction. Through conducting 40 semi-structured interviews in three different UK cities, namely London, Birmingham and Huddersfield, and employing a robust Thematic Analysis approach, this study explores the factors underpinning the uptake and potential success of MaaS as a sustainable travel mechanism. The challenges and opportunities reflecting and affecting potential for responsible MaaS usage refer to five core themes Car Dependence; Trust; Human Element Externalities; Value; and Cost, each of them with distinctive and diverse dimensions. Policy-makers and mobility providers should realise that MaaS success relies on changing people’s attitudes to private cars (something very challenging) and thus they should incentivise responsible MaaS use, promote public transport as its backbone, use public engagement exercises and trials to expose people to the concept and somewhat demonise private car ownership and car use.     

Women counsellors' experiences of personal therapy: A thematic analysis

Background: Following recent moves to relax the requirements for clinical mental health trainees to undergo personal therapy, this qualitative project explored the effects of personal therapy on volunteer counsellors. Method: Interviews were conducted with 19 volunteer counsellors at a women's community centre, and the data were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings: Emerging themes included the importance of personal therapy for trainee development, key elements of personal therapy and the idea that personal therapy is ‘a double‐edged sword’. Discussion: Allowing for evident methodological difficulties in evaluating the impact of personal therapy on trainees, this study suggests that close consideration should be given to the potentially adverse effects of reducing requirements for personal therapy in clinical trainings.     

Inside the experience of anorexia nervosa: A narrative thematic analysis

Aim: This study considers the question of whether inpatient admission for anorexia nervosa was a therapeutic experience for two women with chronic anorexia nervosa. The question of whether inpatient admission for anorexia nervosa can be therapeutic is not answerable through existing research evidence. Method: The women were interviewed about their experience of having anorexia, its impact on their lives and the treatment they received. The interviews involved learning about the women's experiences by listening to their stories rather than asking them direct questions about what has been therapeutic about their treatment. Analysis: Their narratives were used to develop understanding grounded in experience and were analysed using a narrative thematic analysis. Ideas, themes and connections were noted but not coded as found in some forms of thematic analysis. Discussion: Consideration is given to the therapeutic qualities of the treatments the women received and the place of therapeutic inpatient admission. The central theme of this research was ‘relationships’ which indicates the use of therapeutic approaches that emphasise the importance of the therapeutic relationship in the treatment of chronic anorexia nervosa. It is suggested that psychodynamic and attachment theories should be used to inform overall treatment models. Some important issues for service provision and areas for further research are identified.     

A thematic dialogue: towards a conclusion and a follow-up

Following the themed debate that took place after the panel, we reconsidered and explored further our hypotheses in light of the comments made by our colleagues. Clearly, it is the structural approach that underlies both the Freudian primal phantasies and the Jungian archetypes, while taking account at the same time that their approaches are informed by contemporary emergentist theories. Our discussion centred on the divergences in the cases of psychosis and neurosis, on the roles, in turn, of a return to childhood and the play of archaic representations, on the transference and countertransference functions and finally on the need to pay attention to what are deemed synchronous moments in the event.     

Reactions to blindness: a four-year follow-up study

A previously studied group of newly blind adults was followed up after four years. There was only a slight increase in the acquisition of blind skills, while there was a surprising continuing pervasiveness of depression and poor health. A number of variables from the original study and from the follow-up data predicted outcome measures. Significant predictors of depression and distress were poor health, being married, being nonProtestant in this predominantly Protestant London population, and lacking ability to be more independent. Higher social class and an absence of a family history of blindness predicted greater distress. Earlier acceptance of blindness, early learning of blind skills, and better preillness adjustment predicted better coping and greater use of blind skills at follow-up. The extent of the depression and poor health are discussed, and recommendations are made for caregivers.     

The influence of populism on tolerance: a thematic content analysis of the Dutch Islam debate

Historically, religious tolerance has been an integral part of Dutch identity. Yet, this image has changed, particularly in the last 20 years due to the influence of populism that predominantly focused on the stigmatisation of Islam. This paper examines how this development has changed the meaning of tolerance in the public debate about Islam and what this change means for the social and political conditions for integration in the Netherlands. An analytical framework was used, breaking down the term ‘tolerance’ into five components: subject of tolerance, object of tolerance, hierarchy of values, power to interfere and limits to tolerance. The results show that while mainstream opinion leaders received more attention in public debate, populists managed to shape the tolerance discourse, changing the subjects and objects of tolerance, emphasising contradictions between different values, shaping the hierarchy of values and proposing intolerance for Islamic intolerance as limit of tolerance.     

A thematic analysis of the experience of time

A category system describing the human experience of time was developed in efforts to put existing theoretical notions about time ("future time perspective," "time urgency," "object constancy," etc.) into a broader theoretical context. Twenty mature, articulate, well-educated subjects were interviewed about their "experience of time." A thematic analysis of these interviews produced three major categories: (1) Change and Continuity ("becoming in time"), (2) Limits and Choices ("doing in time"), and (3) Tempo ("pacing in time"). The experience of time in various diagnostic groups was discussed in terms of the category system.     

Adjustment to disability: A cognitive-behavioral model for analysis and clinical management

Profound psychological reactions are frequently seen following the onset of severe disability. Stage models of adjustment, although limiting when used dogmatically, can serve as a helpful guideline for intervention when integrated within a framework that also addresses the sequence of associated irrational beliefs. This article proposes a three phase model for analyzing and facilitating the adjustment process which follows disability. Adjustment is analyzed along cognitive, emotional, and environmental dimensions.The first stage immediately follows the onset of incapacitating disability and is termed the Pre-encounter phase. From a rational emotive perspective, the individual in this phase has not yet acknowledged that an activating, or disabling event has occurred. Acknowledgment is limited to brief contact which is then followed by excessive arousal and extreme distortions in evaluative capabilities. Shock and denial are characteristic of this phase. During this stage, strategies for clinical management are specified with a stronger emphasis on targeting the environment and belief system of the rehabilitation team than the beliefs of the patient.The second stage is referred to as the Post encounter phase during which the disabling condition has been acknowledged as a valid activating event. Periods of anxiety, depression, and expressed anger are common at this time. The final stage is coined the Rational re-encounter phase and is highlighted by repeated re-encounters with various forms of the disabling activating event and anticipated activating events. During this phase the patient is more able to benefit from a traditional psychotherapeutic approach which has been tailored to the specific pattern of irrational beliefs often exhibited in response to life with a disability.     

Career construction counseling: A thematic analysis of outcomes for four clients

Thematic analysis was used in this study of career construction counseling with four diverse, purposively-selected participants. After the intervention, the participants who sought and received career construction counseling were interviewed to determine their experience of the intervention. The results showed the value of career construction counseling in bringing about change in the participants' career-life stories.     

The family therapy journals in 1999: a thematic review

This paper reviews the principal family therapy journals for the year 1999. Of the themes that emerged, 'reaching out' with systemic practice, developing a political edge, gender issues and developments in theory will be discussed. The paper concludes with a resumé of the research reported in these journals for the review period.     

The family therapy journals in 2001: a thematic review

This article reviews the principal English–language (including British) family therapy journals for the year 2001. Articles are clustered around various common themes which include marital therapy and cultural competency. There is also a discernible interest in working with populations that have received less attention from family therapists such as substance misusers. Within this literature there is also a trend to 'import' ideas and methods from other therapeutic traditions. Important research papers are noted from within these categories, rather than having a separate section. As this is the fifth in a series of reviews, a 'look back' at trends within the family therapy literature concludes the paper.     

The family therapy journals in 2000: a thematic review

This article reviews the principal English-language (non-British) family therapy journals for the year 2000. Articles are clustered around various common themes that include spirituality, creativity and inventiveness, therapy with gay and lesbian clients and 'community practice'. It concludes with a resumé of the research reported in these journals for the review period.     

The family therapy journals in 2002: a thematic review

This article reviews the principal English-language (including British) family therapy journals for the year 2002. A number of common themes and threads predominate within these journals. Articles relating to these themes are reported under distinct headings. These themes were: responding to 9/11; marital therapy and diversity practice. Significant research papers are incorporated into the relevant heading. This is the final thematic review undertaken by the current author.     

Initial mention as a signal to thematic content in technical passages

Information near the beginning of a passage has often been reported to be recalled better than information appearing later in the passage. The explanation has been that the most important information in a passage is recalled best, and this information usually appears early in a passage. This suggests that there is a linguistic convention that important information should appear in an initial position. That initial mention functions as a signal to the important, or thematic, content of a passage was demonstrated with two experiments in which readers reported what they thought was the main idea or the main item of technical passages. The first experiment unconfounded content and position by using passages in which the main idea was expressed by a sentence that appeared either first in the passage or embedded in the middle of the passage. Statements of the main idea resembled the intended theme sentence to a greater extent if this sentence appeared first than if it was embedded. The second experiment showed that statements of the main item tended to name the major referent that appeared first in the passage. The results suggest that readers base much of their abstractive processes on the semantic content of a passage, with superficial features such as initial mention serving to guide or influence these processes.     

The family therapy journals in 1997: a thematic review

This review considers papers that were published within the principal family therapy journals for the year 1997. The clearest themes that emerged were on the nature of love, gender and collaborative approaches.