This chapter will focus on the Comprehensive Exner System, into which all of the empirically defensible features of other, earlier approaches were merged. Even though the basis of the System has been in place for many years, research has been ongoing, also in South Africa. The Rorschach is an ideal instrument for exploring cross-cultural differences, because, unlike verbal or more structured tests, it involves culture-free stimuli. Various authors have concluded that it is a universally applicable and cross-culturally relevant instrument. In South Africa appropriate guidelines and norms have nevertheless not been developed, although some efforts have been made in this direction. Cultural influences on the administration and on response coding as well as the impact of language have been explored, at least to some extent. Some of the available studies such as those by Aronstam (2004), Moletsane and Eloff (2006), and Taylor and Dick (11997) can be seen as important in this regard. Various ongoing doctoral studies, in which the Rorschach is used as a measuring instrument, are also promising in terms of the future use of this test in the South African context. Rorschach testing constitutes a multifaceted method of data collection, and can be seen as a meaningful adjunct to a well-selected battery of tests where the understanding of an individual is important, be it for clinical, forensic or research purposes. The Rorschach is currently being used in South Africa in all of these settings, and knowledge of the strengths and disadvantages of using this test can be of considerable benefit to a clinician working in any of these areas. Intensive and long-term basic training, as well as ongoing more in depth training is crucial, if this test has to be of real use, adding significant information to that gleaned from other measuring instruments.
acculturation
Chapter 25: The use of the Children’s Apperception Test and Thematic Apperception Test in South Africa
AUTHORS: R. Gericke, Z. Amod, K. Bain
ABSTRACT: This chapter will explore the practice, clinical use and cross-cultural application of two thematic projective techniques, the Childrens’ Apperception Test (CAT) and Thematic Apperception Test (TAT). Thematic apperception tests are recognised as valuable tools to unobtrusively access object relations (Kelly, 2007), unconscious conflicts, anxieties, wishes, feelings and needs that may otherwise be defended against. Through projection access to the internal world is gained through a means that is less threatening than being subjected to interviews or self-report questionnaires. A brief introduction to and definition of thematic story telling techniques will be followed by discussions on reliability and validity, test administration and clinical application, and clinical tips. The CAT and TAT are consistently selected as favoured tests across professional registrations, the TAT being the test most favoured by clinical psychologists in SA (Foxcroft, Paterson, le Roux & Herbst, 2004). Given this, the cross-cultural implications of using these tests need to be addressed (De Vos, 2004; Hofer & Chasiotis, 2004; Mclerney & Liem, 2009). Whilst textbooks and scoring manuals are available, this chapter has a strong focus on clinical application within a South African context and provides guidelines for clinicians working within the field. Further to this, a strong focus on illustrative case material will allow the utility as well as the limitations to be discussed in greater depth. Other thematic apperception tests available will be introduced (The Columbus Test, The SA Picture Analysis Test, The Make a Story Test, Michigan Picture Test, Sexual Apperception Test and The Children’s Self-Report and Project Inventory). Finally, suggestions for future research including validating the use of the CAT and TAT in diagnosing attachment patterns will be discussed.
Chapter 23: Assessment and Monitoring of Symptoms in the Treatment of Psychological Problems
AUTHORS: D. Edwards, C. Young
ABSTRACT: This chapter considers the clinical application of brief symptom measures in South African contexts. Although typically developed in the USA and UK, these measures can assist South African clinicians to assess the severity of their clients’ presentations, to track the progress of psychological therapy from one session to the next and to evaluate therapy outcomes. There is evidence for their value not only for research but also for practice, as such systematic tracking of symptoms improves clinical outcome. While many competing measures have been developed over the years, a few dominate in the literature and even fewer have been used and at least partially validated in South Africa. This chapter summarizes recent local validation studies on the Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation – Outcome Measure (CORE-OM), and of the Xhosa translations of the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) and the Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS). Other disorder-specific measures that have been used in local contexts include the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) and a number of trauma scales such as the Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale (PDS), the Impact of Events Scale (IES), the Posttraumatic Cognitions Inventory, and the Traumatic Grief Inventory (TGI). The utility of these scales in everyday settings, and their interpretation in conjunction with other assessment data are examined by reference to clinical examples, including published case studies. Problems encountered in the translation of scales as well as their use in local multicultural and multilingual contexts are discussed.
Chapter 18: The NEO-PI-R in South Africa
AUTHOR: S. Laher
ABSTRACT: The NEO-PI-R is a widely used test both in assessment and research locally and internationally. Aside from being used in research and practice to assess personality, it is also amongst the most commonly used instruments to operationalise the FFM of personality. Thus this chapter intends providing a brief history of the development of the NEO-PI-R, followed by a brief description of the NEO-PI-R domain and facet scales. Following this research using the NEO-PI-R in the South African context will be presented. Finally the chapter will conclude with some discussion on the use of the NEO-PI-R in the SA context.
Psychological Assessment in South Africa 