South African Practitioners Research Articles

Inclusive educational practices: Psychological challenges in South Africa

This study examines the specific challenges faced by practitioners in the field of psychology directly related to inclusive educational practices in South Africa. Intern psychologist, psychologists, psychometrist and other practitioners in the field of mental health provide crucial support to the Department of Basic Education in terms of Inclusive Education. These practitioners are situated in various fields for example, within Government Departments (Health, Education, Social Development, etcetera), private practice and Non-Government Organisations or Community-Based Organisations. The practitioners usually work within a multi-collaborative framework and often from a multi-systemic perspective to provide support to a network of colleagues and teachers, parents and learners who require intervention at schools within an inclusive education environment. A group of mental health practitioners who worked directly in inclusive educational practices (non-probability - purposive sampling), in a variety of sectors, were interviewed to determine the challenges they faced related to inclusive educational practices in South Africa. A variety of practitioners (n = 5) from each group of participants were approached (psychologists, intern psychologists, social workers) and interviewed. The total number of participants is n = 20. The participants completed a consent form, offered complete anonymity and confidentiality if they so desire and provide consent to complete the questionnaire. All institutional ethical procedures were followed. The findings revealed that South African practitioners in the field of psychology who worked directly in inclusive educational practices experienced challenges, and these are sometimes based on the setting in which they practiced. The study provided possible recommendations that may be implemented.

Wellness practitioners’ perspectives on supporting SUD recovery in the workplace: Enabling or impeding factors

Wellness practitioners are pivotal in supporting substance use disorder recovery in the workplace. Yet, they often work in environments with limited policy direction or legislative guidance to direct this work. A qualitative investigation sought to explore the perceptions and experiences of South African practitioners working in contexts with limited regulatory direction. The findings, presented as three themes, highlight both enabling and impeding factors. A central recommendation is to promote collaboration with other significant role players to enhance the recovery process in the workplace through supervisory involvement as well as that of the family.

Approach to the diagnosis and management of snakebite envenomation in South Africa in humans: Special patient groups and surgical aspects.

This article explores the management of snakebite to vulnerable patient groups, namely children and pregnant women as well as providing detail on the current best practice when caring for venom ophthalmia and surgical wounds resulting from snakebite. Finally, the optimal free-to-use medical record for accurate documentation of snakebite incidents is provided for use by South African practitioners.

Performance and the Afterlives of Injustice: Dance and Live Art in Contemporary South Africa and Beyond by Catherine M. Cole

Reviewed by: Performance and the Afterlives of Injustice: Dance and Live Art in Contemporary South Africa and Beyond by Catherine M. Cole Carla Neuss Performance and the Afterlives of Injustice: Dance and Live Art in Contemporary South Africa and Beyond. By Catherine M. Cole. University of Michigan Press, 2020. Cloth: $85, Paper: $39.9. 304 pages. 18 illustrations. In her latest book, Catherine M. Cole turns to the role of dance in the ongoing wake of apartheid in South Africa. Situated within the failed promises of the post-apartheid era, Performance and the Afterlives of Injustice centers dance performance by Black artists, an area of research that Cole notes is understudied within South African performance scholarship. In centering dance and live art, this book offers a new and compelling archive of performances that extends beyond the conventional, Eurocentric boundaries of theatre to consider how embodied and kinesthetic performance encounters express, challenge, and rewrite the postapartheid era. In bringing these performances to the fore, Performance and the Afterlives of Injustice invites larger considerations of the role of dance, and nonverbal performance more broadly, in post- and decolonial contexts both within and beyond South Africa. Cole's introduction sets the stage for her analysis of specific South African practitioners and performances within the profound disillusionment that has followed the failed promises of Nelson Mandela's vision for a united "Rainbow Nation." The ongoing socioeconomic inequality and racial discrimination that characterizes Black South Africans' experience informs her readings of embodied performances that speak to the suspended progress of South Africa's twenty-eight-year democracy. Acknowledging that dance is a new field of analysis for her, Cole argues that this artistic medium offers potentialities untapped by contemporary South African theatre, which she describes as stuck in a "nostalgic trap" (7) of restaging "struggle classics" (8) produced during the apartheid era. Despite this critique of theatre, chapter 1 focuses on a play written by one of the foremost playwrights of the anti-apartheid struggle: Athol Fugard's oft-overlooked [End Page 99] Statements Before and After an Arrest under the Immorality Act, originally produced in 1972. Cole's evocative exegesis of the play's portrayal of a mixed-race couple conducting an illegal affair under apartheid's miscegenation laws demonstrates apartheid's coercive control of the body. This chapter usefully foregrounds the role of the body, which will come to define Cole's subsequent chapters on dance performance; a deeper engagement with the original production's use of blackface as a complicating factor in the play's racial politics, however, would have usefully presaged later chapters' troubling of white South African artists' attempts to perform allyship. Having established apartheid's embodied injustices as enacted through theatre, in chapter 2 Cole turns to contemporary artists of color Jay Pather, Mamela Nyamza, and Sello Pesa. In addressing the syncretic and entangled influences on their respective practices, Cole offers the lens of "delamination" as "a mode of deconstruction in which the material of the now… fractures in performance into separate layers," offering the "potential to separate valuable from toxic substances" (68). Cole's close reading of Mamela Nyamza's work, artistic genealogy, and intersectional positionality exemplifies this approach. As a Black, Christian lesbian trained in classical ballet, Nyamza is an artist who is navigating the conflicting impulses of liberation and stagnation that characterize South Africa's suspended revolution. In chapter 3 Cole more explicitly turns to questions of interculturalism in the work of Robyn Orlin and Brett Bailey, white South African artists who have garnered fame—and, at times, controversy—in Europe. Cole juxtaposes Orlin and Bailey's work with that of Indian-South African practitioner Jay Pather (who was also discussed in chapter 2) to unwind issues of cultural appropriation across all three artists' work. While pieces like Orlin's Daddy I've Seen This Piece Six Times Already and I Still Don't Know Why They're Hurting Each Other satirize the centering of the white artist-auteur, Cole argues that such pieces may inadvertently reify white supremacy. As an alternative, she positions Pather as having more successfully navigated intercultural aesthetics through his collaborative relationship with the Black performers of his dance company and his...

The Impact of Cryptocurrencies on the General Powers and Duties of South African Insolvency Practitioners

Within the context of the fourth industrial revolution, cryptocurrencies pose several challenges in the framework of corporate insolvency law. In South African law, no statutory framework vis-à-vis cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, currently exists. This has however not prevented entities from engaging in the cryptocurrency market. The specific dilemma is that insolvency practitioners do not have legislative guidelines to assist them in dealing with the subject of cryptocurrencies. Consequently, international judicial developments must be consulted and analysed with the aim to close the gap between the legislature and Industry 4.0. This article unpacks the South African legal position on cryptocurrencies within the context of the statutory powers and duties of insolvency practitioners. It engages in an analysis of selected international courts cases that have dealt with the concept of cryptocurrencies within the context of insolvent estates and continues to make recommendations for the development of an efficient and effective regulatory model.

International Financial Reporting Standards for small and medium-sized entities: A survey showing insights of South African accounting practitioners

Orientation: The International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for small and medium-sized entities (SMEs) was adopted in South Africa in 2009 to reduce the complex burden of financial reporting for SMEs. Research purpose: The purpose of the article is to explore the insights of accounting practitioners a decade after introducing the IFRS for SMEs. Motivation for the study: The article increases the body of research into decision usefulness in relation to IFRS for SMEs, drawing attention to the possible benefits and challenges of the practical use of the IFRS for SMEs as an acceptable reporting framework. Research approach, design and method: The article uses prior literature on the application of IFRS for SMEs in South Africa to construct a structured questionnaire which was completed by 103 qualified accounting practitioners operating in South Africa. Main findings: Overall, the insights of accounting practitioners demonstrated reduced scepticism, as compared to previous research, concerning the extent to which the IFRS relieve the burden of financial reporting in the SME sector. Practical/managerial implications: The design of an accounting framework affects its use by accounting practitioners. Decisions usefulness theory demonstrates that standard setters should familiarise themselves with the challenges faced by accounting user groups to improve the relevance and reliability of financial statements. Contribution/value-add: This article will be useful to policymakers in debates regarding the appropriateness of IFRS for SMEs as a reporting framework and whether amendments are required. More specifically, whether amendments are required in relation to reducing the burden of financial reporting even further for smaller-scale SMEs.

Ensuring the Reliability of Fire-Arm Identification Evidence

Notwithstanding the acceptance of firearm identification by courts, the scientific community has been reluctant to recognise firearm identification as a reliable method of conclusively establishing a connection between a particular bullet and a particular gun. The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) in the United States (US) has categorised firearm identification as a discipline under forensic science, and forensic science has been described as a "fractured and burdened discipline". In addition, in 2009 the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) concluded that forensic science is broken. With regard to firearm identification, the NAS Report emphasised the need for sufficient studies to be done because this report regarded this type of evidence as unreliable and lacking repeatability. The President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) Report, released in September 2016, came to a conclusion similar to that of the 2009 NAS Report with regard to forensic science evidence. With regard to firearm identification, the report asserted that firearm identification evidence still "falls short of the scientific criteria for foundational validity". It is disturbing that courts across the globe are using different types of forensic science without subjecting them to scrutiny so as to determine their reliability. In the light of this, reliability and validity have become important factors which demand attention in Anglo-American litigation, even in jurisdictions that do not have a formal reliability standard (such as England and Wales, and South Africa). This article shows the role of cross-examination in establishing the reliability of firearm expert evidence. It also focusses on the role that South African forensic practitioners, prosecutors, defence counsels and presiding officers can play in ensuring the reliability of firearm identification evidence

Caveat Jurisconsultus: Warrantless Access to the Client Records of Legal Practitioners

A client legitimately regards almost all communications with his or her lawyer as confidential. However, there are circumstances in which client information is not protected under the attorney-client relationship and is accessible to certain third parties. In South Africa, the client records of legal practitioners are available to the anti-money laundering/combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) agencies, which conduct inspections of law offices under the Financial Intelligence Centre Act 38 of 2001. In terms of a 2008 amendment, these inspections did not require a warrant.In 2014, the South African Constitutional Court declared warrantless non-routine inspections unconstitutional. A legislative amendment of 2017 sought to restore the constitutionality of these inspections. However, neither the Constitutional Court nor the legislature addressed the issue of warrantless routine inspections. For the most part, then, AML/CFT inspections of the premises of legal practitioners need not be warrant-based. The danger here is that client records become ready evidentiary resources for the prosecution service.The Canadian AML/CFT legislation also envisaged a mostly warrantless inspection regime. However, unlike South African legal practitioners, their Canadian counterparts launched a vigorous and sustained assault against the legislative efforts to erode the attorney-client relationship and the legal professional privilege. The Federation of Law Societies of Canada eventually secured exemption for its members from the compliance measures of the AML/CFT legislation. The Canadian experience should serve as an object lesson for the legal profession in South Africa.

The perceptions of South African accounting practitioners on the post-implementation of IFRS for SMEs in an institutionalised environment

Orientation: Small and medium-sized entities (SMEs) play a crucial role in the South African economy. The financial reporting framework applicable to SMEs may contribute to the success of the SME. This study was exploratory in nature and followed an interpretive approach to seek an in-depth understanding of the application of the International Financial Reporting Standards for Small and Medium-Sized Entities (IFRS for SMEs) in South Africa. Research purpose: This article explores the perceptions of South African accounting practitioners regarding the post-implementation of the IFRS for SMEs in the South African SME sector. Motivation for the study: South African research on IFRS for SMEs is scarce. This study was designed to contribute to the scarce body of literature on IFRS for SMEs and will benefit both the South African and international accounting profession. Research approach/design and method: In-depth semi-structured interviews with 21 accounting practitioners were carried out during 2017 and 2018. An interpretive approach was adopted to analyse the data into themes providing the insight into the perceptions of South African practitioners. Main findings: Overall, there appears to be an approval of IFRS for SMEs. The uniformity associated with IFRS for SMEs is one of the significant advantages, while factors such as the age of the practitioners, the use of automated software systems and South African legislative requirements affect the relative merit of using the standard. Practical/managerial implications: The use of the interpretive style will assist professional accounting organisations, standard setters and regulators in understanding the various benefits and drawbacks of the IFRS for SME framework. Contribution/value-add: This article is the first to explore the in-depth views of accounting practitioners after IFRS for SMEs was adopted in South Africa. The article also highlights the challenges faced by accounting practitioners in developing economies that service SMEs.

The Status of Forensic Anthropology in Europe and South Africa: Results of the 2016 FASE Questionnaire on Forensic Anthropology.

One of the goals of the Forensic Anthropology Society of Europe (FASE) is to map the existing education and practice opportunities in the field of forensic anthropology in order to support the development of the discipline and to optimize the training courses provided by the Society. To address this goal, an online questionnaire was sent to European and South African practitioners of forensic anthropology and related disciplines in 2016. The results of the questionnaire showed that the status and roles of forensic anthropologists vary depending on the national legal systems, education, and employment status of the practitioners. Despite the fact that the expertise of forensic anthropologists has been increasingly requested in a variety of investigations and the spectrum of tasks has become broader, including identification of living persons, specialized education in forensic anthropology is still restricted to a few graduate and postgraduate programs in European countries and to annual FASE courses.

Performing Mindful Creativity: Three South African Case Studies

This essay is grounded in the practical experience of three South African theatre practitioners who have all had some experience of mindfulness. It’s based on interviews conducted with a performer (Andrew Buckland), a director (Janni Young), and a designer (Illka Louw). The aim of my conversations with these three was to explore ways in which mindfulness continues to enhance artistic practises, seeing our dialogues as a springboard to exploring intersections between creative practise and theories about mindfulness. To assist me in this process, I also interviewed Rob Nairn – co-founder of both the Mindfulness Association (UK) and Mindfulness Africa (RSA) – about key issues highlighting convergences between creativity and mindfulness. Some of the issues which are addressed include: the artist’s relationship with fear, differing definitions of the value of conceptualisation, as well as whether or not the monkey mind (that is, the wandering mind) might hamper or help creativity.

European and American Perspectives on the Choice of Law Regarding Cross-Border Insolvencies of Multinational Corporations – Suggestions for South Africa

An increase in economic globalisation and international trade has amounted to an increase in the number of multinational enterprises that have debt, own assets and conduct business in various jurisdictions around the world. This, coupled with the recent worldwide economic recession, has inevitably caused the increased occurrence of multinational financial default, also known as cross-border insolvency (CBI).
 
 The legal response to this trend has, inter alia, produced two important international instruments that were designed to address key issues associated with CBI. Firstly, the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) adopted the UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency (the Model Law) in 1997, which has been adopted by nineteen countries including the United States of America and South Africa. Secondly, the European Union (EU) adopted the European Council Regulation on Insolvency Proceedings (EC Regulation) in 2000. Both the EC Regulation and Chapter 15 adopt a “modified universalist” approach towards CBI matters.
 
 Europe and the United States of America are currently the world leaders in the area of CBI and the CBI legislation adopted and applied in these jurisdictions seems to be effective. As South Africa’s Cross-Border Insolvency Act is not yet effective, there is no local policy guidance available to insolvency practitioners with regard to the application of the Model Law. At the basis of this article is the view that an analysis of the European and American approaches to CBI matters will provide South African practitioners with valuable insight, knowledge and lessons that could be used to understand and apply the principles adopted and applied in terms of the EC Regulation and Chapter 15, specifically the COMI concept, the “establishment” concept in the case of integrated multinational enterprises and related aspects. 

Editorial: Towards a Better Understanding of Aggression and Other Related Concepts

This special issue entitled “Towards a better understanding of aggression and other related concepts” is a product of the XXXVII CICA International Conference co-organized by two Polish universities: Kazimierz Wielki University of Bydgoszcz and the University of Zielona Góra. It took place from the 22 to the 25 June, 2014 and was attended by about 100 participants from 16 countries [1]. The aim of the Conference was to study the phenomena of aggression and conflict resolution using a comprehensive, integrated and interdisciplinary approach which takes into account both biological and psycho-socio-cultural factors. Several communications dealing with emotions, including anger and fear, and others with behaviors such as aggression, violence and terrorism, have been selected for this issue. A Southafrican practitioner, Tina Lindhard, specialized in transpersonal psychology, suggests that maybe it is time we start studying emotions including anger and fear from "the inside out" by including phenomenology as a method to throw more light on how we experience these states in or through our bodies. Furthermore, she presents the "Living Matrix" model, which owes its origin to Quantum Mechanics and Electronic Biology, as a new complementary way of understanding how the living organism functions [2]. The Italian scholar Dr. Pagani stresses the complexity of violence, presented as a macrosystem of networks and of agents linked and interacting at different interconnected levels. She points out to the difficulty of defining violence, referring it not only to the explorations of the connections between systems taken from different research fields, but also to the theoretical premises and to the aims of the research. She argues that this “holistic” approach could allow a deeper understanding of violence and could lead towards more innovative and effective solutions to the problem of violence itself [3]. Dr. Ramirez, who has dedicated several decades of his research to the analysis of the justification of aggression from a cross-cultural approach across four continents, evaluates the applicability of a specific test (CAMA) in a new cultural context, assessing the structural equivalence of the data obtained in two different German age cohorts with the data previously investigated across the other cultures. Some adaptations concerning the assessment and theoretical models of the justification of aggressive actions in the German cultural context are being discussed [4]. Two academic colleagues from the University of Zielona Góra, Dr. Farnicka & Dr. Grzegorzewska, focus on some more practical aspects of aggression research, if we may say that, leading towards its prevention or therapy in children and adolescents. These Polish psychologists identify and analyse the family determinants for undertaking the aggressor or victim role. The results of their study reveal a number of determinants for people involved in perpetration or victimization, such as the type of relationship with parents (secure or insecure pattern), personal experience of being in the victim or aggressor role, and the level of hostility [5]. Finally, the first president of the Society for Terrorism Research, Dr. LoCicero, recounts some concerns raised by American psychologists, both earlier, in the years following September 11, 2001 (9/11), and more recent changes in the US policy, leading towards the risk for the USA of becoming a police state. According to her paper, engaging in open discussion about the failings of the American policy, the sometimes legitimate grievances of terrorist groups, and the draw of violence as a solution, is likely to put sincere and innocent adults at risk of becoming targets of intensive surveillance and suspicion [6]. It is thus clear that the discussion on aggression and other related concepts is here carried out from various scientific perspectives, which include traditional experimental psychology with a special focus on the role of family relationships and cultural factors, social and political psychology with a special focus on the role of State policies, and other theoretical perspectives which try to integrate their psychological framework with contributions from western and eastern philosophy, the neurosciences, biology, quantum physics, and complexity theory.

Appreciative inquiry evaluation of child and adolescent community interventions in South Africa and United Kingdom

This international, qualitative study comparatively evaluated South African and United Kingdom child and adolescent community interventions. Appreciative inquiry information was gathered from five staff members in community centres in each country. South African practitioners represented various psychology categories, student, educational, counselling and clinical. United Kingdom multi-disciplinary practitioners comprised correctional officers and educational specialists. Data on practitioners’ perceptions about their respective community interventions were thematically content analysed. Both countries practitioners perceived individual, family and group community interventions transcended traditional professional activities. South African perceptions were more concerned with rural, grass roots issues involving provision of basic services, as well as community liberation, development and empowerment. United Kingdom perceptions were more structured, concerned with individual monitoring and placement of persons into established systems. Both countries utilised recognised community psychology models. South African interventions were relatively more liberatory and social action orientated and United Kingdom interventions were more mental health and organisationally structured.

Proportionality and the limitation clauses of the South African Bill of Rights

"Proportionality" is a contemporary heavy-weight concept which has been described as an element of a globalised international grammar and as a foundational element of global constitutionalism. The article firstly describes the elements of proportionality as they are generally understood in foreign systems, namely whether the limitation pursues a legitimate aim, whether the limitation is capable of achieving this aim, whether the act impairs the right as little as possible and the so-called balancing stage when it must be determined whether the achievement of the aim outweighs the limitation imposed. The German academic Alexy (Theorie der Grundrechte (1986)) developed what he called a mathematical weight formula to deal with the balancing stage. An overview is provided of how the elements of proportionality were dealt with in the text of the South African interim Constitution of 1994, the early jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court, and in the text of the final Constitution of 1996. Contemporary South African academic criticism of the use of the concept is also analysed. The article then endeavours to relate the elements of Alexy’s weight formula to both the elements of the South African general limitation clause in section 36 of the Constitution and to the appearance of such elements in the formulation of specific rights in the Bill of Rights. Although the levels of abstraction reached in the debates on the Alexy formula are so daunting that it is most unlikely that South African courts and practitioners will ever use it, certain valuable insights can be gained from it for the purposes of dealing with proportionality within the context of the limitation of rights in South Africa. Despite opposition from certain academics, proportionality is a prominent feature of the application of the limitation clauses in the South African Constitution. The elements of proportionality provides a useful tool for the application, within the context of the limitation of rights, of general and wide concepts such as "fairness", "reasonableness", "rationality", "public interest" and, somewhat surprisingly, also of the general concept "proportionality" as such. South Africa’s participation in the global recognition and application of this way of dealing with the limitation of rights is worthwhile.

The future context of work in the business environment in South Africa: Some empirical evidence

The future is uncertain, but management needs to determine and also be informed about possible change trends. This research, however, reports on empirical results of the views of South African HRM practitioners to identify and prioritise business change trends for 2002 and 2010 in terms of the “hard” or “soft” HRM debate in the literature. All organisations employing HRM practitioners were include and a total of 1640 questionnaires were distributed resulting in 207 useable responses. The results highlight trends such as increased international competition, globalisation and inadequate skills in different rankings for 2002 and 2010. It is concluded that HRM practitioners, are influenced by the “hard” or “soft” approach, when they participate in a strategic management context in organisations.

DO SOCIAL WORKERS REALLY MAKE A DIFFERENCE? MEASURING CLIENT SATISFACTION IN AN OCCUPATIONAL SETTING

Considerable time, effort and money annually go into the provision of social work services. South African practitioners cannot, however, yet prove beyond a doubt that these services meet the needs of client systems. Especially one gap still remains on the accountability continuum. This is the extent to which clients themselves are satisfied with the services they receive. Part of this gap has now been filled with the development and testing of client satisfaction scales for an occupational setting. This paper will deal with the nature of these scales and the implications of their use for the broader social work field.

South African drama and theatre heritage (part II): what does the future hold?

In Part I, ‘A map of where we find ourselves’, the focus was firstly on providing a theoretical substantiation for the new technological approach towards cultural heritage (including the performance arts); secondly, to give a short historical overview of the South African drama and theatre heritage; and thirdly, to survey the current situation with regard to drama and theatre preservation in South Africa. In Part II the focus is on the future: how can the many issues and problems currently experienced in terms of the preservation of our drama and theatre heritage in South Africa be addressed? The answer lies in the technological advances made in the field of performance heritage over the past two decades. Although there are numerous excellent examples of theatre archives internationally (especially in the USA, UK and Europe), in this article we focus on three exceptional initiatives, namely: (1) ECLAP (e-library for performing arts); (2) National Theatre Live, London, UK; and (3) the Routledge Performance Archive (UK). We hope that foregrounding these initiatives will inspire our own South African theatre practitioners and researchers to see the value of these developments for our own drama and theatre heritage. The article concludes with an invitation to all interested parties to participate in a project entitled SA Drama and Theatre Heritage launched at Unisa in 2012 by the Department of Afrikaans and Theory of Literature in collaboration with the Unisa Library (Archive).

The description of South African corporate communication practitioners that contribute to organisational performance

Public relations are a function that contributes to the greater good of society and the performance of an organisation (Grunig, 2006b; Grunig et al., 2002). However, many times the practitioner fails to accomplish this undertaking (Grunig et al., 2002; Tobin, 2004; Van Ruler, 1997).Practitioners, researchers and professional bodies from various countries have researched, and tried to suggest the abilities, skills, knowledge and approach that practitioners should have and take, in order to make a contribution to organisational performance. However, no study has provided a comprehensive prioritised list of all these variables in order to describe the practitioner that contributes to organisational performance.In light of this problem, this study tries to describe the South African public relations practitioner that will be able to contribute to organisational performance. The study firstly prioritises and tests all the variables influencing practitioners listed in literature against the views of South African practitioners in top performing organisations. Secondly the study, through the use of structural equation modelling, builds a model that describes the variables pertaining to a South African practitioner that contribute to organisational performance, from the view of South African practitioners.The study is framed within the relational, reflective, two-way symmetrical and feminist paradigms, supported by the general excellence theory as meta-theory, and the relationship management and corporate communication role theories. The multidimensional paradigm was specifically selected to accommodate the complex research context (Grunig, 1989, 2006a; Valin, 2004).The research methodology followed is both exploratory and interpretive. The literature study is followed by semi-structured interviews with four purposefully selected practitioners and the chairpersons of the two professional bodies (PRISA and IABC) in order to verify the variables identified in literature, and possibly identify new variables pertaining to the South African environment. All these variables were then used to construct a questionnaire completed by public relations practitioners active in the 1319 top performing South African organisations as per South Africa's Top 300 National Companies List (Fletcher, 2007) and the Financial Mail Top 200 Companies List (Williams, 2005). A response rate of 19.9% was achieved.The qualitative data was content analysed and the quantitative data analysed by means of Statistica (StatSoft Inc., 2007) and SPSS (SPSS Inc., 2007) data analysis software. In order to build a model that describes the South African practitioner that contributes to organisational performance, structural equation modelling by means of AMOS (SPSS Inc., 2009) software was used.In essence it was found that practitioners should take ownership of and manage their contribution to organisational performance. Furthermore, 13 variables pertaining to the individual-, industry- and professional-levels were statistically verified as the most important variables describing South African practitioners contributing to organisational performance. Due to the specific relationship between these variables, it would seem that enhancing any of these 13 variables would enhance the practitioner's contribution to organisational performance. The main contribution of the study is to add to the discussion on the how the profession can manage and expand its contribution to organisational performance.

Understanding DSM-5. Advice for South African practitioners

Understanding DSM-5. Advice for South African practitioners