The development of a psycho-educational programme for adolescents who experience aggression in a secondary school.

D.Ed.The frequency and intensity of aggression that has become an everyday reality to an increasing number of adolescents who perpetrate it, witness it or become its victims necessitates research of the phenomenon in context so that measures may be put in place to curb it or prevent it from occurring in the first place. Despite current legislation to protect the rights and safety of pupils, reports in literature on aggression in South African schools illustrate the ways in which aggression continues to have a detrimental impact on adolescents in secondary schools. Hence, the first research aim of this study, conducted within a psychoeducational framework, was to explore how adolescents experience aggression in an urban public secondary school in the Johannesburg South school district in the Gauteng Province of South Africa. Based on the findings the second aim of the research study was to develop, implement and evaluate a psycho-educational programme for the constructive management of aggression that adolescents experienced in that context in order to facilitate improvements in their mental health. A mixed methods research design with an explorative, descriptive, explanatory and contextual focus was followed. The qualitative phase of the mixed methods design not only provided richer insight and understanding into the complex phenomenon of aggression in secondary schools but also served to provide a foundation for the quantitative stage of the study. The four criteria of truth-value, applicability, consistency and neutrality, identified by Guba to ensure trustworthiness in research, were applied. Ethical measures were strictly adhered to and included maintaining the confidentiality of the data and respecting the privacy, anonymity and the voluntary participation of the participants. Informed consent to conduct the research was obtained from the necessary authorities and from the research participants. The study was conducted in four phases as prescribed by programme development, implementation and evaluation. In phase one, the situation analysis phase, data was collected using phenomenological interviews and field notes which were verified by means of a literature control. The data generated from this phase was analysed using Tesch’s open coding method of analysing descriptive data. Three themes were identified that encapsulate the adolescents’ experience of aggression. The themes identified that adolescents are aware of their diverse experiences of aggression, that they experience aggression as an internal or external point of control in their lives and that they experience aggression as a barrier to healthy interpersonal relationships. The data was used in phase two as a basis to develop a psycho-educational programme aimed at teaching adolescent pupils the skills to manage the aggression they experience in secondary school in a constructive manner. Phase three saw the implementation of the psycho-educational programme. In phase four the researcher used an experimental research design to evaluate the efficacy of the programme. The results were analysed using rigorous statistical techniques. The narrative comments made by the participants to evaluate each workshop session were used to provide a qualitative evaluation of the programme process. The positive results obtained from both the qualitative and the quantitative evaluations of the psycho-educational programme suggest that it may be applied successfully to facilitate the constructive management of aggression that adolescents experience in the secondary school environment and in life so that they can attain mental health and actualise their full potential for a positive future