In many experiences told by the peer educators the themes of competence and relatedness were easy to see. However, as they formed a sort of symbiotic relationship, it was only possible to fully articulate the experience by seeing competence and relatedness as working in tandem. Particular tandem themes related to the lack of conversation about topics that emanated from some homes, and how relationships improved when this resolved.
6.6.1. Taming the taboo.
Participants stressed that talking about sexual or sensitive topics is very difficult for most peer educators whose culture does not encourage initiation of conversation by youth and where in many homes certain ‘hot” topics, such as sex, are not discussed at all: “Honestly speaking, I was so uncomfortable, I was, it felt like they swearing, you know, it felt like... This is not right, this is too much”. (P19)
However, the confidence in their competence about topics as well as their personal insights into the realities of youth life may prompt an educator to venture to raise taboo issues with his or her parents, with the motivation of doing so for “the greater good” Participant 19 reveals how she took the knowledge learnt at T-PEP and shared it with her parents:
…at home I confronted my parents and talked that - at school this is what we do, this is, how we educate others, people outside…I actually advised my parents, “if ever my younger sister, you have to tell them this, that and that. (P19)
She points out to her parents that failing to teach her could have had serious consequences: “Something that I didn’t learn because I would have made a mistake because you guys didn’t
explain it to me”. Participant 19 is gratified to find her parents accepting of her views, although she concedes that the media may have had an influence in their willingness to engage:
And they actually understood and they understood that this is how we do things in our schools and they actually helpful these days, because they playing it in
television as well. (P19)
She found it empowering to be able to share knowledge that she had learnt as a peer educator:
I actually passed the knowledge to my own parents - something that I've learned at school, something I’ve learned in the peer educators, passing it to my
community, to my parents and they actually gained something from me. (P19) P19 reports a deeper and more open relationship with her parents as well as noting that they view her as now competent and mature:
And they've seen something different from me, you know, they actually
complemented me like “wow where do you get this from” and they could see that I’ve grown and I’m matured enough now and... I was extremely happy, my parents listening to me talking about things like this, and they, they didn’t judge me about it; they, they just listening, they just enjoyed it …Not that I’m perfect but they could see that I’m, doing something, I’m responsible enough and doing some other things. (P19)
Gaining competence, i.e. knowledge and understanding regarding topics such as
HIV/AIDS and TB was a highlight of the programme for many participants. Participants found further that as their skill level increased and knowledge base deepened they gained a better understanding of the battles and prognosis of family members who had the disease. Equipped with knowledge, they were able to better support family members, or to educate them in taking steps for better health: “And then after that, I learned that there were some family members who had the virus in the family. So I didn't have a problem with being around them as much as I did before” (P07). Ultimately this meant that the relationship with the family member was
strengthened.
This participant found that it enables him to build a stronger and more satisfying relationship with his mother who is HIV positive. He explains how newfound knowledge he gained through the T-PEP changed the way he interacted with his mother:
As it’s my mother sometimes I feel like I can't if she needs help. I can't just have to look for a glove first in order to help, I need to just help her. But now when I came to peer edz I realised that it is important to wear gloves whenever you dealing with someone who is bleeding. Regardless if it's you mother or not your mother, you have to wear gloves and also you have to make that person part of the family, not to just say every word that you want to know you feel like you must be sensitive towards their feelings so that they don’t feel excluded. (P20)
Participant 20 relates that he gained confidence through this knowledge acquisition, and that he can, in turn, pass this knowledge to his mother who can then share it with others:
It makes me feel good because I get to know information on how to be strong in front of my mother, how to be strong and how can I help her help other people, because she knows other people who are affected as well who are afraid to tell their families and stuff, so she from the information she gets from me she can be able to help those people who are affected so they can also… (P20)
6.7. Conclusion
This chapter presented the findings of the data themes relating to the BPN constructs of autonomy, competence and relatedness. Mention is also made of findings in relation to competence together with relatedness. Narrative extracts from participants which exemplify these themes are set out. Many of the themes overlapped with subsequent extracted themes of well-being, prosocial behaviour and positive psychology constructs. These will be discussed in the next chapter, which presents a discussion of the findings of this study and their implications in light of the literature. There is also a discussion of the limitations of the findings and
Chapter Seven
Discussion, Limitations, Recommendations and Conclusion
7.1. Introduction
Anecdotal accounts report of well-being and enthusiasm of peer educators in peer
education programmes, yet there is little literature that details the motivations and benefits of such work for the educators themselves. The purpose of this research was to examine peer educator motivations and the satisfaction of related psychological needs and well-being in a specific peer education programme located at TSiBA. Data for the study were derived from semi-structured interviews with 24 peer educator participants. The central objective was to identify and ascribe peer educator motivations in terms of the Self Determination Theory of motivation. Additionally, the research sought to explore how peer educator work enabled basic psychological need
satisfaction, namely the needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness.
Peer education is a complex and challenging arena and a critical body of literature exists examining the role of the peer educator in effective peer education processes (Swartz et al., 2014). The aim of this research project was specifically to focus only on 3 pertinent questions. What motivates individuals to work as peer educators? What retains them in the work? And, how do they benefit from the work?
The discussion in this chapter focuses on the integration of findings of the study pertinent to these research questions. The findings are discussed with relevance to the theoretical
framework, that of SDT, in accordance with providing explanation for motivation and well-being. A secondary focus of this discussion draws out pertinent findings which also have significance in the related domains mentioned in this thesis, namely, positive psychology, well-being, peer education and prosocial motivation.