Pastoral care interventions by untrained pastoral caregivers in Polokwane Province, South Africa

Abstract

Studies that were conducted about pastoral counselling interventions have successfully brought to light areas which were previously unknown. However, little has been written about pastoral counselling interventions by untrained pastoral counsellors and the role that untrained pastoral counsellors play in their pastoral counselling interventions. Some of their interventions were acceptable but other interventions were outrightly unacceptable, questionable, and a little deviant from the expected norm. This study seeks to investigate various counselling interventions and services conducted by untrained pastoral counsellors in the Polokwane Local Municipality of the Limpopo Province of South Africa. A qualitative research approach was utilized to solicit the needed information from various participants in this study to answer the research questions. This study utilized purposive sampling. These willing participants were interviewed using semistructured interviews. Focus group discussions added more value in getting more helpful information for better analysis and interpretation of the findings of this study. The findings that this study generated will add light to the body of knowledge and allow other researchers to expand more on this subject or related parts of this topic.