5.2 Questionnaire analysis – Scoring and definition of variables
5.2.2 Need for reconciliation and healing
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As indicated from Figure 5.3 above, it is quite evident that overall, the highest rating with respect to the participation of MCZ by training, is related to the item on ‘the church provided humanitarian needs to victims of violence’. This item comprised of food, shelter and clothing, recording the highest mean score of 4.2 among the untrained against 4.1 among the trained.
Relatively, the forgiveness was the centre of reconciliation and healing which reflected the second highest recording of 4.1 with a tie among and between the untrained and trained, however, as noted above, a mean around 4 would predict a tendency to agree with the statements. While the majority of the items were rather homogeneous, the least rated were notably, ‘vocational training centres were established and health service centres were instituted with the mean score of 3.3 among the trained against 3.5 and 3.7 among untrained, respectively which would foretell a tendency to agree with the statements. On the same the item, I was involved with the church in various peace-building initiatives which indicates 3.3 among the trained. The other poorly recorded items, with an equal mean score of 3.5, were linked to vocational training centres being established as well as the church participating in peace- building process and being among the untrained. Despite significance difference between variables, a mean around 3 would foreshadow a tendency to agree with statements. Overall, the most distinct gap 0.5 is clearly identified from the church participated in peace-building process having untrained with a mean score of 3.5 versus 4.0 of the trained.
77 Table 5.2 Need for reconciliation and healing
Gender Status Training
Female Male Significance Minister Lay Person Significance Trained Untrained Significance
Both perpetrators and victims
need reconciliation and healing 4.3 4.7 M>F
p=0.000 4.7 4.4 M>L
p>0.006 4.7 4.2 T>U p=0.000 The MCZ intervention reached
out to national political leaders 3.7 3.4 F>M
p>0.008 3.4 3.6 L.M
p>0.008 3.5 3.6 p>0.05 Peace-building initiatives
reached out at grassroots level 3.7 3.5 p>0.05 3.5 3.7 L>M
p=0.045 3.5 3.7 p>0.05 Survivors need psychotherapy
for PTSD 4.3 4.4 p>0.05 3.2 3.4 p>0.05 3.2 3.5 T>U
p=0.002 Social relationships have been
addressed 3.4 3.2 p=0.05 3.2 3.4 p>0.05 3.2 3.5 U>T
p=0.039 Physical healing has been done 3.3 3.0 F>M
p=0.015 3.0 3.3 L>M
p=0.030 3.1 3.3 p>0.05
From the foregoing, it is evident that the two highly rated items across the three categories were that both perpetrators and victims need reconciliation and healing, as well as that survivors need psychotherapy for PTSD. Table 5.2 above, linked with Figures 5:4, 5.5 and 5.6 below, reliably reflected the significance difference in the mean scores on the need for reconciliation and healing. With regard to the issue of both perpetrators and victims needing reconciliation and healing a mean around 4 would indicate a tendency to agree with a statement as there were more responses from males than females with a significant difference of 4.7 and 4.3 (p=0.000), more scores from ministers than laypersons with a significant difference of mean 4.7 and 4.4 (p=0.006) as well as more from trained than untrained with a significant difference of 4.7 and 4.2 (p=0.000). Reasons for variances could be: in male versus female, violence is mostly perpetrated by males and women appear to know the remedy for the survivors. Also, they are more into peace-building. With the case of ministers versus lay people, it could be that ministers are informed of the depth of hurt from both sides which need intervention since and they are very much into the ministry of reconciliation and healing by virtue of their profession.
For trained versus untrained, it is probably due to level of understanding that both survivors and perpetrators need therapy and also the trained were exposed in training as to where they could identify that need.
On the matter of the MCZ intervention reaching out to national political leaders, a mean above 3 would foretell a disposition to agree with a statement as there were more females who agreed than their male counterparts with a significant difference of 3.8 and 3.4 (p=0.008). It may have
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been the higher responses were influenced by the fact that women are the majority within national statistics, in the church and in political arena. Also it was noted that intervention reached out to national political leaders with a significant difference of 3.6 and 4.3 (p=0.008);
more lay persons agreed than ministers in their responses. The statistical difference can be due to the bias that 52% were lay people as compared to 48% ministers with the laity being more privy to politics by being members, hence they knew more about what transpired than ministers.
Comparing responses between females, a significant difference of 3.3 and 3.0 (p=0.015) was noted on ‘physical healing has been done’, where there were more positive females than males who were neutral. The trend could be that as females are the vulnerable variable in society, they are exposed to violence and the majority are into health services. On the same matter of physical healing, more lay persons agreed than ministers with a significance difference of 3.3 and 3.0 (p=0.030); probably the variance was demographically influenced and also the most affected victims were the lay people who had stories to tell, in this case, a mean around 3 would indicate a tendency to agree with above statements. Over the matter of ‘survivors need psychotherapy for PTSD’, a mean above 4 would point a reflection to agree with a statement as trained respondents agreed more than untrained with a significant difference of 4.5 and 4.1 (p=0.002). The leading factor over the difference could be due to the trained understanding better than the untrained that survivors need therapy (they were 66% against untrained 34%);
also, they could have been involved in counselling processes. In respect of social relationships having been addressed, a high mean score of untrained agreed more than the trained, statistically owing to a significant difference of 3.5 and 3.2 (p=0.039). The deviation could be from the fact that the trained had been involved in peace-building and may have observed that the process did not take place effectively. Comparatively, more lay people agree than ministers, with a significant difference of 3.7 and 3.5 (p=0.045). The general assumption leading to significant difference could be the fact that as lay people constitute the grassroots, it also means that more have experienced peace-building processes (52% being lay people against 48% being ministers) and this could have yielded a biased response. However, a mean around 3 indicated a tendency to agree with the above statements.
Given the responses, there appeared to be a true reflection that there was need for reconciliation and healing as the trend of every question’s mean score was not beyond an average of 3.0. This
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confirms that positively, peace-building was a necessity despite marked differences in certain areas.
Based on the outcome above, it can be seen that the ratings of the need for reconciliation and healing differed across the three demographic characteristics, that is, gender, status as well as training. On the gender variable, whether one was female or male tended to influence the perceptions of the respondents as three of the items significantly differed in ratings with respect to this group (p<0.05). These include questionnaire analysis for:
Both perpetrators and victims need reconciliation and healing The MCZ intervention reached out to national political leaders Physical healing has been done
In the comparison between ministers and the laymen (status variable), four of the items significantly differed in ratings with respect to this group (p<0.05). These include questionnaire analysis on
Both perpetrators and victims need reconciliation and healing The MCZ intervention reached out to national political leaders Peace-building initiatives reached out at grassroots level Physical healing has been done
With respect to the training variable, trained versus untrained revealed that three of the items significantly differed in ratings with respect to this group (p<0.05). These included questionnaire analysis on:
Both perpetrators and victims need reconciliation and healing
Survivors need psychotherapy for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) Social relationships have been addressed
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Figure 5.4: Need for reconciliation and healing by gender
Basing on the findings in Figure 5:4 above, the highest ratings with respect to the need for reconciliation and healing by gender, were related to both perpetrators and victims needing reconciliation and healing. This has been highly rated with a mean of 4.7 among males. Females also acknowledged this need and rated this item with 4.3. Another item highly rated is linked to the survivors needing psychotherapy for PTSD with a mean of 4.4 among males while their female counterparts recorded 4.3. From the above two items, a mean around 4 would forecast to a tendency to agree with statements. However, the least recordings with mean of 3 as well as 3.2 were among males based on the items, ‘physical healing has been done’ and ‘social relationships have been addressed’, respectively also pointed a tendency to agree with a statement. Though the majority of the items were rather similar, the observed gap between males and females was 0.4 in terms of the item that both perpetrators and victims need reconciliation and healing.
4,3 3,7 3,7
4,3 3,4
3,3
4,7 3,4
3,5
4,4 3,2
3
0 0,5 1 1,5 2 2,5 3 3,5 4 4,5 5
Both perpetrators and victims need reconciliation and healing The MCZ intervention reached out to national political leaders
Peace building initiatives reached out at grassroots level Survivors need psychotherapy for post-traumatic stress
disorder (PTSD)
Social relationships have been addressed Physical healing has been done
MALE FEMALE
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Figure 5.5: Need for reconciliation and healing by status
From the findings of Figure 5.5 above, the two items that recorded highest mean scores of 4.7 and 4.5, both among misters, are notable: both perpetrators and victims need reconciliation and healing and survivors need psychotherapy for PTSD, respectively. To a less extent, these items were rated lower among laypersons with 4.4 and 4.2 respectively, in this case a mean around 4 pointed a tendency to agree with the statements. Nevertheless, while the majority of the items were rather homogeneous, the least rated were notably, ‘physical healing has been done’ and
‘social relationships were addressed’ with mean of 3.0 and 3.2 respectively, both among ministers and the mean around 3 would indicate a disposition to agree with statements. On the whole, the most outstanding gap between ministers and laypersons was 0.3 and is observed in
‘physical healing has been done’, ‘survivors need psychotherapy for PTSD’ as well as ‘both perpetrators and victims need reconciliation and healing’.
4,4 3,6
3,7 4,2 3,4
3,3
4,7 3,4
3,5
4,5 3,2
3
0 0,5 1 1,5 2 2,5 3 3,5 4 4,5 5
Both perpetrators and victims need reconciliation and healing The MCZ intervention reached out to national political leaders
Peace building initiatives reached out at grassroots level Survivors need psychotherapy for post-traumatic stress
disorder (PTSD)
Social relationships have been addressed Physical healing has been done
MINISTERS IAYPERSONS
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Figure 5.6: Need for reconciliation and healing training
With regard to the findings from Figure 5.6 above, clear evidence shows that the highest ratings in respect of need of reconciliation and healing by training are related to both perpetrators and victims needing reconciliation and healing with a mean score of 4.7 among the trained. The untrained also acknowledged this need and rated this item with 4.2. The other highly rated item was survivors needing psychotherapy for PTSD, and this was evident among the trained, with the respective rating of 4.5 against the 4.1 rating among untrained. However, a mean around 4 would foretell a reflection to agree with statements on the above. From another perspective, though the majority of the items were rather uniform, the least rated were identifiable: ‘physical healing has been done’ with a rating of 3.1 among the trained against 3.3 among the untrained.
Nevertheless, another item, ‘social relationships have been addressed’ was rated in the category of the least as evidenced by the 3.2 rating among the trained versus 3.5 among the untrained, over and above a mean around 3 would indicate a tendency to agree with foresaid statements.
Overall, the most distinct gap between trained and untrained was 0.5 as observed from the item
‘both perpetrators and victims need reconciliation and healing’.