Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2005. / Supervisor: Kathleen Stewart. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (MA (Counselling Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references. Available on the Internet via the World Wide Web.

M.Ed. / The word HIV/AIDS has dominated the media day in and day out, news is up as to how the pandemic is ravaging the whole world. Particularly at risk are the children and young people. In this mist of confusion and frustration one cannot really afford to turn a blind eye on this scourge. As there is no cure for HIV/AIDS, the only hope is “awareness” so that people can adequately protect themselves. The aim of this research is to find out whether the inclusion of HIV/AIDS- programmes in the school curriculum may not create an awareness about the epidemic, and as such, prevent the vast spread of the virus. In the light of the statement above, the following questions were formulated: • Are the young people and children aware of the trends and patterns of HIV/AIDS? • Would the inclusion of HIV/AIDS-programmes in the school curriculum bring awareness about the pandemic and reduce the vast spread of the virus? In order to research the problem as stated above, qualitative and quantitative methods were chosen. The choice was informed by the fact that using combined methods will prevent biased findings, develop and enhance the understanding of social phenomena and strengthening triangulation. The findings indicated that the HIV/AIDS-programmes should form part of the curriculum. The conclusions made were based on the impact of HIV/AIDS developed from the literature overview in Chapter 2 and findings from data in Chapter 4. vi Recommendations were made to National, Provincial and School level: • There is a need for a coherent National HIV/AIDS curriculum development strategy which will ensure systematic planning on HIV/AIDS-programmes generally, and in particular conduct a survey to collect data on awareness levels in life skills education. • Effective and monitored communication systems among various stakeholders and curriculum implementers are needed to conduct workshops on HIV/AIDS. • Regional officials need to be empowered to enter into partnerships with other accredited programmes to combat HIV/AIDS. • Educators should be encouraged to develop HIV/AIDS lessons in classrooms in line with national guidelines. Lastly, this study was worth undertaking, taking cognisance of the rate at which HIV/AIDS is killing the people. If the recommendations are considered, there will be an increase of awareness and hopefully a change of behaviour. / Dr. M.C. van Loggerenberg

The decision to contribute my words to the discussion regarding HIV and AIDS emerged from my experience of the illness and subsequent death of my brother Jay, a gay man who killed himself eighteen months after a diagnosis of AIDS. The inquiry begins from my own experience of confusion, fear and eventual loss. Employing Jay's journal of his eighteen month “journey” with AIDS, I illustrate what can be learned about the social organization of AIDS “suicide” through the method of inquiry known as institutional ethnography. I assumed, when I began the analysis that I had found Jay's standpoint, his voice, that his words would show me the real Jay and how he finally made, by himself, his decision to die. Yet I found the narratives of medical, professional and immune and self-help discourses interjecting, defining, categorizing and being reflected in his words and actions. The analysis (that begins from Jay's journal as entry points) makes visible how a variety of ruling practices, ways of knowing, and authoritative knowledges organized Jay's account of his experience of living with AIDS, as they must have done his life itself and his decision to die. Thus, my central methodological interest has been to illustrate a way of knowing that is not simply a subjective rendering, nor an ideological account available only as discourse, but rather one which offers insight into how various social relations (might have actually) organized the everyday life of a man living/dying with AIDS. This project is not about who owns truth but rather about how HIV disease works today; that is, how concepts, institutional practices, and professional discourses intersect with and become part of the daily lives of actual individuals. The analysis displays the “work” involved in choosing to live or choosing to die by those with HIV disease and the discursive practices that “rule” those choices. The inquiry makes visible from an account of one person who lived with HIV/AIDS and those caring for him, how the standpoint of the everyday differs from the standpoint of professional action. While it is individual people with AIDS who will decide whether to take their own lives, depending on the circumstances in which they find themselves, I have attempted through this inquiry, to articulate how these decisions are fully social. As my research progressed, I discovered how my brother's death by his own act was turned from a heart-breaking attempt to take charge of his life—an unruly act-into conformity with official rules. I have shown what it means to say that his death, as well as his life with AIDS, was discursively organized and ruled. / Graduate

M.Phil. / In my view, the battle against the HIV/AIDS epidemic is the greatest challenge that we face as South Africans today. The harsh reality is that there is no vaccine or cure against HIV/AIDS, nor is there an immediate prospect of one. For this reason, I believe that alternative actions need to be taken in order to curtail the further spread of the disease. The need for such efforts is particularly great in the rural areas of South Africa, which is where large portions of people suffering from HIV/AIDS come from. Furthermore, I would assert that education offers the most important and valuable means of contributing to our fight against the further spread of HIV/AIDS. It is upon my involvement in an HIV/AIDS education initiative, which focused specifically on de-stigmatising HIV/AIDS in the rural community of Rammulotsi in Viljoenskroon, that I base the above view. The central aim of this inquiry was to critically inquire into the successes and failures of this education initiative and further determine the reasons for these, in order to ascertain how the project could be improved upon in the future. The entry point for the aforementioned HIV/AIDS education initiative had at its roots the precepts of emancipation, transformation and action. Thus the platform for developing a research endeavour interfaced within the theoretical framework of Transformative Learning Theory had been created. The research strategy that appeared to be best suited for addressing an inquiry of this nature was that of Action Research. It has utilised the four v major moments of the continuous cycle or spiral of planning, acting, observing, reflecting. However, the main focus of this study pertained to the observing and reflecting stages of the cycle, as the planning and acting stages had already occurred. Additionally, in keeping with the principles of Action Research, the study was conducted from a qualitative perspective and the methods of data collection utilised included participant observation, open-ended questionnaires and semi-structured, in-depth interviews. The participants of this. inquiry comprised nine adult community caregivers of the Hospice Association in Viljoenskroon, who reside in Rammulotsi, as well as my cofacilitator in the HIV/AIDS education initiative. The findings of this inquiry indicate that the HIV/AIDS education initiative embarked upon in the rural community of Rammulotsi, Viljoenskroon did succeed in realising the aims it set out to achieve. Furthermore, through the observation and reflection processes engaged in during the course of this inquiry two significant determinations were made. In the first place, it emerged that the participants' negative preconceptions and attitudes towards HIV/AIDS underwent a transformation. Secondly, the findings revealed additional notable issues for consideration in relation to future planning for the HIV/AIDS education initiative, thereby ensuring the sustainability of this project.

M.Cur. (Psychiatric Nursing) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.A.

Magister Public Health - MPH / The aim of the study is to determine the characteristics associated with ART adherence to , in Albert Horsfall Medicacal Center (AHMC), Abuja, Nigeria. The Objectives are to measure the adherence to ART, assess the association of the demographic characteristic of patients on ART with adherence to medications in the facility; and to establish patients' perspectivesto adherence and impediments to compliance to ART in the center. / South Africa

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (Clinical Psychology) in the Department of Psychology University of Zululand, 2004. / The present research investigated the attitudes and perceptions on condom-use among male and female students of the University of Zululand (main campus). The sample (N=100) consisted of male (N=68) and female (N=32) students, whose ages ranged from 17 to 44 years. The sample consisted of English, Sothor Tsonga, Swazi, Ndebele, and mainly Zulu speaking students (74%). Although a significant difference was found in perceptions of male and. female students on condom use on some items on sexual satisfaction, no significant differences were found in their perceptions on condom use in relation to health hazards and sexual interest.

No description available.