Abdool Karim (Daily News, 02 December 2009) aptly states that one of the daunting social development challenges facing our young democracy in South Africa is the HIV and AIDS pandemic which has seriously impacted on the increase of HIV infected children. The study explored the experiences of social workers in the provision of reconstruction services to HIV infected children. This research study used a qualitative descriptive methodology. There were two sample groups: one consisted of five social workers from five institutions and the second consisted of six social workers from two child welfare organizations. Data was collected by means of semi-structured in- depth interviews with the institutional social workers. One focus group was held with child welfare social workers for the purpose of enhancing the reliability, validity and trustworthiness of the study. Globalization has had a substantial impact on social work services which has been further articulated through ‘new managerialism’, whereby welfare states are becoming cost effective businesses (Dominelli, 2002). Both welfare agencies and social workers pursuant to “new managerialism” have to justify their existence on a day to day basis due to the market principles that have been applied to the profession; it has to be ‘economically sound’ to be a social worker and to continue to be employed. The findings show that there were five key themes and various sub-themes that emerged from the in-depth interviews and the focus group interviews that posed as challenges for social workers. The lack of resources, high staff turnover, the recruitment of foster families emerged as factors that contributed to the challenges experienced by both institutional and child welfare social workers. Despite the many constraints placed on social workers several initiatives have been taken by institutional and child welfare social workers in the implementation of various services and programmes provided to families, communities and children infected or affected by the HIV and AIDS pandemic. In the face of “new managerialism” it is recommended that social workers need to accept that structural forces such as the economy, political, poverty and unemployment have a profound impact on organizations therefore it is necessary for social workers to advocate and lobby for adequate resources such as vehicles, access to telephones and computers and regular supervision, in the provision of reconstruction services. Furthermore social workers must have an updated knowledge regarding relevant policies and legislation that impact service delivery. The Department of Social Development should work in collaboration with the Department of Health and Education so that efforts could be made to ensure that HIV infected children continue with schooling, thereby developing them into more independent individuals. Finally an additional subsidy should be provided by the National Department of Social Development to institutions for services to accommodate family and prospective foster parents who stay over at institutions. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

Introduction: Integrated management of childhood illness (IMCI) is a child survival strategy that has been adopted in South Africa (SA) as the standard of care for managing sick children in the primary health care setting. IMCI includes guidelines for management of paediatric HIV. This study aimed to investigate effectiveness of IMCI as a vehicle to deliver essential child survival interventions, particularly HIV interventions, in routine practise in a high HIV prevalence setting, and to investigate barriers and enabling factors for IMCI implementation. Methods: The study was conducted in Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal provinces, SA. In the qualitative component, focus group discussions were conducted with IMCI trained health workers and carers of children under 5 years, to explore experiences of IMCI implementation, particularly the HIV component, from the perspective of both target groups. A comparative survey was then conducted. Randomly selected IMCI trained nurses were observed for up to 20 consultations with sick children presenting consecutively to the facility, and their findings compared to those of an IMCI expert who subsequently assessed the child. Observed children were tested for HIV. Results: IMCI trained nurses found IMCI training informative and empowering, and there was agreement among nurses that their skills in managing sick children improved after training. Barriers to IMCI implementation included increased time required for IMCI consultations and lack of support from colleagues. IMCI trained nurses expressed reluctance to implement the HIV component of IMCI, believing it to be unnecessary, unacceptable to mothers and that they lacked the skills to implement HIV care. In total, 77 IMCI trained nurses were observed for a total of 1357 consultations between May 2006 and January 2007; nurses were observed for a mean of 17.7 consultations. Components of the IMCI assessment were frequently omitted; 14/77(18%) nurses asked about all main symptoms in every child. IMCI classifications were often incorrect; 52/112 (46.4%) children with a general danger sign were correctly classified. The HIV component was poorly implemented, 342/1357 (25.2%) children were correctly classified for HIV, although the HIV algorithm performed well when implemented by IMCI experts. Conclusion: IMCI implementation is fragmented and incomplete. Interventions are urgently needed to achieve and maintain high quality health worker performance in implementing IMCI. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.

Thesis (MSD (Play Therapy)) -- University of Pretoria, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references.

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

Thesis (MTech (Nursing))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available online.

This study explores secondary school children’s constructions of care and support provided for ‘vulnerable’ schoolchildren in the age of HIV and AIDS. The study attempts to respond to the following two research questions: What are secondary school children’s constructions of care and support in a rural school context in the age of HIV and AIDS? How can the use of participatory arts-based research enable agency in the lives of ‘vulnerable’ secondary school children in a rural school context in the age of HIV and AIDS? The provision of care and support for ‘vulnerable’ school children is of key concern in South African schools since the number of ‘vulnerable’ children is rising because of the increase in the prevalence of HIV and AIDS, which renders many school children ‘vulnerable’. Schools are mandated by departmental policy to provide care and support to ‘vulnerable’ school children, but they are challenged in their implementation of this policy, which leaves ‘vulnerable’ school children inadequately cared for and supported. The input from school children is often not drawn upon, and this hampers the effectiveness of the provision of care and support. This qualitative study is positioned within a critical paradigm, and employs a participatory arts-based research methodology in its intention to take an approach based on the notion of research as intervention. Twenty Grade 11 male and female school children aged 16 to 21, from two secondary schools in the rural Vulindlela district in KwaZulu-Natal, were purposively selected, using inclusion criteria. The Life Orientation teachers assisted in identifying participants from the school register of ‘vulnerable’ schoolchildren. This did not mean that they were living with HIV or AIDS, but that they were ‘vulnerable’, and at risk of dropping out of school. The study made use of a multimodal approach of data generation with the school children, in which several visual methods, such as drawing, photovoice, and collage, as well as reflective free writing, were used in a participatory way as modes of inquiry, representation, and dissemination. The ethics of research with ‘vulnerable’ school children made the dictum, “do the most good” through the research important, and hence the use of the strategy of research as intervention. The data analysis involved two levels – that of the school children’s own analysis of their visual artifacts, and my overarching thematic analysis, using Tesch’s (1990) open coding. Informed by the theoretical frameworks of Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) bio-ecological systems theory and Giddens’s (1984) structuration theory, the findings show that care and support in schools is constructed as a reciprocal relationship, and they point to the importance of school children’s own agency in the provision of care and support. The findings show that school children construct themselves as both visible and invisible in relation to care and support in school, in that they receive care and support but are overlooked in terms of being able to offer input on how care and support should be provided. Furthermore, the findings indicate that school children perceive the school to be an environment that enables but also constrains the provision of care and support: the infrastructure, the safety and security, and the instructional spaces in the school do provide the basics for care and support, but the overt and covert discrimination by school children and teachers, the challenge of putting policies into practice, and the overall fragmented provision of care and support in the school are constraining. Another emerging finding from this study is that secondary school children construct themselves as being included in the strengthening of care and support in rural schools. The use of visual arts-based methods enabled the exploration of how ‘vulnerable’ school children construct care and support in a rural school; the findings also indicated how the use of visual arts-based research contributed to making a difference in the lives of ‘vulnerable’ school children: it was a joyful experience; it leveraged multiple literacies; it contributed to cooperation, collaboration, and collective construction of knowledge; and, in encouraging thought about the issue, it raised critical awareness of, and solutions to, providing care and support in the school. The findings also pointed out how the visual artifacts could be disseminated in the school, and how this could influence the well-being of the community. The findings have implications for how schools provide care and support for ‘vulnerable’ school children. The findings could be engaged with by schools and the Department of Basic Education as a tool to accomplish strengthening the provision of care and support in rural schools, so that care and support are socially and culturally embedded, and to inform policy making through an approach that can be described as being from the ground up.

“We owe them fathers, and a family and loving homes they never knew because we know deep in our hearts that they are all our children too,” These are words from the musical Miss Saigon by Boubill and Schonberg as quoted by van Dyk (2005:278) which prompted the researcher’s interest in the study. According to a study by Kimane and Mturi (2000:8), a good number of AIDS orphaned adolescents have the responsibility of the care of siblings. Moreover, they are economically active, forced to earn income for their own survival or for their unemployed siblings or extended family household. They are the young people one sees in the streets of Lesotho’s principle cities, selling fruit or collecting fares in local taxis. For girls, the situation is particularly dire. While they too sell goods on the streets or some are employed as domestic workers, many find the lure of commercial sex work and the promise of cash irresistible (Kimane and Mturi, 2000:8). However, Fraser (2004:143) denotes that some children, when faced with stressful conditions, construct socially adverse situations as challenges and opportunities and access adequate amounts of available individual and environmental resources. This general frame of reference through which individuals appraise and react to events and situations in the environment is termed resiliency (Fraser, 2004:143). The aim of the study was to explore and describe the experiences of AIDS orphaned adolescents. A qualitative approach with an exploratory-descriptive research design was employed to meet the aims of the study. The research was conducted in Thaba-Bosiu, Maseru. Purposive sampling was used to access a research sample with the assistance of a service rendering organisation in Lesotho. Data was collected by means of semi-structured interviews with eight AIDS orphaned adolescents between the ages of 15 -18 years. Data was analysed according to the framework provided by Tesch (in Creswell, 1994:153) and Guba’s model (in Krefting, 1991:217) was employed for data verification. It was anticipated that the study would contribute to the recommendations towards the development of more effective programmes for the AIDS orphans in Lesotho. In addition, undertaking this research was viewed as critical as it would provide the much needed scientific basis on which the Social Work professional body would be able to reflect on its AIDS orphan support strategies.

The purpose of the study was to describe the personal views of superintendents and their opinions of their school boards' views in regard to schools and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). The population for this study included the superintendents identified by a panel of jurors, on the basis of reputational excellence, for inclusion in"The Executive Educator 100" and published in the February 1987 issue of the Executive Educator. The study utilized survey research methodology to address the following questions: what are the personal views of superintendents, what are the relationships between these views and certain demographic characteristics and what are the relationships between the superintendents' responses and their opinion of their school boards' views? Eight items were identified on which superintendents were most evenly divided in their response. These items included the following statements: the current curriculum was sufficient for students to develop a comprehensive understanding of the causality and nature of AIDS, schools should be responsible for the shaping of attitudes and responses of students to the possibility of transmission of AIDS, schools should provide counseling for family members of student AIDS victims, an AIDS education inservice program should be mandatory for all certificated personnel, the school curriculum should specifically address the moral and values issues associated with AIDS, students with AIDS should be excluded from participation in contact sports programs, persons with AIDS should not be protected by Federal antidiscrimination legislation, and district policies should not differentiate between AIDS and any other communicable disease or virus. Superintendent response was found to be affected by respondents' sex, promotion to the superintendency, the identification of AIDS as an issue affecting schools, years experience in education, community description of district served, race, district enrollment size and whether or not the respondent had participated in an AIDS information workshop. There was a high degree of concurrence between the superintendents' views and their beliefs of their school boards' views regarding schools and AIDS. Only the issues of condom distribution in schools indicated an anticipated conflict in opinion. / Ph. D.

The HIV/AIDS orphan crisis is one of the humanitarian and developmental challenges facing the global community. Providing a home, medical care, education, psychosocial support and basic needs for these children is part of the challenge that faces our generation. The purpose of this study was to explore whether an AIDS CARE pilot project implemented at DCS was able to successfully place ten HIV/AIDS infected orphans in fostercare. The ecological perspective provided the theoretical framework within which the study was conducted. This perspective guided the selection of the study samples and the analysis of data. Sample one comprised ten foster parents who resided in various townships and suburbs in Durban. Sample two comprised of semi professional and professional staff that were involved in the daily care of the HIV infected orphans and well as ensuring their placement in fostercare. The study found that recruitment, training and support were vital aspects in preparing foster parents to care for the HIV/AIDS infected child. The study also found that while residential child care institutions will continue to play a role in the care of children affected by HIV/AIDS, the magnitude and social impact of the disease renders it necessary that alternate models of care (this study proposes one model), within a community development paradigm be developed. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2003.

Honors Project--Smith College, Northampton, Mass., 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 79-87).