Thesis (MA (Play Therapy))--University of Pretoria, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2009. / Full text also available online. Scroll down for electronic link.

Thesis (DPhil(Social Work)--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references.

Magister Artium - MA / This study aimed to explore the gender imbalances that exist in access to education and participation in schooling of the female orphans and vulnerable children, and also how this relates to the continuing feminisation of the HIV and AIDS pandemic in Zambia. The study was based on the premise that the girl child is disadvantaged in this area, and the HIV and AIDS pandemic in worsening the situation for female orphans and vulnerable children. / South Africa

Magister Educationis - MEd / In many countries, the scale of poverty, and the alarming number of children now being orphaned by HIV and AIDS, has increased the roles and responsibilities of grandparents as caregivers in their grandchildren's lives. Not only do grandparents have to care for their grandchildren on a daily basis but they also carry the burden of seeing them through school, possibly with the fear that they might not be able to see them achieve all their dreams. This study examined the complex issues surrounding school attendance for orphaned children in Mbekweni, a township in the Western Province, in South Africa. The study explored the relationship between the attitudes of orphaned learners and their caregivers towards education and schooling itself, uncovering the struggles and the strengths of caregivers and orphaned children that directly relate to success or faiolure in school. / South Africa

The study seeks to explore and identify factors that prevent AIDS orphans in presenting themselves for Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT). Socio-cultural factors, notably, stigma and the resultant discrimination by community members, have been presented by many researchers as the main aetiological factors that hinder the use of VCT by AIDS orphans. It is on the basis of this that this study was conducted to identify factors that hinder AIDS orphans from accessing VCT. The study used a qualitative approach following an explorative and descriptive, contextual research design and was conducted at Ubuntu Education Fund, Port Elizabeth. Purposive sampling was used to determine a sample of AIDS orphans. Participants of the study had to be orphaned as a result of AIDS, isiXhosa-speaking, between 12-17 years, living in the care of a primary care-giver and had not presented themselves for VCT. Data was collected by means of semi-structured interviews. Semi-structured interviews are suitable in cases where the researcher is interested in an issue that is complex or personal (De Vos, Strydom, Fouche and Deloport, 2005). Data was analyzed according to the framework provided by Tesch (1990) as described in Creswell (2003). The major findings of this study were that people are locked in a ‘poverty-of-the mind cycle’, in respect of HIV and AIDS, and this is exacerbated by educational impoverishment and general poverty. The recommendations that emanated from this study are made from policy and service delivery perspectives. It is recommended that in order for AIDS orphans to access VCT they should be developed and empowered through sustainable programmes that enhance their capacities to the outmost realization of their potential. It is also recommended that health and other professionals should encourage AIDS orphans and community members to present themselves for VCT and thus curb the spread of HIV and AIDS.

The HIV and AIDS pandemic in South Africa has increased the number of orphans and vulnerable children in the school system. Given the prominent role that teachers can play in ensuring that these children receive a quality education so as to maximise their life opportunities, it is important for teachers to be empowered and equipped to enable them to deal with issues surrounding orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) at schools. This study focuses on how teachers are experiencing the impact of HIV and AIDS in schools as a result of having OVC in their classes. The Department of Education has developed training courses to help teachers cope with the impact of HIV and AIDS, but the effectiveness of these programmes has not yet been evaluated. This study aims to establish how teachers who have attended these programmes feel about the assistance rendered to them to deal with OVC related issues. In order to meet this aim, a qualitative enquiry was conducted among a sample of selected teachers from the Eastern Cape. The findings suggest that, while the training has helped to improve the knowledge and attitudes of the teachers, it has not equipped them with the necessary skills to overcome barriers to implement the training programmes at school level. The findings also suggest that there is a need for ongoing support from the Department of Education and the trainers it contracts to ensure that learning from the training is implemented in the schools. Based on the research findings, the study concludes with recommendations that will help teachers to better cope with OVC related issues at school.

The recent increase in the number of children orphaned and rendered vulnerable by HIV and AIDS in South Africa has placed an added burden on schools as sites of care and support. Education policies mandate schools to develop strategies to support such children, but this is no easy task in contexts where teachers are already struggling to fulfill instructional requirements. Literature reveals that teachers in under-resourced schools, where the problem is more severely experienced regard this increased pastoral role as an added responsibility that they do not feel competent to execute. Since there is unlikely to be any significant improvement in the circumstances of these children in the near future, there is a need to discover creative ways to address this problem. I was led to ask how teachers could support children to better cope in the face of adversity in a way that could be easily integrated into the academic curriculum, so as to minimise the perceived burden of providing care and support. Based on my knowledge of the value of bibliotherapy in promoting resilient coping in individuals, I was interested to see if folktales could be used in a similar way with groups of children. Working from an asset-based perspective, and proceeding from a transformative and participatory epistemology, I adopted an action research design to explore the potential of traditional folktales to enhance positive coping responses in children orphaned and rendered vulnerable by HIV and AIDS. My choice of traditional folktales was influenced by the importance that resilience theory attaches to cultural variables in the resilience process. The participants were isiXhosa speaking children who were orphaned and rendered vulnerable by HIV and AIDS (OVC) between the ages of nine and fourteen years (n=30) in Cycle One who lived in a children‟s home or with foster parents. In Cycle Two, the study was conducted in a school setting with thirty (n=30) participants. I conducted two cycles of reflective action research enquiry to ascertain how folktales could be used to enable teachers to meet both pastoral and academic requirements. In the first cycle, I used a pre-post time series design to explore if merely telling the stories would enhance the resilience of the children. Although this use of the stories was teacher-centred, I knew that it would be an easy and time-saving way for teachers to provide support, if it proved to be effective in enhancing resilience. Drawings and accompanying explanations were used to generate data pre-and post-intervention. The thematic analysis of the data revealed that, post-intervention, there appeared to be an increase in two resilience-enhancing indicators: the children appeared to have a more positive sense of self and improved positive relations with peers/friends. Critical reflection on the process also revealed ethical and methodological concerns and problems when working with vulnerable children. The findings from this cycle informed my second cycle, in which I adopted a more participatory approach to engage the children in making meaning of the stories and explore how they related to their own lives. I used participatory arts based methods such as drawings, collages, drama and more usual qualitative strategies, such as focus group discussion and observation, to generate data. The findings from this cycle suggest that using such strategies will equip teachers with tools to enhance the resilience of OVC in a way that also promotes the attainment of instructional outcomes. This study has contributed important theoretical, methodological and pedagogical insights. Theoretically, this study has contributed to the social ecological perspective of resilience by confirming that cultural resources, such as indigenous African stories (folktales) can enhance the resilience of vulnerable children. Lessons learnt from this study had a methodological contribution to the ethics of working with children and the use of culturally appropriate resources in the field, which were folktales. This study has also contributed to the meaning making implications of using folktales, which can aid the pedagogical strategies that teachers use. Although this study was meant to be small- scale research and was not intended to be generalisable, the findings do suggest that teachers could have a resource that is time efficient, effective and could assist them to reach both their pastoral and academic goals.

O conhecimento sobre a epidemia de AIDS e a organização dos serviços de saúde de atendimento aos pacientes HIV/AIDS no estado é indispensável para a realização de atividades de planejamento de ações que possam oferecer uma melhor assistência a esses pacientes. O estudo realizou um diagnóstico da assistência odontológica ao usuário HIV/AIDS prestado através das Equipes do Serviço Ambulatorial Especializado - SAE, tendo como foco a percepção do usuário e a do Cirurgião Dentista (CD) na qualidade dessa assistência.Trata-se de um estudo qualitativo que no primeiro momento descreve o fluxo de atendimento do SAE; o serviço de referência e contra referência e, no segundo momento aplicação de dois questionários, um voltado para o usuário e outro para o CD; o questionário destinado ao usuário foi aplicado pelos coordenadores dos SAES. Os dados foram agrupados em categorias que se relacionam entre si, buscando avaliar: opiniões, atitudes, preferências e comportamento do usuário e CD em relação ao serviço prestado e o oferecido,e a descrição de citações diretas do usuário e CD sobre suas vivências. Participaram da pesquisa 174 usuários pertencentes aos SAES de Porto Velho, Vilhena, Cacoal e Ji-Paraná, todos pacientes HIV/AIDS em registro ativo, ambos os sexos, adultos, e 13 CD. A maioria dos usuários mostrou satisfação com o atendimento realizado pelos CD de seus municípios, percebe-se a falta de conhecimento dos CD no atendimento a pacientes HIV/AIDS. O preconceito, o medo e a discriminação são fatores comuns entre pacientes e CD. Através das informações obtidas podemos destacar os seguintes pontos: É primordial a participação integral do CD nas equipes do SAE; Estabelecer novas estratégias de Capacitação para os CD; A Pactuação de medicamento no âmbito do SUS deve incluir lista de medicamento utilizados pelos CD no atendimento a pacientes HIV/AIDS; Ampliar o conhecimento da infecção HIV, incluindo atualização para os pacientes sobre saúde bucal e biossegurança. / The knowledge about the AIDS epidemy and the organization of health services for HIV/AIDS patients in the state is essencial to carry out planning activities of actions that might offer a better assistance for those patients.The study carried out a diagnosis of odontological assistance to HIV/AIDS user provided by the teams of Specialized Outpatient Service, focusing the users and dentists perception of the quality of such assistance.This is a qualitative study that in the first moment describes the flow of the attendance at the Specialized Outpatient Service; the reference and counter reference service and, in a second moment, the aplication of two questionaries, one to the users and other to the dentists; the questinaries to users were applied by the coordinators of the Specialized Outpatient Service. Data were gathered into categories that mix to each other, in order to evaluate: opinions, attitudes, preferences and behavior of users and dentists in relation to the service provided and offered and the quotations of users and dentistis about their experiences;174 users of Specialized Outpatient Services from Porto Velho, Vilhena, Cacoal and Ji-Paraná took part into this research, all them were HIV/AIDS patients in active registration, of both sexes, adults, and 13 dentists. Most of the users demonstrated satisfaction about the attendance carried out by dentists in their municipalities. We could notice the lack of knowledge by the dentists about the attendance to HIV/AIDS patients. Prejudice, fear and discrimination are common factors between patients and dentists.From the informations collected we are able to point out the following aspects as essencial: The paticipation of dentists in teams of Specialized Outpatient Services; Defining new strategies for training the dentists; The agreement about medicines into the Unique Health System must include the list of medicines used by dentists on the attendance of HIV/AIDS; Extending the knowledge about the HIV infection, including getting up to date for patients about oral heath and biosafety.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / This research document seeks to outline the future of older people in HIV/AIDS-prevalent South Africa. The research report examined literature which assisted the researcher in understanding how older people‘s lives and standard of living has evolved due to HIV/AIDS in South Africa. The research report was focused on providing answers to the following questions: i) What are the factors that need to be addressed now to ensure a favourable future for older people in HIV/Aids prevalent South Africa? ii) What are the institutions responsible for ensuring a favourable future for older people in HIV/AIDS prevalent South Africa? The questions will be focused on 2040, from 2010 to 2040. In order to address the abovementioned questions the researcher made use of scenario planning supported by the biomatrix theory approach and causal layered analysis. Firstly, through input from the literature review and scenario team interviews, analysis of drivers of change was conducted. This reviewed secondary literature that was sourced from reports, case studies, publications and others. The focus of this paper was based on older people, HIV/AIDS and the future. Factors including change in family structure, care and respect for older people, government social grant, participation in policy formulation, education levels, employment and poverty were identified as driving forces that have an impact on older people in HIV/AIDS prevalent South Africa. Secondly, Biomatrix theory was used to map the problems associated with the driving forces mentioned above. This mapping was also used to prioritise the level of impact on problems associated with the driving forces. Two driving forces with the highest impact and uncertainties were identified as care and respect for older people as well as participation in policy formulation. A scenario quadrant was also mapped. The latter lead to four scenarios: The silver queen bee, the red queen bee, the black queen bee, and lastly the golden queen bee. Possible ideals and strategies were discussed as findings with a focus on the two key drivers of change that lead to the four alternative futures. Lastly, summary and recommendations are discussed in the final chapter.