Thesis (M.Dev.) --University of Limpopo, 2009 / There is dearth of information about the extent of alcohol abuse by teenagers, focusing mainly on the volume and the frequency of alcohol intake by teenagers especially in a rural setting. Most notable contributions are descriptive in nature and rely on cross-sectional analysis, with little specific focus on rural teenage alcohol abuse. To bridge the gap, this study quantifies the extent of alcohol abuse by teenagers in rural areas by means of a case study in Lebitso Senior Secondary School situated in Mopani District of Limpopo Province. STUDY DESIGN A mixed approach was used with the quantitative method taking the upper hand because of the nature of the variables for the hypotheses formulated which required statistical procedures. Simple random sampling was used as the study was characterized by the representation of the learners of one senior secondary school to represent the homogeneous nature of teenagers in a similar setting, in Limpopo Province. RESULTS The study population consisted of 251 male and female teenage learners of Lebitso Senior Secondary School. In the exploration of alcohol abuse by teenagers, the availability of liquor outlets in respect of the teenagers’households, and the socio-economic status of their families were revealed to have a bearing on their abuse of alcohol. 93% of teenagers had liquor outlets near their places of residence. The study has also shown that 87% of male learners and 13% of female learners had access to finances, which influenced their behaviour towards the abuse of alcohol. CONCLUSION Among the recommendations were that Education, Health, Safety and Security Sectors were to join hands in order to come up with preventative measures to deal with this problem.

This is a report of an investigation assessing outcome in a consecutive series of alcohol dependent patients admitted to the Avalon Treatment Centre from 21 October 1985 to 14 April 1986. Although extensive work has been done on the epidemiology of alcoholism among "coloured" people * [classified in terms of the population registration Act]. A direct result of the original field survey by Gillis, Keet and Slabbert was the establishment of this centre. A follow up study of people identified as having drinking problems in the original field survey showed that few people stopped drinking on their own account. Little is known about treatment outcome of patients hospitalized at this centre. Treatment at The Avalon Treatment Centre is based on therapeutic community principles, group therapy, family and social case work as well as the use of antabuse. Contact with Alcoholics Anonymous is encouraged during and after hospitalisation. In addition patients are also followed up by a community sister.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Social Work)) --University of Limpopo, 2015 / Refer to document

M.A. (Social Work) / This study constitutes a-reaction to the paucity of professional attention devoted.- to the primary prevention of alcohol and drug abuse. The basic objective of the study was to develop a programme for the primary prevention of alcohol and drug abuse in Eersterust. This programme was intended to achieve the total upliftment of the community, aimed at an effective lifestyle and a new orientation to values, and was to induce a decline in alcohol and drug abuse in the community on the long term. This developmental effort manifested in the formulation of general principles and guidelines for the primary prevention of alcohol and drug abuse, in the form of a manual for community workers at clinics for alcoholics and drug dependants. This seeks to make community workers more conversant with the primary prevention of alcohol and drug abuse and to induce in them an appreciation of the value thereof in combating the problem. Developmental research was utilized in the development of the new technological item. The developmental research and utilization model of Edwin Thomas was used as research design. In view of the unfamiliarity of developmental research, a separate chapter was devoted to this kind of research and the Thomas model. The different phases of the developmental research and utilization model used in the development of the programme for the prevention of alcohol and drug abuse, were the following: -The analysis phase, which included all the activities which preceded the development of the programme. These activities comprised of a problem analysis of Eersterust, a survey of the position of existing social technology in the handling of alcohol and drug abuse, a feasibility study and a comprehensive literature study. -The development phase, which included the design and implementation of the programme for the primary prevention of alcohol and drug abuse. -The evaluation phase, which comprised the process evaluation as well as the evaluation of the outcome of the programme. The process evaluation was done on a continuous basis, in order to ensure that the programme complied with implementation standards and was tuned to achieving the objectives which were set. The evaluation of the outcome was done with a view to measuring the effectiveness of the programme in achieving objectives. -.The diffusion and adoption phases, which comprised activities such as the preparation of means of dissemination, the dissemination of information on the product and the possible implementation by consumers. The product of the developmental research process was presented in a separate chapter, in the form of a manual for community workers at clinics for alcoholics and drug dependants. The conclusion reached in the study was that unless community workers were to launch comprehensive primary preventive actions seeking the total upliftment of the community to an effective lifestyle and new orientations to values, the constant increase in alcohol and drug abuse will not be reduced.

M.A. (Social Work) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Surveys have shown that alcohol misuse is the biggest substance misuse problem in the world today, affecting millions of people. With the disease being part of a family, all members of the family experience the distress of parental alcohol misuse. While the challenges that these families have to face are many, they seem to have the ability to “bounce back”, in other words, have resilience. There has been limited research to date on family relations and alcohol misuse in South Africa, especially in terms of the parental member as the alcohol misuser. The proposed research aimed to explore and describe the factors that facilitate adjustment and adaptation in families where a member misuses alcohol. The Resiliency Model of Family Stress, Adjustment and Adaptation was used to analyze the factors that enable a family to adapt to the alcohol misuse, as outlined in the broader study at the University of Stellenbosch. An exploratory descriptive research design was employed in the proposed study. For the purposes of this study, the researcher combined qualitative and quantitative research methods in order to use their complementary strengths to enrich the data obtained from the proposed study. Sixty three families were surveyed using a biographical questionnaire and seven pencil-and-paper questionnaires. These families were accessed via drug and alcohol rehabilitation facilities throughout South Africa. The data from the biographical questionnaire was analyzed using descriptive statistics, while the qualitative data was analyzed using content analysis. The quantitative data was analyzed using correlation and regression analysis. The findings of the proposed research allow for better management of the alcohol misuser’s condition through the understanding of what resiliency areas the family may improve upon. Furthermore, the study can be used as a stepping stone for future research of resilience in families living with a parental member who misuses alcohol, and ultimately contributes to the broader context of family resilience research in South Africa. Key words: alcohol misuse, alcohol abuse, alcohol dependence, family, resilience, adjustment, adaptability.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (Clinical Psychology). Johannesburg September 1996. / Research has established that biological, sociological and psychological factors are involved in the presentation of alcoholism.Within the psychological domain, research has consistently found that a relatively small number of trait-clusters represent the personality profiles of a significant proportion of alcoholics. Dependency has consistently emerged as a prominent feature in a number of these profiles. Research into the relationship between dependency and alcoholism is limited. The majority of significant studies on the relationship between alcoholism and personality have failed to investigate the nature or extent of gender differences. Gender differences are influenced by social forces, including the social construction of gender. The social construction of gender is influenced by patriarchal interests and forces. Patriarchy is a social dynamic that encourages, inter alia, the expression of dependency needs and behaviours in women, and discourages their expression in men. Dependent individuals are motivated to enter and maintain nurturing and supportive relationships with others. High dependency needs can have a negative impact on interpersonal relationships, and can result in the failure of these relationships. Such failure is experienced by dependent individuals as emotionally distressing, and results in affective pain. Alcohol, under certain, everyday conditions can temporarily alleviate emotional pain. The current study hypothesized that as a consequence of the above dynamics, dependency is more likely to be a feature in the presentation of women alcoholics than among men alcoholics. This was tested by comparing the mean levels of dependency for women alcoholics with that for men alcoholics, women non-alcoholics and men non-alcoholics. The MCMI-II self-report inventory was used to measure dependency. Data was obtained from an alcoholic outpatient clinic and a general medical outpatient clinic. Women alcoholics were found to report higher levels of dependency than women non-alcoholics. However, they were not found to manifest higher levels of dependency than men alcoholics. / AC2017

Thesis ((M. A.(Social Work)) -- University of Limpopo, 2018 / The influences of alcohol abuse amongst the youth have been linked to multiple risk factors. Alcohol abuse among the youth is costing the country a lot of money every year. The aim of the study was to explore and describe risk factors of alcohol abuse amongst the youth in Musina Town, Limpopo Province. The researcher used both qualitative and quantitative approaches (mixed method). An exploratory-descriptive research design was utilised. The population of the study was drawn from learners and church leaders. A triangulation of sampling designs were employed in this research project: stratified-target and purposive sampling designs. Data was analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Science and Nvivo software. The study revealed that an easy access to purchase alcohol, affordability of alcohol, peer pressure, self-esteem, stress, permissive parents, family members who drink and poor legislations enforcement put young people at risk of indulge binge drinking. Moreover, the study revealed that those above-mentioned risk factors have a negative impact on the well-being of young people. Young people who indulge into alcohol abuse end up contracting sexual transmitted infection and/or having unplanned pregnancy which later result in abortion. Alcohol abuse amongst the youth has been a contributing factor to social problems. The above study indicated, peers pressure, poor legislation enforcement, accessibility substances, affordability of alcohol, self-esteem and stress plays a significant role in influence youth’s decision to use or not use alcohol. To that end, the risk factors of alcohol abuse amongst the youth influences the behavioural change which later encourages maladaptive behaviours such as heavy episodic drinking at parties. The findings of the study point to the disbursements of funds for research purposes and in particular to Social Work scholars to do more research on risk factors of alcohol abuse in deep rural areas.

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Human Resources, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2017. / The aim of this study was to assess the employee assistance programme related to substance abuse within a selected private hospital in KwaZulu Natal. A paucity of information within the South African context on how employees with substance abuse problems were being managed within the workplace provided the motivation for this study. The objective of this study was to evaluate existing employee assistance programmes, the line manager model and existing human resource policies and procedures within the selected private hospital. The research design adopted a mixed method approach using a questionnaire, followed by an interview based on findings of the questionnaires. The intended sample size was 185 out of 460 staff and the final return of questionnaires was 219. Of significance is the response rate of over a 40% which implies a margin error of 5%. The data was analysed using the computerised Statistical Program for Social Sciences (SPSS version 22.0 for Windows). This study concluded with the findings that emerged from the research. The findings suggest that employees with substance abuse problems are not being effectively managed and that there are no awareness models apart from the employee wellness provider. The limit of the employee wellness provider is that it markets “employee wellness” rather than an emphasis on substance abuse. A suggestion is that the human resource department and the wellness provider partner in inspiring a substance abuse prevention and assistance campaign. Another recommendation highlights the training of all line managers in identification of recognising employees with substance abuse problems prior to work performance being affected. The study concluded with suggestions for future research in this field. / M

Alcohol abuse is a very common practice (just like in many other parts of the world) in Nkonkobe Municipality, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. This is associated with liver disease. An ethnobotanical survey of plants used for the treatment of alcohol-induced liver damage in Nkonkobe Municipality was conducted. During the survey and also from information gathered in the literature, Pelargonium reniforme Curtis, was prominently mentioned, among other plants, as the species used generally for the treatment of alcohol-induced liver damage. This project was designed to evaluate the effects of the plant on alcohol-induced liver damage, including its antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. It also involves safety evaluation studies to determine if the plant is safe for consumption. Studies using rats of the Wistar strain were carried out to determine the protective and curative effects of P. reniforme on alcohol-induced liver damage. Results obtained showed that the plant extract can protect the liver cells as well as enhance recovery from tissue damage. The plant also showed good antimicrobial and antioxidant activity and this further validates its use in the treatment of liver diseases. Safety evaluation studies of the extract were carried out by investigating the effects of the oral administration on some haematological and biochemical parameters in male Wistar rats. The results obtained from the study suggest that the plant extract is not toxic at the doses used and is therefore safe for medicinal uses. The results of the various bioassays carried out in this project have justified the traditional uses of P. reniforme for the treatment of alcohol-induced liver damage.