published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Work

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Sciences

"The purpose of this study was to evaluate the program of physical education, health, and recreation of the Waco State School from 1933 to 1940...In view of these definite results, the conclusion is made that the Physical Education, Health, and Recreation Program of the Waco State Home has been successful in the following respects: 1. It has developed normal, happy children who have a chance to become useful, self-supporting children. 2. The Health, Physical Education, and Recreation Program of the Home has met and exceeded in many respects the educational standards for such activities. 3. The Waco State Home has performed a great educational service in remolding warped, underprivileged children."--leaf 2.

"It has been the purpose of this study to make an analysis of the recreational program at the Dallas County Juvenile Home...certain conclusions concerning the recreational program have been reached. 1. The principles upon which the recreational program is based are in line with the recommendations of the National Recreation Association. 2. In practice, recreation in the Dallas County Juvenile Home has not reached maximum efficiency. 3. The program is built largely to fill the needs of the majority of the boys who are detained at the home. 4. The program has been modified in some cases to meet the needs of the individual groups. 5. The recreation program serves as a means for the boys to express themselves; therefore, the supervisors and the case workers are able to establish better rapport with each boy. 5. The better rapport with each boy enables the case worker to determine the proper placement of the boy. 7. Through the efforts of recreation many personality adjustments have been made. 8. The study shows that the majority or 51 percent of the boys chose yard play as a first choice of activities offered at the home. 9. Because of the maintained interest of the entire staff to find and improve the defects of the program, recreation facilities have been expanded. 10. Inadequate funds limit the full use of the facilities at the home. "--leaf 67.

There has been a lot of research highlighting the plight of street children throughout the world in the past few years. A review of the literature on street children reveals that the problem is worse in developing countries. The number of street children can be expected to increase in South Africa as a result of rapid urbanisation and development. This will certainly pose a problem for the government and other organisations concerned with the welfare of street children. In order to combat the proliferation of the number of children in the streets, concerned parties need to know more about street children before intervention and effective policies can be designed. This study was initiated to serve that purpose: to provide information on how street children perceive themselves. The information gathered and results of the study can be used by service providers to design effective intervention programmes. Twenty street children from the Pietermaritzburg central business district and the comparison group of twenty children from a "place of safety" in Pietermaritzburg were interviewed and assessed. Children from the "place of safety" were chosen as a comparison group because their familial histories have many factors which are common to street children as well. Assessment ofthe two groups of children entailed measuring the children's self-concepts by using the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale. Human Figure Drawings were used to identify signs and levels of emotional distress using the Koppitz Emotional Indicators procedure. Furthermore, an unstructured interview was conducted with each child. The data was analysed quantitatively using statistical sub-programs of the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). The following statistical tests were computed: means to measure central tendency, independent t-tests to determine the statistical significance of the difference between the two groups' self-concept scores and emotional indicators. Quatro Pro and Harvard Graphics software packages were used to analyse the data qualitatively and present it graphically . Statistical analyses of the results reveal no significant differences between the self-concept of street children and that of the comparison group of placed children. Both groups' scores on the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale are within the average range. This means that street and placed children's perceptions of themselves, as measured by the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale, are similar to those of other children in the general population. Signs and levels of emotional distress as measured by Koppitz' list of Emotional Indicators are within the non-pathological range for both groups. This indicates that street and placed children's levels of emotional distress are similar to those found in other children in the normal population. It is therefore concluded that despite being exposed to hazardous situations and having lived in deprived and abusive situations, street children do not display significant levels of measured emotional distress. Street children are found not to be as disturbed as previously assumed by journalists and fiction writers who tend to romanticise or politicise their plight. Placed children, who also share some of the predicaments that street children have endured in terms of turbulent childhoods, do not seem to show deficits in their self-concepts and emotional functioning either. Recommendations on how to plan intervention programmes for street children are also offered. Moreover, the standardisation of the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale on local populations is recommended. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sci.)-University of Natal, Pietermartizburg, 1996

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