Health education is critical to the success of a community health program. Yet the majority of research on health education is conducted from the point of view of programme designers or evaluators. Where health educators themselves are the focus, data is often generated through surveys, questionnaires, field notes, or quantitative measures. Narrative accounts by health educators describing their activities and their perceptions of programme efficacy are thus a neglected line of inquiry. My thesis examines one group of health educators who trained and worked with Sidney and Emily Kark at the Institute of Family and Community Health in Durban during the 1940s and 1950s. The importance of health educators in the Institute's project has often been acknowledged by key figures like the Kark, but few scholars have highlighted the contributions of these paraprofessionals. As catalysts of change and disseminators of knowledge, their role was encapsulated by health educator Neela Govender: "So many things people can do to [become] aware of health problems, and how much they themselves could be responsible for their own health ... that's not something they can forget. They will pass it on to another generation, or influence each other. We sow the seed, and it must grow, and spread". In focusing on the health educators' role, I seek to integrate perspectives of "history from below" to enhance previous analyses that concentrated on doctors and government administrators as the main architects of the Institute of Family and Community Health. To this end, I have collected testimony of health educators as a valuable source of historical evidence, which not only uncovers a foot soldier's view of what the Karks called a "practice of social medicine" but also illuminates various social, political, and economic contexts underpinning health education in South Africa. This study used oral history techniques to explore how retired health educators perceived their experiences at the Institute. It thematically analysed their narratives to gain a sense of their training, goals, methods and working conditions in segregationist and apartheid-era South Africa. My interview subjects were predominantly women whose work reflected the centrality of maternal, child, and family health to the Institute. As intermediaries between the clinic and the community, they were integral to the Institute of Family and Community Health's investigation of the links between health and culture. The themes of race, gender and culture were as pertinent in the mid-twentieth century as they are today in the delivery of health services; health educators' narratives might provide insights into how such conceptual factors influence the operation of community health programs in contemporary South Africa. The ways in which the Institute's health educators became active agents in the face of oppressive circumstances also contain potential lessons for their counterparts currently struggling to address an HIV/AIDS epidemic with inadequate resources and governmental support. / Thesis (M.Med.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2004.

The rhetoric of primary health care, health promotion and health service integration is ubiquitous in health policy development in post-apartheid South Africa. However the form in which oral health promotion elements have actually been incorporated into other areas of health care in South Africa and the extent to which they have been implemented, remains unclear. The central aim of this research was to critically analyse oral health promotion elements in health policies in South Africa and determine the extent to which they have been implemented. The study set out to test the hypothesis that oral health promotion is fully integrated into South African health policy and practice.

This case study considers the relationship between context, school policy and environmental teaching and learning processes at a community-based early childhood development centre in South Africa. The study recognises that educational practices in the early childhood development field are shaped by historical, cultural, economic and political realities at both local and national levels. It is from the understanding that each school is a unique composition of these shaping factors that the research was designed to consider the community-based school participating in this study. By compiling a contextual profile, this study attempts to consider dominant contextual factors affecting the school. Through the critical discourse analysis of a school policy document, this study considers local level policy, and through the literature chapter, national policy. Teacher interviews provide insight into teacher understanding of school policy in response to contextual issues, as well as providing insight into how teachers perceive their translation of policy into teaching practice. Observations of lessons in the centre provided an. opportunity to see how context and policy translated into and influenced environmental teaching and learning processes. This study looks at how environmental education is addressed in the Raglan Road Child Care Centre, and provides insight into how environmental education within the context of the school and in relation to school policy may be strengthened. It comments on the tensions and ambivalences arising from the relationships between context, policy and environmental teaching and learning processes and makes recommendations to address these ambivalences in ways that are contextually relevant. The main recommendations were designed to be practically useful for the school involved in the study and are focused around engaging the ambivalences emerging from this study to open up 'spaces' for deliberating environmental teaching and learning processes and other tensions arising out of the study at an ECD level. Recommendations included: 1) engaging with the strong development focus in school policy and the educational focus in national policy and teacher discourse; 2) deliberating the ways in which school policy and national policy respond to risk; 3) engaging with the ambivalence in the school-parent relationship; 4) the re-alignment of the explicit curriculum and broadening the contextually-based view of whole child development; and 5) engaging the ambivalence in approaches to education at the centre.

The Creative Solutions to Waste Project (CSW) is a local environmental education project, involving five Grahamstown schools, the local municipality; community members and the Rhodes University Environmental Education Unit, where I worked at the time this study was undertaken. In this research I explore the use of environmental education learning support materials (LSM) in Outcomes Based Education (OBE). I have employed a participatory action research approach informed by critical theory in this case study of the Creative Solutions to Waste project (CSW). The research focused on the ‘Waste Education’ materials and their use, developed and piloted during the pilot phase. The Waste Education materials were also used in phase one. In phase two, the research focused on the use of ‘Health and Water’ learning support materials in 4 Grahamstown schools. Research participants included educators, support team members, municipal officials, Department of Education officials, Department of Health (Eastern Cape) officials, the Health Promoting Schools committee and NGO representatives. I employed a range of data collection strategies including questionnaires, observations, field notes, semi-structured interviews, focus group interviews, workshops, reflective journal, videotapes, and photographs and documents analysis. The research process was collaboratively discussed and agreed upon by all the participants. This research indicated that the purpose influences the use of LSM. It also indicated the importance of mediation processes in the use of LSM. This study indicates that the designs of LSM and particular views of learning influence the way LSM are used. It does that by looking at how an active learning framework influenced the use of learning support materials and consequent learning processes. It also highlights the significance of paying attention to issues of language and literacy in the design of LSM, and how these factors influence the use of LSM. It also identified the tension between prescriptive and open-ended processes to professional development in supporting the use of LSM in contexts of curriculum change and transformation. This study also indicated the importance of reflexive processes to improve support process in the CSW project by demonstrating how the contributions and the roles of the support team were reflexively changed. I have reviewed the research processes in relation to the research design decisions made at the start of the project. This study lastly offers some recommendations for further research into the use of LSM, and how an understanding of LSM use may influence the development of LSM.

M.Cur. (Psychiatric Nursing) / In this research an attempt was made to identify manifestations of depression in black children and give mental health education to their mothers in an attempt to alleviate the state of depression in the children. A questionnaire was structured as a tool for collection data. The instrument was based on a standardized depression scale which was used cross-culturally by the World Health Organization during 1983. The non-probability sampling procedure was carried out utilising a purposive sampling method in compiling an experimental and a control group of mothers of depressed children in a quasi-experimental research design. A mental health education programme on depession was developed which was given to mothers in the experimental group. The individual method of teaching was utilised based on adult education principles. At the end of the mental health education session, each mother got a brochure in the language preferred by the mother. Mothers from the control group did not have any discussions on depression. The study was done over the period of three months from 6 August 1988 to 26 October 1988. The analysis of gathered data was computerised using the Mann-Whitney U-test of SPSSX for the independent group and the Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-ranks test for the dependent groups. The non-parametric statistics of the Z-va1ue and two-tailed probability was utilised. The findings on the comparison. between the experimental group pretest and the control group pretest revealed that there were not any statistical difference in eight of the ten variables of depression i.e. helplessness, anxiety, sleep disturbance, school problems, interpersonal relations, self concept, guilt feelings and the disturbance of perception. The other two variables, suicide and physical functioning, were not included because they showed significant statistical difference prior to experimentation. There was no significant statistical difference between the eight variables of the state of depression in the findings of the control group pretest with the control group post test. That means that if mothers of depressed children do not receive mental health education, the children's state of depression could remain the same. In conclusion, mental health education to mothers of depressed children seems to have a positive effect on a child's emotional stability. It can contribute substantially to diminishing the occurance of childhood depression.

Text in Afrikaans / Die probleem wat in die studie ondersoek word is: wat die aard van die behoefte aan gemeenskapgesondheidsinligtingdienste (GGID) in Suid-Afrika, met besondere verwysing na Bloemfontein en Mangaung, is. Daar word van 'n verkennende studie gebruik gemaak om die navorsingsdoelstellings te bereik. Die metodes wat gebruik is, is literatuurstudie, gevallestudie en opname. Die tegnieke wat gebruik is, is vraelys, skedule en onderhoud. 'n Oorsig oor gesondheidsorg, met die klem op primere gesondheidsorg as agtergrond vir gesondheidsopvoeding en -inligting, word gegee. Daar word verwys na die rol van verskillende biblioteektipes en die bibliotekaris. Redes vir die ontstaan van gemeenskapgesondheidsinligting, die verspreiding van GGID in die buiteland en die fvksionering daarvan word beskryf. 'n Ondersoek is in Mangaung en Bloemfontein gedoen om die behoefte aan GGID en die aard van gesondheidsinligting te probeer bepaal. 'n Model word saamgestel uit die behoeftebepaling en die literatuurstudie / The subject investigated by this study is: the nature of the need for community health information services (CHIS) in South Africa, with special reference to Bloemfontein and Mangaung. An exploratory study has been used to achieve the research objectives. The methods used are review of the literature, case study and a survey. The techniques used are a questionnaire, schedule and interview. A review of health care, emphasizing primary health care as a backgound to health education and information, is given. The role of different types of libraries and the librarian is discussed. Reasons for the development of community health information, the distribution of CHIS overseas and their functioning are described. An investigation was done in Bloemfontein and Mangaung to gauge the need for CHIS and the nature of health information. A model has been formulated, based on this survey and the literature review / Information Science / M. Bibl. (Inligtingkunde)

Text in Afrikaans / Die probleem wat in die studie ondersoek word is: wat die aard van die behoefte aan gemeenskapgesondheidsinligtingdienste (GGID) in Suid-Afrika, met besondere verwysing na Bloemfontein en Mangaung, is. Daar word van 'n verkennende studie gebruik gemaak om die navorsingsdoelstellings te bereik. Die metodes wat gebruik is, is literatuurstudie, gevallestudie en opname. Die tegnieke wat gebruik is, is vraelys, skedule en onderhoud. 'n Oorsig oor gesondheidsorg, met die klem op primere gesondheidsorg as agtergrond vir gesondheidsopvoeding en -inligting, word gegee. Daar word verwys na die rol van verskillende biblioteektipes en die bibliotekaris. Redes vir die ontstaan van gemeenskapgesondheidsinligting, die verspreiding van GGID in die buiteland en die fvksionering daarvan word beskryf. 'n Ondersoek is in Mangaung en Bloemfontein gedoen om die behoefte aan GGID en die aard van gesondheidsinligting te probeer bepaal. 'n Model word saamgestel uit die behoeftebepaling en die literatuurstudie / The subject investigated by this study is: the nature of the need for community health information services (CHIS) in South Africa, with special reference to Bloemfontein and Mangaung. An exploratory study has been used to achieve the research objectives. The methods used are review of the literature, case study and a survey. The techniques used are a questionnaire, schedule and interview. A review of health care, emphasizing primary health care as a backgound to health education and information, is given. The role of different types of libraries and the librarian is discussed. Reasons for the development of community health information, the distribution of CHIS overseas and their functioning are described. An investigation was done in Bloemfontein and Mangaung to gauge the need for CHIS and the nature of health information. A model has been formulated, based on this survey and the literature review / Information Science / M. Bibl. (Inligtingkunde)

The rapid increase in HIV-infections is changing the face of modern society. The number of HIV/AIDS orphans for sub-Saharan Africa is expected to increase to 18, 67 million in 2010. Education has a pivotal role to play in effectively dealing with the effects of the pandemic, as well as creating awareness among learners. The focus of this study is to explore educators’ perceptions of teaching learners about HIV/AIDS and of schools as care-giving centres for orphans and vulnerable children. The HIV/AIDS education curriculum has been introduced in a milieu of change and restructuring in South African education, presenting particular challenges for educators. This study set out to uncover how educators are engaging with their new roles and responsibilities when teaching HIV/AIDS education. / Sociology / MA (Social and Behaviour Studies in HIV/ Aids)

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2002. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This assignment provides a description of the cognitive, social and emotional developmental tasks of adolescence. In addition a summary of the most prevalent social, emotional and behavioural problems reported during this developmental phase is provided. With this information as a context, a school-based, curricula-integrated prevention programme is then introduced as a possible tool to facilitate the development of positive mental health among adolescents. The programme discussed, namely Programme Achieve (2nd ed.) by Dr. M.E. Bernard of California State University, is unique in its aim to both enhance academic achievement and social-emotional well-being. Programme Achieve (2nd ed.) is based on Bloom's school learning theory, rational-emotive therapy and rationalemotive education and various cognitive-behavioural and socialleaming research findings. With its sound theoretical and research base Programme Achieve (2nd ed.) offers students the opportunity to learn a mindset that will help them develop their full academic, emotional and interpersonal potential. Within the South African "Draft Revised National Curriculum Statement" (2001), provision is made for lessons pertaining to the students' personal development. In response to this, the author explores the suitability of Programme Achieve (2nd ed.) as a means to attain the specific Learner Outcomes and Assessment Standards as specified in the "Draft Revised National Curriculum Statement" (2001). / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die werkstuk gee 'n beskrywing van die kognitiewe, sosiale en emosionele ontwikkelingstake kenmerkend van adolessensie. Verder word 'n oorsig gegee van die belangrikste sosiale, emosionele en gedragsprobleme, kenmerkend van hierdie ontwikkelingsfase. Teen hierdie teoretiese agtergrond word 'n skool-uitkoms, kurrikula-geïntegreerde voorkomingsprogram voorgestel as 'n moontlike hulpmiddelom die ontwikkeling van geestesgesondheid onder adolessente te fasiliteer. Programme Achieve (2de ed.) is uniek in sy doelwit om akademiese prestasie sowel as sosiale-emosionele welsyn te bevorder. Programme Achieve (2de ed.) is gebaseer op Bloom se skoolleer teorie, rasioneel-emosionele terapie en rasioneel-emosionele onderrig en verskeie ander kognitiewe gedrags- en sosiale-leer navorsingsbevindinge. Programme Achieve (2de ed.), met sy stewige teoretiese en navorsingsbasis, gee leerders die geleentheid om 'n denkpatroon aan te leer wat hul sal help om hulle volle akademiese, emosionele en interpersoonlike potensiaal te bereik. Voorsiening word in die Suid Afrikaanse "Draft Revised National Curriculum Statement" (200 1) gemaak vir onderrig ten opsigte van leerders se persoonlike ontwikkeling. Met verwysing hierna, word die toepaslikheid van Programme Achieve (2de ed.) ondersoek as 'n middelom spesifieke Leerder-Uitkomste en Evalueringstandaarde, soos vervat in die "Draft Revised National Curriculum Statement" (200 1), te bereik.

Recent South African research has confirmed that there is reason to be concerned about the mental health status and well-being of our youth. School-going youth are engaging in a wide array of risk behaviours that seriously threaten their well-being and hamper their chances of experiencing success in the future. The aim of this research was to explore factors relating to risk, resilience and health promoting schools in order to enhance the well-being of youth in South Africa.