A distressing consequence of the HIV/AIDS pandemic and of the increasing numbers of orphans and decreasing numbers of caregivers is the emergence in ever larger numbers of child-headed households (CHHs). The complexity of issues affecting CHHs and the lack of research on this subject means that CHHs are not well understood. This sometimes prompts support agencies to provide emotionally driven recommendations suggesting that it is better for a child to be in an orphanage than to live in a CHH. This exploratory study, involving heads of 105 CHHs over a 12 month period and 142 participants in various focus group discussions (FGD) and interviews, suggests the need for a change in perspective. It addresses the question of CHH quality of life, coping strategies and household functioning and attempts to bring this into a productive dialogue with community child care activities, NGO and statutory support and child care and protection policies. Research data suggests that the key determining factor contributing towards the creation of a CHH is `pre-parental illness' family conflict. Another contributing factor is that siblings want to stay together after parental death. Quality of life assessments indicate that despite significant adversities, over 69% of CHHs reported a 'medium' to 'satisfactory' quality of life and demonstrate high levels of resilience. As regards vulnerability to abuse, it is found that while CHH members are more vulnerable to external abuse, they experience little within their household. Contrary to public perceptions about CHHs lacking moral values, CHH behaviour might actually be more responsible than non-CHH peer behaviour as their negative experiences appear to galvanize them into adopting responsible behaviour. Community care and neighbourhood support in older townships are better established compared with newer suburbs. Sufficient community care capacity enables CHHs to function, thus avoiding a situation where households disintegrate and household members end up as street children. CHH coping responses seem to be mainly influenced by individual and community factors, and by social, spiritual and material support. The interplay between these and the CHH's ability to engage in the required coping task impacts on the coping outcome at household level. National and international government and non-governmental child service providers in Southern Africa need to recognize that an adequately supported CHH is an acceptable alternative care arrangement for certain children in communities with high adult AIDS mortality and where adult HIV-prevalence exceeds 10%. / Development Studies / D. Ltt. et Phil. (Development Studies)

Orphans from child care institutions and from extended families attend the same schools as non-orphans. They are often given the same psycho-social support yet it is clear that they have different psycho-social needs. Their backgrounds are usually different from those of other adolescent learners because, often, they would have observed or nursed sick parents who eventually died from AIDS-related illnesses. This qualitative study aimed at investigating the psycho-social needs of orphaned adolescent learners in child care institutions and those in extended families in the context of HIV and AIDS. The study further sought to find out how the psycho-social needs affected the HIV- and AIDS-affected orphans’ school performance and social behaviour. In-depth interviews were conducted with four orphaned learners from child care institutions and four from extended families using open-ended questions. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. Findings of the study were that the psycho-social needs of AIDS-affected orphans in families were met by relatives more than those of AIDS-affected orphans in child care institutions. The results of the study also revealed that there was not much difference in school performance between HIV- and AIDS-affected orphans from extended families and those from child care institutions. Thus this study contributes to Sociological and Behavioural literature in the area of HIV and AIDS as well as the education literature of the vulnerable groups like orphans. The school offered psycho-social support en masse with no special programme for orphans affected by HIV and AIDS for fear of stigmatising the orphans. / Health Studies / M.A. (Social Behaviour Studies in HIV/AIDS)

A distressing consequence of the HIV/AIDS pandemic and of the increasing numbers of orphans and decreasing numbers of caregivers is the emergence in ever larger numbers of child-headed households (CHHs). The complexity of issues affecting CHHs and the lack of research on this subject means that CHHs are not well understood. This sometimes prompts support agencies to provide emotionally driven recommendations suggesting that it is better for a child to be in an orphanage than to live in a CHH. This exploratory study, involving heads of 105 CHHs over a 12 month period and 142 participants in various focus group discussions (FGD) and interviews, suggests the need for a change in perspective. It addresses the question of CHH quality of life, coping strategies and household functioning and attempts to bring this into a productive dialogue with community child care activities, NGO and statutory support and child care and protection policies. Research data suggests that the key determining factor contributing towards the creation of a CHH is `pre-parental illness' family conflict. Another contributing factor is that siblings want to stay together after parental death. Quality of life assessments indicate that despite significant adversities, over 69% of CHHs reported a 'medium' to 'satisfactory' quality of life and demonstrate high levels of resilience. As regards vulnerability to abuse, it is found that while CHH members are more vulnerable to external abuse, they experience little within their household. Contrary to public perceptions about CHHs lacking moral values, CHH behaviour might actually be more responsible than non-CHH peer behaviour as their negative experiences appear to galvanize them into adopting responsible behaviour. Community care and neighbourhood support in older townships are better established compared with newer suburbs. Sufficient community care capacity enables CHHs to function, thus avoiding a situation where households disintegrate and household members end up as street children. CHH coping responses seem to be mainly influenced by individual and community factors, and by social, spiritual and material support. The interplay between these and the CHH's ability to engage in the required coping task impacts on the coping outcome at household level. National and international government and non-governmental child service providers in Southern Africa need to recognize that an adequately supported CHH is an acceptable alternative care arrangement for certain children in communities with high adult AIDS mortality and where adult HIV-prevalence exceeds 10%. / Development Studies / D. Ltt. et Phil. (Development Studies)

Orphans from child care institutions and from extended families attend the same schools as non-orphans. They are often given the same psycho-social support yet it is clear that they have different psycho-social needs. Their backgrounds are usually different from those of other adolescent learners because, often, they would have observed or nursed sick parents who eventually died from AIDS-related illnesses. This qualitative study aimed at investigating the psycho-social needs of orphaned adolescent learners in child care institutions and those in extended families in the context of HIV and AIDS. The study further sought to find out how the psycho-social needs affected the HIV- and AIDS-affected orphans’ school performance and social behaviour. In-depth interviews were conducted with four orphaned learners from child care institutions and four from extended families using open-ended questions. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. Findings of the study were that the psycho-social needs of AIDS-affected orphans in families were met by relatives more than those of AIDS-affected orphans in child care institutions. The results of the study also revealed that there was not much difference in school performance between HIV- and AIDS-affected orphans from extended families and those from child care institutions. Thus this study contributes to Sociological and Behavioural literature in the area of HIV and AIDS as well as the education literature of the vulnerable groups like orphans. The school offered psycho-social support en masse with no special programme for orphans affected by HIV and AIDS for fear of stigmatising the orphans. / Health Studies / M.A. (Social Behaviour Studies in HIV/AIDS)