This study set out to pilot the Inclusive Quality Assessment (IQA) process adapted for use in British Columbia in 1998 from the Inside Quality Assurance tool of the University of North London Centre for Environmental and Social Studies in Aging. The current study was exploratory to determine the tool's suitability and appropriateness in a non-Western culture. The IQA tool was successllly implemented in a selected orphanage where it was administered to assess the quality of care provided to orphans. This exercise involved the participation of orphans and caregivers in identifying their needs and how to fulfill them. It also involved the role of the frontline managers in planning and improving the quality and assurance of care to orphans in their institution. The researcher concludes that this tool is appropriate for regular evaluation of s e ~ c e s in childcare facilities and home settings but will require effective policy formulation and implementation to make it a reality in Zambia.

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Abstract This dissertation explores four key questions within the HIV/AIDS paradigm1 and the impact it is having on orphans and vulnerable children in the district of Quthing, Lesotho. These questions are: What is the status of social safety nets? How are communities surviving with the growing number of orphans and vulnerable children? What might be the early warning signs of community breaking points as a new category of child-headed household emerges? What are the human drivers of the pandemic in terms of behaviour and attitudes towards HIV/AIDS, orphans and vulnerable children, and sex; and in terms of reasons why people are not heeding the warning signs and adopting behaviour change? The findings of the dissertation reveal that communities are overwhelmed with the demands placed on them to support orphans and vulnerable children to the point where culture, traditions, and society at large are showing early warning signs of irreversible strain. Despite the efforts of government, donors, the humanitarian sector and the communities themselves, awareness of HIV/AIDS is not translating into behavioural change and as such the spread of the virus continues unabated among the youngest and most vulnerable groups. 1 The set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes a way of viewing reality for the community that shares them, especially in an intellectual discipline. ii

Magister Artium (Child and Family Studies) - MA(CFS) / Child-headed households (CHHs) are a recent development that has become progressively noticeable not only in South Africa but also internationally. This phenomenon arose as a result of the death of parents or abandonment of children by their primary caregivers. The Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) epidemic has taken away the lives particularly of many adults, leaving children orphaned and having to take on the adults’ responsibilities. In the past, relatives or the extended family would take the responsibility of caring and providing for orphaned children but, with current economic hardships, most families are unable to take the extra responsibility. As a result, older siblings become caregivers to their younger siblings. Unfortunately, when parents die, children often lose access to adequate food, social grants, education and health services. Despite the fact that it is the right of all South Africans, including children, to have access to sufficient food, many households, including CHHs, are living in poverty. As a result, they are vulnerable to food insecurity, leading to developmental, social and emotional challenges. The aim of the present study was to explore and describe the experiences, challenges and coping strategies of CHHs with food insecurity in Ingwavuma, from a bio-ecological perspective. Ingwavuma is a small rural town in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. The study makes recommendations for social work projects, education and future research regarding CHHs’ experiences of food insecurity. This is a qualitative study that utilised an explorative-descriptive methodological approach. Purposive sampling was used to select 20 children between the ages of 13 and 18 years old from CHHs in Ingwavuma. One-on-one semi-structured interviews were conducted with the participants at their homes in the town.

Despite the elaborate intervention strategies and huge emphasis on AIDS and orphan hood, there is a looming danger that might create a lost generation of young people who are growing up without role models, parental guidance, warmth, love and proper care. Young people in these times of AIDS are charged with the responsibility of caring for their infected parents until they die; and thereafter to care for their siblings. Despite playing these important roles coupled with their complex developmental issues young people face as they negotiate their independence towards adulthood, there is generally a lack of concern as far as the psychosocial issues experienced by youth who are orphaned due to AIDS is concerned as evidence by paucity of published literature. This research therefore, focused on the psychosocial issues of youth orphaned by HIV/AIDS in Western Kenya. This comparative study compared youth who have lost their parent(s) to AIDS, to those who have lost parent(s) through other causes and youth from intact families. The study explored the daily hassles and uplifts as experienced by these three categories. Their psychological well-being was studied in a bid to understand how this phenomenon has impacted on the orphaned young people emotional well-being. The extend to which self-efficacy (resilience), perceived social support and good coping strategies buffer young people from HIV/AIDS impact were studied. Data was obtained from 156 students at the Moi University. One way ANOVA test used to test the mean hassles and mean uplifts scores revealed there were not significantly different across the participants’ status. Investigations to determine whether the mean scores for anxiety, self esteem, and depression depend on participants’ status; a further one way ANOVA was carried out, which revealed based on overall F-test the mean self esteem and depression scores are significantly different at 5% level of significant. A pair- wise Pearson correlation was performed to investigate whether anxiety, depression and self esteem scores depend on the coping skills, self-efficacy and perceived social support. Results indicate depression significantly associated with social support, while self esteem is significantly associated with self-efficacy. The qualitative data further validated these findings by revealing that orphaned youth by AIDS were depressed and had poor self-esteem.

In the absence of support programmes for HIV and Aids orphans in the Fezile Dabi Region this research set out to design guidelines towards an ecosystemic support programme to support HIV and Aids orphans in the Fezile Dabi Region. The literature review revealed that HIV and Aids orphans experience a wide range of support needs. Their psychosocial needs impair normal development due to unhappiness, stress, stigma, discrimination and a lack of care, love and support. In addition to this, emotional needs, which emanate from a lack of security and safety manifest in sadness, disruptive behaviour, poor relationships, poor self-image and isolation. Socio-economic needs expose them to poverty and being vulnerable to child labour with little reward, and deprive them of opportunities to obtain a proper education. All the above-mentioned problems lead to educational needs that manifest in poor school attendance, poor concentration, learning breakdown and dropping out of school. In addition to this, physical needs that stem from malnutrition caused by poverty and a low standard of living have an impact on the physical growth and health of the HIV and Aids orphans. In order to find out whether the abovementioned discussion holds true for HIV and Aids orphans in the Fezile Dabi Region, qualitative, phenomenological research by means of structured individual interviews was conducted with a convenient and purposive sample of 43 Black HIV and Aids orphans in the Fezile Dabi Region. The focus of the interviews was to gain a better understanding of the support needs that these learners experience due to HIV and Aids, and to explore how they are supported in dealing with these needs. The empirical research revealed that the HIV and Aids orphans in the Fezile Dabi Region who took part in my study experience psychosocial, emotional, socio-economic, educational and physical needs. Many of the needs, in the absence of strong community-based support in the region, are not supported adequately. Despite the identified needs, the data revealed strong tenets of resilience among the participants who took part in the study. In contrast to the literature, the findings of my study revealed that a number of the HIV and Aids orphans in the Fezile Dabi Region apparently manage to establish good social relationships that help them cope with their problems. Furthermore, they aspire to obtain a good quality education and have ambitions and goals in terms of their future careers that they would like to achieve. Based on the literature review and the interview data, guidelines towards an ecosystemic support programme for the HIV and Aids orphaned learners in the Fezile Dabi Region were designed. / PhD, Learner support, North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2012

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Virginia Commonwealth University, 2008. / Prepared for: School of Social Work. Title from title-page of electronic thesis. Bibliography: leaves 289-320.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Westminster Theological Seminary, 2008. / Vita. Description based on Microfiche version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 228-232).

Thesis (MSD (Social Development and Policy))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of St Andrews, March 2008.