The primary aim of h s research is to evaluate crime and its effect on people from a Reformative perspective. Furthermore to develop a social work support model, according to which co-ordinated services can be provide to all people that are affected by crime in the Northwest Province as an exemplar of a rural community. The thesis consists of three sections. Section A includes in the first place a reference to the actuality of the research. It is namely clear that the level of crime in South Africa, in some instances the highest in the world, requires extensive support for the survivors of these criminal acts. Therefore, the research aim, as given above, lead to four specific objectives. Section A also explains the research methodology. The research was structured according to the Intervention research model within the qualitative research approach. Data was collected by means of a literature study, comparison of the systems of victim support in the Netherlands and South Africa and interviews using a semi-structured interview schedule. Section B consists of the four articles that form the report about the research outcomes. Each article is a report about a particular sub-project of the research and each has, as self-contained units, an own research aim, research method and report Each of these is linked with the central aim, objectives and content of the over-arching research project. The four articles are: In Article 1, 'Crime and its impact on people - a Christian perspective', crime is turned down and it is argued that the survivor of crime should be cared for within the Biblical perspective. Article 2, 'A comparison between the support systems for victims of crime in the Netherlands and South Africa', provided clear guidelines for support systems in developing communities. The formation of a h e support network and the provisioning of compensation to victims are some of these guidelines. In Article 3, 'An investigation into support available to survivors of crime in the North-West Province' it was found that a lack of specialized and professional services is present as well as the lack of co-ordination in the provisioning of the support services. An effective support system of professional services is of the utmost importance and resources, especially h a n d resources, are required to develop an attainable and sustainable support system. The fourth article 'A model for support services available to crime affected people in the North-West Province' contains the model that was developed for support to crime affected people in a rural and deep rural area of our country. The model can be illustrated by a network consisting of four panels, each including particular institutions providing particular services. In Section C a summary of the findings and recommendations of the full research project is provided. Some short-comings, based on specific restraints, are explained and the contribution of the study is provided. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Social Work))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2004.

HIV/AIDS infections are an increasingly alarming pandemic, therefore it will remain being a challenge and a priority. The efforts of all participating and active stakeholders are appreciated in the fight against HIV/AIDS. This research dissertation gives an overview of the HIVIAIDS status and impact on the affected children around Kagisano (Ganyesa) service point. This information has been collected in Pomfret, which is a village near Ganyesa. The survey was undertaken with the aim to investigate social work services for children affected by HIV/AIDS in the rural area in which Pomfret is situated. The objectives of this study were: To investigate the needs of children affected by HIV/AIDS in a rural village called Pomfret through a literature study and empirical research. To investigate the role of the social worker in providing for the needs of children affected by HIV/AIDS in Pomfret. These objectives were achieved by means of a study of the relevant literature and through empirical research. The available literature on the subject was consulted to determine whether any research has been conducted in this field and whether the subject was researchable. The empirical research was conducted to confirm the previous research findings. The literature study and the empirical research were vital in formulating recommendations. In this study the survey method was used as a systematic data gathering procedure. Data was gathered through a self-formulated schedule. The researcher administrated the schedules by holding personal interviews with the respondents. The research was conducted in the Pomfret district and 50 respondents were willing to be part of the research. The findings of this research reflect that social workers still have much to do in order to address the needs of children affected by HIV/AIDS in rural areas. / Thesis (M.A. (MW))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.

The primary aim of h s research is to evaluate crime and its effect on people from a Reformative perspective. Furthermore to develop a social work support model, according to which co-ordinated services can be provide to all people that are affected by crime in the Northwest Province as an exemplar of a rural community. The thesis consists of three sections. Section A includes in the first place a reference to the actuality of the research. It is namely clear that the level of crime in South Africa, in some instances the highest in the world, requires extensive support for the survivors of these criminal acts. Therefore, the research aim, as given above, lead to four specific objectives. Section A also explains the research methodology. The research was structured according to the Intervention research model within the qualitative research approach. Data was collected by means of a literature study, comparison of the systems of victim support in the Netherlands and South Africa and interviews using a semi-structured interview schedule. Section B consists of the four articles that form the report about the research outcomes. Each article is a report about a particular sub-project of the research and each has, as self-contained units, an own research aim, research method and report Each of these is linked with the central aim, objectives and content of the over-arching research project. The four articles are: In Article 1, 'Crime and its impact on people - a Christian perspective', crime is turned down and it is argued that the survivor of crime should be cared for within the Biblical perspective. Article 2, 'A comparison between the support systems for victims of crime in the Netherlands and South Africa', provided clear guidelines for support systems in developing communities. The formation of a h e support network and the provisioning of compensation to victims are some of these guidelines. In Article 3, 'An investigation into support available to survivors of crime in the North-West Province' it was found that a lack of specialized and professional services is present as well as the lack of co-ordination in the provisioning of the support services. An effective support system of professional services is of the utmost importance and resources, especially h a n d resources, are required to develop an attainable and sustainable support system. The fourth article 'A model for support services available to crime affected people in the North-West Province' contains the model that was developed for support to crime affected people in a rural and deep rural area of our country. The model can be illustrated by a network consisting of four panels, each including particular institutions providing particular services. In Section C a summary of the findings and recommendations of the full research project is provided. Some short-comings, based on specific restraints, are explained and the contribution of the study is provided. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Social Work))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2004.

HIV/AIDS infections are an increasingly alarming pandemic, therefore it will remain being a challenge and a priority. The efforts of all participating and active stakeholders are appreciated in the fight against HIV/AIDS. This research dissertation gives an overview of the HIVIAIDS status and impact on the affected children around Kagisano (Ganyesa) service point. This information has been collected in Pomfret, which is a village near Ganyesa. The survey was undertaken with the aim to investigate social work services for children affected by HIV/AIDS in the rural area in which Pomfret is situated. The objectives of this study were: To investigate the needs of children affected by HIV/AIDS in a rural village called Pomfret through a literature study and empirical research. To investigate the role of the social worker in providing for the needs of children affected by HIV/AIDS in Pomfret. These objectives were achieved by means of a study of the relevant literature and through empirical research. The available literature on the subject was consulted to determine whether any research has been conducted in this field and whether the subject was researchable. The empirical research was conducted to confirm the previous research findings. The literature study and the empirical research were vital in formulating recommendations. In this study the survey method was used as a systematic data gathering procedure. Data was gathered through a self-formulated schedule. The researcher administrated the schedules by holding personal interviews with the respondents. The research was conducted in the Pomfret district and 50 respondents were willing to be part of the research. The findings of this research reflect that social workers still have much to do in order to address the needs of children affected by HIV/AIDS in rural areas. / Thesis (M.A. (MW))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.

Pakistan has been riddled with energy shortage crisis. Long hours of load shedding have caused major economic setbacks in urban areas and rural areas do not even make the cut. Some rural parts, which are connected to the grid, suffer major load shedding and so economic growth is minimal. Most energy is directed towards industrial demand; hence the domestic demand suffers and causes long hours of load shedding. To aid this supply-demand gap, microgrids can be helpful in relieving some of the domestic load on the grid. A microgrid may be more economical only as a support for the main grid in an area, depending on its configuration. Since microgrids are generally composed of renewable energy sources like wind or solar or a combination of both, the supply from just these sources may result in high intermittency. To allow uniform supply, a backup energy source or energy storage is included with the renewable sources. Sizing a microgrid for the targeted region is critical. Some major sizing factors include the availability of renewable resource, load profile of the region, land availability, grid availability, etc. For this thesis, a region near Gharo, a town in Thatta District in Sindh, Pakistan, is selected to deploy the microgrid with a wind farm and battery energy storage system. The microgrid is connected to the main feeder, which supplies grid electricity to a small town of 30 small homes, a school and a small hospital. Hourly wind speed data and an annual load profile is used to calculate the most economic size of the microgrid, depending on the energy dispatch philosophy. To find the most economical solution, this thesis incorporates a stochastic technique, known as the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), which is a powerful intelligence evolution algorithm for solving optimization problems. Over the years, PSO has gained popularity due to its simple structure and high performance in solving linear or non-linear objective functions with any number of constraints. In this case, the objective function to be minimized is the net present cost of the microgrid, which comprises of annual capital cost, annual operation and maintenance cost, annual replacement cost of all equipment involved and the annual net cost of buying/selling electricity from/to the grid, respectively.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:29:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2010-02-23Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T18:59:05Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 bizelli_ssk_me_botfm.pdf: 1180736 bytes, checksum: 46e28f9668b061de6d86f920277f6b16 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Este trabalho pretende apresentar um estudo de caso de uma unidade de saúde da família localizada na zona rural de um município do interior do estado de São Paulo com população abaixo de cinco mil habitantes e com baixo índice de riqueza. Busca-se investigar não só como as práticas de cuidado desse serviço de saúde se caracterizam e são organizadas, como também analisar as aproximações com os conceitos de universalidade, integralidade e equidade, tomados como indicadores de qualidade. O suporte teórico empregado na pesquisa foi a hermenêutica; a descrição etnográfica do cotidiano desse serviço foi a estratégia empregada para a coleta de dados. A ética, a estética e a política foram os parâmetros de análise dos dispositivos invisíveis de poder que operam nas práticas desenvolvidas pelos profissionais de saúde e permitiram a discussão dos resultados. Verificaram-se, entre a população atendida, a universalização do cuidado de si, traduzida na prática da utilização do serviço de saúde, e a observação das orientações médicas, mesmo que de maneira pessoal. Quanto à aplicação da integralidade nas ações, notou-se que as redes de poder nas quais os atores sociais estão implicados reescrevem o ideal proposto e produzem uma conduta ética marcada por lugares viciados histórica e socialmente. Finalmente, verificou-se que os fóruns de discussão de gestores não se constituem espaços de emancipação de forças políticas dos interesses de pequenos municípios, ameaçando o princípio da igualdade na gestão do sistema de saúde. Diante disso, apesar de existir um modelo ideal de qualidade proposto por meio da estratégia de saúde da família, constatamos processos ativos e dinâmicos não capturáveis e impossíveis de se controlar. Por outro lado, verificamos uma reinvenção criativa de práticas de saúde que chegam a famílias moradoras de... / This work intends to present a study of the case of a family health unit placed in the rural area of a town in the countryside of the state of São Paulo with a population of less than five thousand inhabitants and with a low index of wealth. We aim to investigate not only how the practices of this health service are organized, but also to analyze the approaches to the concepts of universality, integrality and equity, taken as indicators of quality. The theoretical basis employed in the research was the hermeneutics; the ethnographic description of this service’s daily routine was the strategy employed for the data collection. Ethics, aesthetics and politics were the parameters for the analysis of the invisible power relations that operate in the practices developed by the health professionals and allowed the discussion of the results. We verified, among the population assisted, the universality of the self-care, manifested in the utilization of the health service, as well as the acceptance of the medical advice, even if it is in a personal way. On what concerns the employment of integrality in the actions, we observed that the power nets in which the social actors are involved rewrite the ideal proposed and produce an ethic conduct marked by places that are addicted historical and socially. Finally, we verified that the discussion forums of managers do not constitute spaces for the emancipation of the political forces of the small towns’ interests, which threatens the principle of equality in the management of the health system. Considering this, although an ideal model of equality proposed through the family health strategy does exist, we found out active and dynamic processes which can not be caught and are impossible to control. On the other hand, we verified a creative reinvention of health practices that get to the families that live in distant and uninhabited places. In this ... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)

Orientador: Elen Rose Lodeiro Castanheira / Banca: José Ricardo de Carvalho Mesquita Ayres / Banca: Antonio de Pádua Pithon Cyrino / Resumo: Este trabalho pretende apresentar um estudo de caso de uma unidade de saúde da família localizada na zona rural de um município do interior do estado de São Paulo com população abaixo de cinco mil habitantes e com baixo índice de riqueza. Busca-se investigar não só como as práticas de cuidado desse serviço de saúde se caracterizam e são organizadas, como também analisar as aproximações com os conceitos de universalidade, integralidade e equidade, tomados como indicadores de qualidade. O suporte teórico empregado na pesquisa foi a hermenêutica; a descrição etnográfica do cotidiano desse serviço foi a estratégia empregada para a coleta de dados. A ética, a estética e a política foram os parâmetros de análise dos dispositivos invisíveis de poder que operam nas práticas desenvolvidas pelos profissionais de saúde e permitiram a discussão dos resultados. Verificaram-se, entre a população atendida, a universalização do cuidado de si, traduzida na prática da utilização do serviço de saúde, e a observação das orientações médicas, mesmo que de maneira pessoal. Quanto à aplicação da integralidade nas ações, notou-se que as redes de poder nas quais os atores sociais estão implicados reescrevem o ideal proposto e produzem uma conduta ética marcada por lugares viciados histórica e socialmente. Finalmente, verificou-se que os fóruns de discussão de gestores não se constituem espaços de emancipação de forças políticas dos interesses de pequenos municípios, ameaçando o princípio da igualdade na gestão do sistema de saúde. Diante disso, apesar de existir um modelo ideal de qualidade proposto por meio da estratégia de saúde da família, constatamos processos ativos e dinâmicos não capturáveis e impossíveis de se controlar. Por outro lado, verificamos uma reinvenção criativa de práticas de saúde que chegam a famílias moradoras de ... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: This work intends to present a study of the case of a family health unit placed in the rural area of a town in the countryside of the state of São Paulo with a population of less than five thousand inhabitants and with a low index of wealth. We aim to investigate not only how the practices of this health service are organized, but also to analyze the approaches to the concepts of universality, integrality and equity, taken as indicators of quality. The theoretical basis employed in the research was the hermeneutics; the ethnographic description of this service's daily routine was the strategy employed for the data collection. Ethics, aesthetics and politics were the parameters for the analysis of the invisible power relations that operate in the practices developed by the health professionals and allowed the discussion of the results. We verified, among the population assisted, the universality of the self-care, manifested in the utilization of the health service, as well as the acceptance of the medical advice, even if it is in a personal way. On what concerns the employment of integrality in the actions, we observed that the power nets in which the social actors are involved rewrite the ideal proposed and produce an ethic conduct marked by places that are addicted historical and socially. Finally, we verified that the discussion forums of managers do not constitute spaces for the emancipation of the political forces of the small towns' interests, which threatens the principle of equality in the management of the health system. Considering this, although an ideal model of equality proposed through the family health strategy does exist, we found out active and dynamic processes which can not be caught and are impossible to control. On the other hand, we verified a creative reinvention of health practices that get to the families that live in distant and uninhabited places. In this ... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

Introduction: Diarrhea remains one of the main causes of morbidity and mortality in children under five years of age especially in low-income countries. In Peru, epidemiological reports about enteropathogens related to acute diarrhea are scarce in rural areas. The aim of this study was to describe the etiology, epidemiology, and clinical characteristics of the principal causes of acute infectious diarrhea in in a northern rural region of Peru. Methodology: A prospective study was conducted from January 2011 to December 2012 to describe the main pathogens causing acute diarrhea using PCR assay. Results: A total of 117 children diagnosed with acute diarrhea were included in the study. A single etiological agent was identified in 41.03% of samples, being rotavirus followed by norovirus and Shigella. Co-infections containing virus and bacteria were found in 22.22% of samples. Vomiting was most commonly found symptoms in 58.97% cases followed by fever (54.70%). Malnutrition was detected in 14.53% of the children. Conclusions: High prevalence of rotavirus, as well as adenovirus and norovirus, was observed in the present study. Shigella was the most common bacteria found in acute diarrhea in the area. The implementation of a better surveillance system is mandatory in order to identify the principal etiologies of gastroenteritis in the rural areas of Peru and to develop of better prevention strategies and reduce diarrhea-associated mortalities.

Magister Artium (Social Work) - MA(SW) / Substance abuse is a global phenomenon and a leading social issue that affects the user and the well-being of the user’s family. Parental substance abuse in particular, has a negative impact on family well-being. South Africa is no exception and is rated by the United Nations as one of the countries in Southern Africa with the highest rate of substance abuse. The Western Cape has very high rates of substance abuse, and the effects on the abuser’s family and community is of great concern for social and health practitioners

Breast cancer, according to research, is diagnosed in approximately one in every twenty-nine women in South Africa. Differences in gender, race and class produce disparities in health care, subjecting lower class women to lengthy waiting periods between diagnosis and treatment. Present research studies on breast cancer predominantly use quantitative methods. To understand women's lived experiences of the breast cancer trajectory this study explores experiences encountered during the waiting period, as well as the impacts of breast cancer and its treatment on feminine identity. For this a qualitative method was applied. Semistructured, in-depth interviews were conducted with five black and coloured breast cancer patients residing at two of CANSA's care homes. Participants varied in age and phases of treatment, were all married or widowed, had minor dependants, and had all travelled from distant and outlying areas. Based on a thematic analysis, six themes emerged from the data collected. These included: First experiences of cancer in the body; breast cancer and waiting periods from the patient's perspective; sources of support; meanings and perceptions of being a woman; conceptualising disease, and patients' needs. The analysis illustrates the importance of researching women's lived experiences and highlights that these need to be understood within a framework of socially constructed notions of gender, race and class in order to improve breast cancer treatment and psycho-social care.