Thesis (MA (Psychology))--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / Sexual abuse of individuals with cognitive deficits appears to be an extremely prevalent problem in contemporary society. Although it appears that many cases go unreported and remain unknown to everyone other than the victim and the perpetrator, reported rates of sexual abuse of children, adolescents and adults with cognitive deficits are high. The objective was to create a demographic profile of people with mental retardation who have been sexually abused whom are part of the Sexual Abuse Victim Empowerment (SAVE) programme in the Western Cape. Group comparisons were made between the different levels of mental retardation in terms of sexual knowledge, competence as witness, adaptive functioning and adaptive functioning age equivalents.

Thesis (MA) -- Stellenbosch University, 2003. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Health and social problems associated with the high-risk sexual behaviour of young people worldwide gave rise to the priority status accorded to sex education in the past decade. Despite the attention focused on and the goals set for sexual health education, surveys indicate that the AIDS epidemic is still spreading, STD infections are increasing and a growing number of unwanted pregnancies are reported every year. It seems therefore that many young people are not yet able to manage their sexual health effectively and sex educators are confronted with the challenge to provide more effective sexl education interventions. This study attempted to address the need for effective sexuality education for young people by designing, implementing and evaluating a peer group sexuality psycho-education programme targeted at university students. The process of programme development was guided by the phases proposed by the Psycho-education model: Phase 1: Problem-identification. This phase entailed becoming aware of the problem through media attention, social awareness, discussions with members of the community and exploring problems around young people's sexual health through an extensive literature review. Phase 2: Situation Analysis. During this phase the researcher clarified the identified problem by conceptualizing and defining relevant concepts and identifying theoretical frameworks and principles that could be used to address the problem. as well as the Action Research model were identified as useful theories. Phase 3: Development of the programme. The Information-Motivation-Behavioural skills (1MB) model and the Guerney model were used to guide the design of the programme. Phases 4, 5 and 6: Implementation, evaluation and re-evaluation. These interdependent phases entailed three consecutive implementations of the sexuality psycho-education programme. The principles of Action Research were used to guide the implementation and evaluation processes. Evaluation of qualitative data obtained through participatory research after each implementation allowed for continuous adaptation and improvement of the programme. At the end of the third implementation quantitative data was supplemented by quantitative data obtained with a pen-and-paper test-retest method. Quantitative results indicated that the sexuality education programme significantly increased subjects' knowledge regarding sex en sexuality, but did not have a significant impact on attitudes and perceived behavioural skills. There was an indication that clarification of attitudes had been promoted, and that attitudes relating to the use of contraception had positively changed. Furthermore, a significant change in perceived behavioural skills regarding communication about and behaviour for the prevention of HIV/STDs had been achieved. Qualitative evaluation indicated that subjects felt more positive about using condoms and about communicating with their partners about the use of contraceptives. Step 6 and full circle back to step 1: Final Re-evaluation and problem-identification. During this phase the researcher reviewed the outcomes of the intervention. New problems were identified and recommendations made for future continuation. The researcher concluded that the deficits in research methodology, such as a lack of structured qualitative evaluation, hampered effective evaluation of the programme. Further research needs to be conducted to develop appropriate theoretical frameworks and measuringinstruments with which to inform and evaluate the effectiveness of sex education programmes. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die gesondheids- en maatskaplike probleme wat verband hou met die hoë-risiko seksuele gedrag van jongmense wêreldwyd het daartoe gelei dat seksonderrig gedurende die afgelope dekade voorrang geniet het. Ondanks die toespitsing op seksuele gesondheid, en die doelwitte daarvoor gestel, toon peilings dat die VIGS-epidemie steeds versprei, seksueel-oordraagbare siektes (STDs) toeneem, en 'n groeiende aantalongewenste swangerskappe jaarliks aangemeld word. Dit blyk dus dat 'n groot aantal jongmense nie in staat is om hulle seksuele gesondheid effektief te bestuur nie en seksopvoeders word gekonfronteer met die uitdaging om meer effektiewe seksopvoedingsintervensies te verskaf. Met hierdie studie is onderneem om die behoefte aan doeltreffende seksualiteitsopvoeding vir jongmense aan te spreek, deur die samestelling, toepassing en evaluering van 'n portuurgroep seksualiteit psigo-opleidingsprogram gemik op universiteitstudente. Die proses van programontwikkeling is gelei deur die fases wat voorgestel is deur die Psigo-onderrigmodel: Fase 1: Probleemidentifikasie: Dié fase het kennisname van die probleem behels as gevolg van die aandag daaraan gewy in die media en as gevolg van maatskaplike bewustheid, asook deur bespreking met lede van die gemeenskap en deur ondersoek van probleme in verband met die seksuele welstand van jongmense deur middel van 'n uitgebreide literatuurstudie. Fase 2: Situasieanalise: Gedurende hierdie fase het die navorser die geïdentifiseerde probleem duideliker omskryf deur die relevante konsepte te konseptualiseer en omskryf, en teoretiese raamwerke en beginsels te identifiseer wat gebruik kon word om die probleem aan te pak. Fase 3: Ontwikkeling van die program: Die Informasie-Motivering-Gedragsvaardigheidsmodel (IMG) en die Guernymodel is gebruik as raamwerke vir die ontwerp van die program. Fases 4, 5 en 6: Implementering, evaluasie en her-evaluasie. Hierdie interafhanklike fases het drie opeenvolgende implementerings van die seksualiteit-psigo-opleidingsprogram behels. Die beginsels van Aksienavorsing is toegepas in die implementering- en evaluasieprosesse. Evaluasie van kwalitatiewe data, verkry deur deelnemende navorsing na elke implementering, het deurlopende aanpassing en verbetering van die program moontlik gemaak. Aan die einde van die derde implementering is kwantitatiewe data aangevul deur data wat verkry is deur 'n pen-en-papier toets-hertoets-metode. Stap 6 en terug tot by stap 1: Finale re-evaluasie en probleemidentifikasie. Gedurende hierdie fase het die navorser die resultate van die intervensie ontleed. Nuwe probleme is geïdentifiseer en aanbeveliings vir toekomstige voortsetting is gemaak. Die navorser het tot die gevolgtrekking gekom dat die tekortkominge in die navorsingsmetodologie - byvoorbeeld, 'n gebrek aan gestruktureerde kwalitatiewe evaluering - verhinder het dat effektiewe evaluering van die program kon plaasvind. Verdere navorsing word benodig om toepaslike teoretiese raamwerke en meetinstrumente te ontwikkel wat aangewend kan word om die ontwerp van seksopvoedingsprogramme te rig en die effektief van programme te evalueer.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2005. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study was undertaken to address the need for a multi-sectoral approach to sexuality education among adolescents. The rise in teenage pregnancies and the rapid spread of the HIV virus urged the researcher to assess how different sectors within communities can work together to sexually educate adolescents. The goal of the research is to initiate planning of prevention- and educational strategies among all sectors of the community. It is hoped that these programmes may provide adolescents with the necessary skills to make informed decisions regarding their sexuality. The use of a multi-sectoral approach to sexuality education was evaluated by means of a exploratory study and a comparison between the findings of questionnaires and existing literature. In chapter two the nature of sexuality education is assessed. Chapter three focuses on the specific multi-sectoral approach to this sexuality education. In chapter four the findings of the empirical study is discussed. Recommendations for further research is made in chapter five. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die behoefte vir ’n multi-sektorale benadering tot seksualiteitsopvoeding was die hoof uitgangspunt van die studie. Met die verhoging in tienerswangerskappe en die verspreiding van die MIV-virus was dit vir die navorser belangrik om ondersoek in te stel na hoe verskillende sektore in die gemeenskap kan saamwerk om sodoende adolessente van seksualiteitsopvoeding te voorsien. Hierdie navorsing het ten doel om ’n raamwerk vir maatskaplike werkers in diens van gesinsorganisasies daar te stel vir die benutting van ’n multi-sektorale benadering tot seksualiteitsopvoedingsprogramme vir adolessente. Holistiese, jeugvriendelike intervensie en dienslewering deur multi-sektorale samewerking word ten doel gestel. By wyse van ’n verkennende studie asook ’n vergelyking tussen die bevindinge van vraelyste en bestaande literatuur was die kwessie rondom die benutting van ’n multisektorale benadering tot seksualiteitsopvoedingsprogramme geevalueer. In hoofstuk twee behandel die skrywer die aard van seksualiteitsopvoedingsprogramme en fokus op ’n multi-sektorale benadering tot sodanige programme in hoofstuk drie. ’n Bespreking oor die empiriese ondersoek wat geloots is word in hoofstuk vier gegee en in hoofstuk vyf word aanbevelings vir verdere studie gemaak.

published_or_final_version / abstract / Education / Master / Master of Education

The purpose of this essay is to investigate the construction of sexuality in Swedish school libraries through the lens of Foucault’s concept of power/knowledge. Five libraries were investigated, using two kinds of method: discourse analysis of titles, classification codes and subject headings of sex education materials, and qualitative interviews with librarians working at each of the libraries. Most sex education materials were classified within the medicine section, illustrating the continued authority of medical discourse in matters concerning sexuality. Books for younger audiences were often written for either boys or girls, reproducing a binary understanding of gender. Most library collections had a larger number of books written for girls, indicating that girls’ sexualities are subjected to a higher degree of discipline compared to boys’. Collections illustrated two combating discourses about female sexuality, one focusing on problematic aspects of sexuality such as rape and sexual abuse, the other constructing female sexuality as connected to lust and pleasure. Sex and love were constructed as intrinsically linked though the frequent use of the word “love” in titles and the concurrence of the subject heading “love” with “sex” or “sexuality”. Indexation patterns made LGBTQ-people stand out as exceptions to the heterosexual norm. Informants had differing views on what they thought should be part of their libraries’ sex education materials. Some mentioned a range of different subjects; others emphasized the need for “basic” books. When asked what materials they would not purchase informants mentioned pornographic, racist, violent and otherwise “offensive” materials. Most informants did not actively promote the libraries’ collections of sex education materials apart from signposting certain books. Regardless of the level of cooperation between teachers and librarians none of the informants had ever participated in the schools’ sex education classes. This is a two years master’s thesis in Archive, Library and Museum Studies.

A research report submitted to the University of Witwatersrand, Faculty of Humanities, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Masters of Arts (Coursework and Research Report) University of the Witwatersrand, 2016 / This research investigated how sex and sexuality is being represented within Sexual Health Education (SHE), as reported by students who completed matric in 2014. Furthermore, this study wanted to investigate how these representations contributed to the perceived value of the SHE. In South Africa, SHE is located within the curriculum of Life Orientation (LO), a compulsory subject through to Grade 12. Despite being compulsory, there is no external moderation for this subject, allowing schools and teachers to decide on the exact content being taught within LO. The theoretical framework of Social Representations Theory (SRT) guided this research. SRT states that our understanding of the world is based on a collection of social representations, accumulated through interactions with the social world. The school environment is a place where social representations are often challenged by new information covered in lessons, as well as in discussions with peers and teachers outside of class. This study was interested in what social representations are being re-presented in the context of SHE. Five focus group discussions were conducted, following a semi-structured interview schedule, informed by the literature review. The sample consisted of first year students at a Johannesburg university, who completed their secondary schooling in 2014. The findings of this study show that South African youth receive vastly different information, some of which is not complete or accurate. Participants felt their SHE failed to assist them in making adult decisions, as there was a sense that vital information was being withheld, and the information that was imparted within SHE was viewed as irrelevant. This was attributed to the societal taboo against speaking openly about topics of sex and sexuality, which was often perpetuated in the ways that sex and sexuality were socially represented within SHE. / MT2017

To examine parental attitudes toward sexuality education in the home and school, sealed packets were distributed to fifth and seventh graders (N = 609) for each to deliver home to a parent. Parents were asked to express level of agreement with a series of attitude statements and to indicate the content and timing considered appropriate for sexuality instruction in the home and school. Analysis of 246 returned surveys (40% response rate) indicated that most parents trust the school to address human sexuality, though a sizeable minority of parents hold very conservative attitudes toward sexuality instruction in this setting. Results suggested that the majority of parents view school-based instruction as supplemental to instruction in the home.

Based on multi-method research with Class 11 students (aged 15-17) and their teachers at three English-medium, co-educational secondary schools in Delhi over nine months in 2013-14, this thesis explores how young people's understandings and experiences relate to national and international understandings of gender, sexuality and education. The thesis examines the interplay between institutional practices and students' agency within schools (drawing on Connell's 2000 framework), while I use the concept of ‘sexual learning' in order to consider young people's experiences both within and beyond the classroom (Thomson & Scott 1991). Study findings indicate the influence of concerns about adolescent sexuality on school curricula and on disciplinary practices, which sought to maintain gender segregation in co-educational spaces. The thesis also reveals the ways in which narratives of girlhood and masculinities shaped young people's lives; particularly in the wake of the December 2012 gang rape case in Delhi, these gender narratives were both contradicted and reinforced by seemingly ubiquitous stories of sexual violence. Stories of sexual violence also formed a source of gendered, risk-based sexual learning, which reinforced risk-based narratives of sexuality within formal and informal sources of sexual learning accessed by young people. The thesis also reveals heterosocial dynamics within school peer cultures as an important source of sexual learning. Students proved adept at negotiating assumptions about ‘appropriate' interactions such as idealized rakhi (brother-sister) relationships, and formed less restrictive heterosocial friendships and romantic relationships. In particular, stories about peer romances emerged as an alternative source of sexual learning, which undermined dominant risk-based narratives of young people's sexuality and offered more positive understandings of pleasure and intimacy. A key methodological contribution is the use of a narrative analytical framework in which Plummer's (1995) sexual stories are considered in terms of Andrews' (2014) political narratives. Using this framework, the thesis examines the text and context of ‘small stories' told within research encounters, and the interrelations between these micro-narratives and macro-narratives of gender, sexuality and education in post-liberalization India. This framework facilitates the examination of interrelations between local experiences and national and international understandings in the thesis. A key substantive contribution of the study is to address a lack of research on how young people learn about gender and sexuality in Indian schools. As the study largely captures the experiences of urban, middle-class young people, the thesis also contributes to the existing body of literature on middle-class experiences in post-liberalization India (e.g. Gilbertson 2014; Sancho 2012; Donner & De Neve 2011; Lukose 2009), and specifically underlines the importance of education as a site for middle-class young people's negotiation of gendered and sexual politics.

Over the past two decades, communities across the nation have been mired in battles over sexuality, including gay rights, censorship, and sex education. Based on indepth interview data with 47 racially and economically diverse parents of teenagers, this study explores how parents make sense of and try to guide their children's sexuality in the midst of these hotly contested and politically charged debates. The findings highlight a paradox in parents' understandings of their children's sexuality: the parents interviewed for this study do not think of their own children as sexual subjects, even as they construct adolescents, in general, as highly sexual and sexualized. The author explores this paradox throughout the dissertation. She argues that parents' understandings reflect the complex interplay of myriad forces: these include the culture of sexual fear in the U.S.; dominant understandings of adolescence; gender, race, class, and sexual inequalities; and a pervasive American individualist ethos that situates the blame for any negative outcomes of teen sexuality on parents and their children. At the same time, however, these constructions often bolster social inequality. As the author shows, parents' understandings of adolescent sexuality, and their lessons to their children about sexuality, are not only shaped by, but also serve to legitimize, hierarchies and inequalities based on race, class, gender, sexuality, and age. The final chapter discusses the specific social and cultural conditions that might enable parents to think of their children as sexual subjects. / text

The HIV/AIDS pandemic is having a devastating effect on the South African population. Most affected are young people between 15 and 24. HIV/AIDS research has paid little attention to youth in the D/deaf population. Schools play an important role in the reproductive health of youth as they reach youth at a formative time in their development. Aim: To investigate the form of HIV/AIDS and RHE in South African secondary schools for the D/deaf, together with factors associated with teacher implementation thereof. Methodology: The sample was made up of 33 Life Orientation teachers from 16 secondary schools for the Deaf in 6 South African provinces. Quantitative methodology was used to obtain descriptive data and to determine any associations between demographic/ contextual variables and the study's theoretical framework (Theory of Planned Behaviour); qualitative data also aided in answering of the research question. Results: HIV/AIDS and RH education is being implemented at South African secondary schools for the D/deaf and LO teachers recognise the importance of HIV/AIDS and RHE for their D/deaf learners. Despite high coverage levels, a number of obstacles are hindering the optimum implementation of HIV/AIDS and RHE: 1) lack of learner assessment in the HIV/AIDS and RHE portion of the LO curriculum 2) unclear policy mandates regarding the weighting of HIV/AIDS and RHE in the LO curriculum 3) inadequate teacher proficiency in SASL 4) the use of a mainstream LO curriculum that was not specifically developed for Deaf learners 5) the moralistic viewpoints of certain teachers 6) problems with teacher access to suitable HIV/AIDS and RHE training. A number of significant associations between TPB constructs and demographic/contextual variables were also found. Recommendations for future interventions and research are delineated and limitations of the study are discussed. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sci.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2010.