Thesis (M.A.)--University of Delaware, 2006. / Principal faculty advisor: Cynthia Robbins, Dept. of Sociology. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (LLM)--University of Waikato, 2006. / Title from PDF cover (viewed January 25, 2008) Includes bibliographical references (p. 159-178).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2004. / Supervisor: A. James Schwab. Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Also available from UMI.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2004. / Supervisors: Marc Lewis and Clayton Shorkey. Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI company.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (v. 1, leaf 271-288).

This descriptive study explored whether women in substance abuse treatment who report a history of sexual and/or physical abuse have different drug use profiles than women who do not report such abuse. The data originated from a NIDA (National Institute on Drug Abuse) study designed to evaluate the effects of different treatment modalities in inpatient substance abuse treatment for women. The study compared the drug profiles of women in four areas: drug of choice, frequency of use, problem severity, and level of psychological problems. The following groups were compared: 1) women who did not report abuse, 2) women who reported physical abuse only, 3) women who reported sexual abuse only, and 4) women who reported physical and sexual abuse. The study did not find significant differences in either drug choice, problem severity, or frequency of drug use. In the area of psychological problems, the study did find a significant difference in interpersonal sensitivity between participants who reported a sexual abuse history vs. the other abuse groups. This finding suggests that women with a sexual abuse history are more mistrustful in their relationships with others, and this may suggest that group treatment will be more difficult for sexually abused women than individual treatment. Overall, the findings may also suggest abused women do not need different drug or alcohol treatment approaches than non-abused women although it does not preclude attention to the effects of their abuse. / Master of Science

The sharing of injecting equipment by injecting drug users (IDUs) is one of the primary causes of the spread of HIV in Scotland. Mathematical models of disease spread can explore the transmission dynamics and can assist in evaluating control strategies such as needle exchanges. A simple deterministic model is examined and local and global stability results are presented. A deterministic model in which infected IDUs are considered separately from uninfected IDUs is created. The infectivity of a needle is then examined. It is first assumed that the infectivity of a needle depends on the amount of infectious material within it, then models in which this infectivity varies over time from injection are explored. Models in which the initial infectiousness of a needle depend on the length of time the person who infected it had been infected with HIV are also presented. A stochastic model is developed and explored in a threefold manner; analytically, numerically and using Monte-Carlo simulation methods. In particular, the probability that the disease dies out is examined. Although these simple models use only a small number of parameters, little is known about the values that these parameters may take. Seroprevalence and behavioural data from Glasgow are used to inform these models, and also to provide an estimate for the probability than an IDU becomes infected after injecting with an infected needle. The effect that the variability in the parameter values may have on the spread of the disease is examined by performing both an uncertainty analysis and a sensitivity analysis. These show that the two behavioural parameters that can be altered by control strategies have a greater influence on the spread of the disease than some other parameters.

The aim of this study was to examine the profiles of child abuse in Zamokuhle Child Centre, a child abuse referral Centre serving black children in Soweto. It was hypothesised that these profiles are different from those described in the Western communities. A retrospective analysis of all 1995 patient records was done. The data was extracted by the way of a data collection form. A total of 372 children were seen over a ten-month period in which the Centre was operational. Of these records all but four could be traced. Of the 368 records, 357 were related to sexually abuse. There were very few cases of other forms of abuse. The average age of these children was 8.1 ± 3 .6 years and 97% were females. Only in about a third of these children was abuse purposefully disclosed, either to mother (29.7% ) or teacher (17.8%). M ost of the children (61.3% ) were incidentally found to be abused by either a clinician (57.1% ) or a parent (27.9%). Most children presented with signs and symptom s that raised enough suspicion of sexual abuse. An overwhelming majority (278 out of 357) had physical signs highly suggestive of penetration beyond the hymen, on examination. Only in about a third of the cases was the abuse intra-familial, in the majority it was extra-familial. STDs were diagnosed in about 12% of the children.

A research report submitted to the Family Medicine Department, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Family Medicine / Background: Intimate partner violence is problem world-wide and has been attributed to many factors. South Africa has one of the highest IPV statistics in the world and therefore poses a definite need to address it. For abused women the process of leaving an intimate partner is difficult and mired in an abundance of complex and entwined factors which influence the decision to leave or stay in an abusive relationship. This qualitative study explored women’s experiences of leaving abusive relationships and the critical factors that pushed them to leave their abusive relationships. Methods: In-depth interviews were conducted with eleven women (over 18 years) who had experienced partner abuse and were current residents of Ikaya Le Themba Women’s Shelter in Johannesburg. All interviews were audio-taped with consent, and translated where necessary and transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis, which entails an analysis of emerging themes from the interviews, was conducted in order to understand factors that led to abused leaving abusive relationships. Results: Two themes were identified as instrumental to freeing women from abuse. These were reaching a turning point and leaving the abusive relationship. The important turning points were progression of violence, realization that the partner will not change, effect of abuse on children and women’s feelings due to abuse. Leaving the abusive, relationship was facilitated by social and family support, access to shelters and availability of an opportunity to leave. Conclusions: Findings suggest that increasing awareness about existence of shelters is crucial to facilitate early departure. Social and family support was fundamental in facilitating leaving abusive relationships.

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