Social Work / Maatskaplike Werk (E-Journal)
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DATING AND SEXUAL CHALLENGES FACED BY HIV-POSITIVE PEOPLE IN KWAZULU-NATAL, SOUTH AFRICA
Get PDFAccording to the 2010 UNAIDS Report, an estimated 320 000 (or 20%) fewer people died of AIDS-related causes in 2009 when compared to figures in 2004 in sub-Saharan Africa, when antiretroviral therapy was markedly expanded (UNAIDS, 2010). This decreased mortality rate offers hope for HIV-infected people to plan a future, part of which will include dating and sexual relationships. The Report cites KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa as being at the heart of the HIV/AIDS epidemic; this article is based on research on dating and sexuality among HIV-positive people in KwaZulu-Natal.Dating and sexuality are an integral part of living. Yet HIV-positive persons are denied intimacy at a time when this is most needed (Kasiram in Kasiram, Partab & Dano, 2006). Little is known about the full range of sexual adaptations that HIV-infected individuals choose (Schiltz & Sandfort, 2000). Kasiram, Partab, Dano and Van Greunen (2003:9) cite interaction and intimacy among HIV-positive persons as a neglected research focus, while Painter (2001) adds that insufficient attention is afforded to couple relationships for infected people.An important reason that motivated this study on dating and sexual challenges faced by HIV-positive people was the first author’s (the main researcher’s) personal experience of being HIV positive and counselling and life coaching HIV-positive people. She is confronted regularly with variations of the question “Will I be normal?”, which often translates to: “Will I be able to date and have se
CHILD ABUSE: LISTENING TO THE VOICES OF PRIMARY SCHOOL CHILDREN IN ALICE, EASTERN CAPE
Get PDFChild abuse is a global social “illness” which has led to numerous research studies being done in this area (Mersch, 2011). However, defining, understanding and intervening in child abuse are widely based on the perspective of adults, social service and health care practitioners, and academics (Chan, Lam & Shae, 2011). It has also been noted that published studies done on this topic in South Africa have largely focused on urban experiences, although a large part of the South African population continues to live in villages, rural dwellings, homesteads and informal settlements (Jackson & Karlson, 1991; Madu, 2001; Pierce & Bozalek, 2004). Hence, this research study was conducted in the rural town of Alice by student social workers from the University of Fort Hare in an effort to listen to what primary school children understood about child abus
HISTORIOGRAPHY OF SOUTH AFRICAN SOCIAL WORK: CHALLENGING DOMINANT DISCOURSES
Get PDFThe task of examining the origins and development of social work is fraught with competing narratives. In South Africa individualist, liberal, colonial, masculine and “white” discourses prevail. The dialectical-historical perspective, rather than chronological “progress”, shows how socio-political and economic dynamics are formative of societal conditions and of social work, which in turn has a role in shaping these dynamics. The fiction of purely historical records of progress and freedom of choice is challenged, and hegemonic and counter-hegemonic discourses uncovered. Social workers are urged to be engaged with the full complexity of events emerging from the class and race-based antagonisms of South African society
GIRLFRIENDS, SEX AND VIOLENCE: THE ATTITUDES AND REPORTED BEHAVIOURS OF ADOLESCENT MALES IN A SOUTH AFRICAN TOWNSHIP
Get PDFIt has long been recognised that levels of gender violence in contemporary South Africa are very high and that a significant part of this violence involves forced sex. The Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR) (2008) has characterised the country as being in a “state of sexual tyranny”. The specific aim of this research is to better understand the important beliefs and attitudes of a sample of young urban men concerning girlfriends, violence and sex. Such beliefs and attitudes are likely to result in behaviours which have direct implications for the high levels of gender violence, the high rates of HIV prevalence and the incidence of new infection
REFLECTIVE SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION IN SUPPORT OF SOCIALLY JUST SOCIAL WORK PRACTICE: THE EXPERIENCE OF SOCIAL WORK STUDENTS AT A UNIVERSITY IN SOUTH AFRICA
Get PDFSocial justice and human dignity are core components of social work principles and ethics; therefore social work education should lead to socially just practice. Social workers’ ability to practise in a socially just manner relies significantly on their ability to reflect on the influence of their personal and professional socialisation and the structural inequalities that influence the lives of service users. In order to achieve a deep sense of social justice, social workers should be educated to be critical, responsive practitioners who can observe, ask questions and fight against inequalities
DIE SUBJEKTIEWE ERVARING VAN DEPRESSIE ONDER SUID-AFRIKAANSE VROUE IN ’N LAE-INKOMSTE GEMEENSKAP
Get PDFIn verskeie internasionale en Suid-Afrikaanse epidemiologiese studies is bevind dat vroue byna twee keer meer geneig is om aan depressie te ly as mans (Accort, Freeman & Allen, 2008; Kessler, 2003; Ngcobo & Pillay, 2008). Volgens die Wêreldgesondheids-organisasie (2006) is depressie die grootste oorsaak van siekteverwante ongeskiktheid onder vroue wêreldwyd (Dukas, 2009; Lafrance & Stoppard, 200
THE PREVENTION OF FETAL ALCOHOL SPECTRUM DISORDER: THE NEED FOR A COORDINATED SERVICE BY ROLE PLAYERS IN THE WINE PRODUCING AREAS IN THE BREEDE RIVER VALLEY
Get PDFFetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) is seen as the leading preventable birth defect in the western world (May, Miller, Goodhart, Maestas, Buckley, Trujillo & Gossage, 2007). FAS is the severe end of a spectrum of effects caused by alcohol intake during pregnancy and is characterised by unique facial features, growth retardation and developmental delays (May, Gossage, Marais, Adnams, Hoyme, Jones, Robinson, Khaole, Snell, Kalberg, Hendricks, Brooke, Stellavato & Viljoen, 2007; Urban, Chersich, Fourie, Chetty, Olivier & Viljoen, 2008). Drinking alcohol during pregnancy has physical, behavioural and mental consequences for the developing fetus. These effects last throughout the lifespan of the individual with a Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FAS
DIE PERSEPSIES EN ROL VAN MAATSKAPLIKE WERKERS TEN OPSIGTE VAN MENSEHANDEL
Get PDFMaatskaplike werkers behoort ʼn belangrike rol te speel in dienslewering aan slagoffers van mensehandel en om hulle in aanraking te bring met die nodige hulpbronne. In hierdie ondersoek is die kennis en persepsies van maatskaplike werkers van verskillende organisasies ingewin ten einde vas te stel wat maatskaplike werkers se persepsies oor mensehandel is en wat hulle as hul rol in die bekamping van mensehandel beskou. In hierdie verkennende studie word die probleemstelling eerstens aangebied, waarna die navorsingsvrae, doelstelling en doelwitte ter sprake kom. Die benutte navorsings-metodologie binne die kwalitatiewe paradigma word hierna bespreek voordat die bevindinge aangebied word. Die bevindinge word in ʼn aantal temas en sub-temas verwoord, waarna die bespreking van die bevindinge, die aanbevelings en ʼn samevatting ter sprake kom
A RETURN ON INVESTMENT IN EMPLOYEE ASSISTANCE PROGRAMMES: A THEORETICAL UNDERPINNING
Get PDFMental health conditions such as stress, depression, substance abuse and relational problems are major contributors to sickness, absenteeism and lower job performance (Nissly & Mennen, 2002). Steward, Ricci, Chee, Hahn and Morganstein (2003) indicate that employees with depressive disorders present with almost four times more health-related lost productivity than those without depressive symptoms. This amounts to 5.6 hours per week lost by employees with depressive disorders in comparison with 1.5 hours lost by employees who do not suffer from these disorders, costing the United States economy up to 5 billion dollars a year. In South Africa the Bytes Technology Group conducted a study (Bytes, 2011) indicating that local companies lose between R12 to R20 billion a year to absenteeism. An article in Rapport Loopbane (2 July 2006) also indicated that the cost of absenteeism for the South African economy was estimated at R20 billion for that year. It is unlikely that statistics have changed significantly over the last five years and the country continues to lose revenue through employee absenteeism
A SOCIAL WORK PRACTICE PERSPECTIVE ON MIGRATION
Get PDFFrom time to time reports about xenophobic attacks on foreigners make news headlines in South Africa. As recently as September 2012 the Mail and Guardian reported on the distribution of letters to foreigners living in Mayfair, Johannesburg, threatening them with death because they are foreign (Parker, 2012). The phenomenon of migration, refugees and citizens fleeing their country of origin to settle in another country is an internationally recognised phenomenon and one that is relevant to social work practice. The social work profession strives to improve the quality of life of all as well as promoting social justice, inclusive of immigrants and refugees, without getting involved in the political or ideological struggle associated with the country’s foreign policy (Hepworth, Rooney, Rooney & Strom-Gottfried, 2013:4). Social workers intervene in migrant-related issues during the course of their day-to-day practice