Social Work / Maatskaplike Werk (E-Journal)
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AN EXAMINATION OF THE IMPORTANCE OF PRE-ABORTION COUNSELLING
Get PDFEvery woman, regardless of age, race or background with an unwanted pregnancy whoconsiders abortion as an option has a need for objective and professional counselling.Legislation provides for pre-abortion counselling for the pregnant woman who requestsabortion (Howes & Green, 1997:18; Taylor, 1997:vi). The literature confirms the importance ofpre-abortion counselling for the pregnant woman who considers abortion as an option (Howes& Green, 1997:18; McCulloch, 1996:67). It also indicates that pre-abortion counsellingcorresponds with crisis intervention and calls for skills and expertise in the counsellor(McCulloch, 1996:67; Schlossberg & Achtemeier, 1995:110; Sekudu, 2001:94; Van der Berg,1997:78). Crisis intervention as a model for pre-abortion counselling is presented in this article,accompanied by relevant contextual aspects and am emphasis on the importance of preabortioncounselling. Finally, the findings of the empirical investigation are also discussed
“DESERVING” CHILDREN, “UNDESERVING” MOTHERS? MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVES ON THE CHILD SUPPORT GRANT
Get PDFFollowing the change from over 350 years of colonial and apartheid rule in South Africa, the first democratically elected government that came into power in 1994 was faced with the challenge of having to address vast levels of inequality and poverty. The distribution of wealth were extremely skewed in terms of race, gender and region, with children growing up in rural, black and female-headed households disproportionately affected by severe levels of poverty (Cassiem, Perry, Sadan & Streak, 2000; Landman, Bhorat, Van der Berg & Van Aardt, 2003; May, 1998; UNDP, 2004). Consequently, child mortality and levels of stunted growth in South Africa in general and amongst this group of children in particular were unacceptably high, and – by now constitutionally enshrined – children’s rights and basic needs were unmet for the majority of South African children (Manuel, 2007). Poverty continues to be the biggest challenge faced by the government: Brandon and Pather (2007) for example cite that 24 million South Africans are living below the poverty line, half of whom are dependent on governmentgrants
RECOGNITION OF PRIOR LEARNING (RPL) AND SUPPORT: ARE THE LEARNING NEEDS OF RPL FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS DIFFERENT?
Get PDFRPL was first established in the United States during the late 1960s and was initially used intheir formal education and training sector (Dyson & Keating, 2005). Certain internationalhigher education institutions (HEIs) have been using Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) formore than 30 years, particularly in the USA, Canada, Northern Ireland, Britain and Australia(Gawe cited in Moore & Van Rooyen, 2002; Geyser, 2001). The origins of RPL in SouthAfrica can be traced to several projects and policy-making structures established by the tradeunion movement and the ANC in the struggle for liberation in the late 1980s (SAQA, 2002:9).RPL was placed on the South African educational agenda in the early 1990s prior to the birth ofSouth Africa’s new democracy (Breier, 2007). Its establishment was strongly motivated by thetrade union movement, for example, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU),to recognise the knowledge and skills of millions of previously disadvantaged workers and themovement fought for the rights of workers to gain access to HEIs to improve their chances ofpromotion and employment. In this context RPL was seen as a mechanism to redress sociopoliticalimbalances of the past (Cretchley & Castle, 2001). The proliferation of RPL into HEIs,globally and locally, suggests that using only traditional access as the indicator for access toHEIs and success is “inadequate and outdated” (Kistan, 2002:171)
THE SPENDING PATTERNS OF THE OLD-AGE PENSION BY THE FRAIL ELDERLY
Get PDFA specific old-age home in a semi-urban area of South Africa delivers certain communityoutreach services besides the services to the inmates of the old-age home. A team of registerednurses have been delivering these home-care services since 2002, including physical care, ameal service and a transport service to clinics and hospitals. The profile of the elderly personsliving in this specific community shows that they are mostly women, black and very poor.While rendering services to the aged persons in the community, staff members realised thatespecially the frail aged have very little finances to spend on their own keeping, although theyall receive an old-age pension. This raised the question of possible neglect and financial abuseby their caregivers and other people, which in turn led to this specific research project. Thisarticle reports on an attempt to investigate the housing circumstances and the financial positionof the participants, as well as determining whether they could account for their expenditure, theitems that the pension was spent on, the point of payment of the pension, the accompanyingperson and the manner in which withdrawal of money took place. Furthermore, theinvestigation included whether participants cared for children, topics of interest forgrandparents caring for children, and the physical appearance of participant
EVALUATION OF EMPLOYEE ASSISTANCE PROGRAMMES: THEORETICAL GUIDELINES FOR PRACTICE
Get PDFThe importance of evaluating an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) cannot beoverestimated. An EAP must be evaluated to justify its existence and to ascertain the extent towhich it is reaching its objectives and to find ways to improve its performance (Highley &Cooper, 1994:1; Perry & Cayer, 1992:1; Weiss, 1998:20). The evaluation of an EAP should bebuilt in from the beginning (that is at the needs assessment phase), because it is essential fororganisations to determine whether or not those objectives of the programme will be met
“FROM RDP TO GEAR TO POST-POLOKWANE”. THE ANC AND THE PROVISION OF SOCIAL SECURITY FOR POST-APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA
Get PDFSouth Africa has never been a welfare state in the sense that it has not provided all its peoplewith a set of social policies to guarantee the minimum standard of living. The apartheid statewas a welfare state for whites but not for blacks. However, the problems the country faces,namely chronic mass unemployment and increasing poverty in the context of globalisation andpost-industrialisation, have certain similarity in structure with what the Northern welfare statesare experiencing, although in the South African case the problems were, historically speaking,much more serious and more complicated because of its racial aspects (Makino, 2004:6)
THE NEED FOR BEREAVEMENT SUPPORT PROGRAMMES IN THE WORKPLACE
Get PDFBereavement is an almost universal human experience and strikes practically all people severaltimes during the course of a life. This is viewed as the most stressful life event, which is oftenseverely traumatic, affects all facets of a person’s life and could last from weeks to years (Woof& Carter, 1997:443)
THE INFLUENCE OF FAMILY DYNAMICS ON THE PRODUCTIVITY OF WORKING MOTHERS IN A MOTOR COMPANY IN SOUTH AFRICA
Get PDFSince the inception of a non-racial, non-sexist democracy in South Africa in 1994, it is notsurprising to find many mothers have entered various professional fields and occupations. “Theinflux of women into the workforce, the economic necessity of two-income families, theincrease in single-parent families, child care and elder care availability and affordability, andincreased time pressure have all contributed to work and family concerns” (Gebeke, 1993:1).Unfortunately many families and businesses have neglected to adapt to these changes. Thewomen-in-business debate, however, has changed because so much has changed socially overthe last 15 years (Bendeman, 2007). The increased pressure that employers place on employeesto meet the needs of their customers and run a profitable business needs to be addressed, asemployers, according to Blanchard (2000), need to put effective structures and systems in placefor people to want to perform
EMPLOYEE ASSISTANCE PROGRAMMES: THEIR RATIONALE, BASIC PRINCIPLES AND ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS
Get PDFThis paper presents background information about workplace programmes that provideneeded personal and social services to employees. These programmes are commonly referredto as Employee Assistance Programmes (EAPs). The paper deals with the theoreticalbackground to aid an understanding of what these programmes are about. The discussionsrevolve around three aspects: reasons why organisations establish these programmes; theirunderlying principles and their essential elements; and the programme services, functions andstructure. In the first section, which focuses on the reasons for programme establishment, ashort list is provided of the commonly given reasons why organisations establish suchprogrammes to assist their employees. The second section focuses on programmes’ basicprinciples, while the third discusses twelve essential elements of these programmes. Thepaper ends with a descriptive illustration of programme development within a highereducation institution in which the author participated. This takes the form of tabularpresentations of programme functions and services as well as its structure. As the paper isdirected at the social work fraternity, it is important to begin by defining and explaining therelationship between workplace programmes and social work, through the route of elucidatingoccupational social work
COMBATING CONFLICT IN THE WORKPLACE: THE CONTENT AND EFFECT OF A CONFLICT MANAGEMENT AND ASSERTIVENESS TRAINING PROGRAMME
Get PDFConflict and bullying in the workplace remain issues that employers tend to sweep under theproverbial carpet, partly because of the stigma involved and partly because of their own doubtabout how the problem should be addressed (Anon., 2001:1-2; Beswick, Gore & Palferman,2006:1, 21-25; Dijkstra, Van Dierendonck & Evers, 2005:119-121; Simpson, 2001:1-6). Thetendency has been either to ignore the problem or, at most, minimise its consequences. Theseconsequences more often than not take the form of high levels of stress amongst employees orhigh absenteeism and staff turnover rates, or both. The current dominant approach is in manyrespects akin to blaming the victim and closing the door after the horse has bolted (Dijkstra etal., 2005:119-121; Kennedy, 2004:1-3)