1,721,025 research outputs found
The contribution of resilience to the 12-month transitional outcomes of care-leavers in South Africa
Get PDFAbstract: This study intends to contribute to the national and global discourse on young people leaving residential care and the resiliencies that help them overcome challenges. Debate in South Africa on care-leavers thus far, amongst practitioners and researchers alike, has emphasised a lack of preparation for leaving care as well as inadequate after-care support. Without clear legislation that specifically pertains to youth in transition from care, practice is fragmented and optional at best. This has severe consequences for them, who, even in the developed world, are at risk of poor post-care outcomes. In South Africa, their vulnerability is compounded by the environment to which they must return: widespread poverty and inequality, an overloaded education system, high levels of unemployment particularly among youth, a lack of formal housing, stigma and the largest HIV population in the world. Yet despite the challenges they face, many care-leavers demonstrate tremendous resilience by finding strategies to survive and even thrive. The aim of this study was to determine which resilience constructs predict better outcomes for care-leavers as they transition out of care over 12 months. Using a longitudinal, mixed methods approach, both quantitative and qualitative data was obtained from youth exiting Girls and Boys Town, a residential child and youth care centre. Baseline data was collected at the time of their disengagement and follow-up data was gathered again one year later. The baseline interviews measured 19 different areas of resilience within four overarching categories: relationships factors, in-care factors, environmental factors and personal factors. Those resilience measures were then statistically compared with care-leavers outcomes one year later to see which were most important in facilitating improved outcomes. This has inherent value to child and youth care centres, because they can focus their efforts on developing specific resiliencies while youth are in care, which are known to give them the best chance in life after care. Three key sets of results were produced, viz. baseline results, outcome results and prediction results which used the baseline data to predict the outcome data. The data revealed the most powerful resilience predictors for care-leavers at disengagement was having positive role models who were supportive and nurturing, the care-leavers own ability to co-operate well with others, and having a high self-esteem. In order to deepen the findings, narrative data was integrated throughout the results, providing more nuanced insight into the stories of the care-leavers. There is no other known study that uses resilience to predict the outcomes of care-leavers one year after disengagement. This study therefore adds to the resilience discourse by furthering the to-date...D.Litt. et Phil. (Social Work
Young women’s journey towards successful independent living after leaving residential care
Get PDFM.A. (Social Work)Abstract: The transition to independent living is a challenging phase for youths who grow up in residential care. The vulnerability of the care leaving population is widely acknowledged in care leaving research. In addition to the transitioning challenges that face care leavers globally, South African care leavers are faced with contextual disadvantages that increase their vulnerability. These include limited formal support services, high levels of unemployment and many family related problems that can be accounted for by the apartheid legacy. This paper presents qualitative findings of the resilience processes of young women who have left the care Child and Youth Care Centres in Gauteng, South Africa. Nine young women, aged 21 years and above, who had disengaged from the care of different CYCCs four to six years prior to the research were purposively sampled for the study. Grounded theory methods were used to analyse the data and gain insights into the social-ecological resilience processes that facilitate successful journeying towards independent living. With the resilience perspective as a theoretical lens, this paper presents the processes which the young women actively engage in, that appear to be central in facilitating a successful journey towards independent living. Eight social processes emerge as contributing to the successful transitioning of young women out of residential care. A separation is made between the social processes that appear as unique to the journey of young women and those that reflect the young men’s journey. Four social processes that emerge as unique to the young women’s journey are: taking on responsibilities, embracing motherhood, living in faith and cultivating gratitude. The other four social processes which are consistent with van Breda’s findings, and therefore appear to facilitate the resilience of both young men and young women are: striving for authentic belonging, networking people for goal attainment, building hopeful and tenacious self-confidence and contextualised responsiveness. `The notion of success is also conceptualised as process that may take as long as a life time rather than a state. This study makes a contribution to the body of literature on women leaving care which is a research area that has formerly received little attention. The study is also useful in informing local policy, social work interventions, particularly those that will focus on enhancing the resilience of young people in care as well as further research
Military Social Work Thinking in South Africa
Get PDFMilitary social workers in South Africa have developed distinctive ways of thinking about military social work. These developments have been influenced by various contextual factors, such as the transition of South Africa to a non-racial democracy in 1994 and the establishment of a military social work research capacity. These factors contributed to new ways of thinking, such as the recognition that military social work has a mandate to facilitate organizational change and the adoption of a resilience perspective. A central development in military social work thinking in South Africa was the formulation of a Military Social Work Practice Model, which is described and illustrated in some detail. This model emphasizes binocular vision (focusing on the interface between soldiers and the military organization) and four practice positions, derived from occupational social work theory. The author notes the importance of creating appropriate contexts that facilitate further developments in military social work theory
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Monitoring and evaluation of community-based services for orphans and vulnerable children in Soweto, Johannesburg
Get PDFM.A. (Social Work)A lack of national policy and indicators to monitor and evaluate the implementation of the developmental approach in the welfare field (specifically in child welfare) continues to be a challenge (Patel, Grobbelaar, Selipsky, & Curtis, 2011). There are no appropriate guidelines and procedures to evaluate new policy and approaches to child welfare practice, such as the community-based approach to Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVCs). Orphans constitute approximately 3.54 million of South Africa’s total population (Mathews, Jameison, Lake, & Smith, 2014, p. 92) and there is an increase in the number of vulnerable children, that is, those living in circumstances that deter holistic development (Fluke & Wulczyn, 2010; Mathews et al., 2014). These circumstances, together with the paucity of empirical research on monitoring and evaluation (M&E) to inform community-based services for OVCs informed this study. Therefore, this study intended to evaluate the appropriateness and effectiveness of the M&E system in a child welfare agency rendering community-based services for OVCs and to make recommendations on how the system might be improved. In order to achieve this, a number of objectives were linked to this goal. The first objective was to conduct a situation analysis of the M&E system in a specific child welfare agency. Second, was to evaluate what works and what does not work in the implementation of the agency’s design and the utilization of the agency’s data. The third objective was to evaluate the utility and appropriateness of the existing M&E data for organisational performance in rendering community-based services for OVCs. Finally, the study endeavoured to make recommendations for an appropriate and effective M&E system for community-based services for OVCs delivered in a child welfare setting
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Perceptions of domestic violence among men and women in the Katete District of Zambia
Get PDFM. A. (Social Work)Domestic violence is a social problem that has been going on for decades. In Zambia, domestic violence cuts across all cultures and the most affected usually are women and children. This descriptive study was conducted in two communities of Katete district of Zambia with the purpose of understanding men’s and women’s perceptions on domestic violence. To meet the overall purpose of this study, the following objectives were set: 1. To establish what men and women perceive to be domestic violence. 2. To outline the services known to be available to victims of domestic violence. 3. To investigate the barriers to seeking assistance among victims of domestic violence 4. To gather views from respondents on the kinds of strategies that would reduce the prevalence of domestic violence. 5. To provide recommendations to stakeholders and the government on a policy direction for domestic violence. A number of literatures which were in text forms were gathered through the library and various websites. Despite insufficient statistics to justify the occurrence of domestic violence in Zambia, it was indicated through literature that it was a problem. Through some of the literature, the student had adopted an ecological perspective which was instrumental in the provision of various ways of understanding the occurrence of domestic violence. Prior to the data collection, the student obtained permission from the participants. The student interviewed a total of 34 men and women through the use of focus groups as a method of data collection..
The development of the Deployment Resilience Seminar
Get PDFA primary stressor in the South African Navy is the routine deployment of men to sea. This requires repeated adjustments of the family system, decreasing family well-being, which in turn decreases the morale, productivity and retention of sailors. This dissertation describes and critiques the process of developing an occupational social work intervention to assist families in resisting the stress of deployments, that is, to increase their 'deployment resilience. The study began with four years of problem analysis, comprising an analysis of clinical work, a literature review, a sample survey of the experience of sailors and their wives of naval deployments, an investigation of factors associated with effective coping and a social survey of naval employees. The resultant data were reviewed and seven factors associated with deployment resilience were identified and operationalized. These factors included emotional containment, presence of social supports, financial preparedness, adjustment of children, a 'husband-aware' family structure, a secure and progressive marital relationship and positive attitudes towards the navy and deployments. A one day seminar to enhance these seven factors was designed, the process of which is described. The first complete trial implementation of the Deployment Resilience Seminar is described and evaluated. The seminar was attended by 34 individuals, representing 18 couples, from one of the Navy's ships. The implementation was, on the whole, successful, although some changes were required. The seminar was rated as helpful by subjects, who completed a seminar evaluation immediately after the seminar and two months thereafter. Pre-seminar and post-seminar assessments of participants were conducted at a two month interval using three scales: the Heimler Scale of Social Functioning, the Family Assessment Device and the Deployment Resilience Scale (being developed by the author). T-tests of the 24 participants who returned both sets of questionnaires indicate that the seminar was successful in enhancing the social and family functioning and deployment resilience of participants. Participants who actively implemented changes based on the seminar evidenced substantially greater improvements than those who did not. Implications of the seminar for military and civilian communities and areas requiring ongoing design and development are discussed. Recommendations to naval management to reduce the risk of deployment stress are suggested. The views expressed in this work are those of the author alone and not those of the South African Medical Services, the South African National Defence Force or any other organization
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