Life with Limited Privacy due to Housing Challenges: Impact on Children’s Psychological Functioning

This study investigated the influence of limited living space and privacy on children’s psychological functioning. The study invited 240 participants, of which 120 children were in the experimental group and 120 in the comparison group. The participants in the experimental group were recruited from communities facing living space and personal privacy challenges, while the participants in the comparison group came from privileged communities with relatively adequate living space. The children’s psychological functioning dimensions measured were anxiety, depression, conduct disorder, addictive and risk behaviours, delay of gratification, sexual risk behaviours, and perceptions of social support. The results showed that the two groups differed significantly in levels of anxiety, depression, conduct disorder, and addictive and risk behaviours. The findings of the study indicate the need to offer psychological support to children facing living space and privacy challenges. Implications for further studies in the area of housing and psychological wellbeing are discussed

Voluntary withdrawal from anti-epileptic drugs: impact on employee performance, health and safety

An investigation to ascertain the impact of voluntary withdrawal from prescribed medication for epileptic employees.The study sought to investigate the impact of voluntary withdrawal from anti-epileptic drugs on performance, health and safety. Employees with epilepsy working in sheltered workshops participated in the study. There were 100 participants. The results of the study showed depressed performance indicators in the group that had stopped taking medication. The group with controlled epilepsy showed better performance than the group with uncontrolled epilepsy. Health-related absenteeism, and occupational hazard statistics were found to be associated with voluntary withdrawal from anti-epileptic medication

The ethical concerns of using medical male circumcision in HIV prevention in sub-Saharan Africa

This position paper seeks to explore the ethical concerns surrounding the use of medical male circumcision as an effective method of preventing HIV infection in sub-Saharan Africa. The study explores research that looked at the effectiveness of medical male circumcision in clinical trials. While clinical trials reveal that medical male circumcision showed statistically significant results in HIV prevention, there is still a paucity of studies that take into consideration the ethical challenges posed by medical male circumcision in sub-Saharan Africa. This paper argues that rolling out medical male circumcision to the larger community without adequately addressing the ethical concerns could weaken programme initiation, implementation and evaluation in sub-Saharan Africa

The development, implementation and evaluation of a locus of control-based training programme for HIV and AIDS risk reduction among university students

There is an escalation of HIV and AIDS among the youth in South Africa and other developing countries. Research on HIV and AIDS risk factors has tended to focus more on poverty, gender, race, illiteracy, and violence than personality factors that could influence an individual` s health-protective behaviour. Previous studies have also shown that wealth, education, race, and gender may not make an individual more or less vulnerable to HIV infection. This study argued that locus of control could influence an individual` s health-protective behaviour and that external locus of control could be a risk factor in HIV and AIDS risk reduction. The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of a locus of control-based training programme in reducing HIV and AIDS risk among university students. The locus of control-based variables that formed the training programme for HIV and AIDS risk reduction among university students were: social systems control, self-control, fatalism, achievement-oriented behaviour, deferment of gratification, personal values and expectancies, and social alienation. These locus of control-based variables were regarded as contexts in which individuals could exhibit health risk behaviours. A sample of 257 first-year university students participated in the study. There were (N = 170) female participants and (N = 87) male participants drawn from the University of the Witwatersrand. The study was a pretest-posttest repeated measures design. Data were analysed using t tests, correlations, multiple regression, structural equation modelling, and repeated measures tests. The results of this study showed significant differences in health risks between participants with an external locus of control and participants with an internal locus of control. There was a significant relationship between locus of control-based variables and HIV and AIDS risk. The locus of control-based training programme significantly modified personality and significantly reduced locus of control-based health risks and HIV and AIDS risk. Directions for future research on locus of control, health risks, and HIV and AIDS risk could focus on the development and implementation of various locus of control-based training programmes in South Africa. Locus of control should be targeted as a health risk factor in HIV and AIDS risk reduction training programmes

Parents' perceptions of HIV counselling and testing in schools : Ethical, legal and social implications

KMIn view of the high prevalence of HIV and AIDS in South Africa, particularly among adolescents, the Departments of Health and Education have proposed a school-based HIV counselling and testing (HCT) campaign to reduce HIV infections and sexual risk behaviour. Through the use of semi-structured interviews, our qualitative study explored perceptions of parents regarding the ethico-legal and social implications of the proposed campaign. Despite some concerns, parents were generally in favour of the HCT campaign. However, they were not aware of their parental limitations in terms of the Children’s Act. Their views suggest that the HCT campaign has the potential to make a positive contribution to the fight against HIV and AIDS, but needs to be well planned. To ensure the campaign’s success, there is a need to enhance awareness of the programme. All stakeholders, including parents, need to engage in the programme as equal partners

Uptake and yield of HIV testing and counselling among children and adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review.

INTRODUCTION: In recent years children and adolescents have emerged as a priority for HIV prevention and care services. We conducted a systematic review to investigate the acceptability, yield and prevalence of HIV testing and counselling (HTC) strategies in children and adolescents (5 to 19 years) in sub-Saharan Africa. METHODS: An electronic search was conducted in MEDLINE, EMBASE, Global Health and conference abstract databases. Studies reporting on HTC acceptability, yield and prevalence and published between January 2004 and September 2014 were included. Pooled proportions for these three outcomes were estimated using a random effects model. A quality assessment was conducted on included studies. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: A total of 16,380 potential citations were identified, of which 21 studies (23 entries) were included. Most studies were conducted in Kenya (n=5) and Uganda (n=5) and judged to provide moderate (n=15) to low quality (n=7) evidence, with data not disaggregated by age. Seven studies reported on provider-initiated testing and counselling (PITC), with the remainder reporting on family-centred (n=5), home-based (n=5), outreach (n=5) and school-linked HTC among primary schoolchildren (n=1). PITC among inpatients had the highest acceptability (86.3%; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 65.5 to 100%), yield (12.2%; 95% CI: 6.1 to 18.3%) and prevalence (15.4%; 95% CI: 5.0 to 25.7%). Family-centred HTC had lower acceptance compared to home-based HTC (51.7%; 95% CI: 10.4 to 92.9% vs. 84.9%; 95% CI: 74.4 to 95.4%) yet higher prevalence (8.4%; 95% CI: 3.4 to 13.5% vs. 3.0%; 95% CI: 1.0 to 4.9%). School-linked HTC showed poor acceptance and low prevalence. CONCLUSIONS: While PITC may have high test acceptability priority should be given to evaluating strategies beyond healthcare settings (e.g. home-based HTC among families) to identify individuals earlier in their disease progression. Data on linkage to care and cost-effectiveness of HTC strategies are needed to strengthen policies

Choice-Disability and HIV Infection: A Cross Sectional Study of HIV Status in Botswana, Namibia and Swaziland

Interpersonal power gradients may prevent people implementing HIV prevention decisions. Among 7,464 youth aged 15–29 years in Botswana, Namibia and Swaziland we documented indicators of choice-disability (low education, educational disparity with partner, experience of sexual violence, experience of intimate partner violence (IPV), poverty, partner income disparity, willingness to have sex without a condom despite believing partner at risk of HIV), and risk behaviours like inconsistent use of condoms and multiple partners. In Botswana, Namibia and Swaziland, 22.9, 9.1, and 26.1% women, and 8.3, 2.8, and 9.3% men, were HIV positive. Among both women and men, experience of IPV, IPV interacted with age, and partner income disparity interacted with age were associated with HIV positivity in multivariate analysis. Additional factors were low education (for women) and poverty (for men). Choice disability may be an important driver of the AIDS epidemic. New strategies are needed that favour the choice-disabled

Operation Murambatsvina: Impact on psychological functioning of the survivors

No Abstract.African Safety Promotion Vol. 5(2) 2007: pp. 51-6

Exploring the Challenges of Evidence-based HIV and AIDS Prevention Interventions in Africa

The purpose of this study is to explore the challenges associated with evidence-based interventions in HIV prevention in Africa. New technologies are being developed and tried in Africa to reduce HIV infection and to treat people living with HIV and AIDS. The HIV prevention clinical trials are conducted in selected African countries. Some of the countries that participate in HIV prevention clinical trials are Benin, Botswana, Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, South Africa, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The sponsors of HIV prevention research are looking for better and safer methods that could be developed to improve current healthcare products used in HIV prevention and treatment. The study surveyed the challenges associated with HIV prevention technologies highlighting both positive indicators of success and negative indicators of technology failure. Attendant health risks associated with prevention failure are discussed. Direction for future studies could focus on HIV risk reduction in clinical trials