A mixed methods approach to the development and validation of an assessment tool to measure psycho-social factors associated with willingless to participate in child-centred initiatives

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 206-239)The primary aim of the study was to develop a psychosocial assessment tool for determining willingness to participate in child-centred safety promotion interventions, specifically in a low-income community in South Africa. The secondary aim was to determine the factors associated with willingness to participate. The study employed a mixed methods approach to develop the measure, and included content validation, item writing and initial validation processes. Nominal Group Technique discussions were conducted with various role-players in the relevant communities to inform the development of the instrument, while participatory methodologies were utilised to conceptualise the instrument in relation to psycho-social factors associated with intervention participation, with these categorised according to core dimensions. A Delphi method utilising an expert panel reviewed items for relevance, difficulty and ambiguity, with items subsequently amended or removed. Item selection procedures were conducted on the English version of the instrument and these results were applied to the Afrikaans version. A pilot study was conducted as part of the initial validation in order to test the items and format the questionnaire. The instrument was then administered to Afrikaans speaking individuals in a community in the Western Cape. Iterative exploratory factor analysis was conducted at both the item and scale levels to select and reassign items and scales in order to determine the final composition of the questionnaire. The findings indicate that the instrument measures seven factors, namely incentives; priorities and community needs; perceived benefits; social approval; accessibility and values; altruistic capital; and community cohesion. These factors are explained in terms of the Process-Person-Context-Time model and the Theory of Planned Behaviour, considered within a participatory framework. The study findings indicate that the seven factors represent salient dimensions of the construct willingness to participate in interventions. The questionnaire and its subscales displayed acceptable to good reliability, with Cronbach’s α ranging from 0.55 to 0.80. Since willingness precedes actual participation, it is argued that insight into the factors that relate to willingness to participate provides an avenue for motivating actual participation.PsychologyPh. D. (Psychology

Towards establishing the equivalence of the English version of the verbal analogies scale of the Woodcock Munuz Language Survey across English and Xhosa first language speakers

Magister Artium - MAIn the majority of the schools in South Africa (SA), learners commence education in English. This English milieu poses a considerable challenge for English second-language speakers. In an attempt to bridge the gap between English as the main medium of instruction and the nine indigenous languages of the country and assist with the implementation of mother-tongue based bilingual education, this study focuses on the cross-validation of a monolingual English test used in the assessment of multilingual or bilingual learners in the South African context. This test, namely the Woodcock Muñoz Language Survey (WMLS), is extensively used in the United States in Additive Bilingual Education in the country. The present study is a substudy of a broader study, in which the original WMLS (American-English version) was adapted into SA English and Xhosa. For this specific sub-study, the researcher was interested in investigating the scalar equivalence of the adapted English version of the Verbal Analogies (VA) subscale of the WMLS across English first-language speakers and Xhosa first-language speakers. This was achieved by utilising differential item functioning (DIF) and construct bias statistical techniques. The Mantel-Haenszel DIF detection method was employed to detect DIF, while construct equivalence was examined by means of exploratory factor analysis (EFA) utilising an a priori two-factor structure. The Tucker's phi coefficient was used to assess the congruence of the construct across the two language groupsSouth Afric

Enablers and inhibitors associated with the willingness to participate in child safety initiatives

Safety is a priority in South Africa, a country with amongst the highest recorded rates of violence and injury, with children a vulnerable group. The greatest opportunities for reducing the burden of violence and injury   amongst children lies in the prevention of harmful environments and situations. Information on the psychosocial inhibitors and enablers of child safety promotion interventions are required to enhance and assure the efficacy of interventions. The determination of context-specific information is expected to be of considerable benefit to community uptake and impact of safety interventions. The primary aim of this study is to determine the factors that enable or inhibit the willingness to participate in child safety interventions. This qualitative study is located in a historically marginalised and under-resourced community consisting of low-cost government housing and backyard dwellings and situated 4km outside of Strand in the Western Cape, South Africa. Eleven interviews were conducted with long standing community members who had either attended, had knowledge on, or experience of child safety initiatives conducted in their community. The study utilised a thematic analysis within a Person-Process-Context-Time theoretical framework. The findings indicate that willingness to participate is influenced by multiple and interconnected enablers and inhibitors. The personal, relational and environmental factors included: muted individual agency (comprised of hopelessness and struggling alone, scepticism, and experiences of daily living struggles); community care provision (limited community connectedness, care and concern for children, and neighbourliness); and structural, physical and social constraints (competing priorities, unequal power relations, and physical community impediments

Community engagement in instrument design: The Delphi Consensus Technique

Institute for Social and Health Studies (ISHS

Navigating and Reimagining Community Engagement amidst COVID-19

Community engagement is a critical manifestation of a humanising approach on how to respond to various psychosocial and structural violence challenges in the context of a pandemic. Community engagement within the context of the current global coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) requires creative and innovative responses. Institutions have had to reconfigure their community engagement due to restrictive measures instituted by governments to curb the spread of the virus. This paper aims to reflect on the conversations and experiences of community activist researchers in implementing creative ways of engagement to address pertinent psychosocial and structural violence issues affecting communities during COVID-19. Through a qualitative reflexive approach, we identified the following themes: (1) Challenges in community-engaged research during a pandemic; (2) Structural violence and psychosocial issues; and (3) Innovative opportunities to bridge gaps and confront community realities. The pandemic has produced challenges but has also allowed for opportunities to reimagine community engagement. It has created opportunities and novel ways of collaborating with multisectoral social actors to address the psychosocial challenges during the pandemic and to remain actively engaged with communities

Validation of an Assessment Tool to Measure Psycho-Social Factors Associated With Willingness to Participate in Child-Centered Initiatives

The aim of the paper was the validation of a psychosocial assessment tool for determining willingness to participate in child-centered safety promotion interventions, specifically in a low-income community in South Africa. A study was conducted as part of the initial validation to test the items and format the questionnaire. The instrument was then administered to Afrikaans speaking individuals in a community in the Western Cape. Iterative exploratory factor analysis was conducted at both the item and scale levels to select and reassign items and scales to determine the final composition of the questionnaire. The findings indicate that the instrument measures seven factors, namely incentives; priorities and community needs; perceived benefits; social approval; accessibility and values; altruistic capital; and community cohesion, which represents salient dimensions of the construct willingness to participate in interventions. The questionnaire and its subscales displayed acceptable to good reliability, with Cronbach’s α ranging from .55 to .80. Since willingness precedes actual participation, it is argued that insight into the factors that relate to willingness to participate provides an avenue for motivating actual participation.The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The project was funded by the University of South Africa, the South African Medical Research Council, and the National Research Foundation.Institute for Social and Health Studies (ISHS

Mapping the Perception of Urban Safety, Space and Livelihood of Girl Street Children in Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Street children remain a social phenomenon in many low- and middle-income countries in which they experience alienation, discrimination, and social and spatial exclusion. The aim of this study was to identify and understand how girl street children perceive safety, space, and their livelihood on the urban streets of Yogyakarta, Indonesia, and to identify the multilevel components and processes that can contribute to improving the effectiveness of interventions for this group. A mixed-methods design was applied using a critical communitybased participatory research and asset-mapping approach. Both quantitative descriptive statistics and qualitative thematic content analysis were used. The results highlight that the girl street children are subjected to various forms of hegemony linked to power, space and place, gender, and socio-economic marginalisation. Factors that contribute to their safety and survival include a sense of place, belonging and connectedness, and access to various tangible and intangible assets in their created spaces. We recommend further exploration of the mobilisation of assets to transform the quality of life and livelihood and to enhance the safety of the girl street children

The converging infuence of social, economic and psychological factors on public responsiveness to the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa

Background: This study assessed the influence of social, economic, and psychological factors on South African’s responsiveness to the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the South African government responded quickly to manage the pandemic, the strict lockdown placed a significant burden on the population. Understanding the converging influence of social, economic, and psychological factors on the population’s responsiveness is important for improving people’s cooperation in controlling COVID-19 and for supporting individuals and communities during the ongoing and future pandemics. Methods: Using data collected from a national telephonic survey (December 2020 to March 2021), we assessed whether selected social, economic and psychological factors were related to: 1) adoption of COVID-19 behavioural measures (hand hygiene, wearing of face masks, and physical distancing), and 2) adherence to government restrictions on movement. Results: South Africans were highly responsive to the pandemic with respondents generally reporting that they very often engaged in the protective behaviours and often to very often adhered to government restriction on movement. However, those from the white population group; with a higher education; living in uncrowded households; who perceived less vulnerability to contracting COVID-19; supported the measures; trusted the scientists; thought the measures by government were implemented fairly and fairly enforced by the police; felt more anxious, sad, hopeless, isolated, angry or had trouble sleeping; inclined to engage in coping behaviour, were more likely to adopt COVID-19 protective behaviours. Furthermore, females, those with a lower education, those less likely to have experienced poverty since the beginning of lockdown; who perceived greater vulnerability to COVID-19, trusted government, and were more supportive of the behavioural measures were more likely to adhere to the restrictions of movement. Conclusions: Strengthening the South African population’s responsiveness to the pandemic requires supporting those living in poor socioeconomic circumstances, promoting trust in the scientifc evidence, and ensuring that the measures by government are perceived to be fairly implemented and fairly enforced by the police. Due to the impact on livelihoods, restrictions of movement should only be considered if necessary, and this will require trust and confidence in government and strategies to support those experiencing financial hardship.Institute for Social and Health Studies (ISHS

Caregivers’ and interventionists’ perceptions of a child-centered home visitation intervention

Home visitation is an intervention approach for families at risk of poor child outcomes. Negative outcomes include malnutrition, the risk of unintentional injuries, and child maltreatment, to mention a few. The effectiveness, appropriateness, and feasibility of Home Visitation Programmes (HVPs) remain under-researched in middle- to low-income settings. This study constitutes one component of a formative evaluation of a child-centred home visitation intervention in a low-income South African community. The aim of the study was to explore caregivers’ and interventionists’ perceptions of the content and delivery of the intervention. To this end the study employed qualitative methods, which included seven focus groups with caregivers and interventionists. The data were thematically analysed upon which four themes emerged namely human agency, accessibility to the intervention, attributes of the intervention, and safety-health behaviour, and are presented according to the Process–Person–Context–Time model. This study contributes to the science and praxis on conducting evidence-based home visitation interventions in a resource-constrained setting

Caregivers’ and interventionists’ perceptions of a child-centered home visitation intervention

Home visitation is an intervention approach for families at risk of poor child outcomes. Negative outcomes include malnutrition, the risk of unintentional injuries, and child maltreatment, to mention a few. The effectiveness, appropriateness, and feasibility of Home Visitation Programmes (HVPs) remain under-researched in middle- to low-income settings. This study constitutes one component of a formative evaluation of a child-centred home visitation intervention in a low-income South African community. The aim of the study was to explore caregivers’ and interventionists’ perceptions of the content and delivery of the intervention. To this end the study employed qualitative methods, which included seven focus groups with caregivers and interventionists. The data were thematically analysed upon which four themes emerged namely human agency, accessibility to the intervention, attributes of the intervention, and safety-health behaviour, and are presented according to the Process–Person–Context–Time model. This study contributes to the science and praxis on conducting evidence-based home visitation interventions in a resource-constrained setting