Preserving family and identity: the challenges of 'undocumented' Zimbabwean immigrants in South Africa

Magister Artium (Child and Family Studies) - MA(CFS)The aim of this research was to explore and describe the challenges of 'undocumented' Zimbabwean immigrants with regards to preserving their family and identity while in South Africa. Three main objectives identified which were: (i) To explore and describe what family and identity means to the 'undocumented' Zimbabwean immigrants. (ii) To explore and describe 'undocumented' Zimbabwean immigrants' challenges with regards to their family life and identity upon arrival in South Africa. (iii) To explore and describe 'undocumented' Zimbabwean immigrants' challenges at preserving and maintaining their family relations and identity while in South Africa. A qualitative study utilising explorative and descriptive research designs was employed in a bid to answer the research question, namely: How do 'undocumented' Zimbabwean immigrants preserve their family and identity while in South Africa? Data were collected by means of unstructured individual interviews and transcribed verbatim. Initially, six participants were purposively selected and they in turn directed the researcher through snowball sampling to the other nine participants who fit the research criteria until data saturation had been attained. The interviews were analysed according to Creswell's (2008) steps as well as guidelines for phenomenological data. Data were also analyzed to ensure its dependability, conformability, transferability and credibility. The researcher adhered to ethical considerations of confidentiality, self-determination, no harm, as well as beneficence. From the data emerged four main themes i.e. • 'undocumented' Zimbabwean immigrants in SA's challenges in preserving their families • 'undocumented' Zimbabwean immigrants in SA's challenges in preserving their identity 'undocumented' Zimbabwean immigrants' challenges relating to their journey to SA • challenges experienced by 'undocumented' Zimbabwean immigrants during their stay in SA. Based on these findings, recommendations were made to social workers, social service professionals, governmental and Non-Governmental Organizations on how to mitigate the challenges that come with 'undocumentation.

A mixed methods evaluation of the largescale implementation of a school- and community-based parenting program to reduce violence against children in Tanzania: a study protocol

Despite the rapid dissemination of parenting programs aiming to reduce and prevent violence against children (VAC) worldwide, there is limited knowledge about and evidence of the implementation of these programs at scale. This study addresses this gap by assessing the quality of delivery and impact of an evidencebased parenting program for parents/caregivers and their adolescent girls aged 9 to 14—Parenting for Lifelong Health Teens (PLH-Teens), known locally as Furaha Teens—on reducing VAC at scale in Tanzania. The study will explore participating family and staff perspectives on program implementation and examine factors associated with implementation and how implementation quality is associated with intervention outcomes when the program is delivered to approximately 50,000 parent-child dyads (N = 100,000) in schools and community centers across eight districts of Tanzania

Optimising engagement in a digital parenting intervention to prevent violence against adolescents in Tanzania: protocol for a cluster randomised factorial trial

Abstract Background Violence against adolescents is a universal reality, with severe individual and societal costs. There is a critical need for scalable and effective violence prevention strategies such as parenting programmes, particularly in low- and middle-income countries where rates of maltreatment are highest. Digital interventions may be a scalable and cost-effective alternative to in-person delivery, yet maximising caregiver engagement is a substantial challenge. This trial employs a cluster randomised factorial experiment and a novel mixed-methods analytic approach to assess the effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, and feasibility of intervention components designed to optimise engagement in an open-source parenting app, ParentApp for Teens. The app is based on the evidence-based Parenting for Lifelong Health for Teens programme, developed collaboratively by academic institutions in the Global South and North, the WHO, and UNICEF. Methods/design Sixteen neighbourhoods, i.e., clusters, will be randomised to one of eight experimental conditions which consist of any combination of three components (Support: self-guided/moderated WhatsApp groups; App Design: sequential workshops/non-sequential modules; Digital Literacy Training: on/off). The study will be conducted in low-income communities in Tanzania, targeting socioeconomically vulnerable caregivers of adolescents aged 10 to 17 years (16 clusters, 8 conditions, 640 caregivers, 80 per condition). The primary objective of this trial is to estimate the main effects of the three components on engagement. Secondary objectives are to explore the interactions between components, the effects of the components on caregiver behavioural outcomes, moderators and mediators of programme engagement and impact, and the cost-effectiveness of components. The study will also assess enablers and barriers to engagement qualitatively via interviews with a subset of low, medium, and high engaging participants. We will combine quantitative and qualitative data to develop an optimised ParentApp for Teens delivery package. Discussion This is the first known cluster randomised factorial trial for the optimisation of engagement in a digital parenting intervention in a low- and middle-income country. Findings will be used to inform the evaluation of the optimised app in a subsequent randomised controlled trial. Trial registration Pan African Clinical Trial Registry, PACTR202210657553944. Registered 11 October 2022, https://pactr.samrc.ac.za/TrialDisplay.aspx?TrialID=24051