Children’s perceptions of the causation and prevention of childhood burn injuries

Magister Psychologiae - MPsychSouth Africa has a high rate of children’s burn injuries with 1300 deaths annually. These burn injuries are considered preventable and South African research has identified this as a priority concern. South African childhood burn injury studies have mainly focused on expert and parents’/caregivers’ descriptions and accounts. Despite their particular vulnerability, children’s perspectives have not been consistently accommodated in the identification of childhood injury risk phenomena or in the development and implementation of safety interventions. Using a qualitative approach this study investigates children’s perceptions of causation and prevention of burn injuries. Study data was collected from Khayelitsha, Site C and Philippi, Samora Machel in Cape Town as these areas have reported elevated rates of thermal and fire-related burn injuries. Study data were collected using three isiXhosa focus group discussions based on a convenience sample of 10 – 11 years old children ranging between 4 – 6 participants per group. They were selected based on verbal ability, age, residential area and ability to speak either English or isiXhosa. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the results. The themes demonstrate that children appreciate the magnitude of burns in their communities and attribute the problem to factors ranging from themselves, their social conditions and mostly their parents/caregivers. The children emphasized the importance of parental supervision and risk avoidance by the child and adults in prevention. This study recommends an integrated approach to burn injury prevention interventions and calls for the inclusion of children in studies concerning the wellbeing and safety of children

Some basic questions about (a) decolonizing Africa(n)-centred psychology considered

Conceptual disagreement remains rife with regard to African psychology with some scholars mistakenly equating it to, for example, ethnotheorizing and traditional healing, while others confound African psychology with Africanization and racialization. Using writing as inquiry, this article aims to clear up some of the conceptual confusion on African psychology while engaging with the issue of a decolonizing African psychology. Accordingly, questions such as ‘What is the main dispute between Africa(n)-centred psychology and Euro-American-centric psychology in Africa?’; ‘Does Africa(n)-centred psychology not homogenize Africans?’; ‘What can be gained from imbricating decolonizing perspectives and feminist Africa(n)-centred psychology?’; and ‘What would a decolonizing Africa(n)-centred community psychology look like?’ are pertinent in the clarification of the conceptual confusion. Arising from an inventive dialogical and collaborative method, the aim of this article is not only to illuminate some basic misunderstandings on (a) decolonizing African psychology but also to generate further dialogue on how to work towards African psychology as situated decolonizing practice and knowledge.Institute for Social and Health Studies (ISHS

Elaborations on (a) Decolonising Africa(n)-centred Feminist Psychology

n a previous article we sought to clear up some of the conceptual confusion on African psychology whilst simultaneously engaging with what it entails to do a decolonising African psychology. We dealt with questions such as: Is African psychology identical to psychology in Africa? What is the main dispute between Africa(n)- centred psychology and Euroamerican-centric psychology in Africa? Might ‘Blackening’ psychology decolonise the discipline? And what can be gained from imbricating decolonising perspectives and feminist Africa(n)-centred psychology? In addition to the necessary work aimed at countering coloniality in psychology through thinking the world from Africa and the global South, that article began to invent a certain kind of writing as method – including story-telling, facilitation, dialogues, interruptions and mutual learning. We have since deepened on that method and, in this contribution, while seeking to elaborate on the last question in particular, that is to say, what is to be gained from closely linking and diffracting psychology through a prism of decoloniality, Africa(n)- centredness and feminism, the plan is to enact aspects of a decolonising method.Institute for Social and Health Studies (ISHS

How children make meaning of sexual trauma : towards decolonized African centered child-centric psychological interventions

This thesis presents the narratives of 16 children between the ages of 9 and 11 years who experienced sexual violence and trauma, within poly-victimisation, and live in South African townships. The study aimed to determine and provide an in-depth understanding of how children make sense of experienced sexual violence and trauma through African-centred and child-centric theorising. The intersectional oppressions of race, class, gender, and age undergirded the framework with feminism as a salient theme. The framework offered a perspective for the reshaping of contextual and developmentally appropriate psychological trauma interventions. The study positioned children as knowledge producers who can offer insights and a deeper understanding of lived experiences. The study addressed the alienating nature of psychology praxis due to psychology’s colonial, inherently biased, unresponsive, and adult-centric orientation. It provided a contextual analysis of locale in understanding sexual trauma and as enrooted in Apartheid history. Methodologically, the study was situated within the qualitative interpretivism paradigm using participatory child-centric art-based life story research. Recruitment was through child welfare organisations and minimized re-victimisation. Ongoing child assent was sought while African and institutional protocol alongside child rights required negotiation and self-reflexivity. Main themes include the abnormality of life in townships and collective witnessing and -healing. The study offers a conceptual framework for decolonising African-centred and child-centric interventions for Black children and highlights the centrality of language in psychology praxis. Recommendations include macro-level strategies for policymakers about GBV interventions for improved child safety and strategies for decolonising understandings of the impact of sexual violence.PsychologyD. (Psychology

Cost-benefit analysis of the common teaching platform for the undergraduate nursing degree programme in the Western Cape, South Africa

Post-1994, the South African higher education sector underwent a number of reforms to address issues of inequalities, inefficiencies and fragmentation. Reform in the Western Cape Province included pooling the resources of three universities to form a common teaching platform (CTP). Henceforth training and education of undergraduate nursing students took place at a university in the Western Cape as the main enrolling higher education institution (HEI) for the undergraduate nursing degree. This study examines monetary and non-monetary costs and benefits derived from the CTP compared to the previous teaching platform (PTP), where the universities offered the degree programme in nursing independently of each other. PTP and CTP expenditure reports were the source of data for a monetary cost-benefit analysis (CBA). This was a Medias Res CBA study with some ex-ante and ex-post CBA elements. Non-monetary cost-benefit data were obtained through in-depth semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions and programme review reports. Researchers used qualitative and quantitative methods for analysis of the data. The study concluded that while monetary benefits accrued to sister institutions, this was at the expense of the sole enrolling HEI, and that it was more expensive to produce a nurse graduate with the CTP than with the PTP. Non-monetary findings indicate that the CTP was perceived to have led to a more inefficient system and task duplication, with unsatisfactory psychosocial effects on both students and staff. However, respondents mentioned that the CTP might have led to gradual improvement in nursing student diversity at the enrolling HEI. The analysed data mostly negated the assumption that collaboration through the CTP would improve undergraduate nursing training through sharing expertise between partner institutions, and reduce nursing education and training operating costs. Some recommendations are made to remedy the situation, including possible termination of the CTP in its current form, reviewing the partners’ reimbursement strategy, creating a new platform which is equally owned by all partners, or allowing interested partner institutions to offer their own nursing degrees.Department of HE and Training approved lis

Reflections on parenting practices that impact child rearing in a low-income community

Parenting plays an important role in the socialisation of children and youth, and ineffective parenting has been associated with multiple negative social and health outcomes among young people. Any attempt to design contextually relevant multi-system interventions to improve parenting practices and reduce negative child and adolescent outcomes must be based on an understanding of how contextual factors influence parenting practices. A phenomenological reflective lifeworld approach was utilised to explore parents’ lived experiences of multiple intersecting socio-demographic factors and community social processes that impact on their parenting practices. This study was framed by social disorganisation theory rooted within an ecological framework. Using purposive sampling, data was collected from 47 parents comprising local residents and stakeholders (36 focus group participants and 7 individual interview participants) in a low-income community in Cape Town, South Africa, Thematic analysis of the qualitative data revealed various socio-demographic factors characteristic of community disorder that intersect with parenting and contributes to neglectful parenting. These factors include socio-economic disadvantage that leads to parental stress for predominantly single parent families, and a lack of formal and informal social control compounded by community disorder. This highlights the need for multi-level parenting interventions that address both community structural and social processesInstitute for Social and Health Studies (ISHS

Food insecurity among African women residing in rural and informal urban areas during lockdown in South Africa

Women play a critical role by providing food to ensure the survival of their families and the economic disadvantages women suffer can be linked to complexities arising from the intersection of gender with other identity categories such as race and class. The aim of this article is to examine how food insecurity among African women residing in rural and informal urban areas have been affected by COVID-19 and lockdown in South Africa. The paper uses a qualitative literature review and a feminist economic theoretical framework to bring attention to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on food insecurity among African women residing in rural and informal urban areas. We argue that African women residing in rural and informal urban areas have been seriously disadvantaged in securing food during lockdown due to intra-household inequality

Elaborations on (a) Decolonising Africa(n)-centred Feminist Psychology

In a previous article we sought to clear up some of the conceptual confusion on African psychology whilst simultaneously engaging with what it entails to do a decolonising African psychology. We dealt with questions such as: Is African psychology identical to psychology in Africa? What is the main dispute between Africa(n)-centred psychology and Euroamerican-centric psychology in Africa? Might ‘Blackening’ psychology decolonise the discipline? And what can be gained from imbricating decolonising perspectives and feminist Africa(n)-centred psychology? In addition to the necessary work aimed at countering coloniality in psychology through thinking the world from Africa and the global South, that article began to invent a certain kind of writing as method – including story-telling, facilitation, dialogues, interruptions and mutual learning. We have since deepened on that method and, in this contribution, while seeking to elaborate on the last question in particular, that is to say, what is to be gained from closely linking and diffracting psychology through a prism of decoloniality, Africa(n)-centredness and feminism, the plan is to enact aspects of a decolonising method