Browsing by Author "Mackintosh, Ian"

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    Cultural issues in the treatment of hospitalised, malnourished children : an exploratory-descriptive study of the attitudes of health professionals and mothers in a rural hospital setting
    (1998) Motswaledi, Mmabotsha; Mackintosh, Ian
    Culture plays a significant role in the treatment of certain illnesses and in the maintenance of good health in communities. In hospitals, professionals are constantly faced with medication non-compliance and other defaulting behaviour by health consumers or patients due to lack of their sensitivity towards cultural issues. It is true that most Africans are faced with a dilemma of choosing between Western treatment approaches and their own traditional healing. Therefore some may need still to adopt both Western and African approaches. The study examines the attitudes of both the professionals and mothers with malnourished children towards the cultural values linked to the treatment modalities. An exploratory- descriptive method is used as a focus for the study. Because of the illiteracy of the mothers, an interview schedule was used to collect data and get impressions about certain issues. A questionnaire was used to collect data from the professionals; which included nurses, an occupational therapist, a physiotherapist, and people working for the Kwashiorkor Centre. Both the literature review and other studies showed that there is a difference in attitudes regarding cultural issues in the treatment of malnourished children between the health consumers and the health professionals. Findings of this study revealed negative attitude towards mothers who used traditional medicine before coming to hospital. Mothers felt that they were reprimanded regarding their cultural value systems. This study includes recommendations that health professionals need to be sensitive to the cultural belief system of the health consumers for better compliance and service delivery. It is recommended that health care providers be aware of their value systems and above all respect those of the consumers. To facilitate better participation in health education programmes it is important that these programmes are culturally sensitive.
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    An evaluation of the effectiveness of the counselling service at the Parent Centre: A social work study conducted in Cape Town
    (1996) Faull, Carol Jeanne; Mackintosh, Ian
    We live in an 'age of accountability.' Social work literature of recent decades abounds with references to the need for adequate evaluation of social work effectiveness, particularly in the light of the dismal findings of early effectiveness studies. However, it is no easy task to operationalise a definition of service effectiveness. This study seeks to evaluate the effectiveness of the counselling service of the Parent Centre, a primary preventive service of the Child Welfare Society, Cape Town. Counselling is provided in order to meet the stated goal of strengthening the effectiveness and self-confidence of parents by providing them with support and information on child development and child management skills. This is offered in the recognition· that parenting, for all that it is a normative life transition, is also a life crisis, and in the further recognition of the significance of the early years in a child's life. The study was located within a limited overview of research literature pertaining to effectiveness studies. It highlighted, moreover, the significance of client studies m contributing to research into outcome of social work intervention. In order to establish the effectiveness of the counselling service, the research took the form of a retrospective semi-structured telephonic survey of a random sample of 55 first-time clients seen at the Parent Centre between January and June, 1994. The sample was drawn from a population of 501 clients. An interview schedule was devised in consultation with colleagues, clients, professionals and after searching relevant literature. It was pilot-tested before being implemented. Fifty-one usable responses were obtained. Since global satisfaction ratings are of little use in evaluation, information was analysed in terms of four categories: demographic, management, process, and outcome information. Both closed- and open-ended questions were used, providing quantifiable as well as qualitative results. Whilst findings need to be interpreted with an awareness of methodological limitations, the results of this survey indicate overwhelmingly that the counselling service at the Parent Centre is experienced by clients to be effective. The question found to be the best discriminator in terms of effectiveness was that asking whether clients' expectations had been met. Significant associations with the clients' feelings that expectations had been met were found with respect to the client's feeling that the counsellor understood the problem and that the counsellor shared personal experiences of parenting. No apparent association was found between this key indicator of effectiveness and income levels or with the counsellor and client having a shared perspective with respect to the presenting problem. Some recommendations based on the findings of the study are suggested for consideration by agency decision makers.
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    An exploration of the perceptions of pupils, parents and teachers with regard to the role of the school social worker
    (1987) Lanesman, Beverley; Mackintosh, Ian
    Literature research has indicated that school social work is a relatively new branch of general social work. The role of the school social worker is the main focus of literature in this field. The school social worker's role is continually changing and adapting as society and school systems change The primary purpose of this study is to investigate the perceptions of the pupils, parents and teachers with regard to the school social worker's role within a particular school setting. The current awareness of the social worker's role and function, is examined in as far as it affects the effective use of the social work service. A literature survey was undertaken, after which a close-ended questionnaire was constructed and administered to all pupils and all teachers, and a close-ended questionnaire mailed to all parents of the particular school. A descriptive analysis of the findings reveals that clarification is needed amongst pupils, teachers and parents in terms of the purpose, function and roles of the school social worker, and of the methods of social work employed. A disparity is reflected with regard to the issue of confidentiality, where the findings indicated that pupils are more concerned with confidentiality issues than the parents and teachers. The main recommendations made are with regard to compiling a booklet clarifying the roles and functions of the mental health professionals in the school. A policy with regard to confidentiality is recommended.
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    An exploratory study into the relative merits of related and unrelated foster care placements
    (1988) Van Emmenes, Melanie; Mackintosh, Ian
    The field of related foster care has to a large extent been neglected. Related foster care is regarded with considerable scepticism and ambivalence by many social workers because of a number of pitfalls which are often associated with such placements. The aim of this study is to explore the relative merits of related and unrelated foster placements, and thus to enhance knowledge in this area and so improve service delivery to foster children, their parents, by foster parents and child and family welfare agencies. A literature survey was undertaken during which it was evident that the field of related foster care has received little attention in both literature and research. The literature studies have highlighted some of the pros and cons of related and unrelated foster placements. A questionnaire was constructed and administered to a sample of related and unrelated foster parents. A descriptive analysis was made of the results with the focus being on the behaviour and academic functioning of the children. The overall findings in this study showed that children fostered by relatives seemed to be doing at least the same as, and in some aspects better than, those children fostered by recruited unrelated foster parents. Over a 11 there appeared to be some significant advantages for those children who were being fostered by relatives.
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    An exploratory study of attitudes, beliefs and perceptions amongst childcare practitioners, regarding racial and cultural integration of residential facilities for children
    (1993) Hoffman, Ronalda Caron; Mackintosh, Ian
    The idea of racial and cultural integration in children's residential facilities has been taboo in South Africa until recently, as a result of the racial policies of the current and previous governments. Since 1990 the government has repealed most of its apartheid legislation. Integration of residential facilities is only now able to be considered as a possible solution to the accommodation crisis of black disadvantaged children. The aim of the present research study was to use an exploratory -descriptive design to ascertain the attitudes of child care practitioners regarding racial and cultural integration in residential facilities. A questionnaire was constructed and completed by respondents from the two purposive sample groups viz. the Principals Group and the Child Care Workers Forum of the National Association of Child Care Workers. A total of 68 questionnaires was distributed of which 46 were returned Findings indicated that 70% of the Child Care Workers are working with children of other race groups. Although 94 % of the Child Care Workers and all of the Principals (100%) felt that children would gain much from an integrated living environment, 45 % of the Child Care Workers and 55% of the Principals felt that residential facilities should remain racially exclusive. The implications of such findings are that the preparation for racial and cultural ·integration of staff and children is foreseen. Indications are given that extra resources would be required i.e. money, time, staff. In view of the current and anticipated needs of residential care for disadvantaged children in South Africa, it is recommended that all child care practitioners participate in some form of ethnic and culturally sensitive training programme in order to adequately prepare them for work with children of other races and cultures.
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    An object relations approach to therapeutic work with children in clinical settings
    (1991) Wirz, Bea; Mackintosh, Ian
    The aim of this paper is to elucidate an object relations approach to therapeutic work with children. The study is conducted by means of a critical theoretical evaluation of psychoanalytic and object relations conceptualisations of the nature of the primary biological mother-child relationship; an in depth theoretical exploration of the mother's involvement in and contribution to both optimal and pathological development in the child, and of her role in the child's treatment. The theoretical exposition is supplemented by the presentation and examination of clinical material derived from a child treatment case in clinical practice. Child treatment is located within an historical context; the role of parents in child treatment is addressed and divergencies in technical approaches to their inclusion in child treatment are reviewed. The nature of the primary biological mother-child relationship - its evolution, unconscious interrelational processes, optimal and pathological vicissitudes and its implications for child treatment - is explored. Simultaneous treatment of mother and child is offered for consideration, as an object relations approach which addresses the operation of both conscious and unconscious processes within the mother-child relationship, the vicissitudes of developmental disturbances and how these manifest in the therapeutic situation. The conclusion drawn is that an in-depth understanding of the primary relationship and its unconscious processes is of crucial importance in the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of children and that in many instances the mother needs to be directly involved in the treatment endeavour. It is further concluded that simultaneous treatment of mother and child is valuable in highlighting points of interaction between the disturbances of mother and child, and facilitates an understanding of the unconscious meanings and associations held by the mother in connection with her child, as well as the ways in which her unconscious expectations are fulfilled by the symptomatic child.
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    Race, culture and social work education in the South African interregnum : a contextual analysis of attitudes and practice in the period 1990-1994
    (2000) Mackintosh, Ian; Swartz, Leslie
    Welfare services generally were racially segregated and highly unequal, being heavily skewed towards the needs of the white population. Such welfare policies and service patterns were increasingly justified in ideological terms by reference to a specific form of cultural relativism rather than overt racist argument. With the dramatic political changes heralded by the unbanning of anti-apartheid political organisations in 1990 South Africa entered an uncertain interregnum period in which the existing government lacked legitimacy but a new democratic government was not yet in place. This period, up to the general election in 1994, represented a ""Prague spring"" in which open debate and argument regarding future social policy and government flourished. It was therefore a time of both great excitement and hope for most South Africans yet anxiety for those who were identified with the old order. It was within this cntext that this study explored, by means of a national survey, the views and attitudes of social work educators in all tertiary institutions in South Africa towards issues of culture, race and transformation.