Browsing by Subject "social support"

Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
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    Assessing an exit strategy for prostituted women
    (2011-11) UCT Knowledge Co-op
    This is a psychological study that looked at the exiting strategies of prostituted women using an interpretative phenomenological approach. It aimed to provide feedback for Embrace Dignity, a Cape Town-based NGO, on how effective their model was in providing an exit from sex work for prostituted women.
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    Associations between ADHD symptoms and maternal and birth outcomes: An exploratory analysis in a multi-country cohort of expectant mothers
    (2022) Murray, Aja Louise; Taut, Diana; Baban, Adriana; Hemady, Chad Lance; Walker, Susan; Osafo, Joseph; Sikander, Siham; Tomlinson, Mark; Du Toit, Stefani; Marlow, Marguerite; Ward, Catherine L; Fernando, Asvini; Madrid, Bernadette; Thang, Vo Van; Tuyen, Hoang Dinh; Dunne, Michael; Hughes, Claire; Fearon, Pasco; Valdebenito, Sara
    ADHD symptoms can adversely impact functioning in a range of domains relevant for maternal well-being and foetal development; however, there has been almost no research examining their impact during pregnancy. We used data (n=1204) from a longitudinal birth cohort study spanning eight countries to address this gap. ADHD symptoms in the third trimester of pregnancy were associated with lower social support from family (b=-0.16, p=.031), friends (b=-0.16, p=.024), and significant others (b=-0.09 p=.001); higher stress (b=0.34, p<.001) and depressive symptoms (b=0.31, p<.001), and increased likelihood of an unwanted pregnancy (b=0.30, p=.009). Significant associations with tobacco use (b=.36, p=.023) and premature birth (b=.35, p=.007) did not survive correction for multiple comparisons and there were no significant associations with alcohol use, low birth weight, or unplanned pregnancy. Results suggest that women with ADHD symptoms could benefit from earlier, more regular screening for mental health difficulties and greater mental health support during pregnancy.
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    Exploring prostituted women's experiences of a South African exit intervention: an interpretative phenomenological analysis
    (2011-10) Heiberg, Tessa
    Prostitution is the oldest form of oppression. Many prostituted women in South Africa wish to exit sex work, but are unable to because they have no other means of earning money. There is a dearth of research available on assisting prostituted women to exit sex work in South Africa. This study explored the effectiveness of a Cape Town-based NGO's - Embrace Dignity - exit intervention for prostituted women. Using semi-structured interviews it investigated the experiences of eight prostituted women in Cape Town. The research goal was to be able to inform improvements to the intervention for exit. An interpretative phenomenological approach was used to analyse interviews of women's experiences of the intervention. Findings revealed that attempting to exit prostitution in South Africa is an incredibly difficult and deeply complex process. An exploration of women's experiences of Embrace Dignity suggested that whilst it provides emotional and social support to prostituted women, it does not address their physical needs, most importantly that of employment. This study reveals that although emotional support plays a crucial role in assisting prostituted women to exit, it is secondary to the urgent physical support needed to satisfy the basic survival needs of prostituted women living in extreme poverty in South Africa.
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    Exploring prostituted women's experiences of a South African exit intervention: an interpretative phenomenological analysis - summary report
    (2011-10) Heiberg, Tessa
    Research on exit strategies for street workers as well as documenting and identifying support strategies for the self-help groups.
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    Relationship between online-learning self-efficacy and risk for psychological distress and harmful substance use in South African university students
    (2022) Henning, Tiffany Joy; Kaminer, Debra
    The COVID-19 pandemic brought about rapid emergency changes in learning formats at universities globally, with a mass migration to online learning. Students' level of online learning self-efficacy (OLSE) may be an important determinant of how they cope with these changes. This study explored whether sociodemographic and online learning context factors are associated with OLSE among South African university students, whether OLSE predicts psychological distress and harmful substance use, and whether level of perceived social support moderates these relationships. It also examined whether psychological distress mediates the relationship between OLSE and problematic substance use. A cross-sectional online survey was administered to students from the University of Cape Town (n = 627). Students who had higher levels of access to online learning resources, and students who were white had higher levels of OLSE, while students on a government bursary and those living in university residences rather than with family members had lower OLSE. Lower OLSE was found to be a significant predictor of higher psychological distress and increased harmful substance use, when controlling for sociodemographic and online learning context factors. Psychological distress mediated the relationships between OLSE and harmful alcohol and marijuana use. Perceived social support did not moderate the relationships between OLSE and mental health difficulties or substance use. These findings indicate that OLSE is an important predictor of how university students cope with online learning demands and suggest that students with lower OLSE should be identified and better supported with strategies to improve their OLSE levels. Further, students with lower OLSE levels may need greater mental health support from universities within the context of online learning, as the existing social supports do not appear to be adequately protective for students.
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    The significance of meaning-making, agency and social support: a narrative study of how poor women cope with perinatal loss
    (2012) Sturrock, Colleen; Swartz, Sally
    Perinatal loss (stillbirth or the death of a neonate) can result in considerable psycho-social disruption for mothers. As women grieve, they try to make meaning of the death of their baby. In contexts of social and economic deprivation, perinatal loss often occurs alongside other difficulties which may affect and limit women's ability to make meaning. A narrative approach was used to explore how meaning-making functions in such contexts. In-depth interviews were conducted with 15 women who had experienced perinatal loss while attending a state maternity hospital. Narratives which the mothers constructed of the event were examined in order to understand what meanings they derived from the loss, and how these were (or not) achieved. These narratives were often linked to other stories of pervasive life difficulties. Despite their difficult contexts, the bereaved mothers engaged in meaning-making in similar ways to those described in previous studies in more affluent settings: they attempted to integrate the loss with their identity and goals, they affirmed the baby as a real person to be mourned and they searched for reasons for the loss. The effect of their contexts on meaning-making was mediated by social support and personal agency. Where one or both of these were present, the bereaved mothers were able to find meaning in their loss; women who had neither seemed unable to do so. Those who portrayed themselves as agentic were able to reflect on their experience and make decisions to change their lives. Mothers with strong social support made meaning through conversations, social validation of the loss and social help which mitigated against the sense of helplessness engendered by their loss and circumstances. It is recommended that hospital and counselling services implement practices which help to build or consolidate personal agency and social support to facilitate successful meaning-making following perinatal loss.
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    Work-school conflict of non-traditional students: The application of a work and personal characteristics model
    (2022) Viljoen, Charissa Amadea; Goodman, Suki
    Working while studying is a popular trend around the world and the number of nontraditional students are increasing. As a result of working and studying simultaneously, workschool conflict tends to occur. There is still some debate as to which characteristics across the personal and work domains most significantly influence work-school conflict. Similarly, the extent to which social support moderates the experience of work-school conflict is unclear. In this study, secondary data was used to examine a model of work characteristics consisting of job demand, job control and working hours, as well as personal characteristics which include marital status, gender and number of dependents. Further, the effect of social support, comprising of family support, co-worker support and supervisor support as a moderator in this work- and personal characteristics model was also explored. The respondents of this study (N = 367) were from either a South African or American context and the characteristics in both contexts were explored. The analysis revealed that the proposed work- and personal characteristics model is not significant; and social support does not moderate the relationship. Furthermore, this research study found that there are different significant predictors of workschool conflict across the two distinct contexts.