Browsing by Author "Lees, James"
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Item Care, caring and coping: attitudes of children orphaned by HIV/AIDS and their caregivers towards schooling in a South African Township(University of the Western Cape, 2007) Joseph, Vanessa Belinda; Lees, James; Faculty of EducationIn many countries, the scale of poverty, and the alarming number of children now being orphaned by HIV and AIDS, has increased the roles and responsibilities of grandparents as caregivers in their grandchildren's lives. Not only do grandparents have to care for their grandchildren on a daily basis but they also carry the burden of seeing them through school, possibly with the fear that they might not be able to see them achieve all their dreams. This study examined the complex issues surrounding school attendance for orphaned children in Mbekweni, a township in the Western Province, in South Africa. The study explored the relationship between the attitudes of orphaned learners and their caregivers towards education and schooling itself, uncovering the struggles and the strengths of caregivers and orphaned children that directly relate to success or faiolure in school.Item Perceptions of risk for HIV amongst South African university students: the impact of the MTV film “Shuga”(University of the Western Cape, 2012) Lila, Halima; Lees, JamesThe Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) epidemic continue to endanger the lives of many people in the world, particularly in developing countries like South Africa (UNAIDS, 2010). South Africa has the largest percentage of people living with HIV & AIDS in the world, with AIDS continuing to be the leading cause of death(UNAIDS, 2010). Yet, as Svenson et al., (1997), Cain, (2005), Shisana et al., (2009) and Kalichman et al., (2005) argue, in spite of the HIV epidemic, risky sexual behaviour has increased among young people. Problematically, youth in university environments are reported to be uninterested in hearing about HIV, claiming to be tired and bored with the subject (HEAIDS, 2010). They think they have sufficient knowledge on HIV transmission and prevention. Regardless of this claim, a high rate of new infections of HIV among youth continues (The South African Department of Basic Education Report, 2010). The main purpose of this study was to assess UWC students’ knowledge about HIV and their attitudes towards it, while investigating the impact of the MTV-produced Shuga film on the students’ self-perception of risk and their attitudes toward HIV. The study assesses the value of a follow-up conversation on the film after it is viewed by students.In order to identify respondents’ perceptions, the study used a qualitative approach using in-depth interviews and focus group discussions as main instruments and a quantitative approach using questionnaires as a main instrument. The study used a gender-balanced convenience sample of 40 undergraduate and post-graduate students selected from University of Western Cape campus. These respondents were later divided into four focus group discussions guided by semi-structured interviews. The study findings established that although students’ knowledge levels were very high for modes of transmission and prevention of HIV, they still had a poor perception of their own risk – a factor noted as a key need in HIV prevention by Douglas Kirby (2011).This study found that, prior to watching the MTV Shuga film, the level of students’ awareness of HIV issues as related to their own risk and health was at best inconsistent. While some held accurate knowledge of HIV and understood their own vulnerability, others saw it as someone else’s problem and had yet to personalise the disease in a manner that would increase their own awareness of risk. After viewing the MTV Shuga film, study data indicated a reasonable level of positive change in attitudes and risk perception among the 40 students. However, the data clearly indicated that the follow-up discussion sessions provoked more change in the students’ attitudes and perceptions of risk than the film on its own. The study therefore suggests the importance of discussion sessions that follow up on edutainment media pieces attempting to promote positive behavioural change vis-à-vis HIV. While the study did not focus in depth on why the follow-up discussion sessions had a higher impact than film-viewing alone, the discussion sessions allowed students to personalise the content of the Shuga film, sharing with each other how they identified with various characters, situations and behaviours. Shuga became ‘real’ through the personal discussions between students, and the film’s intent to prompt positive change was further supported.Item Reorienting adolescent sexual and reproductive health research: reflections from an international conference(BioMed Central, 2016) Michielsen, Kristien; De Meyer, Sara; Ivanova, Olena; Anderson, Ragnar; Decat, Peter; Herbiet, Céline; Kabiru, Caroline W.; Ketting, Evert; Lees, JamesOn December 4th 2014, the International Centre for Reproductive Health (ICRH) at Ghent University organized an international conference on adolescent sexual and reproductive health (ASRH) and well-being. This viewpoint highlights two key messages of the conference - 1) ASRH promotion is broadening on different levels and 2) this broadening has important implications for research and interventions – that can guide this research field into the next decade. Adolescent sexuality has long been equated with risk and danger. However, throughout the presentations, it became clear that ASRH and related promotion efforts are broadening on different levels: from risk to well-being, from targeted and individual to comprehensive and structural, from knowledge transfer to innovative tools. However, indicators to measure adolescent sexuality that should accompany this broadening trend, are lacking. While public health related indicators (HIV/STIs, pregnancies) and their behavioral proxies (e.g. condom use, number of partners) are well developed and documented, there is a lack of consensus on indicators for the broader construct of adolescent sexuality, including sexual well-being and aspects of positive sexuality. Furthermore, the debate during the conference clearly indicated that experimental designs may not be the only appropriate study design to measure effectiveness of comprehensive, context-specific and long-term ASRH programmes, and that alternatives need to be identified and applied. Presenters at the conference clearly expressed the need to develop validated tools to measure different sub-constructs of adolescent sexuality and environmental factors. There was a plea to combine (quasi-)experimental effectiveness studies with evaluations of the development and implementation of ASRH promotion initiatives.Item Sexual diversity and the role of educators on a South African teacher education module(Higher Education South Africa (HESA), 2017) Lees, JamesThis article is a reflection on a 5-credit, 50 hour stand-alone module titled ‘Sexual Diversity and the Role of Educators’ for final-year pre-service education students at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa. Module development was in collaboration with 147 final-year students in 2014. This article chronicles the participatory inquiry into what pre-service educators need to be able to align their teaching practice with Section 9 of the South African constitution. Class discussions, assignments and evaluations were used to compile this reflection. As a number of visitors to class were filmed, including Anglican Archbishop Thabo Makgoba, Cape Town’s openly gay Imam, Muhsin Hendricks, young people from Cape Town’s Triangle Project and gender activist Mmapaseka Steve Letsike, students gave written permission for each aspect of their participation in the course to be shared via film and written articles. By the end of the module, students concluded that: 1) space should be provided within teacher education programmes that allow students safe and critical self-reflection on their attitudes, beliefs and norms related to sexual diversity matters; 2) that un-learning is a crucial component of learning; 3) that for many, such a personal journey requires healing spaces be created; 4) that labelling of difference used to divide people is problematic no matter what the differences may be; 5) current ‘LGBTI’ labels should never be used to limit people’s expression of who they are; 6) while teachers need not embrace homosexuality, teachers must defend the right of learners and colleagues to be, and to practice, whoever they are in the wide range of sexual difference and otherwise.Item An understanding of HIV and AIDS discourses of teachers in Cape Town, South Africa, and its' relevance for HIV prevention in schools(University of the Western Cape, 2010) Davids, Mogamat Noor; Lees, James; Fataar, Aslam; Meerkotter, Dirk; Faculty of EducationThis study investigates the content and nature of the HIV and AIDS "discourses" of teachers, which I have identified as a knowledge gap in the existing HIV and AIDS education literature that, presumably, is informing practice. The argument is that, without an understanding of teachers' HIV and AIDS discourses, we will continue to speculate about why HIV education often does not have the effect we expect of it - reduced HIV infection, reduced risk behaviour, reduced teenage pregnancies - and why it has been regarded as a failure by many. The public media often expose rampant teenage sexual behaviour, such as abortions, pregnancies, and an addiction for electronically generated pornographic materials, causing consternation and sending shockwaves through schools and society. These reports attest to the kind of risky sexual behavior which makes children vulnerable to HIV infection. In spite of more than twenty years of HIV and AIDS education, teachers and society at large remain uncertain and uncomfortable about teenage sexual behavior, HIV infection and the inability of adults to protect young people from sexual exploitation.