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Altered cervical posture kinematics imposed by heavy school backpack loading: A literature synopsis (2009–2019)

ELLAPEN, Terry J
PAUL, Yvonne
HAMMILL, Henriëtte V
SWANEPOEL, Mariëtte
2021

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Background: Habitual school backpack carriage causes neuro-musculoskeletal vertebral, shoulder and hand pain; deviated posture compromised cardiopulmonary function and proprioception.

 

Objective: Present a novel literature summary of the influence of backpack carriage associated with deviated cervical posture and compromised pulmonary function.

 

Method: An electronic literature appraisal adopting the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews, using Google Scholar, Science Direct, EMBASE, AMED, OVID, PubMed and Sabinet search engines, was instituted during 2009–2019. Key search words: schoolbag, backpack, carriage, cervical posture and children. The quality of the studies was assessed using the Downs and Black Appraisal Scale.

 

Results: 583 records were initially identified which was reduced to 14 experimental and observational studies. A total of 1061 participants were included across the 14 studies, with an average age of 11.5 ± 1.3 years, body mass of 37.8 ± 6.6 kilograms (kg), height of 1.41 ± 0.05 meters (m), backpack mass of 5.2 ± 0.9 kg and percentage backpack mass to child’s body mass of 13.75%. The studies mean rating according to the Downs and Black Appraisal Scale was 76.3%. The average craniovertebral angle (CVA) was 53.9° ± 14.6° whilst standing without carrying a backpack was reduced to 50.4° ± 16.4° when loaded (p < 0.05). Backpack loads carried varied from 5% – 30% of the participant’s body mass that produced a mean CVA decline of 3.5°.

 

Conclusion: Backpack carriage alters cervical posture, resulting in smaller CVA and compromised pulmonary function. There is no consensus of the precise backpack mass that initiates postural changes. Girls’ posture begin changes when carrying lighter backpacks as compared to boys of the same age strata.

Including parents in inclusive practice: Supporting students with disabilities in higher education

DUMA, Princess T.
SHAWA, Lester B.
October 2019

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Background: While a number of research studies have endeavoured to understand students with disabilities’ experience in higher education and have recommended ways to effectively support student success, the role of parental support has been neglected. Many studies have been hampered by a limited understanding of students with disabilities and have, in particular, underestimated students’ ‘access to economic, social and cultural forms of capital’ that caring parents provide.

 

Objectives: This article seeks to explore students with disabilities’ experiences of parental support in the South African higher education context. The research question guiding this article is: What forms of economic, social and cultural capital do parents and extended families provide to students with disabilities to enable them to succeed in higher education?

 

Method: In-depth semi-structured individual and focus group interviews were conducted with 17 students with disabilities at two universities of technology. The interview transcripts were thematically analysed with a view to understanding Pierre Bourdieu’s forms of capital that parents provided.

 

Results: The study found that while parents are not always able to provide material support, they offered rich and varied forms of social and cultural capital that enabled students with disabilities’ academic success.

 

Conclusion: Given that parental support plays an important role in the success of students with disabilities, and this role changes as these students become more independent, this study recommends the need for universities to also pay more attention to involving parents in the education of the former. It is hoped that putting in place appropriate forms of parental involvement can create a conducive environment for universities to provide inclusive education holistically.

 

 

African Journal of Disability, Vol 8, 2019

The experiences of parents of children living with disabilities at Lehlaba Protective Workshop in Sekhukhune district of Limpopo province

TIGERE, Brian
MAKHUBELE, Jabulani C.
September 2019

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Background: Parents of children with disabilities have faced difficulties in looking after their children, be it socially, economically and financially. Parents in rural areas are mainly left with a huge burden, as there is a lack of services and support from both the state and non-governmental organisations. Parents in Sekhukhune district, a rural area in Limpopo province of South Africa, face challenges in raising their disabled children related to lack of resources and lack of services at their disposal.

 

Objectives: This study focuses on the experiences and life circumstances faced by parents of children living with different types of disabilities at Lehlaba Protective Workshop in Sekhukhune district of Limpopo province, South Africa.

 

Method: The study consisted of 14 participants who are parents of children living with disabilities. An interview guide with a set of questions was utilised to gather data. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data and themes that emerged were grouped together.

 

Results: Themes that emerged from the data showed that most of the participants had varying understandings on the causes of disabilities to their children. The participants also were of the view that a ‘cure’ for disability was available medically, spiritually or through traditional African medicine. The study also brought the notion of absent fathers, as most men do not want to be associated with children who are disabled. Stigmatisation of the parents was also a theme that the study revealed. The parents are subjected to name labelling as they are viewed to be practising witchcraft or to be paying for their sins they committed.

 

Conclusion: Parents of children with disabilities are in their own battle in raising their children. There is a lack of support structures available for parents of children living with disabilities. There is a lack of legislation available for protecting and promoting the rights of children with disabilities. The researchers concluded that raising a child with a disability is expensive, time-consuming and straining.

 

 

African Journal of Disability, Vol 8, 2019

Family-based activity settings of children in a low-income African context

BALTON, Sadna
UYS, Kitty
ALANT, Erna
2019

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Background: There has been an overwhelming call to improve the understanding of how children develop within an African context as Euro-American definitions of competence have been uncritically adopted as the norm for children in Africa. The activities that children engage in within the family setting are seen as important to understand how children develop within context. The use of activity settings is closely aligned with a strengths-based perspective of family-centred practice and contributes to improved sustainability of intervention.

 

Objectives: This study that was conducted in Soweto, South Africa, aims to describe activity settings that typically developing young children in low-income African contexts participate in.

 

Method: A descriptive design using structured interviews was utilised to obtain information about activity settings that children aged 3–5 years and 11 months engaged in. Structured interviews with 90 caregivers were conducted.

 

Results: Findings show that children participate in a variety of activities with varied participation levels. The types of activities are dependent on the context and perceptions of caregivers.

 

Conclusion: These findings draw attention to understanding activities that children engage in within the family context.

 

African Journal of Disability, Vol 8, 2019

Views from the borderline: Extracts from my life as a coloured child of deaf adults, growing up in apartheid South Africa

HARRISON, Jane
WATERMEYER, Brian
2019

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Background: Over 90% of Deaf parents have hearing children, but there are very few, if any, studies that have explored the life worlds of hearing children of Deaf adults (CODAs) in South Africa. This article is an account of part of the life experiences of a female hearing child who was born and raised by her Deaf parents in apartheid South Africa in the 1980s.

 

Objectives: This study used auto-ethnography to explore the socialisation of a female coloured CODA during the height of South Africa’s apartheid era, in order to shed light on intersectional influences on identity and selfhood. The study was intended to contribute to the limited knowledge available on the life circumstances of CODAs in Global South contexts.

 

Methods: Evocative auto-ethnography under a qualitative research paradigm was used to explore the life world of a now adult female hearing child of Deaf parents. Her thoughts, observations, reflections and involvements are articulated in a first person written narrative that is presented in this article. A thematic analysis approach was used to analyse data, and the themes that emerged are: (1) CODAs as language brokers, (2) being bilingual and trilingual, (3) being bicultural, (4) role reversal and parentification and (5) issues of identity. A discussion of these themes is interwoven with the literature, in an effort to provide a rich and robust analysis that contributes to the body of knowledge.

 

Results: Multiple identity markers that include disability, gender, race, age, nationality, culture and language intersect to frame the life world of a hearing child of Deaf parents who grew up in the apartheid era in South Africa. The result is both positive and negative life experiences, arising from being located simultaneously in both a hearing and Deaf world.

 

Conclusion: This study suggests that, in part, the life world of a hearing child of Deaf parents is multi-layered, multidimensional and complex; hence, it cannot be presented with a single description. Recommendations that inform policy and practice are outlined in the concluding section of the article.

 

 

African Journal of Disability, Vol 8, 2019

‘We create our own small world’: daily realities of mothers of disabled children in a South African urban settlement

VAN DER MARK, Elise J
CONRADIE, Ina
DEDDING, Christine W M
BROERSE, Jacqueline E W
2018

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Parents of disabled children face many challenges. Understanding their experiences and acknowledging contextual influences is vital in developing intervention strategies that fit their daily realities. However, studies of parents from a resource-poor context are particularly scarce. This ethnographic study with 30 mothers from a South African township (15 semi-structured interviews and 24 participatory group sessions) unearths how mothers care on their own, in an isolated manner. The complexity of low living standards, being poorly supported by care structures and networks, believing in being the best carer, distrusting others due to a violent context, and resigning towards life shape and are shaped by this solitary care responsibility. For disability inclusive development to be successful, programmes should support mothers by sharing the care responsibility taking into account the isolated nature of mothers’ lives and the impact of poverty. This can provide room for these mothers to increase the well-being of themselves and their children.

Perceptions and satisfaction of caregivers regarding rehabilitation services from selected rehabilitation centres in the Western Cape

MLENZANA, Nondwe B.
EIDE, Arne H.
FRANTZ, Jose M.
2018

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Background: Understanding caregivers’ views on rehabilitation services is important as it may assist in informing healthcare services and patient management.

 

Objectives: The aim of this study was to explore caregivers’ perceptions and satisfaction regarding rehabilitation services in the Western Cape, South Africa, and to inform clinical practice and policy in this emerging field.

 

Method: This study used a descriptive, qualitative design using in-depth interviews with conveniently selected participants. Interviews were conducted with 13 caregivers of patients with: amputations (3), cerebrovascular accidents (5) and neuromuscular disorders (5). Thematic content analysis was conducted with the transcripts.

 

Results: Four key themes emerged, which were (1) financial difficulties, (2) caregiver and therapist relationships, (3) facility management and (4) caregiver experience with service delivery.

 

Conclusion: Based on the participants’ feedback, the rehabilitation services seem to be meeting the basic rehabilitation needs of the patients; however, the needs of the caregivers require attention.

Hearing children of Deaf parents: Gender and birth order in the delegation of the interpreter role in culturally Deaf families

MOROE, Nomfundo F.
ANDRADE, Victor de
2018

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Background: Culturally, hearing children born to Deaf parents may have to mediate two different positions within the hearing and Deaf cultures. However, there appears to be little written about the experiences of hearing children born to Deaf parents in the South African context.

 

Objective: This study sought to investigate the roles of children of Deaf adults (CODAs) as interpreters in Deaf-parented families, more specifically, the influence of gender and birth order in language brokering.

 

Method: Two male and eight female participants between the ages of 21 and 40 years were recruited through purposive and snowball sampling strategies. A qualitative design was employed and data were collected using a semi-structured, open-ended interview format. Themes which emerged were analysed using thematic analysis.

 

Results: The findings indicated that there was no formal assignment of the interpreter role; however, female children tended to assume the role of interpreter more often than the male children. Also, it appeared as though the older children shifted the responsibility for interpreting to younger siblings. The participants in this study indicated that they interpreted in situations where they felt they were not developmentally or emotionally ready, or in situations which they felt were better suited for older siblings or for siblings of another gender.

 

Conclusion: This study highlights a need for the formalisation of interpreting services for Deaf people in South Africa in the form of professional interpreters rather than the reliance on hearing children as interpreters in order to mediate between Deaf and hearing cultures.

‘How deep are your pockets?’ Autoethnographic reflections on the cost of raising a child with autism

CLASQUIN-JOHNSON, Mary G.
CLASQUIN-JOHNSON, Michel
2018

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Background: In this article, we reflected on our experience of the cost of parenting a child with autism, including our ongoing search for educational and therapeutic intervention.


Objectives: We aimed to give an academic insight into the state of autism education and care in South Africa as seen by us, with special attention to its cost and sustainability.


Methods: Using evocative autoethnography as storied scholarship together with critical autism studies, we reflected on stories of the past 5 years since our son’s diagnosis.


Results: Our experiences agree with international studies that establish autism as the most expensive disability. In addition to the high costs of diagnosis, existing intervention and support approaches are unaffordable for the majority of South Africans. We recommend that teachers should be trained to participate in early screening and diagnosis, as well as co-therapists, to strengthen the implementation of inclusive education.


Conclusion: The kind of autism intervention currently offered in South Africa is financially and socially unsustainable. Instead of positioning autism as an individual or family dilemma, it should be addressed as an educational and societal issue. Future research should explore cost-effective options for a developing country context, while promoting best practice within inclusive settings.

‘I felt pain. Deep pain…’: Experiences of primary caregivers of stroke survivors with aphasia in a South African township

MASUKU, Khetsiwe P.
MOPHOSHO, Munyane
TSHABALALA, Muziwakhe
2018

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Background: Aphasia is an acquired impairment in language and in the cognitive processes that underlie language. Aphasia affects the quality of life of the person with aphasia (PWA) and his or her families in various ways in diverse contexts and cultures. It is therefore important that speech language therapists understand how different contextual and cultural factors may mediate experiences.


Purpose: The aim of the study was to describe the caregiving experience of female caregivers of PWA residing in Tembisa, a township situated in the east of Johannesburg.


Method: Qualitative, semi-structured interviews were conducted with primary caregivers of PWA. Purposive sampling was used to recruit 14 primary caregivers of PWA who were daughters, daughters-in-law or wives of the PWA. The interviews were conducted in participants’ first language and analysed by the researcher, who is proficient in isiZulu. Data were analysed according to the principles of thematic analysis.


Results: Findings indicated that caregivers are unfamiliar with aphasia and the support available to them. Participants experienced frustration and found communication to be challenging owing to their lack of communication strategies. The participants’ experiences reflected their context-specific experiences, such as feminisation of caregiving, barriers to healthcare, the influence of low health literacy and contextual perspectives on stroke and aphasia.


Conclusions: Contextual factors of caregivers in Tembisa have an influence on the experiences between caregivers and PWA, the feelings of individuals and families and health-seeking behaviours of individuals and families.

‘When he’s up there he’s just happy and content’: Parents’ perceptions of therapeutic horseback riding

Boyd, Lauren
le ROUX, Marieanna
2017

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Background: There is limited global and South African research on parents’ perceptions of therapeutic horseback riding (THR), as well as their perceptions of the effect of the activity on their children with disabilities.


Objective: To explore and describe parents’ perceptions and experiences of THR as an activity for their children with disabilities.


Method: Twelve parents whose children attend THR lessons at the South African Riding for the Disabled Association in Cape Town were asked to participate in a semi-structured interview. The qualitative data obtained from the interviews were first transcribed and then analysed using thematic analysis to establish parents’ perceptions of the THR activity.


Results: The main themes that emerged included parental perceived effects of THR on children, parents’ personal experiences of the services, and parents’ perceived reasons for improvements in the children. The participating parents indicated that THR had had a positive psychological, social and physical effect both on the children participating in the riding, as well as on the parents themselves.


Conclusion: According to parents, THR plays an important role in the lives of children with various disabilities and in the lives of their parents. The results of the study address the gap in the literature regarding parents’ perceptions of THR.

Slipping and holding minds: A psychosocial analysis of maternal subjectivity in relation to childhood disability

Young, Lisa Saville
BERRY, Jessie
2016

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Background: This paper elucidates a methodological approach to interview text that tries to acknowledge the psychosocial nature of disability and thereby ensuring that empirical work in disability studies complements theoretical arguments already developed.

 

Objectives: The aim of this study is to outline a psychosocial conceptualisation of maternal subjectivity in relation to childhood disability and to apply this conceptualisation as an analytic tool to segments of an interview with a mother of a child with physical and developmental disabilities.

 

Method: Drawing on psychoanalysis and attachment literature alongside critical social psychology we take readers through the analysis of an interview extract with a particular mother. Through a fine grained analysis, we demonstrate the value of attending to the affective processes in and around the text rooted in the particular intersubjective exchange (‘here and how’) of the interview and the particular socio-historical context (‘there and then’) in which the mother, child and researcher are located.

 

Findings: The reading draws attention to discourses that position this particular mother and her children in particular ways while also pointing to investments in these discourses such that these discourses are not purely social but play affective functions.

 

Conclusion: This paper demonstrates the value of using multiple lenses to read the text, seeking to understand what is going on from within each lens (discursive/social, interpersonal, intrapsychic), while also seeking to disrupt this understanding as we take up the position of a different lens. This approach enables us to hold onto the complexity and locatedness of maternal subjectivity for mothers of children with disabilities.

Initial experiences of family caregivers of survivors of a traumatic brain injury

BROODRYK, Mandi
PRETORIUS, Chrisma
2015

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Background: There seems to be a paucity of research on the initial subjective experiences of family caregivers of survivors of a traumatic brain injury (TBI).

 

Objective: To explore the challenges that family caregivers face during the initial stages of recovery of a relative who has sustained a TBI.

 

Methods: Thematic analysis was used to explore the findings from semi-structured interviews that were conducted with 12 female family caregivers of relatives who had sustained a TBI.

 

Results: Family caregivers recalled their initial experiences of the shock at hearing the news about their relative’s TBI, negative experiences in hospital and frustrating interactions with healthcare professionals as particularly challenging. 

 

Conclusion: The findings of this study emphasise caregivers’ need for support, information and psycho-education, especially from healthcare professionals, from the very beginning stages of recovery from a TBI. Practical and physical needs with regard to admission to and care in the hospital were also highlighted. This research will hopefully contribute to creating awareness amongst healthcare professionals on how they can contribute to improvement of the services provided by the healthcare system based on the experiences of the caregivers who participated in this study.

 

Perceptions of psychosocial disability amongst psychiatric service users and caregivers in South Africa

BROOKE-SUMNER, Carrie
LUND, Crick
PETERSEN, Inge
2014

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Background: In many parts of South Africa there is little support for people with psychosocial disability caused by schizophrenia, beyond provision of psychotropic medications. Appropriate community-based psychosocial rehabilitation interventions are a crucial element of mental health service development.

 

Objectives: This study aimed to use an explanatory model of illness framework to document experiences of illness, disability and recovery amongst service users with schizophrenia and their caregivers in a poorly resourced area in the North West Province. Data were used to provide recommendations for a contextually appropriate non-specialist facilitated group psychosocial rehabilitation intervention.

 

Method: Eighteen in-depth individual interviews were conducted: nine with schizophrenia service users and nine with caregivers. Interviews were conducted by two trained field researchers; both clinical psychologists fluent in the first language of participants. All interviews were recorded, translated and transcribed. Data were thematically analysed using NVivo 9.

 

Results: Participants linked the illness to witchcraft, poverty and stress. Family conflict was recognised in the course of the illness, causing stress and challenges for emotional well-being. Knowledge of diagnosis and biomedical treatment was minimal. Key factors recognised by service users as promoting recovery were the ability to work, and the support of traditional healers and religious structures.

 

Conclusion: Based on the findings of this study, a group psychosocial rehabilitation intervention emerged as a recommendation, with the incorporation of psycho-education, adherence support, coping skills, and opportunities for income generation and productive activity. The importance of also enlisting the support of religious leaders and traditional healers in supporting recovery is emphasised.

Knowledge of, beliefs about and attitudes to disability: implications for health professionals

MASASA, T
IRWIN-CARRUTHERS, S
FAURE, M
2014

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Background: South Africa is a multicultural, multiracial and multilingual nation with many different values, traditions and cultural practices. Different belief systems may give rise to different attitudes and practices relating to disability, which may impact on rehabilitation. The purpose of this study was to investigate the knowledge, attitudes and beliefs relating to disability in three broad cultural groups in the Western Cape.

 

Method: Sixty primary caregivers were interviewed by using a knowledge, attitude and belief (KAB) survey in a structured interview format. Probability and non-probability (systematic and purposive) sampling were used. The study used both quantitative and qualitative methods.

 

Results: While caregivers from coloured and white communities generally had become acquainted with disability from an early age, caregivers in black communities often only learnt about disability following the birth of a disabled child. All caregivers had only a rather rudimentary knowledge of the causes of disability, but held positive attitudes towards people with disabilities and their integration into society. The qualitative data showed some differences in beliefs between the three groups in relation to the causes of disability and the need for rehabilitation. The data also revealed negative experiences across the groups in relation to education and the availability of transport, particularly amongst caregivers from black and coloured communities.

 

Conclusions: Health professionals need to understand the culture, values, beliefs and expectations of their clients when providing rehabilitation services within a community-based model. There appears to be a need for improved disability awareness in schools and amongst transport service providers.

Family-based HIV prevention and intervention services for youth living in poverty-affected contexts : the CHAMP model of collaborative, evidence-informed programme development

BHANA, Arvin
et al
June 2010

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The Collaborative HIV Prevention and Adolescent Mental Health Program (CHAMP) is a family-focused, evidence-based intervention that has been tested in low-income contexts in the US, Caribbean and South Africa. This paper gives a description of the theoretical and empirical bases of the development and implementation of CHAMP in the US and South Africa

Growing pains : how poverty and AIDS are challenging childhood

SWIFT, Anthony
MAHER, Stan
2008

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This report looks at projects and programmes that aim to respond to the needs of very young children in southern and eastern Africa whose lives have been affected by both poverty and HIV. What is highlighted in the interventions that are examined is the effort of human beings in caring and supporting people and sharing resources

Disability and social change : a South African agenda

WATERMEYER, Brian
et al
2006

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This book has been produced to promote the social rights of people with disabilities. It presents extensive research on the South African context of disability and society and draws upon contributions from a diverse range of specialists in the field. A key aim of the text is to unite the disability movement in South Africa through research discourse, as a means to drive processes of social change. Key sections of the book cover: theoretical approaches to disability; governmental and societal responses to disability; disability and education; disability poverty and social security; disability and service provision; disability and human spaces. This book would be of interest to anybody working in the fields of disability, development and social inclusion

USAID project profiles : children affected by HIV/AIDS

UNITED STATES AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (USAID)
January 2005

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This document presents profiles of 114 projects (90 country-specific, 12 regional, and 12 global) funded by USAID. It includes a section on USAID projects that support access to education in Africa. The project profiles include the names of implementing organisations, funding periods and amounts, objectives, strategies, key accomplishments, priority activities for the year ahead, and materials and tools available to other projects that can help meet the needs of children and youth affected by HIV and AIDS. The diversity of these projects demonstrates the US government's efforts to meet the wide variety of needs of children and youth affected by HIV and AIDS. Approaches vary in both strategy and scale. The vast majority of projects work with communities to identify opportunities that strengthen existing resources without undermining local ownership. In many places, communities are already mobilised and have systems in place to identify, protect, and provide basic necessities to the most vulnerable children. USAID supports the strengthening and monitoring of these existing activities

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