Suchergebnisse

This paper explores the theme of health-related risks among the youth in Botswana. It examines a number of intervention strategies geared toward addressing the problems associated with these risks. The paper notes that Botswana has made considerable progress in the provision of social services, including services that aim to diminish health-related risks among the youth. The dimensions of these interventions have ranged from government policy initiatives to school-based programmes, deliberate development of youth action plans, the involvement of tertiary institutions, the activities of non-governmental organisations and the intervention of faith-based organisations. Despite these interventions, some challenges still exist. For some of the organisations, these challenges include a lack of capacity and shortage of funds. In tertiary institutions, the transitory nature of students' residence, the under-utilisation of services and human resource constraints are problematic. Adolescents remain exposed to sexually-transmitted diseases, and too little attention is given to youth with disabilities. The paper suggests that there is a need to employ social workers in schools, create greater awareness in tertiary institutions, engage in further research and documentation on the subject, and ensure an aggressive pursuit of the training of youth officers.

Children living in sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries face a plethora of challenges that require adaptation and resilience for them to develop typically. The experiences of epidemics, armed conflicts, and many other man-made and natural disasters create abject poverty and psychological issues: the vulnerable children become orphans and/or refugees in addition to premature deaths because they lack safety nets. This article explores the role of faith (i.e., religion or spirituality) as a source of resilience with regard to chronic stressful life events experienced by children. There is need to establish the role of faith in children's lives because of the different types of adverse events that impact child development. African countries are inundated by many hazards that impact children more than any other age group and this trend requires urgent intervention by all stakeholders. At research level, there is need to conduct studies that explore, over prolonged periods of time, the processes and role of spirituality/religion (S/R) in facilitating or inhibiting children's adjustment to traumatic experiences. Additionally, at policy level, there is need for governments in SSA to implement policies, intervene and protect children; in addition to encouraging collaboration among the religious fraternity, traditional leaders, and other stakeholders to make the world a better place for children.

ABSTRACTWith the orphan population escalating, communities continue to rely on relatives to provide care to orphans. Therefore, there is a need to explore the role of caregivers with regard to the well‐being of orphans, the challenges they face, as well as how they could be empowered to be more responsive to children's needs. The paper acknowledges that informal caregivers play an important role in the lives of orphans. The paper also concedes that, in the process, caregivers are faced with challenges which make it difficult for them to fulfil their responsibilities and roles. As a result, they sometimes act as sources of stress to orphans, which eventually complicate the children's adjustment to the loss of their parents. Lastly, the paper paves the way to ensuring that challenges faced by informal caregivers are addressed in a manner that will make them more supportive to orphans.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a serious social problem, which affects millions of men. Historically, intimate partner violence has been considered a female victim issue and the concept of female victims is much more recognized in the general population than the concept of male victims. IPV against men is a phenomenon that has received little attention in the academic literature and the media around the world. This paper explores the determinants of Intimate Partner Violence and uses social learning theory to examine dynamics surrounding IPV in male survivors by identifying major areas, and significant players in the male' survivors' life that can help understand factors that put them at risk of IPV, which could be entry points for interventions and mitigation strategies. Desk review was used and focused on the current state of knowledge on the determinants and men's experiences of IPV. Since governments have an obligation to serve all citizens, there is a need to widen the scope of social policy in this area. Governments should continue developing policies with the explicit objective of responding to, preventing, and ending violence against both women and men. However, gender-based analysis approaches to IPV need to consider the impacts of violence on all genders and develop policy-relevant responses to the needs of each, men, and women. Additionally, the study points to the need for research that may be wider in scope, cover more geographical areas and document the experiences of men as victims of IPV. Expand research on male survivors of IPV by encouraging more inclusive research designs that investigate patterns of IPV across the gender spectrum.