Amsterdam 2015
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| Abstract #3427 - The next generation: Children and HIV in Eastern- and Southern Africa | ||||
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Session: 38.1: The next generation: Children and HIV in Eastern- and Southern Africa (Parallel) on Thursday @ 14.30-16.00 in C202 Chaired by Lucie Cluver, Lisa Langhaug, Brighton Gwezera Authors: Presenting Author: Mrs Naume Kupe - RIATT-ESA, South Africa |
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| Additional Authors: | ||||
| Aim: Globally, an estimated 25 million children have lost one or both parents to AIDS, including nearly 700,000 children in Zambia. Orphaned and vulnerable children (OVC) experience poverty, stigma and discrimination, social and sexual abuse, and psychological distress resulting in poor physical, emotional, and psychological outcomes. In 2013, REPSSI developed a holistic programme to mainstream psychosocial support into the education system. At its core, the programme included an in-service Teachers’ Diploma Course in Psychosocial Care, Support and Protection which is child centered and focuses on providing teachers with the knowledge and skills necessary to enhance the school environment, provide and foster psychosocial support to their students, and facilitate strong school-community relationships. The six-module situated supported distance-learning programme was delivered over a 15-month period. | ||||
| Method / Issue: The first phase of a randomized control trial (RCT) was implemented in 2013. 21school zones (12 control and 9 intervention) from 4 districts in 2 provinces were randomized to early or deferred implementation of the intervention. Impact was assessed from teachers and students at 40 primary schools. Teachers self-completed a paper questionnaire and students completed an interviewer-administered questionnaire on tablets. The teacher questionnaire covered a wide range of domains including i) ‘self care’, iii) self-efficacy (school environment, child’s well-being, engage with community), iv) gender equity, v)) school safety, vi) school physical environment, vii) observed bullying behaviours and reactions to such behaviours, viii) connections with caregivers, ix) providing psychosocial support to students, x) teaching approaches, and xi) children’s rights. Students’ questionnaires included: i) gender equity within the classroom, ii) student’s rights in school, iii) school performance, iv) self-esteem, v) social support, vi) emotional literacy, vii) safety and school environment, viii) bullying, and ix) reaction to sexual harassment. Data analysis included calculation of scale means for control/intervention groups at baseline and post-intervention and mean differences for each group between data collection points. Independent-Sample T test analyses were conducted to assess significant changes between baseline and post-intervention by group. | ||||
| Results / Comments: A total of 447 teachers (intervention 264 and control 183) and 1792 students (intervention 1168 and control 624) were interviewed at baseline. At post-intervention, 325 teachers (72.7%) and 1,378 students (76.9%) completed the evaluation. For teachers, compared with the control group (Ctrl), the post-intervention group (Ix) showed significant improvement on teachers’ emotional self-care (Ix=0.98 vs. Ctrl=0.22, p=0008), classroom safety (Ix=0.28 vs. Ctrl=0.00, p=0.002), school safety (Ix=0.84 vs. Ctrl=0.06, p=0.000), school environment (Ix=0.69 vs. Ctrl=0.06, p=0.010), observed bullying in class (Ix=3.25 vs. Ctrl=0.25, p=0.000), use of resources (Ix=0.61 vs. Ctrl=0.19, p=0.021), school support (Ix=0.47 vs. Ctrl=0.05, p=0.005). For students, compared with the control group, the post-intervention group showed significant improvement on perceived social support (Ix=1.10 vs. Ctrl=0.57, p=0.051), safety in school (Ix=0.56 vs. Ctrl=-0.40, p=0.000), bullying others emotionally (Ix=0.12 vs. Ctrl=-0.30, p=0.000), response to sexual abuse (Ix=0.49 vs. Ctrl=0.24, p=0.008). | ||||
| Discussion: Findings of this study suggests that the Teachers’ Diploma Course improves the psychosocial wellbeing of teachers and the students in their care. REPSSI will offer this to ministries of education in other East and Southern African countries. | ||||
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