Amsterdam 2015
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| Abstract #3428 - The next generation: Children and HIV in Eastern- and Southern Africa | ||||
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Session: 38.2: 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: HIV and AIDS pose grave threats to young people’s psychosocial development. Current efforts fail to address this crisis at necessary scale or speed. In Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA), community-based caregivers who provide psychosocial care and support to this population vulnerable children and youth have extremely limited access to formal and up-to-date learning opportunities. In response, REPPSI developed an accredited Situated and Supported Distance Learning Certificate in 2009. Applied learning principles informed curriculum design. To date, three course cycles of the course have been completed, and the fourth has begun, across 11 countries in ESA. Students study from hard copies of six modules and attend four 5-hour group sessions per module facilitated by a skilled mentor to discuss their learning. Students complete six hand-written assignments, which are assessed by academic supervisors. We report here on data that informs the impact of this programme. | ||||
| Method / Issue: Phone interviews with alumni from cycle 1 captured qualitative and quantitative data 18 months following course completion (n=309). Students from cycles 2 and 3 were asked to complete a questionnaire at graduation (cycle 2=586, cycle 3=384). | ||||
| Results / Comments: While regionally, average completion rates for distance learning courses run below 30%, this course achieves above an 85% completion rate. Across all cycles, students attribute that key elements to programme success included relevancy of course material to real life situations, regular student support, constructive feedback on written assignments. Of alumni interviewed from cycle 1, 70% remain working in their same communities 18 months after course-completion. On average, 50% of students begin the course as volunteers. In cycle 1, 23% of the 183 alumni who began as volunteers reported being in paid positions 18 months after course-completion, 74% of them attributed this change to course participation. At graduation, 8% of graduates in cycle 2 and 14% of graduates in cycle 3 who reported starting as volunteers are now paid, suggesting this change takes place as the course progresses. For those in paid positions, 27% of students in cycle 1 reported a promotion since course completion. At graduation, 67.4% of cycle 3 graduates did not approve of corporal punishment, with 94.0% attributing a shift in their attitude to the course content. There was a 50.0% increase in self-reported skills acquisition in helping vulnerable families and asking children for their opinions. Three- quarters of students in cycle 3 report engaging parents on children’s differential learning following course exposure. | ||||
| Discussion: This innovative learning and teaching model yielded very high rates of student completion, skills, and knowledge retention demonstrating that relevant, formal learning experiences that build critical capacity of community-based caregivers is achievable. Success was attributed to use of appropriate learning materials supported by trained mentors in regular, well-organized group sessions with continuous valuable assessment. Currently, almost 1300 students from 9 countries have begun the fourth cycle, significantly expanding our total reach across the continent. More rigorous pre and post course data on these students is currently being collected. | ||||
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