A holistic ethnic-centric intervention programme for the milieu disabled Sotho primary school child exposed to violence

Abstract

Violence in milieu-disabled communities is an epidemic that can seriously affect the future health of children in South Africa. South Africa needs a stronger evidence base on the underlying causes of violence in the country to facilitate better planning of target services and to inform the design of intervention programmes (Mathews & Benvenuti, 2014:33). The social welfare sector is specifically challenged by the dearth in the development of indigenous interventions. In order to respond to these challenges the goal of the study was to describe, design and develop a holistic ethnic-centric intervention programme for the milieu-disabled Sotho primary school child exposed to violence. The ecological systems approach (Bronfenbrenner s bioecological model of development) and the Gestalt approach were used as conceptual frameworks to inform holistic ethnic-centric interventions related to children s exposure to violence. The empirical study was executed in a single geographical area namely, the Soshanguve Township with participants from the Sotho ethnic group. An adapted model of intervention research from Rothman and Thomas (1994) and recent developments by Fraser, Richman, Galingsky and Day (2009) were utilised to guide the process for the development of the intervention design. The exploratory sequential mixed-methods approach was applied, that incorporated both qualitative and quantitative research paradigms in one single study (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2011:411). A collective case study design was chosen for the first phase of the study as it provided an opportunity to utilise multiple case units and sources of data (observational study, focus groups, consultation with experts) to explore and describe in depth the phenomenon of the milieu-disabled Sotho primary school child exposed to violence (Krysik & Finn, 2013:165). The one-group, pre-test post-test design, also considered a pre-experimental design due to the absence of a control group - was implemented as a pilot study in the quantitative phase to gain tentative descriptive information for further development of the intervention (Rubin & Babbie, 2013:185). The qualitative findings contributed to a holistic and a phenomenological understanding of the way that the milieu-disabled Sotho primary school child experienced and gave meaning to his/her socio-cultural ecology of violence. Multiple protective and risk factors emerged that significantly informed the critical target areas that were needed for the design of the intervention programme. The participants in the collective case study were empowered with a voice as experts of their own contextual realities to determine the desired needs for the intervention programme. It was concluded from the quantitative findings that the intervention programme and measurement instrument will need further refinement through pilot testing and expert reviews. The qualitative findings related to the group process and responses of the children to the programme, however, revealed promising results for future development of the intervention programme. It was, therefore, recommended that the intervention programme be refined to resolve the identified weaknesses and improve on its effectiveness through a balanced consideration of both the quantitative and qualitative findings of the pilot study. It is anticipated that the pioneering research project would stimulate social workers to contribute to the design of culturally sensitive and evident-based intervention models rooted in ethnic children s voices and a holistic understanding of the context of milieu disability and violence.