Catherine Mathews
Datos Biográficos
| ID | 165216 |
|---|---|
| NOMBRE | Catherine Mathews |
| NOMBRES | Catherine |
| APELLIDO | Mathews |
| FIRMA | MATHEWS C |
| AFILIACIONES | South African Medical Research Council |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-5368-1127 |
| VERIFICADO | Sí |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 89 |
| TOTAL DE CITAS | 52 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 89 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMER AÑO DE PUBLICACIÓN | 1990 |
| AÑO MÁS RECIENTE DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2026 |
| ÍNDICE H | 4 |
Educational Disruption, School Dropout, and Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) Outcomes Among Adolescent Girls and Young Women in South Africa
Adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in South Africa continue to experience high rates of HIV, early pregnancy, and gender-based violence (GBV). While schooling is widely recognised as protective, most studies conceptualise educational participation as a binary exposure, overlooking variation in absenteeism and school dropout. This study examined whether school dropout and varying levels of absenteeism were associated with HIV status, early pr…
Relationship power dynamics by partner type among adolescent girls and young women in South Africa
“It’s burning down there”
Objectives South Africa has one of the highest rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) globally, with adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) disproportionately affected due to intersecting biological, behavioral, structural, and social determinants. While HIV prevention receives sustained attention, other STIs remain under-addressed despite high prevalence and increased HIV transmission risk. This study explored STI- and vaginal infectio…
Socio-economic determinants of engaging in a relationship with a Blesser
Transactional sexual relationships are a key driver of adverse sexual and reproductive health outcomes among adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in South Africa. A prominent subtype, the "Blessed" relationship, involves older, relatively wealthier men (Blessers) who exchange material support for sexual relationships. While motivations within these partnerships have been studied, limited attention has been paid to the structural and economic f…
“I will take PrEP because that’s what will help me not to get infected with HIV”
Introduction: The Imagine programme is a school-based HIV prevention program offering preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP), condoms and other social and structural interventions to adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in South Africa. PrEP uptake and adherence together with the provision of condoms has not been extensively studied in the school context. We explored the barriers to and facilitators of PrEP and condom usage among Imagine programme ben…
Determining the sexual health risks for adolescent girls and young women engaging in a transactional relationship with a Blesser
This study examined how relationships with a Blesser, a form of transactional partner, along with age-disparate men, affect sexual health risks among adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in South Africa. Using data from a cross-sectional survey of 4932 AGYW aged 15-24 conducted between February and May 2024 across eight provinces, we explored links to HIV, adolescent pregnancy, intimate partner violence (IPV), and sexually transmitted infectio…
Gender norms and sexual violence among South African adolescents
Social norms, particularly those pertaining to gender equity, can shape attitudes and behaviors that contribute to adolescent sexual violence (SV). This study examines personal attitudes and perceived peer norms regarding gender equity and associations with perpetration of SV among 100 South Africans aged 13-17 in 2019. We assessed: (1) sexual activity and SV behaviors and (2) personal attitudes and perceived peer norms around gender equity. Desc…
Correcting misperceived norms
South Africa is a critical hotspot in the global fight against sexual violence and HIV. We report on the development of Schools Championing Safe South Africa , a behavioural intervention that engages adolescent boys and their peers to identify and address misperceived norms related to these epidemics within the school setting. A social norms survey conducted among 1,431 students aged 13-19 at 3 high schools guided the development of intervention …
I Just Stopped Taking PrEP Without a Reason”
Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) use is not a once-off bio-behavioural strategy but part of ongoing HIV prevention decision-making. We explored PrEP decision-making through qualitative interviews with 68 adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) aged 15-24 years from communities in which a large-scale combination prevention intervention supporting daily oral PrEP uptake for AGYW in South Africa was implemented. Thematic analysis of transcripts was i…
Acceptability, Feasibility, and Preliminary Efficacy of Schools Championing Safe South Africa, a Social Norms Intervention to Prevent HIV Risk Behavior and Perpetration of Intimate Partner Violence Am…
Schools Championing Safe South Africa is an intervention to prevent sexual violence perpetration and HIV/STI risk behavior among teenage boys, focusing on correcting misperceived social norms regarding risk behavior and engaging boys, teachers and peers in school. We tested its acceptability, feasibility, and preliminary efficacy in a pilot RCT (N = 282). 99% of intervention boys reported high satisfaction with content, format, and delivery. Ther…
School Dropout, Absenteeism and Coverage of Sexual and Reproductive Health Services in South Africa
School attendance or completion is important for adolescents' development. Adolescents who drop out or are regularly absent from school are at higher risk of adverse sexual and reproductive health (SRH) outcomes. However, there is little evidence evaluating SRH service coverage among adolescents in and out of school. In the context of a large-scale combination HIV and pregnancy prevention intervention funded by the Global Fund, we compared the SR…
Applying the HIV Prevention Cascade to an Evaluation of a Large-Scale Combination HIV Prevention Programme for Adolescent Girls and Young Women in South Africa
Adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in South Africa are at a three times higher risk of acquiring HIV than their male counterparts. The HIV prevention cascade is a tool which can be used to measure coverage of HIV prevention services, although there is limited empirical evidence to demonstrate its application in low-resourced settings. The unifying framework is a conceptualisation of the HIV prevention cascade which theorises that both motiva…
Who is Exposed to HIV Prevention Interventions? An Assessment of Associated Factors Among Adolescent Girls and Young Women in South Africa
This study examined the prevalence of HIV risk factors and their association with intervention exposure among adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) living in six South African districts in which a combination HIV-prevention intervention was being implemented. A cross-sectional household survey was conducted from 2017 to 2018 among a representative sample of AGYW aged 15-24 years living in the six districts. We used an electronic questionnaire f…
Social resources, resilience, and sexual health among South African adolescent girls and young women
Socioecological factors, including social resources, influence South African adolescent girls' and young women's sexual health. Few studies have explored how these multi-level social factors relate to both resilience and sexual health in this community. This study examines if social resources mediate associations between resilience and two sexual health outcomes. A weighted-sample of 7,237 South African girls and young women (aged 15-24 years) co…
“We can’t share things with our teachers”
The quality and nature of student-teacher relationships have implications outside of the academic domain. Support from teachers plays a significant protective role in the mental and emotional well-being of adolescents and young people, and can help to reduce or delay their engagement in risk behaviours, thereby decreasing negative sexual and reproductive health outcomes such as teenage pregnancy. Using the theory of teacher connectedness, an elem…
Navigating Education in the Context of Covid-19 Lockdowns and School Closures
Gender related vulnerabilities and inequalities place female learners at high risk of school disengagement due to COVID-19 disruptions. Understanding the impacts of school closures and educational disruptions on female learners in South Africa is critical to inform appropriate, gender-sensitive policies, and programs, to mitigate further exacerbation of educational inequalities. We examined the effects that COVID-19 and lockdowns have had on the …
Internalizing problems, externalizing problems, and prosocial behavior ‐ three dimensions of the strengths and difficulties questionnaire ( SDQ )
This study aimed to examine the factor structure of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire Self‐Report version (SDQ‐S), its psychometric properties and measurement invariance by gender and language spoken at home, among secondary school students in Western Cape, South Africa. A sample of 3,542 adolescents in Grade 8 ( Mean age = 13.7 years) completed the SDQ‐S in a three‐language questionnaire (Afrikaans, English and isiXhosa). The data wer…
Early Sexual Debut and the Effects on Well-Being among South African Adolescent Girls and Young Women Aged 15 to 24 Years
We compared first sex experiences and wellbeing of adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) who had an early sexual debut (age < 15) with those who had later sexual debut. We conducted a representative household survey among AGYW aged 15-24 years in six districts in South Africa. Of 3009 AGYW who had ever had sex, 8.9% reported early sexual debut. Early sexual debut was associated with coercion at first sex and a lower average well-being score com…
“Men Rule… this is the Normal Thing. We Normalise it and it’s Wrong”
We examined power and decision-making in heterosexual relationships amongst South African adolescents and young people. A survey conducted with 515 adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) included items from the Sexual Relationship Power Scale (SRPS) adapted for South African women. Qualitative interviews with fifty AGYW aged between 15 and 24, and nine males aged 18 years and above, explored decision-making in heterosexual relationships, particu…
Safe spaces for beneficiaries of a combination HIV prevention intervention for adolescent girls and young women in South Africa
AGYW are attracted to Safe Spaces by educational and employment promoting interventions and recreational activities, and many will take up the offer of SRH services while there. The poorest AGYW are more likely to be excluded, therefore, an understanding of the obstacles to, and enablers of their inclusion should inform Safe Space intervention design
These Girls Have a Chance to be the Future Generation of HIV Negative”
Daily oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is highly efficacious for HIV prevention. Adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) have been prioritised for PrEP delivery in South Africa. A combination HIV prevention intervention providing integrated biomedical, behavioural and structural interventions for AGYW aged 15-24 in twelve districts in South Africa characterised by high HIV prevalence, was implemented 2019-2022. We conducted qualitative interv…
Examining the Relationship Between Psychosocial Factors with Knowledge of HIV-Positive Status and Antiretroviral Therapy Exposure Among Adolescent Girls and Young Women Living with HIV in South Africa
From resilient girls to (more) resilient women
Adolescence and emerging adulthood are times of heightened adversity for South African girls and young women due to structural disadvantage. In this mixed-methods study, we explored lived experiences of resilience among a sample of 377 South African girls and young women (15-24 years) who completed a quantitative cross-sectional survey that included a validated measure of resilience. Quantitative analyses included descriptive statistics and an in…
I can't go to her when I have a problem
Parent-adolescent sexuality communication, the process in which parents and their adolescent children discuss sexuality and sexual and reproductive health, is a key component for adolescents' protective behaviours. Open communication with parents, particularly mothers, enables informed sexual and reproductive health (SRH) decision-making amongst adolescent girls and young women (AGYW). As part of a qualitative study evaluating a South African com…
Sars-CoV-2 transmission in schools
Health Wise South Africa
The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of an international collaborative effort that aims to reduce risky behavior (e.g., substance use, risky sexual behavior) that leads to outcomes such as HIV/AIDs, pregnancy, and addictions among a sample of South African youth. Because many of these risky behaviors occur in free time, a major part of the effort was leisure education to promote positive use of free time. The program described…
Urbanisation and health
Sociocognitive Predictors of Condom Use and Intentions Among Adolescents in Three Sub-Saharan Sites
Many HIV intervention programs in sub-Saharan Africa have applied social cognitive theories such as the theory of planned behavior. However, a recent sub-Saharan African review was unable to show increased effectiveness for theory-based interventions. This study assessed whether the predictive value of attitudes, subjective norms, self-efficacy, and intention was similar to studies in Europe and the U.S., and whether there were differences betwee…
Learning to listen
Taking Care of Business
In this article we examine the dynamics of social relationships in which alcohol use and risky sexual behaviors cooccur. As part of a larger biological and behavioral HIV surveillance survey, 20 men who lived in an urban, informal settlement on the outskirts of Cape Town, South Africa participated in in-depth interviews. Interview transcripts were analyzed according to a latent content analysis. Findings highlight the latent association between a…
Availability and accessibility of public health services for adolescents and young people in South Africa
Linking Life Skills and Norms With Adolescent Substance Use and Delinquency in South Africa
We examined factors targeted in two popular prevention approaches with adolescent drug use and delinquency in South Africa. We hypothesized adolescent life skills to be inversely related, and perceived norms to be directly related to later drug use and delinquency. Multiple regression and a relative weights approach were conducted for each outcome using a sample of 714 South African adolescents ages 15 to 19 years ( M = 15.8 years, 57% female). P…
From resilient girls to (more) resilient women
Adolescence and emerging adulthood are times of heightened adversity for South African girls and young women due to structural disadvantage. In this mixed-methods study, we explored lived experiences of resilience among a sample of 377 South African girls and young women (15-24 years) who completed a quantitative cross-sectional survey that included a validated measure of resilience. Quantitative analyses included descriptive statistics and an in…
I can't go to her when I have a problem
Parent-adolescent sexuality communication, the process in which parents and their adolescent children discuss sexuality and sexual and reproductive health, is a key component for adolescents' protective behaviours. Open communication with parents, particularly mothers, enables informed sexual and reproductive health (SRH) decision-making amongst adolescent girls and young women (AGYW). As part of a qualitative study evaluating a South African com…
A qualitative enquiry into the meaning and experiences of wellbeing among young people living with and without HIV in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Young people in sub-Saharan Africa encounter health and livelihood challenges which may compromise their wellbeing. Understanding how young people's wellbeing is defined could strengthen wellbeing policies. We investigated perceptions and experiences of young people's wellbeing, and whether these aligned with Ryff's psychological wellbeing (PWB) model. Data were collected between January-August 2018 through focus-group discussions (n = 12) and in…
Urbanisation and health
Participation of the school community in Aids education
An AIDS education programme was developed and evaluated in a high school in a socio-economically disadvantaged, urban, African area in South Africa. The programme, which addressed the whole school community, aimed to raise awareness about AIDS using a variety of educational methods and operating through a number of channels. Students and teachers were actively involved in its design and implementation. Students' knowledge of and attitudes towards…
How do health service managers respond to qualitative research
Learning to listen
Improving the accessibility of condoms in South Africa
Lack of access to condoms presents a fundamental barrier to HIV prevention across most of sub-Saharan Africa. One strategy to enhance the accessibility of condoms is to promote their informal distribution outside of health facilities through existing social networks. To investigate the prevalence and practices of informal condom distribution, we administered a questionnaire to individuals procuring condoms at 12 public health facilities in four r…
Health Wise South Africa
The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of an international collaborative effort that aims to reduce risky behavior (e.g., substance use, risky sexual behavior) that leads to outcomes such as HIV/AIDs, pregnancy, and addictions among a sample of South African youth. Because many of these risky behaviors occur in free time, a major part of the effort was leisure education to promote positive use of free time. The program described…
Written Parental Consent in School-Based HIV/Aids Prevention Research
Objectives. We examined the process of obtaining “active,” written parental consent for a school-based HIV/AIDS prevention project in a South African high school by investigating (1) parental consent form return rates, (2) parents’ recall and knowledge of the research, and (3) the extent to which this consent procedure represented parents’ wishes about their child’s involvement in the research. Methods. This cross-sectional descriptive study comp…
Factors associated with teachers’ implementation of HIV/Aids education in secondary schools in Cape Town, South Africa
This study investigated the factors influencing whether high school teachers implemented HIV/AIDS education. The independent variables included constructs derived from expectancy value theories, teachers' generic dispositions, their training experience, characteristics of their interactive context and the school climate. We conducted a postal survey of 579 teachers responsible for AIDS education in all 193 public high schools in Cape Town. Questi…
High Levels of Risk Behavior Among People Living with HIV Initiating and Waiting to Start Antiretroviral Therapy in Cape Town South Africa
Changes in Risk Behavior Among HIV-Positive Patients During Their First Year of Antiretroviral Therapy in Cape Town South Africa
The Associations of Voluntary Counseling and Testing Acceptance and the Perceived Likelihood of Being HIV-Infected Among Men with Multiple Sex Partners in a South African Township
Associations between alcohol misuse and risks for HIV infection among men who have multiple female sexual partners in Cape Town, South Africa
The occurrence of high rates of alcohol consumption in a context of high HIV prevalence in South Africa poses a significant health challenge for this country. This paper aims to answer three questions that could further our knowledge regarding the links between alcohol use and HIV infection: (a) "Are problem drinkers more likely to have multiple concurrent partners than those who are not?"; (b) "Are condoms applied less effectively and less consi…
The Feasibility of Implementing a Sexual Risk Reduction Intervention in Routine Clinical Practice at an ARV Clinic in Cape Town
HIV Risk Behaviours and their Relationship to Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) Among Men Who Have Multiple Female Sexual Partners in Cape Town, South Africa
Effectiveness of Respondent-Driven Sampling to Recruit High Risk Heterosexual Men Who Have Multiple Female Sexual Partners
Disclosure of HIV Status to Sex Partners Among HIV-Infected Men and Women in Cape Town, South Africa
Can Peer Education Make a Difference? Evaluation of a South African Adolescent Peer Education Program to Promote Sexual and Reproductive Health
Behaviour Change Counselling for ARV Adherence Support Within Primary Health Care Facilities in the Western Cape, South Africa
Taking Care of Business
In this article we examine the dynamics of social relationships in which alcohol use and risky sexual behaviors cooccur. As part of a larger biological and behavioral HIV surveillance survey, 20 men who lived in an urban, informal settlement on the outskirts of Cape Town, South Africa participated in in-depth interviews. Interview transcripts were analyzed according to a latent content analysis. Findings highlight the latent association between a…
Changes to the law on consent in South Africa
BACKGROUND: The National Health Act, No 61, 2003 in South Africa is the first effort made by the government to protect health-related research participants under law. Implemented on March 1, 2012, the law mandates active consent from a parent or legal guardian for all research conducted with research participants under the age of 18 years. This paper focuses on the Act's implications for school-based adolescent sexual and reproductive health rese…
HIV Prevalence and Risk Behaviours from Three Consecutive Surveys Among Men Who Have Multiple Female Sexual Partners in Cape Town
It’s Important to Take Your Medication Everyday Okay?” An Evaluation of Counselling by Lay Counsellors for ARV Adherence Support in the Western Cape, South Africa
I think it's about experiencing, like, life’
Intimate or dating relationships play an important role in young people's psychosocial development and well-being. Yet, we know relatively little about how teenagers conceptualise and experience them. Research knowledge about young people's intimate relationships is largely gleaned from studies whose primary focus has been on adolescent sexuality and violence. This study explored intimate relationships using qualitative data from 12 focus-group d…
Condom use and sexuality communication with adults
The findings are consistent with the assertion that communication on sexuality issues between adolescents and significant adults results in safer sexual practices, as reflected by condom use, among in-school adolescents. The associations between communication variables and condom use might have been stronger if we had measured additional aspects of communication such as whether or not it was initiated by the adolescents themselves, the quality of…
HIV Prevention in Action on the Football Field
Medicine (70 obras) · Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health (67 obras) · Public health (51 obras) · HIV/AIDS Research and Interventions (50 obras) · Psychology (49 obras) · Family medicine (40 obras) · Nursing (36 obras) · Health psychology (33 obras) · Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV (33 obras) · Environmental health (32 obras)