Alan J Flisher
Datos Biográficos
| ID | 137715 |
|---|---|
| NOMBRE | Alan J Flisher |
| NOMBRES | Alan J |
| APELLIDO | Flisher |
| FIRMA | FLISHER A J |
| AFILIACIONES | University of Cape Town |
| VERIFICADO | No |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 52 |
| TOTAL DE CITAS | 220 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 52 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMER AÑO DE PUBLICACIÓN | 1987 |
| AÑO MÁS RECIENTE DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2014 |
| ÍNDICE H | 9 |
Factors shaping condom use among South African university students
This study aimed to investigate contextual influences on condom use by South African university students. Twenty one-to-one, semi-structured interviews were conducted with male and female South African undergraduates. The data were thematically analysed. Results revealed that condom use was transient and often unrelated to disease prevention. Condom use was impeded by closer perceived intimacy, gender dynamics, and social stigma against proposing…
Risk and Resilience in Orphaned Adolescents Living in a Community Affected by Aids
The AIDS pandemic has resulted in a dramatic rise in the number of orphans in South Africa. This study was designed to investigate the associations between family, peer, and community factors and resilience in orphaned adolescents. Self-report questionnaires were administered verbally to 159 parentally bereaved adolescents (aged 10-19) in an economically deprived urban area. Questionnaires included measures of depression, anxiety, and self-esteem…
Reliability of the Camberwell Assessment of Need for South African mental health service users
Background: The Camberwell Assessment of Need (CAN) is a widely used instrument to assess the service needs for people with a severe mental illness. No reliability data are available for its use in South Africa. Method: Interrater and test-retest reliability were documented for a sub-sample of 194 patients participating in a needs assessment study among people receiving mental health services. Initially, the CAN was administered by one field work…
Community influences on adolescents’ use of home-brewed alcohol in rural South Africa
Findings highlight community influences on alcohol use among rural adolescents in South Africa. Feeling affirmed and valued by the broader community appears to protect adolescents against early alcohol use. In contrast, perceptions of high levels of adult anti-social behavior and crime and violence in the community are significant risks for early alcohol initiation. Implications of these findings for the prevention of alcohol use among adolescent…
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…
Can any teacher teach sexuality and HIV/Aids? Perspectives of South African Life Orientation teachers
In this paper we explore the perceived desirable characteristics of South African Life Orientation teachers for teaching sexuality and HIV/AIDS. We also investigate the extent to which these characteristics can be understood as parts of a role script for teaching HIV/AIDS and sexuality. Data were collected from teachers who taught Grade Eight and Grade Nine students in South African public high schools. The teachers particularly emphasised the im…
Can Peer Education Make a Difference? Evaluation of a South African Adolescent Peer Education Program to Promote Sexual and Reproductive Health
Challenges facing South Africa's mental health care system
In recent years South Africa has taken some important steps forward in strengthening its mental health systems. Mental health legislation has been reformed and there is some level of policy commitment to mental health. However, there remain ongoing challenges, largely related to implementation. The aim of this paper is to review the major challenges facing the South African mental health system, to provide a greater understanding of these challen…
A Retrospective Evaluation of a Wilderness-Based Leadership Development Programme
The Leadership Project (LP) in Cape Town, South Africa, is a wilderness-based leadership development programme that targets young people from diverse backgrounds. The aim of this study was to evaluate the LP, focusing on process and perceived outcomes. Document analysis and key informant interviews were used to evaluate programme reach and implementation process. Semi-structured interviews and focus groups with past programme participants ( n = 4…
Suicide in a Poor Rural Community in the Western Cape, South Africa
International studies have documented the association between poverty, low education levels and poor mental health, including suicide attempts. Many farm worker communities in the Western Cape, South Africa, are exposed to poor living and working conditions throughout their lives. They also tend to suffer from chronic illness such as tuberculosis as well as widespread alcohol abuse. Many farm workers are also exposed to pesticides, which have bee…
Public sector mental health systems in South Africa
Location of development NGOs providing HIV and Aids services to young people in Cape Town, South Africa
Development Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) have been crucial players in HIV and AIDS from the onset of the epidemic in South Africa. We examined development NGOs that provide HIV and AIDS services to young people within the Cape Metropole District of the Western Cape Province, with a view to analyse the location of their offices and service sites in relation to area-level HIV prevalence rates. The dataset was made up of 93 NGOs identified …
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…
Mental Health Service Users’ Perceptions and Experiences of Sedation, Seclusion and Restraint
Background: Sedation, seclusion or restraint are recognized methods of containing a person experiencing an acute psychotic episode with behavioural disturbance which has not responded to verbal or non-sedating pharmacological interventions. These interventions pose significant ethical and practical challenges to service providers who are responsible for safeguarding the human rights of mental health service users. Aims: In a collaborative two-pha…
Sexual Behaviour of High School Students in Two Rural South African Communities
This study investigated the prevalence and correlates of sexual risk behaviour among high school students in two rural settings in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, using a cross-sectional survey design. One thousand six hundred and thirteen randomly-selected adolescents (58% female) in Grade 11 completed a self-report questionnaire that asked about demographic characteristics and participation in a range of health risk behaviours. The results indi…
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
Characterization of HIV-Associated Neurocognitive Disorders Among Individuals Starting Antiretroviral Therapy in South Africa
The Association between Psychopathology and Substance Use in Young People
This article reviews the recent literature on the association between psychopathology and substance use in young people. An electronic literature search, using PSYCINFO/PSYCLIT and PUBMED/MEDLINE, yielded 93 English-language articles for the period 1990-2008. Of these articles, 89 (95.7%) reported studies conducted in developed countries, 57 (61.3%) had community or population samples, 38 (40.9%) had sample sizes ranging from 500 to 2000 subjects…
Poverty and common mental disorders in low and middle income countries
Association Between Psychopathology and Substance Use Among School-Going Adolescents in Cape Town, South Africa
Limited information exists regarding the association between psychopathology and specific substance use in young people both globally and locally. We examined the association between psychopathology and substance use in high school students to determine the nature of the associations and the role of demographic factors in these associations. Grade 8 (N=480) and Grade 11 (N=459) students from 39 high schools in Cape Town, South Africa, completed a…
Substance Use and Psychosocial Predictors of High School Dropout in Cape Town, South Africa
The aims of this study were to examine whether use of tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drugs predicts dropout among secondary school students in Cape Town, South Africa. A self-report instrument was administered to 1,470 Grade 8 students. The proportion of students that dropped out of school between the onset of the study and 4 years later was 54.9%. After adjusting for a range of confounders, dropout was significantly predicted by absenteeism, pove…
Leisure Constraints for Adolescents in Cape Town, South Africa
This study identified leisure constraints, constraints negotiation strategies, and their relative frequencies among 114 high school students from one under-resourced area of South Africa. Through focus group discussions, participants identified intrapersonal, interpersonal, structural, and sociocultural constraints to leisure, suggesting some degree of universality in this previously documented typology. Intrapersonal constraints were mentioned m…
Collaboration Between Traditional Practitioners and Primary Health Care Staff in South Africa
The majority of the black African population in South Africa utilize both traditional and public sector Western systems of healing for mental health care. There is a need to develop models of collaboration that promote a workable relationship between the two healing systems. The aim of this study was to explore perceptions of service users and providers of current interactions between the two systems of care and ways in which collaboration could …
Traditional Healer Attitudes and Beliefs Regarding Referral of the Mentally Ill to Western Doctors in South Africa
Drawing on data collected from 3 focus groups with 24 traditional healers, the aim of this qualitative study was to use the constructs of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) to gain an understanding of traditional healer referral practices of their patients with a mental illness. Results indicated that traditional healers possess a concept of mental illness, mainly referring to a patient behaving abnormally. They often report regularly treating…
Unsafe sexual behaviour in South African youth
Collaboration Between Traditional Practitioners and Primary Health Care Staff in South Africa
The majority of the black African population in South Africa utilize both traditional and public sector Western systems of healing for mental health care. There is a need to develop models of collaboration that promote a workable relationship between the two healing systems. The aim of this study was to explore perceptions of service users and providers of current interactions between the two systems of care and ways in which collaboration could …
Mental Health Policy Development and Implementation in Four African Countries
The purpose of the research programme introduced in this article is to provide new knowledge regarding comprehensive multisectoral approaches to breaking the negative cycle of poverty and mental ill-health. The programme undertakes an analysis of existing mental health policies in four African countries (Ghana, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia), and will carry out and evaluate interventions to assist in the development and implementation of mental he…
Aids, violence and behavioral coding
Leisure Boredom and Substance Use Among High School Students in South Africa
The purpose of this study was to determine the extent of leisure boredom, and investigate the relationship between leisure boredom, substance use and demographic variables among high school students in Cape Town, South Africa. 621 students from 39 high schools selected through a multistage cluster sampling procedure completed a questionnaire which measured substance use and demographic information, and included the Leisure Boredom Scale (LBS). Us…
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…
Planning for district mental health services in South Africa
The shift in emphasis to universal primary health care in post-apartheid South Africa has been accompanied by a process of decentralization of mental health services to district level, as set out in the new Mental Health Care Act, no. 17, of 2002 and the 1997 White Paper on the Transformation of the Health System. This study sought to assess progress in South Africa with respect to deinstitutionalization and the integration of mental health into …
Traditional Healer Attitudes and Beliefs Regarding Referral of the Mentally Ill to Western Doctors in South Africa
Drawing on data collected from 3 focus groups with 24 traditional healers, the aim of this qualitative study was to use the constructs of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) to gain an understanding of traditional healer referral practices of their patients with a mental illness. Results indicated that traditional healers possess a concept of mental illness, mainly referring to a patient behaving abnormally. They often report regularly treating…
The Relationship between Bullying Behaviours and High School Dropout in Cape Town, South Africa
Bullying is generally defined as largely unprovoked, negative physical or psychological actions perpetrated repeatedly over time between bully/ies and victims. Bullying can lead to fear of school, absenteeism, and stunted academic progress, which in turn are precursors to dropping out of school. This paper's aim is to report rates of bullying behaviour, and to investigate whether bullying behaviour predicts high school dropout in Cape Town, South…
Mental health policy in South Africa
INTRODUCTION: Mental health is increasingly acknowledged as a crucial public health issue in South Africa (SA). However, it is not given the priority it deserves on policy agendas in this and many other low- and middle-income countries. The aim of this analysis is to describe the content of mental health policy and the process of its development in SA. METHODS: Quantitative data regarding SA's mental health system were gathered using the World He…
Suicide in a Poor Rural Community in the Western Cape, South Africa
International studies have documented the association between poverty, low education levels and poor mental health, including suicide attempts. Many farm worker communities in the Western Cape, South Africa, are exposed to poor living and working conditions throughout their lives. They also tend to suffer from chronic illness such as tuberculosis as well as widespread alcohol abuse. Many farm workers are also exposed to pesticides, which have bee…
Leisure Constraints for Adolescents in Cape Town, South Africa
This study identified leisure constraints, constraints negotiation strategies, and their relative frequencies among 114 high school students from one under-resourced area of South Africa. Through focus group discussions, participants identified intrapersonal, interpersonal, structural, and sociocultural constraints to leisure, suggesting some degree of universality in this previously documented typology. Intrapersonal constraints were mentioned m…
Risk and Resilience in Orphaned Adolescents Living in a Community Affected by Aids
The AIDS pandemic has resulted in a dramatic rise in the number of orphans in South Africa. This study was designed to investigate the associations between family, peer, and community factors and resilience in orphaned adolescents. Self-report questionnaires were administered verbally to 159 parentally bereaved adolescents (aged 10-19) in an economically deprived urban area. Questionnaires included measures of depression, anxiety, and self-esteem…
Substance Use and Psychosocial Predictors of High School Dropout in Cape Town, South Africa
The aims of this study were to examine whether use of tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drugs predicts dropout among secondary school students in Cape Town, South Africa. A self-report instrument was administered to 1,470 Grade 8 students. The proportion of students that dropped out of school between the onset of the study and 4 years later was 54.9%. After adjusting for a range of confounders, dropout was significantly predicted by absenteeism, pove…
Reliability of the Leisure Boredom Scale for Use with High School Learners in Cape Town, South Africa
The reliability of the Leisure Boredom Scale (LBS) for use in South Africa has not been established. In order to address this situation, two studies were undertaken to document the reliability of the LBS in Grades 8 and 11 learners attending high schools in Cape Town, South Africa. In Study 1, a random sample of learners (N = 117) attending four independent high schools completed the LBS on two occasions 10 to 14 days apart. In Study 2, a multist…
Challenges facing South Africa's mental health care system
In recent years South Africa has taken some important steps forward in strengthening its mental health systems. Mental health legislation has been reformed and there is some level of policy commitment to mental health. However, there remain ongoing challenges, largely related to implementation. The aim of this paper is to review the major challenges facing the South African mental health system, to provide a greater understanding of these challen…
Psychometric Properties of the Self-Esteem Questionnaire for South African Adolescents
This article describes two studies investigating the reliability and factorial validity of scores on the Self-Esteem Questionnaire (SEQ) for assessing self-evaluations relating to peers, school, family, sports/athletics, body image and global self-worth in South African adolescents. Participants were 900 learners enrolled in Grades 8 and 11 at public schools In Cape Town, and 116 Grades 8 and 11 learners attending independent schools. The results…
Marginalization, Information, and Infection
Information theory analysis suggests that observed frequency distributions and intercorrelations of risk-benefit behaviors as determined from administrative data sets and surveys should characterize the internal structure of community-scale social networks, particularly in the context of social disintegration. This perspective further suggests that a 'code' is created using behaviors and correlated sequences of behaviors to overcome the noise gen…
A Retrospective Evaluation of a Wilderness-Based Leadership Development Programme
The Leadership Project (LP) in Cape Town, South Africa, is a wilderness-based leadership development programme that targets young people from diverse backgrounds. The aim of this study was to evaluate the LP, focusing on process and perceived outcomes. Document analysis and key informant interviews were used to evaluate programme reach and implementation process. Semi-structured interviews and focus groups with past programme participants ( n = 4…
The Evaluation of a Training Programme in Rape Crisis Intervention for Lay Therapists
A training programme in rape crisis intervention for lay therapists (members of Rape Crisis in Cape Town) is described and evaluated. Apart from this experimental group ( N = 8), there were two control groups: one consisting of members of Rape Crisis who did not attend the programme ( N = 9) and the other consisting of people who were not members of Rape Crisis and had not attended the programme ( N = 8). Levels of facilitativeness (FAC) and acti…
Aids, violence and behavioral coding
Marginalization, Information, and Infection
Information theory analysis suggests that observed frequency distributions and intercorrelations of risk-benefit behaviors as determined from administrative data sets and surveys should characterize the internal structure of community-scale social networks, particularly in the context of social disintegration. This perspective further suggests that a 'code' is created using behaviors and correlated sequences of behaviors to overcome the noise gen…
School‐based sexual health interventions in sub‐Saharan Africa
The vulnerability to HIV/AIDS of adolescents and youths raises the need for cost‐effective, school‐based AIDS prevention programmes that encourage safe sexual behaviour. This article reviews school‐based programmes in sub‐Saharan Africa through a critical examination of published evaluations. Our major finding is that there is a paucity of such studies that evaluate school‐based programmes. Furthermore, variations in the content, duration and int…
Reliability of the Leisure Boredom Scale for Use with High School Learners in Cape Town, South Africa
The reliability of the Leisure Boredom Scale (LBS) for use in South Africa has not been established. In order to address this situation, two studies were undertaken to document the reliability of the LBS in Grades 8 and 11 learners attending high schools in Cape Town, South Africa. In Study 1, a random sample of learners (N = 117) attending four independent high schools completed the LBS on two occasions 10 to 14 days apart. In Study 2, a multist…
Unsafe sexual behaviour in South African youth
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…
Correlates of drug use in rural Africa
The results of a study on drug/substance use and sexual behaviours are reported for 1 573 teenagers from a rural district of South Africa (males = 834; females = 692; mean age = 16.27 years and SD = 2.77 years). The teenagers reported on their drug/substance use, use of condoms, experience with anal sex and number of sexual partners. The analyses considered the prevalence of drug/substance use, condom use and anal sex within sexually-active cohor…
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…
Psychometric Properties of the Self-Esteem Questionnaire for South African Adolescents
This article describes two studies investigating the reliability and factorial validity of scores on the Self-Esteem Questionnaire (SEQ) for assessing self-evaluations relating to peers, school, family, sports/athletics, body image and global self-worth in South African adolescents. Participants were 900 learners enrolled in Grades 8 and 11 at public schools In Cape Town, and 116 Grades 8 and 11 learners attending independent schools. The results…
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…
Home Brewed Alcohol use Among High School Students in a Rural South African Community
This study investigates the use of home brewed alcoholic beverages among adolescents in high schools in a rural community in South Africa. There is much concern about alcohol misuse among young people and very little information exists on alcohol produced by the informal liquor industry in South Africa. A total of 1600 high school students participated in the study. The prevalence rates for past year use of home brewed alcohol was 22.2%. There wa…
Sexual Partners in a Rural South African Setting1
Leisure Boredom and Substance Use Among High School Students in South Africa
The purpose of this study was to determine the extent of leisure boredom, and investigate the relationship between leisure boredom, substance use and demographic variables among high school students in Cape Town, South Africa. 621 students from 39 high schools selected through a multistage cluster sampling procedure completed a questionnaire which measured substance use and demographic information, and included the Leisure Boredom Scale (LBS). Us…
A Systematic Review of the Relationship between High School Dropout and Substance Use
Mental health of young people
Mental Health Policy Development and Implementation in Four African Countries
The purpose of the research programme introduced in this article is to provide new knowledge regarding comprehensive multisectoral approaches to breaking the negative cycle of poverty and mental ill-health. The programme undertakes an analysis of existing mental health policies in four African countries (Ghana, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia), and will carry out and evaluate interventions to assist in the development and implementation of mental he…
Promoting child and adolescent mental health in low and middle income countries
Children and adolescents in low and middle income countries (LAMIC) constitute 35–50% of the population. Although the population in many such countries is predominantly rural, rapid urbanisation and social change is under way, with an increase in urban poverty and unemployment, which are risk factors for poor child and adolescent mental health (CAMH). There is a vast gap between CAMH needs (as measured through burden of disease estimates) and the…
Bullying at Rural High Schools in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa
This study examined bullying and risk and protective factors in school and family domains, in a sample of 1,565 Grade 11 students in 41 high schools in two rural school districts in South Africa. The questionnaire included two questions to identify bullies, victims and bully-victims, as well as measures drawn from the Communities That Care Youth Survey, which addressed risk and protective factors in the school and family. Multinomial logistic reg…
Heroin Users in Cape Town, South Africa
UN reports point to a steady increase in heroin use in a number of African countries, including South Africa. South Africa also has one of the highest HIV infection prevalence rates in the world. Given the link between intravenous heroin use and HIV transmission, this study aimed to investigate HIV-related risk behaviors among heroin users in the city. A snowballing or chain referral sampling technique was used to find 239 heroin users in Cape To…
The Relationship between Bullying Behaviours and High School Dropout in Cape Town, South Africa
Bullying is generally defined as largely unprovoked, negative physical or psychological actions perpetrated repeatedly over time between bully/ies and victims. Bullying can lead to fear of school, absenteeism, and stunted academic progress, which in turn are precursors to dropping out of school. This paper's aim is to report rates of bullying behaviour, and to investigate whether bullying behaviour predicts high school dropout in Cape Town, South…
The burden of non-communicable diseases in South Africa
Child, Adolescent and Adult Psychiatric Disorders in Africa
The authors start by critically discussing some core features of Western psychiatric diagnosis, and present the cultural formulation as one approach to ensure that the cultural aspects of the diagnostic process are addressed, followed by a summary of what is known about the causes of psychiatric disorder. Five arguments are presented that provide support for the importance of psychiatric disorders in Africa: prevalence rates are high; psychiatric…
Stress, Substance Use and Sexual Risk Behaviors Among Primary Care Patients in Cape Town, South Africa
South African teachers' reflections on the impact of culture on their teaching of sexuality and HIV/Aids
This paper aims to explore South African Life Orientation teachers' perception and practice of teaching HIV/AIDS and sexuality in a cultural perspective. We aim to investigate how teachers respond to perceived cultural differences between the local community and the content of their teaching. Data were collected through interviews with teachers who taught students in grades 8 or 9 in public high schools. The teachers expressed differing viewpoint…
Psychology (42 obras) · Medicine (39 obras) · Psychiatry (29 obras) · Environmental health (21 obras) · Political science (18 obras) · Population (18 obras) · Social Psychology (18 obras) · Nursing (16 obras) · Public health (16 obras) · Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health (15 obras)