Browsing by Author "Mkabile, Siyabulela"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Explanatory models of child intellectual disability: Views of caregivers, spiritual healers and traditional healers in Khayelitsha, Cape Town
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2021-12) Mkabile, Siyabulela; Swartz, Leslie; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Psychology.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: n South Africa healthcare services are not limited to biomedical care. However, biomedical services for people with intellectual disability (PWID) are still sparse in South Africa. Lack of sufficient and efficient biomedical services for PWID has prompted service users to explore alternative non-biomedical approaches for both their mental and medical healthcare needs. These alternative non-biomedical approaches include, but are not limited to, traditional and spiritual healing methods. To achieve this, I used both Kleinman’s Explanatory Models of illness and Bronfenbrenner’s socioecological model as frameworks to guide the study for the individual interviews and focus group discussions with caregivers and parents of children with ID, traditional healers and spiritual healers who resided in an urban low socio-economic setting in Cape Town. Findings from this study suggest that although there is a universal understanding and conceptualisation of ID in the Western biomedical professional sector, there are differences in the understanding, conceptualisation and management of ID in both popular and folk sectors. In addition, caregivers, parents, traditional healers and spiritual healers almost all used similar terms to biomedical terms of ID. The majority of participants from both traditional and spiritual healing methods believed collaboration with the biomedical sector was possible and desirable, with only a minority who were not in favour. The lived experiences of carers of children with ID revealed the struggles, isolation and hardship experienced by families of children diagnosed with this condition. The physical, economic and social marginalisation of children and families with ID, given the context of poverty and lack of access to quality services in which they live, as well as the stigma and lack of understanding of what ID is, all compounded the difficult experience of raising a child with ID.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    'I waited for it until forever' : community barriers to accessing intellectual disability services for children and their families in Cape Town, South Africa
    (MDPI, 2020-11-17) Mkabile, Siyabulela; Swartz, Leslie
    Background: Intellectual disability is more common in low- and middle-income countries than in high-income countries. Stigma and discrimination have contributed to barriers to people with intellectual disability accessing healthcare. As part of a larger study on caregiving of children with intellectual disability in urban Cape Town, South Africa, we interviewed a sub-group of families who had never used the intellectual disability services available to them, or who had stopped using them. Methods: We employed a qualitative research design and conducted semi-structured interviews to explore the views and perspectives of parents and caregivers of children with intellectual disability who are not using specialised hospital services. We developed an interview guide to help explore caregivers’ and parents’ views. Results: Results revealed that caregivers and parents of children with intellectual disability did not use the intellectual disability service due to financial difficulties, fragile care networks and opportunity costs, community stigma and lack of safety, lack of faith in services and powerlessness at effecting changes and self-stigmatisation. Conclusion: Current findings highlight a need for increased intervention at community level and collaboration with community-based projects to facilitate access to services, and engagement with broader issues of social exclusion.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Intellectual disability rights and inclusive citizenship in South Africa : what can a scoping review tell us?
    (AOSIS, 2018) Capri, Charlotte; Abrahams, Lameze; McKenzie, Judith; Coetzee, Ockert; Mkabile, Siyabulela; Saptouw, Emanuel; Hooper, Andrew; Smith, Peter; Adnams, Collen; Swartz, Leslie
    Background: Intellectual disability (ID) is the most prevalent disability in the world. People with intellectual disability (PWID) frequently experience extreme violations of numerous human rights. Despite greater prevalence in South Africa than in high-income countries, most ID research currently comes from the Global North. This leaves us with few contextually sensitive studies to draw from to advance inclusive citizenship. Objectives: Our scoping review aims to investigate pertinent ID rights issues in South Africa, synthesise quantitative and qualitative studies, and provide a synopsis of available evidence on which to base future work. We aim to clarify key concepts, address gaps in the literature and identify opportunities for further research. Method: We followed strict eligibility criteria. Medical subject heading terms were entered into seven databases. Seven reviewers worked independently, two per paper. Quantitative and qualitative data extraction forms were designed. We followed Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines and registered a protocol. An inductive approach enabled a thematic analysis of selected studies. Results: By following PRISMA guidelines, 82 studies were assessed for eligibility of which 59 were included. Ten sub-themes were integrated into four main themes: the right not to be discriminated against, the right to psychological and bodily integrity, the right to accommodating services and challenges to rights implementation. Conclusion: People with intellectual disability face compound difficulties when trying to assert their constitutionally entitled rights. This ongoing project requires serious commitment and action. Statutory obligations to nurture every South African’s human rights naturally extend to PWID and their supporters who forge ahead in a disabling environment.