Browsing by Author "Solomons, Daniel Peter"

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    Compassion fatigue : pastoral care to HIV and AIDS caregivers within the realm of the healing professions
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2014-04) Solomons, Daniel Peter; Louw, D. J. (Daniel Johannes), 1944-; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Theology. Dept. of Practical Theology and Missiology.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This dissertation aims to address the phenomenon of compassion fatigue within the scenario - of the HIV and AIDS pandemic in South Africa where an estimated 5-6 million people are living with HIV and AIDS. One in every three patients is hospitalised at some stage of their sickness and sufferers of the pandemic come into contact with someone that gives care to HIV and AIDS infected persons, whether in a hospital, a clinic, in counselling or a hospice. Professional stress and emotional fatigue is an inherent feature of the life of caregivers, and there is growing evidence is that it is on the increase. Caregivers are generally compassionate people and the compassion that they have and share with suffering people can be depleted . Caregivers become fatigued by the plight and the situation that never lets up hence the concept compassion fatigue. In this regard, the meaning of this concept as applied to HIV and AIDS caregivers in the healing and helping professions in hospital care (chaplaincy) and different clinical settings was the focus of the research. Compassion fatigue relates to professional stress and can impair professional competency and performance within pastoral caregiving. The phenomenon was studied to distinguish between compassion fatigue burnout/burn up and vicarious traumatisation. A more comprehensive understanding of these concepts will help to clarify current misconceptions. Aspects that necessitate a closer look are whether compassion fatigue is fundamentally stress related or a kind of depletion within the self of the pastoral helper. Could it be some kind of affective exhaustion, or is it related fundamentally to the overexposure to human suffering? Is compassion fatigue then suffering related? The study focuses on the challenges that confront caregivers in the HIV and AIDS field. How can these challenges pose an existential threat to their being-function and human identity? The study also explores how the theology of the cross (from a pastoral approach) can assist caregivers to deal with the question of meaning in the suffering that their patients (and they) may experience. Research questions included how the phenomenon of compassion fatigue should be understood as an inherent feature of the life of caregivers to HIV and AIDS sufferers, and what caregiving should imply to the caregivers (“wounded healers”). What is clear is that those caregivers very definitely also need care. A viable possibility to render meaningful help to depleted caregivers is to take them out of the working place and give them time, space and means to become whole again. A retreat environment is indicated as a form of recuperation for caregivers. At this stage the study amounts to only first steps in that direction and emphasises the need to investigate the subject further.
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    Do moral values influence the spread of HIV/AIDS amongst young people/adolescence
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2008-12) Solomons, Daniel Peter; Augustyn, J. C. D.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Dept. of Industrial Psychology.
    Great strides have been made on many fronts. Various forms of medication are available to treat, and even prevent a variety of HIV-related opportunistic infections. However the spread of the virus is not slowing down. Although HIV-positive people who have easy access to care facilities or primary health facilities do not become sick as often or spend less times in hospitals, very little research has been done involving young people or adolescents. HIV/AIDS research efforts in past primarily focused on two specific population groups, namely infants and adults. Most adolescents are biologically more similar to adults than is the case with infants. However it is clear that adolescents are not on at the same developmental level than most adults. Despite huge efforts by world organizations, prevention programs and peer educators to inform people about the dangers of the HI-Virus, the number of infection cases increases day by day. This either means that the prevention programs are not effective or people are just apathetic. Although the average person knows about the affect the virus has on the human body still some indulge in unprotected risk-full sexual behaviour. Recent studies showed that the youth are also at risk and something needs to be done to reduce the spread of the the virus amongst children and the youth. The aim of this pilot study is to analyze the moral values of young people at Luckhoff High School and what role these values might play in the spread of the virus. Close-ended questions on a 4-point Lickert scale were distributed to 200 randomly selected learners (grade 8-11) of which 167(84%) were completed. Research results indicate that a relationship exists between moral values and the spread of the HI-Virus. It seems that there is a highly significant difference in the mean values of the two sexual status groups (those who are sexually active and those who are not) that participated in the research project. Those who were sexually non-active (91% of participants) had a value mean of 2.97 and the group who were sexually active (9%) a value mean of 2.5. Recommendations for future research in this particular area concerning moral values could be to include all nine Secondary Schools in the Stellenbosch region. This would result in a more informed understanding about the impact moral values have on the sexual patterns of learners and how this might prevent future HIV infections or STI’s. This should help to shift the focus from the existing values regarding abstinence, Being faithful and the practice of using condoms, which are very often far removed from the value system of youth, to values they can relate to.