AEGIS ECAS 2007 - View abstract

Panel	72. Enhancing resilience in orphans and vulnerable children
Paper ID	240
Author(s)	Killian, Beverley Janet
Paper	No paper submitted
Abstract	This paper will present preliminary results of a study that comparatively measured the effectiveness of two programmes of psychosocial intervention with vulnerable children: (i) memory and life story work programmes; and (ii) a structured group therapy programme. Both of these forms of psychosocial support have previously been positively evaluated in terms of their effectiveness (Denis, 2005; Killian, 2004). The purpose of this study was to compare and contrast the effectiveness of these programmes in terms of presence of behavioural and emotional difficulties and increased resilience and enhanced coping in the children who have experienced parental death/s due to AIDS-related conditions. Programme effectiveness is measured in terms of decreased manifestation of symptoms of social and/or emotional distress (such as lowered levels of depression and anxiety); increased access to social support; and the child’s own qualitative evaluation of the intervention as having built their self confidence and ability to cope. Many orphaned children are unable to express their feelings or discuss their experience of the terminal illness and death of their parent/s. The experience of bereavement, and the ability to express grief and mourn, is usually profoundly compromised when the parent has died of the socially stigmatised AIDS-related illnesses. This creates a situation in which the children feel alienated from their community and family contexts, become bewildered, and so do not have the opportunity to grieve, express memories or access social support. Both of the forms of psychosocial support being evaluated in this study enable children to express their feelings and integrate their experience of parental death into their life story. However, the mechanisms through which this occurs differs substantially. While the memory box programme deals directly with the child’s bereavement and adjustment to the reality of parental death, the structured group therapy programme aims to help children emotionally and cognitively process adverse past experiences, including parental deaths, as well as build resilience through a range of specific participatory processes that occur within a group context. The study quantitatively and qualitatively evaluates the effectiveness of memory work programmes and structured group therapy programmes in terms of enhanced resilience within the orphans and vulnerable children who participate in these programmes. It is critically important that comparisons of efficacy of various intervention programmes are conducted in order to (i) enhance the overall effectiveness of psychosocial support work, (ii) ensure that resources are targeted carefully and selectively in the most cost effective manner possible, and (iii) share knowledge, experience and expertise in the interests of the vulnerable children who form part of an increasingly marginalised group. This paper will present the preliminary results of this study.

An evaluation and comparison of two psychosocial support programmes conducted with children made vulnerable due to the HIV/AIDS pandemic.