Ntombophelo Sithole-Tetani

This scoping review mapped the barriers to safe abortion and reproductive health services among youth between 15 and 24 years in low- and middle-income countries. Young people in low- and middle-income countries face persistent challenges due to sociocultural barriers. These challenges are worsened by structural barriers, leading many adolescents to unsafe methods that increase preventable health risks. This review focused on barriers to safe abortion and reproductive health services among youth between 15 and 24 years in low- and middle-income countries. A scoping review was conducted following the Arksey and O’Malley framework from the relevant literature, using academic databases and repositories, in diverse regions. Sixty-nine articles were initially identified; 11 studies that met the eligibility criteria were included in the final analysis. Five themes emerged: stigma and social norms, provider attitudes and values, legal and policy uncertainty, financial and geographic barriers, and limited information and services, which hinder access to reproductive health services. The findings show that unsafe abortion among youth in low- and middle-income countries is driven by interconnected sociocultural and structural barriers that limit access to effective reproductive health services. This study provides insights to help policymakers and healthcare providers improve access to safe abortion and reproductive health services in low- and middle-income countries.

Incontrovertibly, Gender-Based Violence (GBV) is a cankerworm that countries in the ubiquitous corners of the globe are struggling to annihilate, South Africa notwithstanding. Although public and political discourses have been dominated by calls for increased interventions to address and mitigate their impacts, these hue-and-cry phenomena have not adequately prevented GBV; hence, there is a need for a more pragmatic analysis of the interventions. This article employed a literature review methodology, drawing on a variety of literature from journal articles, book chapters, and the authors’ personal experiences. The article established that although men are the perpetrators of GBV, women also contribute to the quagmire; Pecuniary factors drive GBV, with most cases of GBV not reported. Further, the unfathomable daily increase in the quagmire attests to the fact that South African society is not winning the battle against gender-based violence, with undocumented evidence about GBV suggesting that females do not feel safe at work, at home, and on the streets. This article recommends an infusion of Indigenous/ traditional ways of dealing with GBV, together with the policies in government. This article contributes to widening the horizon of literature to advance more research in the domain of GBV.

Parental burnout is a significant and increasingly recognized phenomenon that en-compasses emotional, cognitive, and physical exhaustion. This condition arises from the overwhelming demands of parenting, which can leave individuals feeling drained and unable to effectively engage with their children. Parents experiencing burnout of-ten describe a sense of being constantly overwhelmed by daily responsibilities, leading to a pervasive feeling of fatigue that affects their overall well-being. In addition to sheer exhaustion, parental burnout is marked by a diminished capacity to connect with one's children, resulting in a lack of “quality time” spent together. The researchers drew their literature from reputable journal articles, book chapters from established publishers, and informal community conversations amid the researchers’ experiential intuition. Results show that supporting parent wellbeing is vital to healthy workforces and home life. It is crucial for working parents to proactively invest in their well-being in a way that works for them and their children. While parents grapple with managing three demanding jobs simultaneously (work, parenthood, and, in many cases, assisting children with homework and enforcing chores), there has been an increase in interest in both individual and organizational well-being.

Learners in South Africa experience barriers to learning, including but not limited to dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia. A school psychologist or educational psychologist usually diagnoses these learning difficulties if the child is at a public school, and the parents can afford to pay for the assessment if the child is at an independent school. These children may struggle to read, write, and spell in English, yet most learning support is in English. Parents of children with these learning difficulties may experience various challenges. The article utilized A narrative literature review, an extensive consolidation, and integration of existing research on a specific issue, providing an overview of significant discoveries and their interconnectedness. Therefore, the researcher has employed a narrative literature review to find and analyze the data. Findings revealed that a child’s learning difficulties can significantly affect their parents, often giving rise to increased levels of stress and anxiety, as well as reduced confidence in their capacity to support their children’s learning. However, a supportive community, which can include family, friends, and other parents of children with learning difficulties, can protect against risk factors and enhance the resilience of these parents. This support can come from emotional support, practical help, or sharing of experiences. Furthermore, psychoeducation of parents about different psychological difficulties, including their causes, symptoms, and suggested courses of treatment, has been found to reduce symptoms of depression in these parents.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, as it is known, is a call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all. The third SDG, ‘Good Health and Wellbeing,’ aims to ensure healthy lives, promote well-being for all ages, and halt and reverse global illnesses such as HIV, tuberculosis, and the COVID-19 pandemic, etc. This paper used a narrative literature review to discuss the role of psychology in SDG3 in the South African Context. A narrative literature review is an extensive joining and assimilation of existing research on a specific issue, providing an overview of major discoveries and their interconnectedness. Findings revealed that despite the significant contributions that can be made by psychology, the barriers to integrating psychology into health systems are as complex as applying a psychological approach to achieving sustainable health outcomes. Barriers are recognized, and their resolution is facilitated within the context of social justice and human rights; the significant roles played by psychology can be enhanced, and the links to vision and TC can be better enabled. Furthermore, In South Africa, the barriers to the seamless integration of psychology into health systems are attributed to a lack of infrastructure, limited resources, and available services, human resources (clinical psychologists), effective training, and existing policies, which need to be addressed by the South African government. Keywords: Sustainability, SDG3, Development, Health and Wellness, and Well-being.

Autism is a group of severe developmental disorders with impairments beginning before 30 months of age and characterized by a qualitative disturbance of social development and of language for communication, a stereotyped behaviour, and a lack of a broad set of interests. The expression of autism varies from one individual to the next. It is a communicative disorder and is not due to poor reception. The researchers drew their literature from reputable journal articles, book chapters from established publishers, and informal community conversations amid the researchers’ experiential intuition. Currently, South African children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) lack government support structures and rely primarily on families for assistance with education and therapy. An additional challenge is that in some South African black communities, autism is not recognized as a disorder. A study exploring differences in the nature, application, experience, and examination of social awareness and understanding of selected educators about new terminology in their environment found that local black teachers had less exposure to autism knowledge, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis in their communities, and little understanding, awareness, or acceptance of this condition. This article underscores the crucial role of social service professionals, such as psychologists, registered counsellors, social workers, etc, in these communities. Their presence and active involvement provide hope in these challenging times. It recommends that they conduct psychotherapeutic education, which could involve awareness campaigns and counselling about psychotherapeutic education. Their role would be to provide support, guidance, and education to the community members, helping them to build their resilience to fight the coronavirus.

In the 2020-2021 epoch, South Africa faced the arduous challenge of fighting COVID-19 due to limited resources. This paper reflects how the disease affected communities in eclectic rural contexts in South Africa. This article applied a review of the literature methodology. The researchers drew their literature from journal articles, book chapters, and informal community conversations amid the researchers’ experiential intuition. The article reflects that South African rural communities faced coronavirus-driven dilemmas due to the following factors: Society being subjected to conflicting messages, a state of stigma and stigmatisation, misleading information packaging, fear associated with failure to understand the disease’s aetiology and epidemiology; and states of poverty associated with loss of several business closures and termination of employment; the phenomenon of myths and misinformation; scepticisms and conspiracies; as well as a manifestation of various forms of love deficit. This article recommends that social service professionals such as psychologists, counsellors, and social workers be on the frontline to conduct psychotherapeutic education to communities to build their resilience to fight the coronavirus. The study provides scientific data on the historical glimpse of the impact of pandemics in rural communities of South Africa. It prepares societies for other pandemics that may come in the future. Keywords: Community Dilemmas, Coronavirus, Myths, Entrepreneurial Spirit, Fear.

Unequivocally, South Africa, amid an environment of paucity of resources, faces the arduous challenge of fighting the scourge of coronavirus. This has necessitated assessing the parenting hurdles experienced during the lockdown in eclectic contexts in South Africa. This article applied a review of the literature methodology. The researchers drew their literature from journal articles, monographs, and book chapters and used informal conversations amid their intuitive and experiential powers. The article established that South African families face parenting hurdles driven by the COVID-19 lockdown due to the following factors: Children and their parents driven to a state of duress; children facing various kinds of mistreatment; pecuniary dimensions; lockdown presenting states of distress to people generally; and a surge of gender-based violence. This article recommends that social service professionals such as psychologists, counsellors, and social workers be on the frontline in discharging various psychotherapeutic education to the communities. These researchers also recommend that the government and other community development practitioners emphasize the application of the tenets of ubuntu as a conflict resolution tool to reduce conflicts and afford the children qualitative parenting. This research provides some interventions for handling parenting during any other disruptions, such as the coronavirus-imposed lockdown. Keywords: Parenting Hurdles, Lockdown, Coronavirus, Children, Ill-Treatment, Financial Factor