Psychology

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    Social environmental impact on adolescent attachment and peer relational competence.
    (The University of Zambia, 2019) Indala, Nancy Nasitaba
    This study aimed at investigating the differences in attachment levels to the caregiver and to the differences in interpersonal relational competence between adolescents raised in the home environment and adolescents raised in orphanages. It was hypothesized that adolescents raised in orphanages would be less attached to their caregivers than adolescents raised in the home environment with regard to trust, communication and alienation. It was also hypothesized that adolescents raised in orphanages would have a lower interpersonal relational competence in comparison to adolescents raised in the home environment. In addition, attachment to the caregiver was expected to have a positive correlation to peer relational competence. Both the adolescents raised in the home environment and the orphanage-raised adolescents were from Lusaka. Stratified sampling technique was used to obtain the sample of 97 adolescents, 48 raised in orphanages and 49 raised in the home environment, between the ages 11 and 14 (M=12.27, S.D= 0.94). The Inventory of Parent Peer Attachment (IPPA) was administered to each participant. Significant differences were found between adolescents raised in orphanages and adolescents raised in the home environment with regard to their attachment to their respective caregivers. There were significant differences in trust in their caregiver between the two sets of adolescents t (97) -3.6, p= 0.05. As hypothesized, there were significant differences in interpersonal relational competence between adolescents raised in orphanages and adolescents raised in the home environment. Finally, a strong positive correlation between attachment to the caregiver and peer relational competence was found between alienation from the caregiver and alienation from peers r (72) .606, p < .01. Attachment bonds between adolescents and caregivers take place regardless of the rearing environment and peers can buffer the effects of harsh rearing environments. More research should be done on attachment in children under institutional care to stave off negative effects of institutional care in Zambia.
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    The effect of seizures/epilepsy on the archievement of developmental milestones in children with HIV.
    (The University of Zambia, 2019) Musonda, Namwiya
    Seizures and epilepsy are associated with a range of psychosocial difficulties and developmental delays. Infants and preschoolers with epilepsy are at elevated risk for developmental difficulties such as social, language and motor skills and school-related problems. It is therefore necessary to study whether the achievement of developmental milestones in HIV + children presenting with/without seizures/epilepsy in Zambia. This study aimed to find out the developmental milestones attainment in HIV+ children with and without seizures/epilepsy. It answered the following questions; how is the achievement of the fine motor developmental milestone in HIV+ children with/without seizures/epilepsy? How is the attainment of the gross motor developmental milestone in HIV+ children with/without seizures/epilepsy? How is the achievement of the language developmental milestone in HIV+ children with/without seizures/epilepsy? What was the medical personnel‘s observation towards their child‘s behavior in relation to developmental milestones? This was a case study that was conducted at the Pediatric Center of Excellence at the University Teaching Hospital. It included a sample size of 8 participants of which 4 were presenting with seizures/epilepsy and 4 were not presenting with seizures /epilepsy of ages 4-6 years old, mean age of 5 and standard deviation of 0.76. The achievement of the developmental milestone was assessed using the Malawian Development Assessment Tool (MDAT) and the Vineland Adaptive Behavioral Scale (VABS). The MDAT is a standardized tool developed by Gladstone et al (2009), after careful qualitative evaluation of culturally appropriate developmental domains for rural Malawi. The VABS is a standardized tool that was developed by Balla, Cichetti and Sparrow in (2005); it is administered to the parents, caregivers or the guardians of the child and intends to give information about the child‘s adaptive behavior and developmental life. From the findings, it was evident that there were delays in the achievement of developmental milestone between children who were presenting with seizures/epilepsy and those that were not presenting with seizures/epilepsy. Particularly in the language domain it was found that ¾ participants presented to be delayed, in the gross motor domain it was found that 2/4 participants and ¼ participants performed to be delayed in the fine motor domain. Additionally HIV+ children who were presenting with seizures/epilepsy were found to be delay in at least one of the domains that were being assessed. The findings from this study motivate the need to carry out another study with a large sample size so as to generalize the results.