Parental Experiences of Nyaope Users in Temba Township, Pretoria (Gauteng)
by
Vusimusi Collet Radebe
200814562
A Mini-Dissertation
Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for
Master of Science Degree
in
Clinical Psychology
in the
Department of Clinical Psychology
Faculty of Health Sciences
(School of Medicine)
at the
Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University
Supervisor: Prof. Annalie Pistorius
August 2017
ii
Declaration of Originality
I, Vusimusi Collet Radebe (Student number: 200814562), declare that the dissertation,
“Parental Experiences of Nyaope Users in Temba Township, Pretoria (Gauteng)”, hereby submitted to the Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University, for the degree Master of
Science in Clinical Psychology, has not been submitted by me for a degree at this or any other university; that it is my work in design and execution and that all material contained herein has been duly acknowledged.
Vusimusi Collet Radebe
Signature: …………………………………… Date:………………………….. iii
Acknowledgements
I would like to give thanks to the following persons:
Prof Annalie Pistorius, where do I start with you hey, you have been patient,
supportive, and motivational; actually this could have never been possible without
you, thank you thank you thank you.
Prof Queen Mokhuane, as your name says you are the queen that started it all. You
have been a mother, a guide and the beginner of all. I will always remember your
constructive criticism. Finally I am done. Thank you for pushing me
Ntate, Dr Lesiba thank you for being there to guide me reminding me that until this is
done I am a donkey that will have to work hard. Now that it is done I await my new
title that shall push me to the next level. Please continue to play the motivational role
in my life. Thank you.
To Mrs Pheladi Nchabeleng and the Santa Maria Village for the Aged, Children
Foster and Day Care and Place of Safety, thank you so much for your help and
support; words cannot describe how grateful I am for your help.
To the participants thank you for taking time from your busy schedule to
accommodate me in time of my need. You have truly shown that it takes a village to
grow a child. I dedicate this document to you and your struggle and hope that you
will find the needed relief that you desire. I also pass on my condolences to the
family of those participants who passed on during the course of the writing; you died
heroes and heroines, I hope your contributions to my study will go a long way in
helping with the understanding of the difficulties parents go through when their
children use nyaope. Thank you iv
My friends and sources of support. Thank you. I may not write all your names not
because I forgot about you, but this page can only take so much. Katlego Matlhong
(Pudi) and your beautiful wife, thank you, Joni o Leshole my friend thank you.
Tshepo and your beautiful wife dankie SK. Papa Bohlale (Seshoka Mabidilala) thank
you and your family especially your beautiful wife, she has tolerated my invasion of
your home and space and Ernest “Ernieblessed” Mametsa you encourage me and feel
me hope keep the light shining. Ke a le rata and may the good Lord richly bless and
increase you.
My parents, wow you are everything to me and thank you for allowing me to dream
and harnessing those dreams. Baba I remember the day you told me that if I do not
work hard I will have to work like a slave to live; I promise I will work like a king to
make you proud. Mmaye gone too soon thank you for fighting for my dream and
teaching me to love; I will make you proud and never deviate from what you dreamt
for me to be a reality. I know that you would have wanted me to build you a mega
house, I will do that in your absentia and your grandchildren will enjoy it.
My siblings, Nokwazi (Mama Gama), Jabulani (Madlanduna) and Bafana (Botsotso),
thank you for being my big sister and brothers, you will always be precious germs in
my heart and I love. Botsotso since you are the only one living know that I am still
the last born ne I am coming to loot from your house, Queen (my beautiful sister in
law I love you) this is a family matter don’t be surprised. . Kgomotso “Motimpana”
Malebye you and your family are the best. To the rest of my family thank you
Pete family, thank you for your support, welcoming me into your house and raising
such a pearl for me. v
Olwethu, thank you for your unexpressed love, you taught me how to be a father in
the few weeks I was given you. Your brothers and sisters will know about you.
Lerato Caroline Radebe. I acknowledge you last not because you are, but the first.
You kept the bed warm for me, though your feet would not be warm till I am there.
Thank you for loving me, supporting me and taking care of the needs I had. I will
now have time to warm your feet and take care of your needs. I LOVE YOU WITH
ALL MY HEART. vi
Abstract
The current study was conducted in order to bring about an understanding of the experiences of parents whose children were either using or have used nyaope. The researcher’s interest in conducting the study was triggered by the high level of use of this substance in the community and the lack of support for the parents in comparison with the children who are using. The research is particularly important because there is very little literature available about nyaope use, and the literature that does exist on drug use in general rarely focuses on the needs of parents of users. This study seeks to help bridge these gaps. The study was conducted in Temba Township, which is located about 40 km north of Pretoria. The Santa
Maria Village for the Aged, Children Foster and Day Care and Place of Safety was approached to assist with the recruitment process. There were eleven participants in the study. Of the eleven, 10 were females and only one was male. These participants were either parents or caregivers of children who were using nyaope. The participants were placed in three different focus groups. The researcher used the raw data to identify themes and analyse the data. The researcher found that parents face a lot of challenges that come with the child’s use of the drug nyaope and that the support and coping mechanisms employed by the parents were either inadequate or ineffective. He also found that the parents were struggling to find support and assistance from the community and professionals in the community. It also emerged in the study that there was little known about nyaope and substance use in the community. Accordingly, he recommended that a support group of parents whose children were using nyaope be established, that there be collaborative work among the children’s helpers (social workers, the police and the community organisations) to design interventions that included parents, that more campaigns and road shows be conducted to educate the vii community about nyaope, and that a South African Police Service member be equipped to assist the parents when they come to them seeking help.
Keywords: nyaope, substance abuse, substance dependency, parental experiences, parent, caregiver. viii
Abbreviations
Abbreviation Description
DSM-IV-TR Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fourth Edition Text Revision DSM-V Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fifth Edition NIDA National Institute on Drug Abuse NCADD National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence
ix
Table of Contents
Declaration of Originality ...... ii Acknowledgements ...... iii Abstract ...... vi Abbreviations ...... viii Table of Contents ...... ix List of Tables ...... xv List of Figures ...... xvi Introduction ...... 1 Background to the Study ...... 1 The Purpose and Motivation for the Study ...... 1 The Research Problem ...... 4 The Research Question ...... 7 Aims and Objectives of the Study ...... 7 Study Setting ...... 8 Brief History of Temba ...... 8 Participants ...... 9 Key Concepts of the Study ...... 11 Structure of the Dissertation ...... 13 Literature Review ...... 14 Introduction ...... 14 Substances ...... 14 Assessment ...... 15 Signs and symptoms of substance use...... 16 Comparison of DSM-IV-TR and DSM-V on Substance Use Disorder ...... 17 Substance Use and Abuse Internationally ...... 17 Substance Use and Abuse in South Africa ...... 18 Availability and diversity of illicit drugs...... 18 Political change...... 19 Economic and social change...... 19 Epidemiology of illicit drug use...... 19 Nyaope ...... 20 Cannabis...... 22 x
Heroin...... 23 Methamphetamine...... 24 Effects of Using Nyaope ...... 24 The effect of nyaope on users...... 25 The effect of nyaope on the community and society at large...... 27 Parental Experiences of Drug Abuse ...... 28 The Effects of Substance Use on the Family System ...... 29 Finding out about the substance dependence problem...... 30 Experiences as the problems escalated...... 31 Looking for explanations other than substance dependence...... 31 Connecting to the parent’s own history...... 31 Trying to cope...... 31 Challenges in getting help...... 32 Impact on siblings...... 32 Choosing long-term rehabilitation...... 32 The process of confirming suspicions...... 32 Struggling to set limits...... 33 Dealing with consequences of the drug use for the family...... 33 Living with blame and shame...... 33 Trying to keep the child safe...... 34 Grieving the loss of the child that was...... 34 Living with guilt...... 34 Choosing self-preservation...... 34 Social and Cultural Factors Associated with Drug Abuse in Adolescents ...... 35 Parental influence...... 35 Peer influence...... 35 Socio-economic factors...... 36 Availability...... 36 Social and Cultural Consequences of Adolescent Substance Abuse ...... 36 School-related problems...... 36 Risky sexual practices...... 37 Delinquent behaviour...... 37 Juvenile crime...... 37 The Process of Drug Use ...... 37 xi
The Risk and Protective Factor Model of Addiction ...... 39 Risk factors...... 39 Individual...... 39 Being male...... 39 Being young...... 39 Genetic factors...... 40 In the family...... 40 Outside the family...... 41 Protective factors...... 41 Individual...... 42 In the family...... 42 Outside the family...... 42 Theoretical Approaches that May Explain Substance Use...... 43 Existential approach...... 43 Social learning theory...... 45 Differential associations...... 45 Definitions...... 45 Differential reinforcement...... 46 Imitation...... 46 Family systems theory...... 47 Objects...... 47 Attributes of the objects...... 47 Relationship amongst the objects...... 47 Conclusion ...... 50 Methodology ...... 51 Introduction ...... 51 Qualitative Research ...... 51 Methods of Phenomenological Research ...... 53 Focus groups...... 54 Advantages of focus groups...... 55 Disadvantages of focus groups...... 55 Study Design...... 55 Sampling ...... 56 xii
Data Collection...... 59 Data Transcription and Translation ...... 60 Data Analysis ...... 61 Familiarisation and immersion...... 62 Inducing themes...... 62 Coding...... 62 Elaboration...... 62 Interpretation and checking...... 62 Trustworthiness ...... 63 Credibility (internal validity)...... 63 Transferability (generalizability)...... 63 Dependability (reliability)...... 64 Confirmability (objectivity)...... 64 Researcher Bias ...... 64 Ethical Considerations ...... 65 Informed consent...... 67 Confidentiality...... 67 Conclusion ...... 68 The Research Results ...... 69 Introduction ...... 69 The Research Process ...... 70 Group Process ...... 72 The Research Findings ...... 74 Themes ...... 80 Experiences...... 82 Theft...... 82 Family disintegration...... 84 Relationship breakdown...... 85 Rejection...... 88 Abuse...... 89 Sense of loss...... 91 Emotions...... 93 Hurt...... 94 Blame...... 96 xiii
Frustrations...... 97 Hopelessness...... 98 Mode of discovery...... 99 Hearsay...... 99 Theft...... 100 Finding the substance...... 101 Child’s mood...... 103 Child’s confession...... 103 Support...... 104 Family...... 104 Community...... 106 Knowledge...... 108 The substance...... 108 How is it used ...... 110 How long has the child been using? ...... 112 Assistance sought...... 114 Social workers and the rehabilitation centres...... 115 The police...... 118 Community organizations...... 120 Dreams...... 121 Hopes and wishes...... 121 Mourning the child that was...... 123 Future...... 124 Conclusion ...... 125 Discussion...... 126 Introduction ...... 126 Findings in Relation to Objectives ...... 127 Experiences of the parents of children who use nyaope...... 127 Theft...... 127 Family disintegration...... 127 Relationship breakdown...... 128 Rejection...... 129 Abuse...... 129 xiv
A sense of loss...... 129 Feelings and reactions...... 130 Extent of their knowledge...... 130 The drug itself...... 131 Signs/symptoms displayed by the drug user...... 131 Age range of the drug users...... 132 Females or males are more likely to use the drug...... 132 Their coping mechanisms and their effectiveness...... 132 Professional help sought...... 133 Findings in the Study about Substance Use in General ...... 133 Circumstances Influencing Substance Use ...... 134 Environmental factors...... 135 Genetic and biological factors...... 135 Social learning...... 135 Limitations of the Study ...... 136 Conclusion and Recommendations ...... 137 References ...... 140 Appendix A: Letter of Request ...... 156 Appendix B: Permission to Conduct Research ...... 157 Appendix C1: English Research Participation Leaflet...... 158 Appendix C2: seTswana Research Participation Leaflet ...... 159 Appendix D1: English Consent Form ...... 160 Appendix D2: seTswana Consent Form ...... 162 Appendix E1: English Data Sheet ...... 164 Appendix E2: seTswana Data Sheet ...... 165 Appendix F1: English Focus Group Guide ...... 166 Appendix F2: seTswana Focus Group Guide ...... 167
xv
List of Tables
Table 1 DSM-IV-TR and DSM-V Comparison of Substance Use ...... 17 Table 2 Participant Information ...... 77 Table 3 Biographical Information of Participants’ Children ...... 79 Table 4 Themes and Sub-themes ...... 81
xvi
List of Figures
Figure 1. Conceptual framework on substance use (in Koole, Greenberg, and Pyszczynski, 2006)...... 44 Figure 2. The four variables leading to a behaviour (taken from Akers and Sellers, 2004)...... 46
1
Introduction
Background to the Study
The topic of the study is parental experiences of nyaope users in Temba Township,
Pretoria (Gauteng). This topic refers to the experiences of parents whose children use the drug nyaope. The study was conducted by the researcher as a requirement for the degree of
Master of Science (MSc) in Clinical Psychology.
The Purpose and Motivation for the Study
The reason why the researcher took an interest in this topic is that, as a young adult and a student in psychology, he was concerned that a huge number of young people in his community were addicted to nyaope, and that their behaviour seemed to have been affected.
Some of these young people had been schoolmates of his during his basic schooling, and some were even his friends. They seemed to have reduced levels of personal hygiene, to lack an interest in planning for the future, to be demotivated about life in general, to lack a sense of purpose and direction and to have resorted to a criminal lifestyle (beginning at home) in order to feed their drug habit. Psychologically there also appeared to be a change in personality. Sadock and Sadock (2007) observed that individuals who use drugs fail to fulfil major roles and obligations at work or at school, resulting in repeated absence and poor performance related to substance abuse. In addition to this, parents who use drugs may also neglect their children and experience recurrent social and interactional problems.
On the basis of the above, the researcher decided to look into the impact that children’s substance use had on their parents. He believed that understanding the parent’s experiences could assist in assessing the effectiveness of their coping mechanisms, and might also help to improve the effectiveness of these mechanisms. 2
The history of substance use in South Africa dates back to pre-democracy times; however, as Van Heerden et al. (2009) state, South Africa was an isolated country during the apartheid era and substance use escalated after the end of apartheid. Moodley, Matjila, and
Moosa (2012) report that the prevalence of substance use amongst young people started increasing about 20 years ago. This appears to have been around the same time that substance use in general escalated in the country.
Substance abuse among youth continues to be a major problem worldwide, and South
Africa and its provinces are no exception (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
[UNODC], 2009). According to Rehabasia (2012), South Africa’s drug problem is still very serious, and drug usage is in most cases twice the world norm. He indicates further that the proportion of South Africans with a drug problem is at least 15%; however, it is expected that this figure will increase. Tobacco and alcohol have become the substances that South
African teenagers use most often, while, as far as illicit drugs are concerned, cannabis is the one that is most commonly used (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2010).
The need for understanding in the area of substance use in South Africa continues to
grow, but the topic appears to be quietly ignored and research almost non-existent. As
Peltzer, Ramlagan, Bruce, and Phaswana-Mafuya (2010) state, there is hardly any South
African research into the use of substances apart from tobacco and alcohol among the general adult South African population, or into the nature and extent of this use.
According to Reddy, James, Sewpaul, Sifunda, Ellahebokus, Kambaran and Omardien
(2010), 12% of South African young people were found to be experimenting with alcohol as early as 13 years of age. Beyever (2009) arrived at similar findings, indicating that 12 years was the average age of drug dependency in South Africa at that time, and that this figure was dropping all the time. One out of every two schoolchildren admitted that they had experimented with drugs. In 2008 it was reported that two percent of patients in 3 rehabilitation centres were under the age of 20, but the number had increased to 20% by 2013
(Christian Drug Support, 2013). Most of these were addicted to tik (crystal methamphetamine), dagga and heroin. According to Christian drug support. (2013). 20% of boys of 14 years of age, and nearly 50% of boys of 17 years of age had drunk alcohol in the previous month, and the figure for girls was a bit lower: 18% of 14-year-old girls and 35% of
17-year-old girls had consumed alcohol in the same period.
Though there are alarming statistics about young people’s use of or experimentation with drugs, little has been done to understand this phenomenon, and the reasons why young people need to experiment in this way. This is equally true of the experiences of the parents of affected children. The Department of Social Development (2013) echoed the view that parents’ roles and experiences in respect of substance abuse by adolescents in the South
African context have received little attention. It appears that the impoverished and the marginalized are lost through the gaps that appear in literature.
After apartheid, South Africa became vulnerable to drug use as a result of the changes that occurred in the political, economic and social structures (Peltzer et al., 2010). The political environment has changed drastically, and these changes have been accompanied by dramatic changes in society, such as social transitioning, rapid modernization, high rates of unemployment, and a decline in family, social, and cultural values. The use of drugs has increased as a result and has been promoted by the establishment of new environments, such as night clubs. These environments, where drug use is regarded as acceptable behaviour and casual sex is acceptable, attract adolescents and young adults who are seeking a way to escape the reality of their lives, and provide a breeding ground for heavy drug use and the spread of diseases such as HIV and AIDS.
This has created a new target market for drug syndicates: young people. According to
Christian Drug Support (2013), teenage drug use increased by 600% between 1992 and 1995. 4
That figure continues to increase and now stands at 1100%. Children are starting to abuse drugs as early as twelve or younger, and drug dealers are targeting schools.
With all these developments, drug syndicates and manufacturers have opened a market of drugs that are concocted and mixed. Different drugs are mixed together to increase their potency, and at times certain ingredients are added to the drugs to increase the quantity. One of these concoctions is a new drug that has taken townships by storm, called nyaope.
Simelane and Nicolson (2013) describe nyaope as a white powder that sometimes takes on a creamy tint. It is usually sold in small parcels at R30 a portion. It is made from a cocktail of ingredients such as rat poison, heroin and an antiretroviral drug. Grelotti et al. (2014) also described this drug as a white powder and further said that it is rolled up as a cigarette and smoked. According to Limin (2011), users of this lethal drug cocktail say they use it because it is cheap and easily accessible and gives them a much stronger high. The affordability of this drug makes it accessible to the youth and hence popular with them, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
There is only limited information on the ways in which parents are affected by their children’s use of this substance. The researcher noticed this information gap and developed an interest in exploring the experiences of parents whose children use the drug nyaope.
The Research Problem
As a way of stating the research problem, the researcher decided to start this section with an article written by Tuwani in the Health-e News of 08 March 2013. This article tells the story of 19-year-old Daniel from Soshanguve, who used to be addicted to nyaope but is currently recovering from his addiction.
Daniel’s story starts in 2008, when he was in Grade 9 at school and first started using nyaope. His family only started to realise that there was a problem two years later, when he 5 was in Grade 11. His father said that Daniel would sometimes come home from school and go straight to bed without eating anything. Later, in the middle of the night, he would wake up and quietly make off with the family’s appliances and sell them to the neighbours in order to get money to pay for his next fix.
Daniel said it was fun in the beginning, but then he got ‘hooked’ and the addiction got worse over time. One day, however, he experienced a kind of epiphany, which forced him to confront the need to change his behaviour. Three young men from his neighbourhood died of suspected nyaope use. Deeply affected by this tragedy, Daniel went to the Department of
Social Welfare for help. He was admitted to a rehabilitation centre in Cullinan in
Mpumalanga, where he spent 12 weeks.
At the moment, Daniel is not at school and is not working either. His future looks bleak. He blames nyaope for ruining so many young lives around his township, and regrets the day he was introduced to it, believing that his life would have turned out quite differently without it.
Daniel’s father has not given up on his son. He said that he wishes that his son could have grown up to be a professional electrician or something like that, because he had been a clever boy at school. The nyaope addiction has robbed him of his son, he lamented.
The article paraphrased above gives some insight into the experiences that one particular father has been through since his son started using the drug nyaope. The problem statement for this study has been formulated on the basis of this insight, together with the description of the effects of this drug that follows.
According to Parry et al. (2002), substance abuse trends in South Africa showed the highest prevalence among users of cannabis, amphetamines (because of tik), and heroin
(because of nyaope). Limin (2011) interviewed Sebele Tseeke, a social worker, on CCTV 6 news, who maintained that the majority of people who use nyaope are young people, teenagers and learners, and that the age at which abuse starts is at around 12 to 16 years.
However, lately children as young as ten have been abusing this substance.
Limin (2011) argued that nyaope affects all aspects of a person’s life. On the physical
level, the health is affected; on the emotional level, the person feels demotivated, and on the
social level, family relationships become strained. People lose their friends who do not take
nyaope, and are left only with those who do.
Very little is documented in South Africa about parents’ experiences and coping
capabilities, or the support they need or receive (Masombuka, 2013). Individuals who use the
substance nyaope do not exist in isolation; like everyone else, they belong to a system that
maintains their well-being. According to Vorster (2011), a system is a set of elements that
interact to function as a single unit (that is, what affects one element in the system will affect
the other elements equally). In order to resolve the challenges facing the system, it is not
enough to understand the changes that occur in one unit; it is also necessary to understand
how the other units are affected by that change.
On the basis of the above, the researcher decided to explore the experiences of parents
whose children may be addicted to nyaope. The following aspects motivated him to explore
the experiences of the parents rather than those of the drug users themselves: a) in his time as
a student in clinical psychology, he had discovered that not much research had been carried
out on parents’ experiences of their children’s substance use; b) many interventions are aimed
at assisting the drug users and neglect the parents; and, c) little is known about the
experiences and the struggles the parents go through as their children abuse substances. 7
The Research Question
What are the experiences, knowledge and coping mechanisms of parents whose children use the drug nyaope in Temba Township north of Pretoria Central Business District
(CBD)?
Aims and Objectives of the Study
The aim of the study was to explore the experiences, knowledge and coping mechanisms of parents whose children use the drug nyaope in Temba Township north of
Pretoria CBD.
The objectives of this study are as follows:
1) to gather information on the actual experiences of the parents of children who
use nyaope, including their feelings and reactions;
2) to establish the extent of their knowledge about:
a) the drug itself;
b) the signs/symptoms displayed by the drug user;
c) the age range of the drug users;
d) whether females or males are more likely to use the drug;
3) to establish what their coping mechanisms are;
4) how effective they felt these were in dealing with their children’s substance use;
and,
5) to establish what professional help is available to, and taken advantage of, by
parents.
8
Study Setting
The research was conducted in a township named Temba, which is located about 40 kilometres north of the Pretoria (Tshwane) CBD. In order to locate and identify participants for the study, the researcher obtained assistance from one of the organizations in the community that render services to nyaope users, namely the Santa Maria Village for the
Aged, Children Foster and Day Care and Place of Safety located in the community of Temba
(see Appendix A for the letter requesting assistance from the centre; and, Appendix B for the letter of support from the centre manager). This is an organization that mainly takes care of the elderly, fosters homeless children and provides a place of safety.
According to Mrs Pheladi Nchabeleng (the founder of the organization), she was moved by and had compassion for the users of nyaope, to such an extent that she felt compelled to do something. She reported that she had started organizing walks against the drug in the community. On these walks, she had identified users and attempted to get them to a rehabilitation centre. She said that she had been working with the designated social worker in the community to get some of the users into rehabilitation centres. She reported that, together with the Department of Social Development in the community, she had managed to get about 30 users into a rehabilitation centre to date.
Brief History of Temba
According to Van Huyssteen (2000), the history of Temba begun when people were relocated and brought to a place in trucks where a tent-town emerged. The farm was bought
by the South African Native Trust to resettle people that were not allowed in white South
Africa and were forcefully removed from places such as Lady Selbourne, Orlando and
Klipspruit in Pretoria and Johannesburg areas. The inhabitants of the tent-town were in
despair and named the place, which was without services such as water, Sofasonke, (which 9 means we will die united). The town expanded even more when another group of victims of forced removals were resettled there, this time from Wallmansthal. Van Huyssteen (2000) further elaborated that the residents of Sofasonke later decided to rename their township
Temba, after the apartheid government began rolling out infrastructure, mainly permanent housing structures. When industry arrived in the form of Babelegi (which is an industrial area around the township, which was later closed down in the early democratic years as fewer factories remain to date as compared to when it was opened) the future looked rosier for the settlement and facilitated an influx of people.
Currently the township is characterised by many individuals especially the youth. The reduction of functional factories in the Babelegi industrial area could be one of the main reasons of a high unemployment rate. According to the City of Tshwane (2013) on the blueprint strategy document, 2055 Vision, the Gauteng provincial government and the
National Youth Development Agency launched a pilot programme to rehabilitate nyaope addicts in Hammanskraal in 2012. The City of Tshwane’s blueprint strategy document, 2055
Vision, further highlights the concentration of pockets of poverty in areas in the greater
Temba area in its mapping of the socio-economic conditions obtained in the municipal area.
The brief history of the community of Temba gives an overview of the perception of the community that the researcher received from the organization’s manager. She described that the challenges that could be faced by the researcher to get parents to take part in the study was that the parents have lost hope in the system helping them. She said she found that
parents were not willing to talk about their children’s substance use.
Participants
Mrs. Nchabeleng provided the researcher with a number of names of parents whose
children were nyaope users. The participants were purposefully selected and interviewed in a 10 focus group until a rich source of data was reached. Three focus group meetings were conducted. The first group had three participants, while both the second and third groups were made up of four members each.
The target sample consisted of 11 participants who were parents of children who either used or had used the substance nyaope. They were purposely selected according to the following criteria:
a) Parents or caregivers had to be between 35 and 75 years of age.
b) Participants’ children had to be aged between 13 and 45.
c) Their children had been identified as users or previous users of the drug nyaope.
d) The parents had knowledge of their children’s use of the drug nyaope.
e) Their children were undergoing or had undergone an intervention process at
Santa Maria Village for the Aged, Children Foster and Day Care and Place of
Safety located in the community of Temba; a rehabilitation centre; or, the
Department of Social Development in the community.
f) Participation in the study was voluntary and no parent was obliged to
participate. An informed consent form was signed by the parents stating that
they could withdraw from the study without giving reasons.
g) There was no bias on the basis of gender, race or ethnicity.
The significance of these criteria is that they relate to the purpose of the study, which focuses on the experiences of parents whose children use or have used the drug nyaope. This allowed the researcher to observe the principles of qualitative research, which require a focus on the qualities, processes and meanings that people draw from their experiences (Moon,
Dillon, & Sprenkle, 1990). 11
Key Concepts of the Study
Parent/caregiver. For the purpose of this study, the terms parent and caregiver are used interchangeably. They refer both to the individuals who gave birth to the child and to those who did not give birth to the child but are involved in caring for it and meeting its needs. Davies (2000) defines parenting or child rearing as “the process of promoting and supporting the physical, emotional, social, financial, and intellectual development of a child
from infancy to adulthood…[and] the aspects of raising a child aside from the biological
relationship”. According to the Hornby (2010, p. 212-213), caregiving is characterized by
“attention to the needs of others, especially those unable to look after themselves adequately
(involved in the provision of health or social care and attention to the needs of a child)”.
According to the Department of Social Development (2006), a guardian is a parent or an
individual who takes care of the child’s needs and well-being. The caregiver is a person who is not a parent to the child but takes responsibility of the child’s care and well-being. Such include the foster parents, the person who takes care of the child with the implied consent of the parent or guardian, and the head and employees of a temporary safe care, youth care centres or children’s shelter where the child is place (Department of Social Development,
2006)
A caregiver is therefore a person who cares for, nurtures, loves and looks after one or more children. The role of a caregiver is similar to that of a parent. From the above definitions, it appears that parenting and caring for children have similar characteristics even though they are not exactly the same thing.
Drug use disorder. The revised fourth and fifth edition of the Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR; DSM-V; American Psychiatric
Association [APA], 2000, 2013b) are two of the diagnostic tools used to identify and describe drug use disorder. 12
DSM-IV-TR. According to this edition, substance dependence is “a cluster of cognitive, behavioural, and physiological symptoms” that indicate that an individual continues using the substance in question in spite of significant problems related to its use
(APA, 2000, p.192). The individual continues to take the drug repeatedly, which may lead to the following results: tolerance (the need to consume greatly increased amounts of the drug in order to obtain the desired level of intoxication, or a reduced effect in spite of continuing to use the same amount of the drug); withdrawal (a physiological response to reduced concentrations of the substance in the blood and tissues in an individual with a history of prolonged heavy use of the substance); and, compulsive drug-taking behaviour. Users find themselves having to take more of the substance or use it for an extended period of time and have a desire to stop, but without success (APA, 2000)
Substance abuse, on the other hand, is a “maladaptive behaviour pattern characterized by the following: repeated substance use that may result in the user’s inability to meet the most important role responsibilities at work, at school, or in the home; repeated substance abuse in circumstances where such use is physically dangerous; repeated substance use leading to substance-related legal problems; repeated substance use in spite of persistent or recurring social or interpersonal problems caused or exacerbated by the effects of the substance” (APA, 2000, p. 198).
DSM-V. In terms of the DSM-V, substance use disorder may range from mild to moderate to severe. Early remission is defined as a period without the substance of at least three months but fewer than 12 months and without manifesting the criteria for substance use disorder (apart from craving); sustained remission is defined as a period of 12 months or more without the use of the substance. Specifiers for substance use disorder include being in a controlled environment and being on maintenance therapy as the situation warrants (APA,
2013). 13
Structure of the Dissertation
This section outlines the organization of the dissertation. The first chapter introduced the study and provided an overview. The second chapter reviews some of the available literature on the following: experiences of parents whose children use substances; the drug nyaope specifically; the prevalence of substance use; theories of substance use; and, different psychological approaches to or perspectives on the topic. The third chapter describes the methodology followed in this study, and the fourth chapter describes the findings. The final chapter discusses the results, presents conclusions, identifies the limitations of the study, makes recommendations for service providers and suggests areas of further research into the experiences of parents of children who use substance users, particularly nyaope.
The next chapter is a review of available literature on the topic under study and related topics on substance use. 14
Literature Review
Introduction
This chapter presents available literature on drugs, also known as substances, globally
and in South Africa. Specifically this chapter will discuss substances (incorporating
substance abuse and dependency, assessment, signs and symptoms of substance abuse),
DSM-IV-TR and DSM-V criteria for substance abuse and dependency, as well as substance use internationally and in South Africa in regards to availability and diversity of illicit drugs, political change, economic and social change and epidemiology of illicit drug use. The researcher also discusses nyaope with regards to the effects of nyaope on the user and the community and society at large; parental experiences of their children using drugs, social and cultural factors associated with drug abuse in adolescents (parental, peer, socio-economic and availability influences); the social and cultural consequences of adolescent substance abuse
(school-related problems, risky sexual practices, delinquent behaviour and juvenile crime); and, the process of drug use. In addition, the chapter will explore various models of addiction (social/environmental model, genetic/physiological model and coping/social learning model) and the theoretical approaches that may explain substance use (existential approach, social learning theory and family systems theory).
Substances
In this section the researcher provides definitions of the terms substance, abuse and dependency and explores the signs and symptoms of drug abuse and how it is assessed. The section discusses the prevalence of substance use, abuse and addiction, both internationally and locally in South Africa, and describes various theoretical approaches to the study of these phenomena. 15
According to Lyman (2014), a drug – also known as a substance – is any chemical that an individual uses and which alters that individual’s bodily functions. Lyman explained that a drug must be able to go through the body into the brain. When in the brain, the substance can alter the signals that cells send to each other and to the body as a whole. The
National Institute on Drug Abuse (2010) expressed the same view, pointing out that drugs work on the functioning of the brain by altering the chemical brain signals sent to the body.
According to DSM-IV-TR (APA, 2000), substance abuse is characterised by an adaptive behaviour that has adverse consequences on the user. Individuals who abuse substances struggle to fulfil their responsibilities, they use the substance in risky situations, and they are constantly on the wrong side of the law because of the drug use. On the other hand, substance dependency is a disorder that is characterised by the individual using all their resources in acquiring the substance. In addition to this the user may neglect his\her responsibility, may withdraw from social interaction with those around him\her, and may have no regard of the consequences of substance use on their well-being even if it is known to them (APA, 2000).
According to Capuzzi and Stauffer (2008), drugs have a general or common effect on the individual, but specific drugs have unique effects.
Assessment. Counsellors use standardized assessments to assess the presence of substance use disorder or abuse. This practice may give the impression that clinical judgment is not necessary, but in actual fact these assessments, together with the clinical judgment, form an integral part of clinical decision making. In summary, the purpose of assessment is to find information that will either confirm or disconfirm the clinical hypothesis of substance use disorder. One of the tools used to assess drug disorder or abuse is the Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). For the purposes of this research, both the
DSM-IV-TR and the DSM-V were considered. 16
Signs and symptoms of substance use. The following behavioural changes are
observed when drugs are used over an extended period of time or, in extreme cases, where
the drug use is problematic. These behaviours may also be seen as a sign of drug-related challenges, pointing to a need for further screening and for the individual to seek help (Jiloha,
2009).
1) The user undergoes sudden personality changes that have no other known cause.
2) They lose interest in pastimes and activities that they previously enjoyed.
3) Attendance at school or work drops off, and performance declines.
4) The user makes new friends and is reluctant to talk about them.
5) They neglect their hygiene and personal grooming.
6) They find it difficult to pay attention, and become forgetful.
7) They suddenly become aggressive, irritable, nervous, or giddy.
8) They become secretive and sensitive to inquiry.
17
Comparison of DSM-IV-TR and DSM-V on Substance Use Disorder
In this section, substance use disorder is discussed in terms of DSM-V (APA, 2013b).
The changes made from DSM-IV-TR to DSM-V are indicated, and the two versions are compared. The table below depicts the changes.
Table 1
DSM-IV-TR and DSM-V Comparison of Substance Use
DSM-IV-TR DSM-V
Separates the diagnosis of substance use into Criteria make provision for substance use abuse and dependence. disorder, which is accompanied by specifiers for intoxication, withdrawal, substance/medication- induced disorders, and unspecified substance- induced disorders.
There is a standard criterion for recurrent legal The criteria here look at craving or a strong problems for a diagnosis of substance abuse. desire or urge to use a substance.
The threshold for a substance use disorder The threshold for a substance use disorder diagnosis is set at one or more criteria for diagnosis is set at two or more criteria. substance abuse and three or more for substance dependence.
Adapted from APA (2013a)
The table above indicates that the DSM-V identification of substance use disorder combines the DSM-IV-TR categories of substance abuse and substance dependence. The
result is a single disorder that is measured on a continuum from mild to severe.
Substance Use and Abuse Internationally
In this section the researcher discusses the prevalence of substance use and abuse
internationally. UNODC (2010) estimated that globally between 155 and 250 million people
(3.5% to 5.7% of the world’s population aged 15-64) used illicit substances at least once in
2008. The use of cannabis accounted for the largest number of illicit drug users (129-190
million people). UNODC (2013) stated that one billion men and 250 million women smoke
cigarettes and that the highest number of current smokers is found in developing countries. 18
Alcohol is consumed by two billion people, most of whom drink a variety of beverages in a
way that is harmless to their health or social wellbeing. On the other hand, young people
engage in heavy episodic drinking, causing an increase in alcohol-related problems in many countries where such problems had previously been negligible (UNODC, 2013).
Substance Use and Abuse in South Africa
In this section the researcher discusses the prevalence of substance use and abuse in
South Africa. In 2007, Peltzer, Ramlagan, Mohlala and Matseke published a review which was a synthesis of available information on drug use and treatment admissions for substance abuse in South Africa since 1994. They explained that, after the end of apartheid, South
Africa became exposed to illicit drug trafficking as it provided a link between Asia and South
America, which are source countries, and Western Europe and North America, which are the important markets. Although South Africa is not the most direct route between these source countries and the markets, it may play a role in the movement of illegal drugs. South Africa offers drug traffickers opportunities that did not exist before, on account of its quality air and sea connections with much of the rest of the world, as well as its geography, long stretches of largely unpoliced borders and expanding international trade links with Asia, Western Europe, and North America.
The review (Peltzer et al. 2007) identified the following themes or findings:
availability and diversity of illicit drugs, political change, enforcement policies, economic
and social change, the epidemiology of illicit drug use, and the demand for treatment for
illicit drug use. The themes which relate to the current study are discussed below.
Availability and diversity of illicit drugs. South Africa is a diverse country with
diverse communities. With this diversity comes diversity of cultures and different ways of
life. In the drug community, such diversity creates a large market for different kinds of 19 drugs, some of which are culture-specific, and thus creates an opportunity for the illicit drug market. Nel (2003) described South Africa as one of the biggest countries dealing with illicit drugs in the sub-Saharan region.
Political change. Between 1960 and 1970, with the introduction of globalisation,
South Africa experienced an increase in the use of illicit drugs. There was a growing market for stronger drugs such as heroin, cocaine and ecstasy. According to UNOCD (2002), the changes that came with the integration of South Africa into the world community created an opportunity for the growth of illicit drug trafficking. South African airports and harbours were easily accessible and the country became one of the big transhipment sites for illicit drugs.
Economic and social change. According to Findley and Ogbu (2011), the South
African government is faced with the enormous task of dealing with the inequalities created by the apartheid regime. About a third of the country’s population lives in townships and informal settlements in extreme poverty. In order to survive, some of these people turn to selling drugs, which appears to be a lucrative source of income, as the majority of users use the drugs as a way of escaping their struggles.
Epidemiology of illicit drug use. A survey conducted in 2010 by Reddy et al. indicated that 9% of students used cannabis. In a different survey carried out in 2005 by
Shisana et al., it was found that 2% of young people between the ages of 15 and 19 used cannabis. In respect of illicit drugs, the survey showed that 16% of adolescents used over- the-counter prescription drugs, between 0.2 and 11.5 % used inhalants, between 0.2 and 7.6% used club drugs, between 0.1 and 6.4% used cocaine and between 0.1 and 6.44% used sedatives. More males than females appeared to have used the drugs mentioned above. 20
The statistics below were taken from a journal article by Van Heerden et al. (2009), which used the information obtained from the 2002–2004 South African Stress and Health
(SASH) study. The sample in the SASH study consisted of 4,351 adults aged 18 and older, drawn from a nationally representative household probability sample, and including households and hostel quarters.
Alcohol, at 38.7%, was the most commonly used substance among South Africans, and tobacco was used by 30.0%. This agrees with data on lifetime tobacco use in South Africa, which was 27% in 2007. In 2002 it was found that 37.6% of South African high-school students were using tobacco. Cannabis use was found to be 8.3%, which is also consistent with earlier data from the year World Drug Report (8.4%). The use of other drugs, including methamphetamine, was found to be 2%; this is possibly an underestimation of drug use trends in South Africa. According to Van Heerden et al. (2009), during 2005, after this survey was conducted, it was found that methamphetamine was the drug most often abused in the Western Cape, replacing alcohol and overtaking cannabis.
Nyaope
In this section the substance nyaope is described, and its component ingredients discussed. The researcher also discusses the impact of the substance on the users, the parents, the family and the community they belong to.
Nyaope is mostly used by young unemployed black people living in socio- economically disadvantaged areas in South Africa (Venter, 2014). It has been in use since
2000, but was only classified as illegal in 2014. According to Kruger (2015), nyaope is a concoction of a number of different drugs, with cannabis (dagga as it is called in South
Africa), methamphetamine and heroin as the main ingredients, possibly with the addition of various other substances. In the Policy and Research Report: Profile of Nyaope Users and 21
Implications for Policing by GP Community safety (2014, July 07) it is stated that anti- retroviral drugs (ARVs) and rat poison may form part of the concoction. Simelane and
Nicolson (2013) describe nyaope as a white or cream-coloured powder that is rolled with cannabis and smoked. It is usually sold in small parcels at R30 a portion. The UNODC
(2010) reports that nyaope also goes by the name Sugar, while in the Western Cape it is called Ungah, in Mpumalanga and Limpopo it is known as Pinch and in Johannesburg it is called Kataza. Since nyaope is manufactured, mixed and sold illegally, it is not manufactured according to any standard or specifications, and the amounts of its components and additives vary (Rough et al., 2014).
According to Peltzer and Ramlagan (2009), there had been no attempt to study the phenomenon of nyaope use, and most of the known information had been reported by both local and international media, including television documentaries. It has thus been a rather difficult task to identify and describe the signs and symptoms exhibited when nyaope is used.
The provincial government expressed concerns that no research on the prevalence of nyaope abuse was being conducted, but acknowledged that the problem is out of hand in the
Hammanskraal area, which includes Temba (Moeng, 2013).
According to Simelane and Nicolson (2013), users roll nyaope in the form of a zol (also called a joint, which is hand rolled like a cigarette) and light it. They put dagga together with the drug on a piece of paper and then light it in order to inhale the fumes from the concoction.
Another mode of administering this drug is commonly known as Bluetooth. According to
Phakgadi (2017), Bluetooth is when users share their high through injecting the user’s blood with another user through a needle. One of the addicts would inject the drugs into his blood system, and then other users would draw blood from the already high individual and then inject themselves with the blood in order for them to also experience the high. 22
According to Health24 (2014), the withdrawal symptoms of nyaope may include a
painful stomach, muscle cramps and feeling sick and weak which requires another fix or use
to wear off. Given that there is little literature on the effects of nyaope itself, the researcher
verbally established the following symptoms (in addition to the already mentioned symptoms
of cannabis and heroin use), by talking to users of the substance who are known to him. They
reported that they experienced the following symptoms: stomach cramps when the individual
attempts to stop or goes for some time without a fix (without using it), a craving for sweet
foods (e.g., chocolate, yoghurt, sweets and so forth), drooling saliva, darkened skin, dry
mouth, slow motor reactions (they speak slowly), and tiredness.
Given the scarcity of literature on nyaope, the researcher decided to use the available
literature on the physical, behavioural and cognitive symptoms of cannabis, heroin and
methamphetamine use, as these are the main ingredients that are always present in the
mixture.
Cannabis. According to Volkow (2015), cannabis is a greenish-gray substance that is
made from dried leaves and flowers of a plant called Cannabis sativa. Generally it is hand
rolled together with tobacco into a cigarette and lit to smoke. On rare occasions, cannabis
can be consumed by eating products in which it is included. The difference between eating it
and smoking it is that when it is eaten it produces delayed effects that have a long lasting
effect, whereas when it is smoked the effect is quick and it does not last long (Murphy,
2010).
Cannabis use is associated with particular deficits: or consequences. Individuals who use this substance appear to experience a state of euphoria that can last between 15 minutes to a number of hours, followed at times by feelings of mild elation, occasional visual, tactile and auditory hallucinations, perceptual distortions, and difficulty remembering recent occurrences and giggling (Volkow, 2015), Users may experience anxiety and may sometimes feel 23
paranoid; they may have difficulty paying attention, experience amnesia, and may find it
difficult to acquire new skills. Physically, they often present with thirst, an increased
appetite, heart palpitations, a dry mouth and red eyes, and may have respiratory problems that
have been triggered by smoke inhalation (George & Vaccarino, 2015). Cannabis users may
show signs of anhedonia and loss of interest in activities previously enjoyed, they may
experience weight gain or loss and changes to their sleep patterns. They may display
inappropriate behaviours in social situations, such as talking loudly and laughing
inappropriately, and may use air fresheners and deodorant excessively to dampen the smell of
cannabis (Volkow, 2015).
Heroin. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (2010), heroin is an opioid
drug that is made from extracting morphine from the seed pod of the Asian opium poppy
plant. It is usually a white or brown powder but at times it is a black sticky substance. It is
available in four grades of quality. The first two grades are heroin that is not processed.
Grade three is most commonly referred to as brown rock and it is a granular powder that has a tan colour. Grade four is a white powdered substance and it is the purest of the four grades.
There are three modes of administration depending on its grade. Grade three heroin is normally smoked and grade four is either dissolved in a liquid and injected or it is snorted through the nose (Stevens, 2013a).
According Holley (2011), the physical symptoms of heroin use are dry mouth, weak pulse, dilated pupils, a blue tinge to the lips and/or fingernails, muscle spasms, tongue discolouration, shallow breathing, convulsions, runny nose and other cold-like symptoms.
Cognitively, users seem to suffer from memory lapses and have trouble remembering things; they may suffer from confusion, hallucinations, and occasional paranoia. They may also have difficulty concentrating and learning new things. Behaviourally they manifest withdrawal from family and friends, act in a reckless manner by taking chances and doing 24
things that are dangerous or out of the ordinary for them, behave in an aggressive or hostile
manner towards family, friends and others around them, and manifest speech problems such
as slurred speech.
Methamphetamine. According to National Institute on Drug Abuse (2010), methamphetamine commonly known as meth is a highly addictive stimulant drug that was synthesised from amphetamines. It is a white powder that has a bitter taste and has no distinct odour. There are four modes of administration of methamphetamine. It can be
smoked, snorted through the nose, injected, or eaten. The most common mode of these is
smoking.
The physical effects of methamphetamine are anorexia, hyperactivity, dilated pupils,
flushing, restlessness, dry mouth, headache, heart palpitations, decreased heart rate,
hyperventilation, hypertension, hypotension, hyperthermia, uncontrollable sweating,
diarrhoea, constipation, blurred vision, dizziness, twitching, insomnia, numbness,
arrhythmias, tremors, dry and itchy skin, and acne. Users may appear to be pale, and may
experience tooth decay, convulsions, heart attack, stroke, and death. Cognitively the user
may experience euphoria, anxiety, alertness, difficulty concentrating, hallucinations, paranoia
psychosomatic disorders, psychomotor agitation. Behaviourally they could have high self-
esteem and self-confidence, they tend to be sociable individuals, easily irritable, may show
signs of aggression, grandiosity, excessive feelings of power and invincibility, repetitive and
obsessive behaviour, may experience psychotic episodes.
Effects of Using Nyaope
In this section the researcher discusses the effect of nyaope on the individual and the
community and society at large. 25
The effect of nyaope on users. This section looks at the impact of using the substance nyaope on the individual. There is little or no information or literature available on the substance nyaope. Peltzer et al. (2010) stated that, even though there is a growing need for research in the area of substance abuse in South Africa, especially of illicit drugs, there has been little to no such research. As stated above, according to Mokwena (2015), most of the information currently available about nyaope is reported by the media.
The researcher accordingly looked into the available media reports about the impact of the substance on the users. He studied stories of nyaope addicts published in health and newspaper articles, in an attempt to obtain a clearer picture of the effects of the drug on the users and those close to them. Two more stories, in addition to the one described previously in the introduction chapter, were chosen from articles by two independent journalists.
The first of these additional two stories, by Nkosi, appeared in the Sowetan of February
07, 2015. The reporter described a skeletally thin 17-year-old girl who talked about sleeping with men to support her drug habit. She said that she started using nyaope around March
2011 because her friend was using it and introduced her to it. She stopped going to school regularly, choosing rather to spend time smoking with friends; this ultimately led to her quitting school while she was in grade eight. She said she stole cell phones to maintain her habit, but most of the time she had to live the life of a prostitute to get money. If she was lucky, she could run away after getting the money, but most of the time she had to sleep with the men who had paid her.
The teen said that her circumstances at home, where she was raised by a single mother with whom she had a strained relationship, could be the reason why she experienced so much stress and sought relief from nyaope. She said that she was taken to stay with her stepfather, who eventually kicked her out because of her behaviour. She began dating another nyaope smoker, who was in prison at the time of the interview, and fell pregnant at the age of 16. 26
She maintained that she was not aware at first that she was pregnant. When she started
vomiting and saw her stomach swelling, she thought that this was due to her drug use; she
only went to the clinic for the first time when she was eight months pregnant.
At the time of the story, she was staying with her aunt and brother (who was also a nyaope addict) in a small house. One of her brother’s friends had sexually assaulted her, but she had not reported him because she was afraid of being harmed in some way.
She stopped using nyaope for eight months after giving birth, but eventually gave in and relapsed. She described how difficult it was to quit. She tried quitting again when her mother threatened to stop supporting her child, but started smoking nyaope again. Her aunt had removed her child from her care and was looking after it.
The third article was written by Khumalo (South African Government News Agency,
2015), about 27-year-old John Mmokwa, who had started smoking eight years before when
he was in Grade 12. He reported that he had been trying to fit in with a group of friends who
were smoking cigarettes and dagga, and was soon introduced to nyaope.
In the article, Mmokwa said he used various ways of getting the money to buy the drug,
which cost between R25 and R40. He stood at the traffic lights pretending to be homeless,
hoping for donations, and sometimes stole from his neighbours and friends to get money for
his next dose.
Mmokwa said that it was not easy to quit, although he would have liked to stop his
addiction. He did once check in to a local rehabilitation centre, but left after three weeks
without completing the programme because he could not tolerate the pain of withdrawal. He
said if he ever stopped using nyaope, he would try to achieve his dream of becoming a radio
personality. 27
From the above stories the researcher learnt that nyaope users start using at school-
going age and that the individuals’ academic progress was halted because of the nyaope use.
They tend to drop out of school before they acquire their matric and then they are faced with
a bleak future where resources are limited. Nyaope users tend to commit crimes in order to
feed their habits. Female users resort to prostitution to make money to feed the habit.
The effect of nyaope on the community and society at large. Communities are
affected by the use of nyaope, as are individuals in the community and businesses. Large
numbers of nyaope users in a community inevitably mean a lot of challenges for that
community. According to Khumalo (2015), a local anti-narcotics organization reported that
roughly 80% of households in Mamelodi East have at least one family member using the
highly addictive drug. Addicts often steal from their already-poor neighbours in order to finance their addiction (Kaminski, 2014). According to Health24 (2010), there seems to have been an increase in crime linked to nyaope in communities where nyaope is available, and community members often attack suspected users of the substance. A concerned mother, talking to Skosana (2014) in an article in the Mail & Guardian, maintained that getting arrested was the least of her son’s worries. Her worst fear was that he would die at the hands of the people he had been stealing from. Since her child began his addiction, he started stealing from their neighbours, who beat him up every other day. She said that he had been in and out of prison, but nothing ever changed.
Businesses have not been spared from drug related crimes as Mafisa (2012) reported on an incident in Soweto in which several doctors came under attack when armed gangs broke into surgeries and demanded anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs). Dr Oscar Makhubele, who has a surgery in Protea Glen, Soweto, described to Mafisa how men brandishing guns forced their way into his surgery at about seven o’clock one morning. They had knocked on the door and ambushed the cleaning lady, demanding that she show them where the ARVs were kept 28
(Mafisa, 2012). Since the use of nyaope has come to light, there have been several alarming
reports stating that patients are being harassed and their ARVs taken from them as they leave
the clinic, and, because most of the areas that experience high levels of nyaope use are
impoverished communities, some patients are willing to sell their ARVs. Since ARVs are
believed to form part of the concoction, some health care workers have been found stealing
the drugs to feed the nyaope market (Jolson, 2010).
Parental Experiences of Drug Abuse
The focus of the current study is on parents’ experiences of their children’s substance use, and the particular drug of focus is nyaope. There is limited research into the ways in which parents experience their children’s use of this particular drug. The researcher
accordingly investigated the available literature on the experiences of drug use in general, and
looked at recent newspaper articles for information on nyaope specifically.
According to Jackson and Mannix (2003) the child’s lifestyle of substance abuse is
quiet secretive and difficult to uncover and at times by the time the parents realises what their
children have been doing they are already addicted. Wallace (2014) found that mothers of
addicts said that they felt that they were in a lonely and isolated space. Their experience was
such that they did not have any one to turn to, they were often misunderstood and it appeared
that the people who were able to understand were those who were going through the same
thing. The mothers kept talking about the difficulty of coping with their child’s addiction,
and they said that it was even difficult to wake up in the morning and go to work or their
businesses, and even the thought of living was a nightmare. According to Wallace (2014) ,
when a child uses drugs parents are overwhelmed with worrying about their children’s safety,
and the fact that little is documented about children substance use the parents are facing a
huge challenge of knowing how to deal with this. 29
Parents tend to fight a lot when there is a child who is using substances (Barnard,
2005). This conflict could be due to the different roles that parents may have around the
drug-using child especially when the child is stealing items in the house. According to Hoeck
and Van Hal (2012), having an addicted child in the family disrupts its functioning, and the
parents are the most affected. They point out that, in the short term, parents tend to fight a lot
leaving them feeling stressed, lonely and isolated, having little to no support, as well as
feeling anxious and guilty. The long-term effects may include being susceptible to illnesses
and experiencing psychological problems (Hoeck & Van Hal, 2012).
When it comes to recovery parents tend to take the responsibility for their child’s
recovery into their own hands. According to Rivers (2010), parents cannot fix their
children’s addiction. What they need to do is to wait for the children to be in the worst
possible situation with regard to their substance use, and then they might have the realisation
that they need to find help. Until that point, all parents can do is to provide their children
with information where they can seek help or learn more about the consequences of their
drug use. Finding help for children becomes a heavy responsibility that parents carry on
them. This is a difficult task for most parents as there is little information about how other parents experience and deal with their children who use drugs, and the available professional help available focuses on the identified user and not the parent (Hoeck & Van Hal, 2012).
The Effects of Substance Use on the Family System
In this section the researcher discusses the effects of substance use on the family as a system.
According to Bernard (2007), addiction has dire consequences on the functioning of a family. It changes the ways in which families relate and the roles that the various members play. Casa Palmera staff (2010) stated that living with an addict affects the emotional, 30 behavioural and financial aspects of those around them. The addiction becomes the family’s priority. “Families are destroyed as the child continues to use drugs, with the parents caught up in trying to keep the family together while at the same time managing the stress and frustrations that come with having a child who uses drugs” (Jackson, Usher, & O’Brien,
2007, p. 323). Barnard (2005) reported on an interview he had with a family where one or more of the children were using substances in which one of the parents highlighted that he would fight with his wife about how to handle the using child. This conflict caused a rift in the family and its functioning.
Other parents’ experiences include them wanting nothing to do with their addicted child. One parent said that it was difficult to learn that family and friends did not like the feeling of being around his addicted son. He said that though he could tolerate and have unconditional love for him he understood the challenge it posed to those around him not to want anything to do with him (Grover, 2010).
In a study conducted with thirty-one adult caregivers of addicted children, Choate
(2015) reported eight themes that emerged. These themes are discussed below.
Finding out about the substance dependence problem. Parents described this process as multi-layered, seeming to occur in a non-linear pattern (Choate, 2015). It was reported that the process of discovery took place in one or more of three ways. The first was finding evidence of the drug use or being confronted with an emergency resulting from the drug use. This was reported as the least frequent way of finding out. The second way was the discovery of items or objects that indicated drug use. These parents reported finding small amounts of drugs or items used to package the drugs. Some parents reported that comments were sometimes made by other people about the child’s drug use, and these comments provided a trigger for the parents to investigate their child’s drug use further. The third way of finding out involved parents noticing changes in their child’s behaviour. These 31
changes included children’s reduced school attendance and problems at school, increased
secretiveness, increased defiance, and loss of interest in activities that they had previously
enjoyed. The latter process of discovery was reported to be the most common.
Experiences as the problems escalated. The parents stated that the first change to be
noticed was that their children started interacting with different people. It was reported that
these new friends were known to the parents but were kept at a distance. Attempts to find out about them often led to escalations of tension in the family, with the user becoming more confrontational and fighting with family members at times. This behaviour affected the parental subsystem in that parents would fight with one another because of their children.
Looking for explanations other than substance dependence. Because of the stigma attached to drug use, parents sought reasons, apart from the drug use itself, to explain their children’s behaviour. Mental health disorders were one of the typical examples used to explain the child’s behaviour. Some parents reported that the drug use was secondary to psychological problems like depression, or due to social challenges, academic challenges and a lack of coping mechanisms. This in turn created the idea that substance use was not the problem but that the stressors faced by the individuals were the main challenge.
Connecting to the parent’s own history. Parents believed that their own past experiences with drugs could be the reason why their children were using drugs. What was discovered in the study was that 12 of the 31 parents had a history of substance abuse problems and that there was a wider family history in 18 of the 21 families; these experiences acted as a common way of trying to understand the issues, while those parents without such a history reported being confused and struggling to understand.
Trying to cope. Parents stated that their lives were in turmoil, and that the whole family system was affected by the drug use. The family interactions grew weaker and the 32
fighting and arguments in the family became more common. Parents felt a sense of loss of
control and became more desperate. Reaching out for help proved at times to be ineffective
and they felt isolated and unable to cope.
Challenges in getting help. Parents reported that they had sought help in different places with no success. They said that they had tried to get help from both public and private
health facilities. They also sought help from the police and from social services, but with no
success.
Impact on siblings. Some parents said that the user in the family would steal from his
or her siblings and would assault or fight with them. The other children in the family were
neglected, as parents shifted more of their focus to the child who was using drugs. There was
a sense of loss among the other siblings, as they had lost their sibling to the drug behaviour.
Choosing long-term rehabilitation. Parents in the study believed that the solution
was getting their children admitted into long-term rehabilitation. This represented a point at
which parents felt overwhelmed and helpless, and desperate to find a working solution.
Parents indicated that all their attempts to resolve their problems had failed, and that they
needed something different to be implemented externally as they had exhausted their options.
They were left feeling that they needed to accept that there was no longer anything they could
do. The family was feeling exhausted and they had done all that they could think of to
address the problems. Most spoke of feeling as though they had run out of options.
In a different study, Usher, Jackson, and O’Brien (2007) also identified eight themes in
parents’ experiences of their children’s use of drugs. These themes were:
The process of confirming suspicions. The first thing parents noticed when their children were using drugs was subtle behavioural changes, and the actual realisation usually only dawned as time passed. Initially parents went through a process of denial and did not 33
want to confirm their suspicions. As time passed, however, and the behavioural changes
became apparent, the denial phase would pass and the parents would accept their suspicions
about their child’s use of drugs. During the period of acceptance, parents experienced a
decline in communication with the child and the impact was felt in the family system.
Struggling to set limits. In this process the parents were caught up in managing the child’s behaviour and setting limits on the behaviour that was associated with the use of drugs. This appeared to be an unsuccessful process of trial and error, and parents reported using different methods in the hope that one or more of them could lead to a desired outcome.
Parents resorted to involving the police in order to set limits, as the children would have
resorted to stealing to feed their habit.
Dealing with consequences of the drug use for the family. Usher et al. (2007) found that, when a child was using drugs, the impact was felt throughout the family. One of the major challenges the family was faced with was the fact that the children would steal from the parents and the rest of the family. In addition to the theft, the family was faced with verbal abuse from the user. The drug user would have brushes with the law and this would have a direct impact on the family members, as they were the ones who had to go and bail the offender out. The safety of the user was one of the concerns that preoccupied the family, as they would be called when the user was involved in a car accident or had been attacked by the victims of their crime. The parents also said that they were sometimes left to take care of the user’s children, as their user child neglected their own children while preoccupied with their drug habit.
Living with blame and shame. Parents raised concerns that society blamed them and held them responsible for their child’s behaviour. The mothers came in for the greatest
amount of blame, as they were accused of spoiling their children. Some parents hence 34
avoided seeking help and felt ashamed and embarrassed because society believed that they
had played a role in the behaviour of their child.
Trying to keep the child safe. One of the major concerns of the parents in Usher et al.’s (2007) study was their child’s safety. Parents took responsibility for their child’s health; some had taken the child for immunisation and had taught them to practise safe sex. Parents expressed their fears that children who use drugs live dangerously, could be involved in accidents or become the victim of crimes.
Grieving the loss of the child that was. Parents reported that they experienced a great
sense of loss. They reminisced about who the child was and could have been. They had
raised their children with great hopes and dreams, but now they were living a nightmare and
were experiencing the shattering of these dreams. The parents said that they were grieving
for the child that had been and the adult they had hoped to see. For some parents, the grief
was for a child who had actually died as a result of drug use.
Living with guilt. Parents reported that they experienced a sense of guilt because of
the role they believed they had played in their child’s use of drugs. Parents stated that they
sometimes felt like giving up on helping their children but would then feel guilty that
something bad might happen to their child.
Choosing self-preservation. The child’s use of a substance placed a lot of stress on
the parents and this in turn had a huge impact on their health. Through this stressful process,
parents had eventually reached a point at which they had decided to look for ways of
preserving their own identity apart from their affected child. It was reported that this step to
self-identity had resulted in an improvement in their health and well-being.
The above studies done by Choate (2015) and Usher et al. (2007) helped the researcher
to gain some perspective of parental experiences on how their child’s use of substance affect 35
them and their families. It appears that parents go through a lot when their children use
substances. The impact is felt by the parents on their health, emotional well-being and
finances. The family as whole is affected as the parents would use the resources of the family
in order to attempt to help their child to stop using drugs.
Social and Cultural Factors Associated with Drug Abuse in Adolescents
In this section social and cultural factors which may promote substance use initiation
are discussed. Parental influence, peer influence, socio-economic factors and availability of
the drug will be discussed below.
Parental influence. According to Eiser, Morgan, Gammage, and Gray (1989), being in
a family where either one parent or both use a substance increases the probability that one or
more of the children will use a substance. Parents’ perceptions of substance use may either
promote or discourage the use of a substance; that is, parents who accept or condone
substance use may encourage it, and parents who disapprove of such use may discourage
their children from engaging in substance use behaviour. Parents’ level of education and the
family’s socio-economic status seems to have an inverse relationship with their children’s
decision to use a substance or not (Eiser et al., 1989).
Peer influence. According to Jiloha (2009), the greatest influence on an individual’s decision to start smoking tobacco is their friends. If an individual has a friend who smokes, it is likely that they themselves will adopt the habit. Befriending smokers is a predictor for smoking, especially among adolescents. Sargent and DiFranza (2003) also maintained that adolescents approaching middle school centre their lives on their peers, fitting in to a specific group and adopting its norms and culture. They would choose to associate with a group of peers who tend to reflect their interests and values. One of the powerful influences on smoking is when a friend starts smoking. Brown (2002) stated that those who are not 36 smokers, but are friends with those who are, are twice as likely to start smoking in about a year or two. Peer groups and relationships have the potential both to increase and to decrease risk (Brown, 2002).
Socio-economic factors. People in lower-income groups are more likely to use substances than their counterparts in higher-earning groups. Jones and Sumnail (2016) found the same pattern among adolescents who come from such backgrounds. Hamdulay and Mash
(2011) found that adolescents from low-income families tended to use cheap and affordable substances, most of which tended to be illegally manufactured or produced.
Availability. According to Lipari, Kroutil, and Pemberton’s, (2015) availability and accessibility of a substance are the most crucial predictors that substance use may be initiated and maintained. Easy access to a substance predisposes the adolescent to use such a substance, especially if a parent or a member of the family is using it (Jiloha, 2009). A group member who can afford the substance makes it easy for other members of the group to access it and maintain the habit. This may create a situation where recruiting others is easy.
Social and Cultural Consequences of Adolescent Substance Abuse
This section discusses the consequences of adolescent substance use on social and cultural aspects of the community. The consequences can affect a wide variety of aspects in the community: however, the researcher chose to discuss school-related problems, risky sexual practices, delinquent behaviour and juvenile crime as they related more to the current study.
School-related problems. According to the National Center on Addiction and
Substance Abuse (NCASA) at Columbia University, struggling with school work, declining grades at school, missing school, and dropping out from school are challenges that are strongly associated with substance use in adolescents (NCASA, 1999). The cognitive, social 37
and behavioural challenges that adolescents go through may predispose them to start using a
substance or substances.
Risky sexual practices. Substance use places an adolescent at a higher risk of
practising risky sexual behaviour. This behaviour has serious consequences, such as
unwanted pregnancy or sexually transmitted infections (STIs) (Hamdulay & Mash, 2011).
Delinquent behaviour. Jiloha (2009) reported that adolescents who use cannabis are
six times more likely to run away from home than those who do not. Users of cannabis are
five times more likely to commit crimes in order to feed their habit. They may steal various
items, starting at home and then moving on to other homes. Their criminal behaviour at
times escalates to physically attacking people for their belongings.
Juvenile crime. The increase in drug use has led to escalating crime statistics,
especially in areas where there are high levels of drug use (Jiloha, 2009). A significant
proportion of these offenders have been found to be adolescents. Adolescents resort to
criminal behaviour to feed their drug habit because most of them do not have an income.
There is a close relationship between drug addiction and criminal behaviour (Jiloha, 2009).
The Process of Drug Use
This section of the review discusses theories of drug use that examine when and how
use begins, and how it progresses to become an addiction.
According to a 2013 study, children as young as 12 years in the United States were
already using substances (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration,
2014). Initially drugs such as tobacco, alcohol, cannabis and psychotherapeutic drugs were
the substance of choice. If drug use persisted as adolescents grew older, they sometimes began using substances that provide a greater state of euphoria or level of satisfaction.
Substances such as cannabis and illegally classified substances (especially the illicit drugs) 38 were the ones they moved on to, while continuing to use the drugs they initially started with.
The earlier an adolescent experimented with drugs, the greater the chance that they would have a substance use disorder. Most young people tended not to become users. It is reported in the study that those who progressed to becoming users were influenced by their environment and drug availability. According to the study, the patterns of substance use in general were influenced by social perceptions of the substance, the risks associated with it and the availability of the substance in the community.
Different theories about substance use have been developed in an attempt to explain its beginnings and escalation. According to Bevilacqua and Goldman (2009), one of those theories is biologically based: it is believed that genes predispose an individual to substance use. Another view on this phenomenon has to do with peer groups: it is believed that those who have started using substances tend to form affiliations with peers who use substances which may also expose them to other substances (Haase & Pratschke, 2010).
Different ways of explaining the patterns of initiation into substance use have been identified in the literature according to Kaplow et al. (2002). These patterns include the environment, gender, and ethnic group or race. Boys are more likely to be introduced to substance use than girls. Some communities tend to associate substance use with boys’ coming of age. In some groups there are substances that are strongly associated with culture and a particular way of life. Communities where substances are available in public places like parks and schools and at home are likely to have young people experimenting with substances. The habit of substance abuse can be modelled by those whom the adolescent regards as important, individuals like siblings, friends and sometimes parents (NCASA,
1999).
While most youths do not progress beyond initial use, a small percentage rapidly escalate their substance abuse. Various models of addiction have been proposed to account 39
for this (NIDA, 2006), including the risk and protective factor model of addiction which is
discussed below.
The Risk and Protective Factor Model of Addiction
This section discusses the protective and risk factor model. UNODC (2004) stated that
there are a number of factors that influence the individual to either use or not use drugs.
Researchers have found that young people who do become addicted are likely to have
experienced more high risk factors (factors that promote addiction) than protective factors
(factors that discourage the use of substances).
Risk factors. According to UNODC (2004), risk factors are defined as those factors in the individual’s life that increase the likelihood of substance use. Generally it is perceived
that the more risk factors there are, the greater the chance that the young person will
experience a drug problem.
The report identifies the following risk factors.
Individual. Individuals with low self-esteem, inadequate social skills, those who lack
self-control, sensation seekers, those who experience anxiety and depression, and those who
experience stressful life events are more likely to have problems with substances.
Being male. An individual’s gender plays a role in predicting whether they will use substances or not. In many communities there are more males than females using substances.
When they do use, most female users tend to use illicit or legal over-the-counter prescription drugs.
Being young. Young people, especially adolescents, tend to struggle with identity and belonging. In the process of finding their identity they often experiment with a lot of things.
Some of them experiment with substances. Initially they go through experimentation in a 40
quest to find identity and affiliation, and at times they experiment in order to escape the
struggles and anxieties of not knowing who they are in their quest to define themselves.
Genetic factors. It is believed that there are people who are genetically predisposed
towards using substances. More often than not it is found that there is a history of substance
use in the family tree of those who use substances (UNODC, 2004). Studies indicate an increasing risk ratio for individuals as the number of individuals using a substance in the family rises, and as the number and severity of instances of familial substance use increase.
Drug use is a personal choice: however, progression to substance use disorder may be greatly influenced by a child’s genetic make-up (National Council on Aalcoholism and Drug
Dependence (NCADD, 2015). Symptoms displayed during substance dependency (tolerance, withdrawal and cravings) appear to support the idea that addictions are biological entities and medical problems (Clark, 2011).
In the family. Most of an individual’s initial interactions take place within a family system. These interactions may have positive or negative implications. Early interactions in children’s lives are the most important in determining the lifestyle choices they make when they grow up. Mutual attachment between the child and the caregiver is important to the way the child interacts with the environment in the future. Inadequate parenting, a home with no boundaries and no discipline, a lack of a positive significant relationship with an adult, and/or a caregiver who engages in behaviour that is deemed negative may incline the child to experiment with a lot of things like substances.
Such experiences during the early stages of life, especially substance use by the caregiver, may compromise the child’s mutual attachment to the caregiver and the family.
This may lead to the child feeling insecure and developing in an unhealthy way. 41
Outside the family. Other places where one needs to look for risk factors that may contribute to substance use behaviour are in the relationships that a child establishes outside the family system. The most immediate risk of substance use in the child’s life outside the family is associating with substance-using peers. Other relationships formed could be at school, with peers and in the community, and these relationships play another major role in the child’s developmental life, cognitively, emotionally and socially. For some children the difficulty of adjusting to their environment places them at risk of delinquent behaviour. For instance, some children perform poorly in their academic work, while others have poor social coping skills and engage in relationships with peers with problematic behaviours such as substance use. A recent study done by Dishion and Skaggs (2000) found that addressing this behaviour by placing high-risk individuals in an intervention with their peers brought about a negative outcome. The study pointed to the need for an exploration into the ways in which
adults or peers with a positive outlook can affect delinquent behaviour.
Things such as availability of the substance and policies created to restrict substance
use may increase the probability of the substance use (DiClemente, 2006). According to
Dunlap, Johnson, Kotarba, and Fackler, (2010), with the drugs readily available and the demand high, opportunities for the unemployed to start businesses in the market increase as this has shown to be a good way of making quick money. In a community where the young people have limited skills (be it academic or for life) and the prospect of a bleak future, it becomes easy to either use or sell drugs, or even both, as an escape route out of a life of poverty.
Protective factors. According to UNODC (2004), these are the factors that an individual child may experience that would reduce the probability that they will experiment with or use substances. 42
Individual. An individual’s own personality may provide protection. For example, one
of the protective qualities that the adolescent may have is self-control. Such an attribute in
the adolescent life may inhibit problematic behaviour and is believed to mature as the
adolescent grows.
In the family. Families that foster strong bonds between children and caregivers can
serve as a protective factor as the child develops. When parents are able to be involved in the child’s life, managing to meet the child’s cognitive, emotional, social and financial needs, they act as a protective factor. One of the major roles for parents to play in this process is to set clear boundaries and enforce adequate discipline.
During infancy, mutual attachment between the child and the caregiver is a critical aspect of creating a family as a protective factor. If such bonds are formed, it is likely that the child will manage strong positive attachments in the future.
Outside the family. Though life outside the family is challenging for some, family can play a critical role in creating protective factors outside the family. When children are outside the family system, protective factors provided by the family may include the following:
a) monitoring the child’s movements outside the family (bearing in mind that this
monitoring should be age-appropriate, and that as the child grows the level of
privacy increases);
b) knowing the child’s friends and being aware of any changes, so as to provide
proper guidance;
c) ensuring that proper assistance is provided for their academic work, and that the
child has been placed in the appropriate school; and, 43
d) strong relationships with social institutions (schools, religious institutions and
groups) that the child is involved in.
Outside of the family, preventative interventions like awareness campaigns can also
provide an adolescent with the skills needed to avoid initial use and also to prevent substance
use progress (NIDA, 2010).
Theoretical Approaches that May Explain Substance Use
In this section the researcher discusses the theoretical approaches that are available in
order to try and explain how addiction develops. The approaches discussed below are the
existential approach, social learning theory and family systems theory.
Existential approach. An existential view on substance use by the youth implies that young people may choose to use substances as a way of responding to or escaping from stressful challenges brought about by their pressing concerns or their need to understand their existence. This happens at the expense of their own personal growth (Fitzgerald, 2005).
According to this approach, young people find it challenging to meet their existential needs.
They experiment with the available resources to meet those needs. Drug use becomes one of
the mechanisms at their disposal in their attempts to meet those needs.
According to Glasser (1984), young people’s experiences accumulate and increase their
sense of a failing identity, and generate feelings of isolation and loss of life purpose. As a
result, they turn to drugs to escape and to gain some sort of control over the accumulated
experience of their needs not being met and struggling to exist. Koole, Greenberg, and
Pyszczynski (2006) echo these sentiments, pointing to the isolation arising from the conflict
between people’s need to feel connected to others and their experiences of rejection, and the realisation that their subjective experience of reality can never be fully shared. They point out that the existential concern is freedom, which originates from people’s experience of free 44 will versus the restrictions placed on their behaviour by external forces and the burden of responsibility for their choices. At this stage of life, young people are actively engaged in identity exploration and they may indulge in drug abuse when they experience self-doubt and role confusion (Taubman-Ben-Ari, 2004). The dilemma described above that is experienced by young people can be depicted by the diagram below.
Struggling with Striving for identity connectedness confusion with other
Stresses and Stresses and anxiety anxiety
Youth drug use
Stresses and Stresses and anxiety anxiety
Exercising Searching for freedom and the meaning of responsibility life
Figure 1. Conceptual framework on substance use (in Koole, Greenberg, and Pyszczynski, 2006).
The question that arises from the above would be how this addictive behaviour affects the user’s interpersonal relationships. According to Trujillo (2004), drug abusers forsake the existential need of being-with-others, such that they pursue ways of being accommodated and geared into existence with drugs instead of with others, a way of being that is exclusively for the sake of the dependent’s self. Users find their existential needs met through the substance used. In turn, interpersonal relationships are set aside and a new relationship with the substance is pursued. In essence the individual finds existence in the substance more than in 45
the world around him/her. The drug abuser appropriates the significance of the World and enfolds it into the phenomenal body such that it overwhelmingly streams towards the manifestation of being-high and being-free-of-craving (Merleau-Ponty, 1967).
Social learning theory. In the existential perspective, addiction is seen as a poor or inadequate coping mechanism in which addicts turn to their substance of choice for comfort and escape. The social learning perspective goes beyond just coping and escaping to emphasise social cognition. DiClemente (2006) argued that cognitive expectancies, learning and self-regulation are the reasons why an individual uses a substance. The role of peers and significant others’ view of a substance may increase the probability of substance use. The second aspect is the availability of drugs (Kruger, 2015). In social learning theory, an adoption of behaviour is seen or enforced by what the individuals see or hear in their environment at that particular point in time (Akers & Sellers, 2004). Akers and Seller identify four variables to explain how social learning may take place. These variables are:
Differential associations. This refers to the direct and indirect relationships that an individual may foster with those who are in support of a behaviour or behave in that way themselves. Such relationships create a learning environment for that behaviour to be adopted (Akers & Sellers, 2004). According to Brank, Lane, Turner, Fain, and Sehgal
(2008), if an individual fosters a relationship with another individual who manifests a particular type of behaviour, this is a strong indicator that the first individual will also behave in that way. This was supported by a study by Durkin, Wolfe, and Clark (2005). Peer influence remains the most influential factor among young people.
Definitions. These are the meanings one attaches to a particular behaviour, the beliefs one holds about it, and the attitudes one has towards it. Durkin et al. (2005) state that there are significant effects of definitions, as well as perceived reinforcements on substance use 46 behaviour. The more positive the definition of the behaviour, the more likely the behaviour is to occur, be it conforming or deviant (Akers & Sellers, 2004).
Differential reinforcement. In reinforcement there need to be two important aspects: rewards of a behaviour (referred to as positive reinforcement which strengthens the likelihood of behaviour), and punishment of a behaviour (referred to as negative reinforcement which weakens the likelihood of behaviour). Differential reinforcement looks into how the individual perceives the reward or punishment of behaviour. If in their perception their behaviour is rewarded, the individual will most likely continue behaving as they are; however if there is punishment perceived with their behaviour they are most likely to change.
Imitation. This is likely to affect the acquisition of novel behaviour, but continues to have some effect in the maintenance of behaviour where one imitates or models the behaviour after observing another doing the same thing.
These four variables are depicted below.
Definitions Differential
Reinforcement Favourable and
unfavourable to Balance of reward and deviant or conforming punishment behaviour
Differential Imitation associations Modelling and Balance of conforming Behaviour imitation of peer and deviant peers groups Deviant or conforming behaviour
Figure 2. The four variables leading to a behaviour (taken from Akers and Sellers, 2004). 47
Family systems theory. A system can be defined as a unit made up of different components that are closely related by interactions which include interchange of information or material energy and space to produce a desired outcome by the system (Von Bertalanffy
(1968). According to Vorster (2006), on the other hand, a system is a set of elements standing in interaction to function as a single unit (that is, what affects one element in the system will affect the other elements equally). He further postulated that the system is made up of three basic elements, which are:
Objects. These are the elements that make up the system, for example, in a family system, members of the family will be the objects of that system.
Attributes of the objects. These are the attitudes, norms, culture and traditions of the system. In the family system, an example would be the goals, attitudes and other characteristics that the object needs to follow or pursue in order for the system to function optimally.
Relationship amongst the objects. This refers to the interactions that take place
amongst the elements of the system. Here we can also look at the hierarchy of the system,
boundaries set and the subsystems (parents, siblings, etc.).
The characteristics of a system are how it processes information, how those interactions
create patterns in the system, and the circularity that occurs in a system through feedback into
and out of the system.
Steinglass, Bennett, Wolin, and Reiss (1987) hypothesised that the systems model of a
substance user’s family has the following components in order to explain how substance use
impacts the family of the user:
1) In families where there is a user, the components of the system tends to interact in
such a way that substance use becomes a central dictator to how the system’s 48
principles are structured, an aspect in the systems theory referred to as the whole is
greater than the sum of the parts. This refers to the fact that the system defines its
functioning in terms of the addict, thus using most of its resources in an attempt to
resolve the behaviour or allowing the family to function around the behaviour.
2) When a substance is introduced into the family this creates a situation where the
family’s norms and rules that regulate growth and homeostasis in the family are
changed. These changes may direct the family to seek short-term regulatory methods
to help keep it stable, and long-term growth is compromised. This process is referred
to as the homeostasis-morphostasis state. Becvar and Becvar (2014) define this as a
system’s ability or potential to remain stable in a context of change and
transformation-morphogenesis. Systems in this state reach a level of redundancy and
the process of morphogenesis (which describes system-enhancing behaviour which
allows for growth, creativity and change of its structure) becomes halted and the
desired change is not achieved. It is crucial for a system to maintain a balance
between these two sates in order to function optimally.
3) Due to the introduction of a new element in the family (substance-related behaviour),
the greatest impact is observed through the many changes that the family has to
undergo in regulatory mode in order to establish ways to accommodate the existence
of substance use within the family. This is a state termed equifinality, which is
defined as a system’s way to reach a given state by many potential means (Von
Bertalanffy, 1968).
4) The changes that take place in the family to regulate itself can change the overall
functioning of the family, and then redefine the family’s growth and developmental
norms or goals. This state is known as developmental distortion of the family. 49
In summary, systems theory views substance abuse as the result of a dysfunctional
family system. The system’s objects are the user and the non-users in the family. In this perspective, the addictive behaviour of one or more individuals in the system results from the dynamic system, rather than individual actions or motivation. In addition to the substance abuser, there is a co-dependent, who is a family member who maintains addictive behaviour by enabling the substance abuser (Stevens, 2013b). According to DiClemente (2006), problematic parenting and adult roles, challenges, conflicted and broken marriages and excessive use of a substance in the family play a major role in future addictive behaviour.
The idea of family homeostasis may act as a regulatory structure in which the deviant behaviour plays an important role in the individual’s or family’s function. Vorster (2003) referred to this deviant behaviour as a symptom which serves a given purpose in the family.
Ploskin (n.d.) stated that co-dependency is characterised by the loss of self and the external focus on gaining control. The behaviour develops in the individual who is close to the substance user and this behaviour is maintained through family functioning. The co- dependent family members engage in enabling behaviours that maintain the family disease.
The co-dependent family members are affected individually: they experience shame, emotional numbing, low self-esteem, depression, anxiety, rage, and interpersonal problems
(Ferguson, 2011). The co-dependent person in the relationship will try to cover for the neglect by taking on added responsibilities themselves. They may take on extra work in the home, make excuses at the loved one’s place of employment and lie to others when the abusing person does not show up for important events (The Right Step, 2013). Grover (2017) interviewed a father telling a story about his addicted son. The father said that he wrote a letter to the son about his drug abuse. In the story he gave an analogy of the drug use as a train on the tracks approaching his son sounding its horn. He said that it was his responsibility as the father to push away his son and take the hit. However he said that he 50
had realised that in fact in doing so he was enabling his son’s drug behaviour, and thus he
would be the one killed and the son moved to a different track with another train coming.
Conclusion
This chapter is on the available literature on substance use in South Africa and the
world at large and nyaope which is a drug that is uniquely found in South Africa. Drugs use
in South Africa amongst the youth appears to be growing at an alarming rate. It would be expected that with this growing trend there would be much interest in researching it, however, the researcher discovered that little has been done to understand the phenomenon and its effects on the parents and the family who are affected by the youth’s drugs use.
Literature on nyaope is very limited and the researcher chose to use newspaper article to attempt to bring an understanding of what it is. He also experienced difficulty in finding literature on the parent’s experiences of substance use in general, although there were some international studies with this focus, or nyaope in South Africa in particular. The literature
review indicated that much still needs to be done to study nyaope and the effects the drug has
on the parents and the family.
In the next chapter the researcher discusses the methodological process followed when
the study was conducted. The data analysis procedure and the ethical considerations taken
into account in the study are also discussed in the next chapter.
51
Methodology
Introduction
The aim of this research was to gain an understanding of the experiences and perceptions parents have of their children’s use of the drug nyaope, and how their children’s use of the substance may have affected them. The researcher accordingly sought a research methodology that would take each participant’s subjective experience into account, as well as their understanding and interpretation of the situation and the meaning that they ascribed to it.
A qualitative research approach was felt to be most appropriate for this study, as it would yield the required data in the form of the stories that participants told, and it would allow the researcher to explore this data as a way of understanding their views and experiences.
This chapter presents the methodology used in the study. It explains the study design, the study population and sampling method, the study setting, the data collection procedures and the data analysis used. It also outlines the ethical considerations that the researcher observed in carrying out the study and the strategies followed to ensure its trustworthiness.
Qualitative Research
Neuman (2007) defines qualitative research as a detailed description of the investigation of a given phenomenon. The goal of the qualitative researcher in a particular study is to arrive at an understanding of a phenomenon by exploring and illuminating the perspective of those involved.
According to Creswell (2009), qualitative research is an organized investigation of people’s experiences and a contextualizing of those experiences in their environment. It provides a systematic method of gaining insight into how other people view their world and 52
the meaning they attach to it. Qualitative research looks into the experiences of individuals in
a given population that fall outside the norms and values the population has (Creswell, 1998).
The researcher aimed to understand how parents experienced and perceived their child’s use of the drug nyaope, and how these experiences and perceptions may have changed their view on life. In preparation for the study, he chose a methodological approach that would include the participants’ own experiences and bring to the fore their understanding and interpretations of what they were going through, from their own points of view.
Qualitative researchers take time to learn about individuals in their naturalistic settings, as they try to understand or interpret phenomena in relation to how people process them
(Patton, 2002). Planning is essential in designing a qualitative study. It helps to facilitate
closeness with the participants and to have access to the rich information they have about the
phenomenon the researcher is interested in (Creswell, 2009).
Researchers use patterns in the data to determine preconceived models, hypotheses or
theories. They also become conscious of the effect their studies have on people and show
empathy towards and identify with the people they are studying, while looking at settings and
people holistically. Attention is thus focused on the processes and the meanings, rather than
on measurement and causal relationships between variables. Willig and Stainton-Rogers
(2008) point out that direct inquiry into a phenomenon under study, from those with
subjective experience of it, will yield data that captures the richness of their perspective when
analysed qualitatively. They believe that an attempt to put these narratives into a quantifiable
measure will result in the loss of essential information about those experiences.
It is hence very crucial for the researcher to capture the understanding of his
participants’ experiences in order to understand their subjective experience (Merriam. 2009). 53
This would enable the researcher to fully understand the experiences of those participating in the study without losing the essence and quality of their understanding.
In the current study, a qualitative methodology would allow the deepest understanding of how parents view their children’s use of the drug nyaope, as well as their coping mechanisms and their perceptions of its impact.
A qualitative research approach hence became the approach of choice, as it would allow participants an opportunity to narrate their stories and their encounters, creating a repository where a great amount of information about their experiences would be available to the researcher.
According to Dudley (2005), there are four types of qualitative research design; these are ethnography, grounded theory, phenomenology and case study. This study set out to explore a phenomenon; hence phenomenology was the most suitable research design.
According to Moustakas (1994), phenomenology is a study design that allows the researcher to look into how things appear as they are experienced by those who are going through the phenomenon under study. The major goal of phenomenology is hence to study an event or phenomenon from the perspective of those who are experiencing it (Kafle, 2011).
The current research adopted a phenomenological design. The researcher chose this because the study was concerned with a phenomenon about which little was known and on which not much work had been done. According to van der Westhuizen (2007), this approach is recommended in areas of research where there is no hypothesis and little knowledge of a given phenomenon (van der Westhuizen, 2007).
Methods of Phenomenological Research
Phenomenological research methods include interviews, conversations, focus groups, action research and observations. All these methods help the researcher to understand the 54
conscious experiences and perceptions of the participants. In this study, the researcher used
the focus group method to get the necessary information about the experiences of parents
whose children use nyaope. With focus groups the researcher can pursue issues as they arise.
Focus groups. According to Skott and Ward (2013), a focus group is a discussion by a group made up of people who are experiencing a phenomenon. The goal of the focus group is to understand the group members’ perceptions and experiences of a given situation.
Stewart and Shamdasani (2015) describe a focus group as an interview that takes place within a group setting. A focus group is, according to Rabiee, (2004) a technique involving the use of in-depth group interviews in which participants are selected because they are a purposive, although not necessarily representative, sampling of a specific population, this group being focused on a given topic. Participants in this type of research are, therefore, selected on the basis of the criterion that they would have something to say on the topic, are within the specified age-range, have similar social characteristics and would be comfortable talking to the interviewer and each other (Richardson & Rabiee, 2001). The group setting is arranged in accordance with a set number of group members, has certain inclusion criteria of membership and follows interview procedures. According to Dilshad and Latif (2013), the two key composition factors of a focus group are the focus group guide and setting a manageable number of group members who meet the inclusion criteria as dictated by the phenomenon under study. It is believed that the whole point of setting an interview in a group is that group members influence each other with their responses, thus allowing a greater generation of information about their experiences (Wong 2010).
The moderator stimulates discussion with comments or by raising subjects. The
fundamental data produced by this technique are the transcripts of the group discussions and
the moderator’s reflections and annotations. Focus groups should be held at a convenient
time and location for all those invited and should, ideally, be recorded and transcribed. 55
According to Kruger (1994), these are the advantages and disadvantages of using a
focus group as a mode for data collection:
Advantages of focus groups. The advantages of focus groups are as follows:
a) Focus groups can generate more ideas which will help the researcher explore the
topic.
b) They can offer credibility to research where issues of bias are associated with
interviews.
c) They save time and are cost effective.
d) They dictate the sampling method.
Disadvantages of focus groups. Focus groups also have a number of disadvantages:
1) They require a skilled researcher to facilitate the discussion.
2) There are issues of confidentiality.
3) Some participants may be dominant.
4) Some participants may hold back because of the group situation.
Study Design
The current study adopted an exploratory design using a qualitative approach by means of through interview procedures in focus groups of three or four group members to collect data from parents whose children were using or had used the drug nyaope. The study focused on the parents’ experiences and elicited the challenges that they faced. 56
Sampling
Sampling is a research tool that enables the researcher to observe the population, the
environmental settings and the phenomenon that they are interested in, the responses towards
it and how the population in general perceive it (Terre Blanche, Durrheim, & Painter, 2006).
Latham (2007) on the other hand defines sampling as a process whereby the researcher takes a smaller group of individuals in a population that he wishes to observe and collect data from.
This group is seen as a representation of the population and at times referred to as the
subgroup in the population. Qualitative research studies take a different approach to drawing
up a sample from that adopted in quantitative studies. As this research took a qualitative
approach, it was crucial to select the appropriate sampling method, to allow the information
drawn from the sample to be captured in its richness and authenticity without quantifying it.
Terre Blanche et al. (2006) state that, in order to gain an in-depth understanding of a
phenomenon, a small sample of rich cases needs to be considered. This principle was
observed in this study in an attempt to gain a full understanding of the ways in which the
parents perceived their experiences of their children’s use of the substance nyaope.
The researcher chose to use a mixed sampling method. He chose two sampling
methods that are recognized for a qualitative study. The methods used were criterion
sampling (a type of purposive sampling) and snowball sampling (also known as chain
sampling). Palys (2008) describes the criterion sampling method as a sampling method based
on the inclusion of individuals who have experienced the phenomenon under study. The
snowball or chain sampling starts when the researcher asks or searches for the required
information from individuals who are viewed as knowledgeable about the subject or topic
under study. The informants may then assist the researcher to identify other people who may
assist in the progress of the study. The identified individuals may also be used to identify
individuals who might be interested in contributing to the study and have an interest in 57 participating in it (Mertens, 2010). The reason why the researcher chose these sampling methods was that he needed individuals in the population who had a child who was using the drug nyaope, and he wished to allow those individuals to recommend other people who might be experiencing the same situation. Participants were selected according to the following inclusion criteria:
a) The ages of the parents who participated in the study were to be between 35 and
75 years.
b) The parents had to have knowledge of their children’s use of the drug nyaope.
c) Their children had to have undergone or be undergoing an intervention process
from an organization in the community, rehabilitation centre or the Department
of Social Development.
d) Their children had to have been identified as users of the drug nyaope.
e) The children of those participating had to be between 13 and 45 years old.
f) There was no bias set on race, ethnicity or gender.
Applying the above-mentioned criteria allowed the researcher to purposefully identify relevant participants and thus help facilitate proper output in the form of the views of the parents who had children in the identified age range who had used or were using the drug nyaope. This also helped the researcher to pay attention on the process and to accurately derive the meaning those people attached to their experiences (Moon et al., 1990).
The organization the researcher requested assistance from works closely with the
Department of Social Development offices in the community and was hence able to refer the researcher to the social worker responsible for the placement of the children into rehabilitation programs available in the Department. The researcher asked the social worker to assist in identifying parents whose children were using or had used the drug nyaope and who had received or were receiving assistance from the Department. The identified 58 individuals were informed of the aims and objectives of the study using a research participant leaflet (see Appendix C1 for the English version and Appendix C2 for the seTswana version).
The process described gave the participants the opportunity to take part in the study or to decline to do so. Individuals who agreed to participate in the study completed and signed an informed consent form (see Appendix D1 for the English version and D2 for the seTswana version). Participation in this research was voluntary. The researcher aimed to interview 10 to 15 parents divided into three focus groups of three to five members each, and more groups would be added if the need arose until data saturation was reached. The study ultimately had
11 participants in three focus groups. One group had three participants and two of the groups comprised four members each. The researcher together with the participants then filled the data sheet (see Appendix E1 for the English version and Appendix E2 for the seTswana version)
Data collected during qualitative research needs to include a full description of the participants. This justified utilizing both purposive sampling and snowballing sampling methods, as this allowed the researcher to draw the desired sample size. It was important for the research to draw a sample that was as close a representation as possible of the population’s characteristics; De Vos, Strydom, Fouche, and Delport, (2005) point out that the characteristics of a sample need to be a microcosm of the population. As mentioned by
Taylor and Bogdan (1984), the research needs to maintain the quality of the narrations of the participants. The researcher chose to not quantify the stories of the participants, but rather used the quantitative methodological approach so as to preserve the data in its essence. The sample size accordingly allowed the researcher to be able to look at each participant’s story in depth and as a whole.
The results obtained in this study were not generalized to the entire population. 59
Data Collection
The data collection method used in the study was focus groups. Parents were placed in focus groups, and interview procedures were used in the study to explore their views of their children’s use of nyaope.
Using interview procedures allowed the participants to express their views and perceptions of the topic being discussed. The researcher chose to use the interview method because it allowed him to ask the participants direct questions about their experiences. An
interview guide (see Appendix F1 for the English version and Appendix F2 for the seTswana
version) relating to the aims and objectives of the study was compiled by the researcher. This
was done to help the researcher to keep track of the group and not repeat himself or ask
irrelevant questions.
An interview guide gives the researcher flexibility to ask questions in a different
sequence while making sure that he stays on track with the desired goal. This method creates
a certain level of reliability in data collection, as it allows the researcher to ask the same
questions of different groups. Being present in the groups gives the researcher an opportunity
to observe the participants’ non-verbal communication as well (Monnette, Sullivan, DeJong,
& Hilton, 2011).
The researcher maintained a group-centred approach during the group discussion. This
was evident in the way the researcher showed empathy, congruence and unconditional
positive regard to the group members. The group discussion about the parents’ experiences
was very emotional. The researcher made provision for those participants who experienced
distress to consult a psychologist in the local clinics or hospital, and those who preferred to
use a private psychologist were allowed to do so. Though the researcher is training as a
clinical psychologist, he cannot play the double role of being the researcher and a therapist 60
for the participants. According to Knox and Burkard (2009), it is a huge challenge for a
researcher who is a trained therapist to draw the line between being an interviewer and being
a therapist; however, it is an ethical dilemma that the researcher needs to overcome. The
researcher was, however, able to have an empathic ear and psycho-educate the participants
about their emotional state and where they could go and seek help.
All of the interviews were done in focus groups conducted at two venues: the offices of the Santa Maria Village for the Aged, children Foster and Day Care, and Place of Safety, and a community school hall after hours. One group was conducted at the offices of the Santa
Maria Village for the Aged, children Foster and Day Care, and Place of Safety, and the other
two groups were conducted in a local school (Kudube Primary School). The researcher
ensured that the interviews took place in an environment that was suitable for the research.
The interviews were recorded in order to preserve and maintain the quality of the data
collected. Interviewees were conducted mainly in seTswana, and one participant in the last
group asked to respond in isXhosa. The other participants agreed to that, as did the
researcher, as they are well-versed in that language.
Data Transcription and Translation
The researcher took all the recordings of all the groups and transcribed them word for word. During the process of data analysis, he immersed himself in reading and rereading the
transcribed data, in order to familiarize himself with the information. The seTswana
transcripts were translated into English. In order to avoid bias, the researcher requested an
independent individual who is able to speak and understand both English and seTswana to do
the translation. This individual interprets between these two languages at his local church. 61
Data Analysis
Data analysis in qualitative research is the process in which the researcher breaks up,
separates or disassembles research material into pieces, parts, elements or units and sorts and
sifts these pieces in search of types, classes, sequences, processes, patterns, or wholes in them
(Boetjie, 2010). According to Neuman (2000), this process is called the thematic content of
analysis. The application of this data analysis method in the study involved the researcher
breaking up the data collected during the interviews into themes and subthemes, where
interpretation took place. A theme is a pattern of responses that fit together and are clustered
by the researcher into meaningful units (Ryan & Bernard, 2003).
Thematic content analysis is characterized by identifying, analysing and reporting
themes that are revealed from the collected data. This method of analysis allows the researcher to arrange themes and to report on them in detail (Braun & Clark, 2006). Legard,
Keegan, and Ward (2003) stated that exploratory research gives the researcher an opportunity to unearth unexplored knowledge and understanding of a given phenomenon and those
involved in the matters he or she is interested in. The researcher chose to take an exploratory
approach because little is known about the parents’ experiences of their children’s use of
nyaope.
Braun and Clarke (2006) also point out that the thematic content analysis method is
applied in research analysis in order to extract concepts through the grouping or relating of
certain words so as to identify a theme. In thematic analysis the researcher conceptualizes the
raw data. The concepts that emerge from this process are then outlined or recorded, examined and then validated (Braun & Clarke, 2006).
Terre Blanche et al. (2006) point out that there are several steps or methods used to
create themes in thematic analysis. Below are the steps that the researcher used: 62
Familiarisation and immersion. This is the first step and involves going through texts
many times, making notes, brainstorming and drawing diagrams. If this is properly done, the
researcher should know his data well enough to be able to arrange the information in a
workable analytical structure and to predict the kinds of interpretations to be expected.
Inducing themes. This is the second step, in which general rules or classes are inferred
and in which the researcher looks into the material and tries to work out the organizing
principles that underlie the material. Four things to consider in this step are:
The researcher needs to try to make use of subjects’ language rather than abstract
theoretical language to label different categories.
1) An attempt is made to move beyond just summarizing the content.
2) The researcher needs to find the optimal level of complexity in his material.
3) The researcher should not lose focus on what the study is about.
Coding. This is the third step, which entails coding data during the activity of developing themes by identifying different sections of the data as instances of, or relevant to, one or more of the themes identified. In doing this one may realize that some themes contain subthemes and may need to be analyzed as well. Codes are never concrete, and they may change.
Elaboration. This is the fourth step and involves exploring themes more closely, with the goal of capturing the finer nuances not captured during the coding stage and revising the coding system.
Interpretation and checking. This is the final step, where the researcher puts together an interpretation in a written account of the phenomena studied. The researcher may need to reflect on his or her role in data collection and interpretation. 63
Trustworthiness
Shenton (2004) stated that it is a difficult process to address the matter of
trustworthiness in a qualitative approach. This is because validity and reliability in this approach cannot be proven, as research that follows this approach is identified as naturalistic work. Aware of this difficulty, Guba (1981) proposed four steps that could be used in attempt to provide a level of trustworthiness in a qualitative study.
Lincoln and Guba (1985) labelled these four steps the criteria for trustworthiness; they
are credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmation. These criteria are discussed
below:
Credibility (internal validity). This criterion is based on the researcher’s ability to
utilize research methods that are acceptable and identified as credible. Ensuring that
participants who take part have experienced or are experiencing the phenomenon under study
is another way for a researcher to create credibility around his study (De Vos et al., 2005).
According to Guba (1981), this process would help to establish confidence by showing the
authentic nature of the findings of the study. In applying this criterion to his study, the
researcher identified inclusion criteria that assisted in him ensuring that a proper sample was
chosen for the study, consisting of parents who had a child or children who used or had used
nyaope. The research approach chosen is also regarded as a credible approach for a
qualitative study. Focus group is a method that is widely used in data collection of new
information. And lastly, the interview procedure applied in the process of data collection is a
widely accepted method of inquiry. The researcher conducted the focus groups himself, and
spent time interacting with the participants during the groups and forming rapport with them.
Transferability (generalizability). This criterion looks at the extent to which the findings of the study can be transferred to other studies of groups. As part of writing the report, the researcher conducted a literature review of articles, study and media information 64
that would be used to see if other people using the approach he was using in the study came
close to explaining his findings. The researcher also described in detail the setting of the study, the method of sampling used in the study, the method of data collection and analysis.
This could help the readers of the report to judge how these findings could be applied in future studies.
Dependability (reliability). This criterion relates to how the findings of this study
stay consistent or reliable over a period of time or if the study is conducted in a different
setting. Polit and Beck (2008) defined this concept as a test for stability of the findings over
time and under different conditions. In order to meet this criterion, the researcher used a
recognized method of data analysis. In the process of analysis he used a coding system for
words and phrases, creating concepts and themes to use in interpretation. An independent
reseacher was used to code the same data and the results were compared.
Confirmability (objectivity). According to Polit and Beck (2008), confirmability is
a criterion that is focused on addressing the authenticity of the data. It addresses instances
where researchers may create their own information or data to attempt to achieve their biased
outcome. It is used to address objectivity in a research study. In this instance, group
discussions were recorded and then transcribed verbatim. Participants’ responses were
quoted directly from the transcripts.
Researcher Bias
Research interviews are conducted by people, and these people have their own
objectives in conducting a study. It is a difficult task for researchers to conduct research and
remain objective. Subjectivity may have an effect on the findings of the study, as the
researcher may find himself biased in respect of the data received. According Šimundić,
(2013), bias is defined as a deviation from the truth or actual outcomes of the study. Bias can 65
be in the collection of data, the analysis of data and the interpretation of the results. The
existence of bias in a study can result in false information being reported.
The researcher minimized bias in this study by choosing participants who were
experiencing or had experienced the phenomenon he was interested in studying. He also
used a recognized research methodology in collecting, analyzing and interpreting the data.
The interviews were managed using an interview guide, which helped to ensure that the same
questions were asked in different focus groups. The researcher as a trainee in clinical
psychologist conducted all the focus groups himself, using the skills he has acquired during
his training. Interviews were conducted in a language which all participants could
understand. A co-coder was used in the analysis of the data, and the results of the two
processes were compared.
Ethical Considerations
Ethics is defined as the systematic reflection that describe how one should conduct
oneself professionally and in research. Ethics guides the conducting of a research study in a
manner that is acceptable and manages to treat others with respect. The initial step in
conducting this study was when the researcher sought permission from the Research Ethics
Committee of the University called the Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University
Research Ethics Committee (SMUREC). During this process, the proposal to conduct
research was placed under scrutiny to ensure that the research would observe the prescribed
ethical principles. For the approval of the proposal, a suitable venue for carrying out the research had to be found. An organization by the name of Santa Maria Village for the Aged,
Children Foster and Day Care and Place of Safety was approached and a letter requesting for assistance was written to the organization (Appendix A). This letter had a brief description and rational of the study to be conducted. The organization upon receipt of the letter 66
responded positively to the request through a letter (Appendix B). The letter of approval was
submitted to the SMUREC and it was included as part of research proposal.
One of the most important ethical principles in research when dealing with human
participants is respect. One way of displaying this attribute is by informing the participants
about the study and giving them the freedom to agree to participate (Terre Blanche et al.,
2006). Allan (2011) stated that, in the process of research, the researcher needs to make sure
that the benefit of the study should outweigh any risk. Adopting the stance of benevolence
and justifying the study as a contribution to research is a way of observing this principle.
Parental experiences of children using nyaope is an emotional issue. It is the
responsibility of the researcher in a study to safeguard the participants’ well-being and to
avoid placing the participants in a distressing situation. The researcher ensured that those
who were affected were offered an opportunity to consult a therapist to deal with their
emotions therapeutically. Information about the local clinics and hospitals for consultation
were given to the participants to enable them to seek assistance.
According to Allan (2011), research should benefit all the people involved in the study.
The stakeholders benefitting from the study are the researcher, the participants and the
community at large. The researcher believes that the participants and the community would
benefit in that a broader understanding of the parents’ experiences will be gained, and
interventions that may be developed may include the parents. The researcher plans to work
with the Department of Social Development in the community to create a support group for
parents. Participants in the study did mention that being part of the study helped them to
unburden themselves, as they do not usually have anybody to talk to.
The ethical considerations that were adopted in the study are stated and briefly explained below. 67
Informed consent. According to Shahnazarian, Rose, Hagemann, and Aburto (n.d.), informed consent is a process in which individuals voluntarily agree to take part in a study. It is an important part of the study and takes place in the initial stages of participants’ recruitment, and it is essential in research that involves human participation. Informing the participants about the study and the informed consent form should be conducted in a language they understand (Department of Health, 2006). In this instance, the researcher gave the participants a leaflet (Appendix C1: English version and C2: seTswana version) explaining the study, went through it together with them and offered clarity where questions arose. The leaflet was written in seTswana, which is the language the participants understood.
The researcher then went through the informed consent form (Appendix D1: English version and D2: seTswana version) with the participants; this was also done in a language they were familiar with. It was explained to the participants that participation in the study was voluntary and they were not forced to take part. It was also explained that should the participants sign the consent form, they could withdraw from the study without giving reasons to the researcher.
Confidentiality. The researcher ensured privacy by utilizing a place that was private to which people who were not members of the groups could not have easy access. The researcher also explained that the identity of the participants would not be shared with anyone who was not involved with the study. Hepworth, Rooney, and Larsen (2010) indicate that the researcher can use codes to identify the participants. In the current study, participants were given numbers as codes during the process of transcription and verbatim quotations were used in interpretation. Though the researcher asked that the child, the family members and the friends should not be mentioned by name, there were instances where the participants did 68
mention names. In this instance the researcher replaced the individual’s names with a
participation number.
Recordings of the groups’ discussions and the personal information sheets were kept in
a secure environment and will continue to be kept securely for at least five years
Conclusion
Because very little research exists on the experience of parents of nyaope users, the
researcher chose an exploratory qualitative methodological approach. The chosen
methodology made it simple for the researcher to conduct the study as it became a guide to
help facilitate the data collection. The sampling method helped with making sure that the
relevant individuals were recruited to take part in the study and provide the kind of
information that would answer the research question. Using focus groups to collect data
helped to obtain the depth of data required. In order to do no harm to the participants’ well-
being and to protect their integrity the ethical consideration guided the researcher. The use of
a snow-balling and purposive sampling method suggested by this methodology assisted the researcher in identifying appropriate people to participate and provide the kind of information
that would answer the research question. .
The next chapter presents the results and analysis of the collected data according to the
process discussed in this chapter. 69
The Research Results
Introduction
This chapter details the research process and explores the research findings. The aim of the study as stated in the introductory chapter was to explore the experiences, knowledge and coping mechanisms of parents whose children use the drug nyaope. The researcher’s objectives were:
a) to gather information on the actual experiences of the parents of children who
use nyaope, including their feelings and reactions;
b) to establish the extent of their knowledge about the drug;
c) to identify their coping mechanisms and their effectiveness; and
d) to identify the professional assistance sought by and available to parents.
The researcher made use of a qualitative research design complemented by the use of focus groups as the method chosen for collecting the raw data. Eleven participants were interviewed, all of whom were parents of children who used or had used the drug nyaope.
These parents were placed into three groups, one of which had three participants and two of which had four participants. The following inclusion criteria were used to identify the participants:
1) Parents had to be between 35 and 70 years of age.
2) Participation in the study was voluntary and no parent was forced. An informed
consent form was signed by the parents stating that they could withdraw from
the study without giving reasons.
3) The parents had knowledge of their children’s use of the drug nyaope. 70
4) Their children were undergoing or had undergone an intervention process
offered by the Santa Maria Village for the Aged, Children Foster and Day Care
and Place of Safety located in the community of Temba, a rehabilitation centre
for the Department of Social Development.
5) Their children had been identified as users or previous users of the drug nyaope.
6) Participants’ children had to be aged between 13 and 45.
7) There was no bias in terms of gender, race or ethnicity.
All the participants were parents or caregivers of the children, met the inclusion criteria and had agreed to participate in this research study without coercion. An interview guide
(Appendix F1 and F2) was used during the group meetings in order to help the researcher to make sure that the data collected was relevant to achieving the objectives. The interview guide also helped to ensure that the members of different groups were asked similar questions and that the data collection process was the same across groups.
The interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim and thematic content analysis
was used as a means of analysing the raw data.
The Research Process
In this section the researcher briefly outlines the research process and how this process
unfolded as it led the findings of the research, in the hope that this will make it possible for
the reader to understand the research setting. The researcher’s approach to bias in the
research is also outlined in order to present the findings in a balanced way. The researcher
believes that outlining the process will enhance the transparency of the study.
As mentioned in the chapter on research methodology, the researcher sought ethical
clearance from the Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University Research Ethics Committee 71
(SMUREC). A letter outlining the details of the study was written to the Santa Maria Village for the Aged, Children Foster and Day Care and Place of Safety to seek assistance and explain the purpose of the study. The researcher chose this organization because it was already helping children who were using nyaope to gain access to rehabilitation centres in the community.
The researcher requested the assistance of the manager who was running the organization to assist him by telling potential participants about the purpose of the study. The manager agreed to allow the researcher to source possible research participants from their database of the individuals they had assisted or were assisting at the time of the research. The participants for the first group were identified from the organization’s database and were approached for participation. The first five individuals agreed to take part in the study; however, only three individuals came for a meeting of the group and the others withdrew for personal reasons. Individuals in the first group helped the researcher and the manager of the organization to identify other participants who would be interested in taking part in the study.
The chain continued, with the participants helping to identify other individuals who might take part. The second and the third groups had only four members, as one member from each group did not come to the set appointment.
As mentioned before, the research was conducted in a community of Temba, and the researcher sought assistance from a community organization called the Santa Maria Village for the Aged, Children Foster and Day Care and Place of Safety located in the community.
Santa Maria Village for the Aged, Children Foster and Day Care and Place of Safety is an organization that deals mainly with the care of the elderly, the fostering of homeless children and providing a place of safety.
According to Mrs. Pheladi Nchabeleng (the founder and manager of the organization), she was moved to such compassion by the plight of nyaope users in the community that she 72
felt compelled to do something. She says she started having walks against the drug in which
she planned to identify the users and try to get them to one of the rehabilitation centres.
The researcher experienced the challenges that the founder spoke about while they went
to the parents affected to recruit them to take part in the study. Some of the parents were not
willing to take part and had said that were tired of trying things that did not work out. To
those who were willing to participate in the study their focus was more on getting help than
just being participants. The researcher did explain to those who ultimately took part in the
study the he could only refer them to other professionals and that as a researcher he could not
be a helper as this could temper with the research process.
Group Process
In this section the researcher outlines the makeup of the groups and the process that
unfolded during the sessions. Three groups were conducted and they were made up of the
participants and the researcher in each group. Each group started with the introduction of the
members of the group. The researcher then went through the rationale of the study using the
information leaflet and every member of the group was given a copy. The researcher took
time to attend to any clarity seeking questions that the participants might have had. The next
step was the signing of the informed consent. The researcher together with the participants went through the consent form and then the participants signed after all the questions the participants had about it been responded to. The researcher and the participants then worked together to set up the ground rules of each group. An ice-breaker was used to start the group and then the group discussion begun. The researcher had allocated a maximum of 60 minutes per session. Two of the three groups were done in one session and one group had two sessions. 73
In each group in the beginning there would be members of the group that would be
more active in participation. Other members of the group started participating when they
were directly asked a question or pointed out to take part and as the group progressed. As the
group progressed the said members spontaneously contributed to the matter under discussion.
It appeared that the participants who were active in the group were well informed about the
use of nyaope and also the use by their own children. For example, one of the participants
said that she was constantly in a state of wanting to know what her child was involved in that
she even went to buy nyaope just to see how it looked like. In her own words she said, “I
have seen it, I went to buy it so that I can look at, I wanted to see what it is” (Participant #8).
Those who did not initially take part were mothers who were mostly not involved in the
understanding and knowledge about nyaope. One mother said that she was never involved in
anything that has to do with nyaope, or tried to do something to try and find help. She said that being in the focus group was actually the first time she had tried to do something in relation to her son using nyaope. She said:
This is my first time, I never attend such meetings. I have been crying alone as I walk
along, I tried talking to him and he does not listen, and when he comes home he looks
like in a different way. (Participant #3)
When the researcher asked how long the child has been using nyaope she said that she did not know when it started or when did her child quit school She said:
With mine I do not even know when he quit school. It has become part of him, it is part
of him. I will ask his sister when did that child start smoking. Ai it has become part of
him he would not take it out of his system. (Participant #3) 74
After the sessions the researcher filled an information sheet with the participants (see
Appendix E1 and E2) . The information sheet included the biographical information of the participants and the children, their level of education and the participant’s employment status.
The Research Findings
Thematic content analysis as described in the methodology chapter was used to analyse, organize and interpret the raw data. Themes and sub-themes were identified from the data coding according to the description in the methodology chapter in order to understand the data.
Interviews were conducted in a variety of seTswana commonly known as Sepitori
(loosely translated as Pretoria Sotho), which is spoken uniquely in the townships of Pretoria.
This variety appears to include seTswana, sePedi, seSotho and at times Tsotsitaal, Afrikaans and English. However, this proved to present rather a challenge when it came to translation.
The challenge faced was that Sepitori is not an official language, so the researcher decided to use an individual who was well versed in both Sepitori and English to help translate the
Sepitori transcript to English. One member of one of the groups asked to be allowed to respond in isiXhosa, even though the questions were asked in seTswana. The group members agreed to the request, as both they and the researcher understood the language. The researcher had also given the participants the choice of language in which they could respond to the questions.
An audio-recorder was used in all the sessions after the researcher had obtained consent from the participants to do so. The sound recordings were transcribed verbatim and the transcriptions were translated into English. The researcher made use of an interview guide that served as a list of the areas that the researcher needed to cover in the group meetings with participants. The order in which questions were asked or areas were covered did not follow 75 the order of questions in the guide, as the researcher allowed the group discussions to be spontaneous while making sure that all areas of concern were covered; this allowed for fluidity and flexibility in the discussions while ensuring that the researcher covered all the areas of concern.
The researcher used the sound recordings as a way of gaining a comprehensive, detailed understanding of the sense and context of the whole interview, and then made verbatim transcriptions. He then took these data transcripts and gave them to an independent individual who was fluent in English and seTswana to translate into English. This person was chosen because he carries out translations in his local church from English to seTswana and vice versa.
The researcher immersed himself in all the verbatim transcripts by reading and re- reading them in order to clearly understand the interviews and to familiarize himself with the data and also to understand the patterns in the data, rather than assessing preconceived ideas or hypotheses. Ideas that emerged were then highlighted and coded. The researcher continued to immerse himself in the data by reading the transcripts again, separating what he identified as themes and sub-themes. The themes that the researcher found were applicable to the study and he took the time to select themes that were in line with its aims and objectives.
From the transcribed interviews and the notes that he had made while going through the data, the researcher identified the words that carried the most meaning. These identified words were used as themes. Themes that were similar to each other were reduced into one theme, or sub-themes were identified to reduce the list of themes.
Below, the researcher presents the themes that emanated from the analysis and provides quotations of participant inputs in order to illustrate their experiences. Participants were 76
assigned numbers to conceal their identity in the text. The researcher maintained
confidentiality by conducting the groups in a space that only the researcher and the group
members had access to during discussions. All recordings were kept in the researcher’s
computer and the computer had a password to prevent easy access.
All the participants were black African persons, comprising 10 females and one male.
Of the participants, 10 were biological parents and one was a caregiver (a grandparent
reporting that the biological mother had passed away). One parent reported that she had two children using nyaope, and the other parent reported that he had a child and a grandchild
using the substance.
77
Below is a table representing participant information, identifying the participants with
their assigned numbers:
Table 2
Participant Information Participants Age of Marital Gender Highest level Employment Family substance the status of education status use history parent Participant 63 Married Female Grade 9 Unemployed None #1 (self-employed)
Participant 43 Married Female Grade 11 Employed Yes: the father #2 alcohol and tobacco)
Participant 64 Separated Female Grade 7 Pensioner Yes: both #3 parents use alcohol and tobacco
Participant 50 Widow Female Grade 11 Unemployed None #4
Participant 62 Married Female Grade 8 Unemployed Yes: father uses #5 cannabis, alcohol and tobacco
Participant 73 Married Male Never went Pensioner None #6 to school
Participant 44 Single Female Grade10 Unemployed Mother uses #7 alcohol and tobacco
Participant 45 Married Female Grade 12 Unemployed Father uses #8 alcohol and tobacco
Participant 55 Widow Female Grade 11 Volunteer Father used #9 alcohol and tobacco
Participant 46 Single Female Grade 10 Unemployed None #10
Participant 64 Single Female Grade 11 Employed None #11 78
The table on the previous page shows that five of the participants were married, three were single, two were widowed and one was separated. One participant had never been to school and cannot read and write; only one participant had completed grade 12, and the education level of the remaining participants was between grade six and grade 11. Four of the participants reported that there was no family history of substance use in the immediate family; however, there were members of the extended family who used substances; four participants said that the fathers of their children used alcohol and tobacco, one participant said that both she and the father used tobacco and alcohol, and one participant reported that the father of her child used alcohol, tobacco and cannabis. The age range that the researcher had planned for was between the ages of 35 to 75. At the time of data collection the youngest participant was 43 years old and the oldest participant was 73, thus it shows that they met the age range criterion determined in the beginning.
79
Below is a table showing the participants’ children’s age, gender and level of
education.
Table 3
Biographical Information of Participants’ Children
Participant’s Age Gender Educational background child
Participant 41 Male Teaching qualification #1
Participant 23 Male Grade 10 #2
Participant 25 Male Grade 10 #3
Participant 27 Male Grade 8 #4
Participant 31 and Both Males Grade 11 and #5 (two 25 Nursing qualification children)
Participant 35 and Both Males Grade 12 and #6 (two 22 grade 9 children)
Participant 23 Male Grade 7 #7
Participant 26 Male Grade 11 #8
Participant 36 Male Grade 12 #9
Participant 19 Male Grade 8 #10
Participant 36 Male Grade 12 #11
80
The above table shows that all of the participants’ children were male. Four of them had completed matric (grade 12), and two of those who had completed matric also had post- matric qualifications. Two of the children had studied up to grade 11, two up to grade 10, one up to grade nine, and two until grade eight. At the time of data collection the youngest child was 19 years old and the oldest the child was 41 years old. This shows that they met the age range criterion determined in the beginning of 13 to 45 years.
Themes
The table on the next page shows the seven themes and the sub-themes that emerged during the process of analysis.
81
Table 4
Themes and Sub-themes
Themes Sub-themes
Experiences - Theft - Family disintegration - Relationship breakdown - Rejection - Abuse - Sense of loss
Emotions - Hurt - Blame - Frustrations - Hopelessness
Mode of discovery - Theft - Hearsay - Finding the substance - Child’s mood - Child’s confession
Support - Family - Community
Knowledge - The substance - How is it used - How long has the child been using - Signs of using - Signs of quitting the substance
Assistance sought - Social workers and the rehabilitation centres - Police - Community organizations
The dream - Hopes and wishes - Mourning the child that was - Future 82
The researcher discusses the tabled themes in detail below. The themes and their sub-
themes were grouped together.
Experiences. Experiences relate to the things that the participants went through since
their children started using nyaope. The researcher intended to discuss the experiences that
the parents had undergone since their children had started using nyaope, or since they had
discovered that they were using it. From the analysis of the data, the researcher identified six
sub-themes that seem to elaborate further on their experiences. These sub-themes were theft,
family disintegration, relationship breakdown, rejection, and abuse. The sub-themes are
discussed more in detail below.
Theft. Theft refers to the tendency of the participants’ children to steal things from
them and those around them. This sub-theme is one of the first and most common things that
most parents experienced, as they reported that stealing began at home, although some
parents said that the instances of theft would even get to the point where neighbours were
also complaining. The other thing about this sub-theme is that for some parents it was also a mode of discovery (this will be discussed further under the theme mode of discovery). Below is one of the quotations from one of the participants about their child’s stealing:
At home when you bought thing, I remember when his father bought washing powder at
Makro, we did not lock up, he would take a pack of washing powder from the back row
of the boxes and leaving the front row ones. When you take a pack on the front you
discovered that there is nothing at the back. When you ask him he would say am I the
only child in the house what about the others. (Participant#1)
Though most parents reported that the stealing went beyond the boundaries of their
homes, some had not had this experience, or rather said they had never received complaints
from members of the community. One of the parents said that her child would not steal 83 anything outside the home, as he was scared of the police and also knew that his mother would report him. In her own words she said:
And my child, not that I am speaking for him or what outside he is scared of the police
he would not steal, he is scared of the police with all his heart. I have never had a
report that he broke into someone’s house in the community, he only steals in our
home, he only steals from me because he knows that I do not like to report him to the
police, I am patient with him, but there comes a time when he irritates me I sometimes
give up I would tell myself that this time I am the one who take him to prison. I think
that the day I take him to prison it is the day he would stop. (Participant #8)
On the other hand, some of the parents did say that they had received complaints from members of the community about their children stealing their possessions. The researcher together with the chosen organization visited the parents who were identified from their data.
The purpose of the visits was to recruit participants of the study
During the visits he noticed how fearful parents became during the recruitment process.
Most parents would ask “What he has he done now?” when the researcher asked if that was where their child lived. One of the participants said:
Yes, people are coming to complain, and saying they are going to open cases at the
police, I myself took a decision to open a case against him. I once went to open a case
against him, I asked the police to come and take him to go with him to where he took
those things to return them to the owners. (Participant #9)
As mentioned in the above quotation, some parents had opened a case at the police station; they said that they had gone to the police because they needed help finding the lost items, whether they belonged to them or to one of the members of the community. One of the parents said: 84
Is it not that we shout every day? You would shout and shout. How many times have I
taken him to the police? And I would come with him in my hand, let us go to the police.
When money goes missing, let us go to the police. (Participant #2)
Family disintegration. In this sub-theme, some parents said that there had been lots of arguments in the family since the child had started using nyaope, sometimes between the parents and the user, and sometimes between the user and their siblings. One of the parents said: “Yes there is a lot of fighting in the family and the cause of it is the child” (Participant
#2).
Participants #8 shared the same sentiment and she further stated that in addition to the fights there was a lot of secrecy in the family, she said:
Some of the things which he does I never report them in the family, because I am tired
of the words this man is saying do you see how it works. He would tell you that your
child, do you see that your child, I mean his children are still young, your child, do you
see that your child stole from me, anything even if it is not him who took it, it is my
child who took it.
To put the above quote into context, the mother said that the child who was the nyaope user was not her husband’s biological child. She said that in their arguments the father always referred to the child as the mother’s child. She explained that it was a difficult situation for her, as she felt that the father could not tolerate having his things stolen by the child who was not his own. Her words were:
So ask yourself that if this man is not his father and he steals his thing, how will things
turn out. So you see that what the father would say is that you are the one who send
this child to do these things, you are the one who makes this children to do this,
everything as a mother you are blamed. He is not his father, if I am not there I am sure 85
that man would have thrown him out, if I was not staying with him in the house he
would be staying in the streets, because I am present as a mother in that house, I then
shield him on other things. (Participant #8)
Sometimes these fights happened between the parent and the user, more often than not
caused by the child’s demand for money to go and buy nyaope; at times the child would
become physically violent, or threaten the parent with a weapon. One mother reported that:
When that person is really craving nyaope, and he is at home, he would take a screw
driver and stand there on his feet in the house while you are sleeping, he wants it, you
will take out the money whether you want to or not and give to him, or you would tell
him that, that flower vase my child take it and go sell it instead of killing me, do you
hear what am I saying? (Participant #4)
Sometimes the fights were between the user and the siblings, as the user would also steal from them. One parent said that at one point she watched her children fight to the point where she said they should rather kill each other, as she had given up. Her words were:
They used to fight together with his sisters, I would say to the fight, I would say kill
each other, I would just sit there and say kill each other. His sister would jump, the
other one would pick up a brick and she would say that I am telling he is the one who
took it. (Participant #3)
Relationship breakdown. This sub-theme relates to the fights and arguments that may have taken place as a result of the child’s use of nyaope. One of the experiences that the parents went through after their child started using nyaope was the breakdown of significant relationships. One mother said that since the she had discovered her son’s use of the drug there was no longer any relationship with him. She said: 86
You know it’s very painful, you know with me what I notice with my child using nyaope,
we no longer have a relationship as mother and son. We are always fighting,
especially at his current age, this one of 26 years, he already feels like he is the man of
the house. (Participant #8)
Significant relationships continued to fall apart for the parents and their extended families. Some parents said they had stopped participating in some of their family’s activities, though they did say that not all members of the extended family had marginalized them because of their child’s use of nyaope. One of the parents expressed this as follows:
I do not know about the other mothers, with me I have families that I go to, those that I
know that they accept me as I am, the way my child is. But there are other families I
mean even when we meet, you can see that this people look at you with an eye that is
not okay. When you move from them, even if you did not know, and you are visitor, you
will know. That causes you that if you have to go to a particular place you would tell
yourself that I am not going, I do not want to be hurt, is it not that I will be hurt, I do
not want to be hurt, it is better I stay right here in my house, and you stay home.
(Participant #1)
Some of the relationships that had broken down were those between the users of the drug and their siblings. Some of the siblings were so seriously affected that they communicated this to their parents. One mother said that, frustrating and stressful as it was to deal with the child who was using nyaope, there was also the added stress of having to deal with the frustration of her other children. Her thoughts are captured in the quotation below,
I have already accepted as a parent, but when it comes to the children, it even stresses
my children who come after him, they are still very young. Especially this one who is 87
doing grade 1, he is the last born. When he is at school, he is in high school, when he
is at school seeing his brother carrying a sack. (Participant #8)
She went on to say that the children who were not using the drug were disgusted by the drug use behaviour of their sibling. They tended to isolate the one who was using the drug, and did not want to share things in the house with them, such as plates and cups. She said.
If he eats, if I dish up for him and he eats and he leaves some, not even one of the
children would eat that, they say that he will infect them with the nyaope disease, and
now do you see that he disgusts them, it is like he is an old man, it is as if he is old. If
they drink water, as I am speaking now what I am telling you is not a story. They take
his cup and put at the window in the kitchen, his plate is placed to the side, do you see?
They say those are his things that he is supposed to use. If he touches things in the
house he will infect them with a virus, do you see where that thing is going?
(Participant #8)
Relationships with neighbours and other members of the community were also affected.
The children would steal things from home and sell them to their neighbours, who would
actually buy them. One parent said that she was surprised and annoyed that her neighbours
would buy things from the child, knowing that they had stolen them from the parents; she
said that hurt to know that some of their neighbours had actually done that.
I was hurt when he stole my camp chair that was new, I had written my names, I even
asked myself that person who bought it did not see those names under the chair, I had
written it all over as when we go to church you find that the chairs get mixed up. That
one hurt me very much even the issue of him smoking nyaope. (Participant #10)
Another participant (Participant #11) echoed the same sentiment by saying, “with me
the neighbours buy those dishes from him”. 88
Some parents said that the community members also sometimes gave the users work to do for them and paid them very little for what was in fact hard work. Sometimes, after doing the assigned work, the user would steal some items from the yard where they had been working; when this happened, the community members would come and insult the parents or bring complaints about their lost items. These confrontations had at time escalated to fights.
You find that he called the children to make bricks; they made bricks for three bags and
he gave them R30 and they used it for nyaope. Tell me with this hot sun the child works
for R30. (Participant #9)
Participant #8 also shared her frustrations of not getting support from the community by
saying that instead of being supported by them, they laugh and insult them; in her own words
she said:
Instead of supporting you they laugh at you, they call us mothers of nyaopes. They
think that these children buy malana and maotwana for us, when they are swearing at
us they say we pay them, you eat through us.
Rejection. Rejection refers to being put aside and discriminated against by those who
are significant to the individuals. Parents said that they had experienced rejection in different
contexts, such as the family, the extended family, and the community. They reported that
they were laughed at and shamed instead of being helped or supported. Some parents
described this experience as that it felt like they were naked in public, as though their dignity
was stripped off them. In her own words one parent said:
Yooo you know what? When I walk around on the street I no longer have dignity, I no
longer have dignity, it is if when I walk on the street it is like I am naked, I no longer
have dignity I want to tell the truth. Our children have stripped us of our dignity.
(Participant #5) 89
Some parents said that the rejection came in the form of ridicule and naming. They said that they felt that the community instead of helping them or giving them support they laugh and insult them. They said:
Yes it does not sit well with me I do not want to lie, people are even laughing at us you
know, they are laughing they are not helping us, I think them laughing at us is one thing
that made him feel ashamed and decide that it is better he went to Marabastad.
(Participant #10)
Participant #4 also added that,” They would rather laugh at us instead of helping us, they call us mother nyaopes”.
Participant #6 said that he was laughed at instead of being assisted. He said, “they are laughing at us how can they care when they are laughing at us?”
Abuse. Being abused in this context relates to being mistreated and insulted by those who are around the participants in the study. Some parents reported some form of abuse ranging from emotional, verbal, and physical. The parents said that this abuse came from the users, the family members and including the community. They reported being insulted by the community after their children stole from them. One of the parents said that the members of the community would gather around her yard threatening her and to hurt her child. She explained that the sad part of the reaction of the community was that they did not consult her by the time they hired her child, however they came to her for solutions when trouble came.
She said:
Now as the rain is about to come, weed will start growing and things like that, with
water they will grow, it is work for them, they remove them. When they are done you
know they will remember that at bro Vusi’s place I saw at the corner there were a lot of
metals, there were a lot of metals. When you are not there at home, he would enter 90
your place and take those metals. You are not going to come to me and sit as we are
talking to inform me what my child did to you, hee you are going to call a group of
people, and gather at my gate doing this and that, you know you swear at us, but you
forgot that it is you who showed him what you have in your yard, my child would never
have known that at the corner are in your garage you have metal, you have put things
which he can sell to buy nyaope you see. So that is the other thing that bores me, and
the other thing that bores me is when they give them work they never come to ask for
permission from us, but after they incur damages they remember you. They will call
you while you’re on the street and say look at what your child did, you see. I said when
he has stolen from you do not tell me and do not beat him, because my child does not
sleep hungry firstly, and he baths, this and that. (Participant #8)
Other parents reported that the abuse by children had become physical. One parent in particular said that this act took place in a public space. She said her son demanded money and when she could not give him he got angry. She described this ordeal like this:
I remember one day I went to Checkers with my daughter to go buy washing powder,
we were walking on foot. As we come somewhere that side he came from behind us.
We realised that he was tracing us not knowing where we were, when he got to us he
said please give me R15. I said I don’t have it, you know he grabbed a pack of washing
powder, 2kg pack of washing powder, he said I am going to sell it. I said you are going
to sell it? Why? There right there in the middle of the road there he messed us up.
There was this other boy who was seeing us, that child came; we cannot mention names
as we are having a recorder. When he got to us he was driving a car and he stopped
and said mama get in, and we got in. (Participant #1)
Family members would also abuse the parents, they said that instead of being supported in the family they were insulted and called names. The parent continued to say that the abuse 91 came more from the male figures in the family. She explained that the male figures gave up on the child and expected her to do the same. One participant told a story about how her child was chased out of the house by the father. She said that:
Yoo he took the light bulbs, chairs that were in there, machines in there. I remember
his father was furious, I gave him R30, I gave R30 I said take go fetch the machines, did
he go? Even today. His father ended up chasing him out of the house, he used to stay in
the streets, do you see that shop called H and H? He used to sleep there. So I used to
give him food I do not want to lie. When we dish up I would send the child to go give
him food. He stayed there for a while, I do not know what happened for him to come
back home and his father forgave him. He said I forgive you, come back home and stop
what you are doing. He stayed a bit and his father passed away. (Participant #11)
Sense of loss. The sense of loss refers to experiencing losing a child or the relationship they had with the child as they continue to use nyaope. Parents reported feeling a sense of loss. Some parents described this loss as having lost a child who was present around them but had become a different individual, whereas some parents experienced loss in the form of the child being absent. One of the participants said that ever since she discovered that her child was using nyaope the child changed. She said that the child was well behaved and they lived happily at home but since the child started using he has changed. She said that even the teachers at school were shocked about who the child has become. She said,
I remember he took his teacher’s phone at school. The teacher had placed the phone
on the desk while he was still in middle school. This was the first incident where we
noticed that he is naughty and he was quiet very quiet, he was innocent that you could
suspect him. The teacher was shocked that it was this guy. And he was neat neat neat.
When we noticed that he has changed. (Participant #2) 92
Participant #2 said that before nyaope they used to live in peace and it was nice. She said that she started noticing changes when nyaope was introduced. She said, “no, they mean that how did we relate, it used to be nice, it was alright, and he was a normal child. Then nyaope was introduced, he started changing”.
Two of the parents in the study said that the loss was the absence of the child from home. One parent said that the child was reported to have been seen in Marabastad in
Pretoria. She said that she herself has not seen him for some time and she is scared to go to town in case she might meet him as it is hurts. She said:
Yes he is in Marabastad, he went there since after Christmas last year he has not come
back till today, people see him. It is not sitting well with me, sometimes at night I find
myself hoping that I would hear a knock and it is him. I would ask myself wherever he
is what is he eating? What is he wearing? Does he even bath? I used to buy him
clothes. Yes it does not sit well with me I do not want to lie, people are even laughing
you know, they are laughing they are not helping us, I think them laughing at us is one
of the things that made him feel ashamed and decide that it is better he went to
Marabastad. (Participant #10)
Another parent (Participant #7) reported that since her child started using nyaope he quit school and then left home to go stay in Hammaskraal station. She reported that she has met him on numerous times and asked him to come home. She said the child said that he would come home but he never did.
I said but often I have seen him hanging and ask why are you hanging? He said I am
tired. I said when a person is tired he does not hang like this. That means that there is
something you are smoking, I would ask but can a person who smoke nyaope hang like 93
this? It was then that he quit school, and he was staying there at the station, and he no
longer comes home.
She continued to say that she has seen him and asked him to back home. The child had
on many occasions promised to come back home but he never did. In her own words she
said,
and mine does not come at all, he is short and he stays there. Even if you go to fetch
him and say when are coming home? He says today I am coming in the evening and he
will never come, he stays there.
One of the participants told a story of one parent in the community who was not a
participant in the study. He said that the man had a child who smoked nyaope and had left home. The child ultimately came back home about two weeks before the group discussion.
He said that: “It is this father, he is carrying a weight, his boy has since left, at least on the past weekend, he saw him coming back, since he left” (Participant #6).
In summary, the researcher learned that for most parents the initial experience of their children’s nyaope use was theft in their own house and neighbours and community members coming to report that their children were stealing from them. This led to the disintegration and breakdown of the participants’ significant relationships. They experienced abuse from their using children, members of the family and the community at large. They also experienced rejection from some of their family members and members of the community.
The parents reported that they felt that they had lost their children, with some of them reporting that their children had actually left home.
Emotions. Emotions as a theme in the study refers to the different feelings the parent
went through since their children started using nyaope or since they discovered the substance
use. Parents said that they were going through different kind of emotions since their children 94 started using nyaope. They reported that the emotions were at times linked with the child’s direct use of the substance. In this section the researcher will highlight some of the prominent emotions expressed during the process of data collection. These emotions were hurt, blame, frustration, hopelessness and shame and they are discussed in more detail below.
Hurt. Here participants’ heart-breaking experiences and the pain they felt from their children’s use of the substance will be discussed. Feeling hurt or heartbroken was one of the most prominent emotions expressed by the parents throughout the group discussions. Parents stated that there were a lot of reasons for their pain. Some parents said that the painful thing about their children using nyaope was that it was the older one who was using. One of the participants said:
The thing about him that affects me a lot is, even now at times when I am sitting I cry,
my first born, he is my first born, I cry tears with pain, not knowing who is going to
help me or what can I do. (Participant #11)
One parent said that she felt hurt by the fact that the child that she expected to be the one who would show his siblings how to behave is the one who was doing drugs. She said that the younger sibling did not have a good relationship with the one who is using nyaope.
In her own words she said:
…and then these ones are the elder ones, they were supposed to show the younger ones,
they elder ones are supposed to show them how things work. So if they are the ones
who are doing this, the younger ones in this manner like mama said they have hatred
when they look at their brother. (Participant #5)
Parents said that since their children started using nyaope they have experienced hurt that is unbearable. One mother described this experience as a very big problem, when 95 describing how it made her feel she was sobbing and asked that we should stop talking about it as it was hurting her very much. She said:
My story is the same as the others, there is nothing that stays in the house. I mean
when I tried hiding the money seriously I never believed, my brother wait a minute I
have a problem you are hurting me a lot. (Participant #3)
One parent said that the pain was so much that she felt that she could go to sleep and never wake up. She said that she felt that waking up was bringing her pain and misery. She said that: “I even wish that I would not wake, as in when I go sleep, then it would be that I finally get to rest, because when you wake up, you wake up to suffering, we are really suffering” (Participant #1).
Some parents said that what was hurting at times was the fact that the children would take their most expensive possessions and sell them at a fraction of their actual price in order to feed their habit. One parent said that she would buy expensive things for her child and only to see them being worn by another child and hers was wearing old clothes. She said that her child demands that she buys him expensive clothes and in turn he would hire them out to other people at R30. She said:
What makes me angry is that he sells his clothes, [Participant #10 confirmed] (yes they
sell), you buy at, when I buy for him at Webbers or elsewhere he does not want them, I
must go buy at Truworths and then I would see them worn by the neighbour’s child.
Most of them are worn by the boy from next door. His clothes here, yoo this makes me
really angry, he sells them. You can see how this child likes fashon, Uzzis, Daniel
Hechters, I buy for him, I opened an account and took, but what I am doing, did see
him sitting there he does not have clothes, ya hey his friends. I buy Cavella and he
hires it out, today when you have a trip to take you hire it R30, and when it returns this 96
one hires it, since I bought it I have never seen my child wearing it, you will see it worn
by other children who hired it. That is the problem I am faced with. (Participant #8)
One parent said that she was also feeling the pain of seeing her children fighting against each other. She said that her other children were despising the one who was using substances, she said that it tore her apart knowing that her children are at loggerheads. In her own words she said that:
Yes, it is no longer nice because of even if he comes in, every one of those children
vibrates like a phone, concerned with where is he going. When he goes this side one of
them will pretend to go there to see what he is doing. All the windows in the house
right now have no handles, and I am not working. He has hurt me a lot, I do not work
and their father passed on. (Participant #4)
Blame. This subtheme refers to the parents feeling the need to take the blame, and at times being blamed by those around them. One of the participants said that she felt responsible for her child’s substance use as she believed that she provided financial means for him to start. The quote below captures how she felt,
I would say we taught him because when he went to school we liked giving him the
bank card so that he would get money for us at Checkers, he would bring the money
from there, as it was at Checkers that side, and he would go to school with it.
(Participant #2)
On the other hand parents said that family members were the ones who were blaming
them saying that they are the ones who are spoiling them. One of the participants said that
the user’s siblings say that she is spoiling him by giving food when he misbehave, she
however feels that she is compelled by the mother’s love to take care of his basic needs. She
said: 97
He used to steal to a point that I used to fight with his siblings, mama you are spoiling
him, why do you give him food? This person used to like cleaning; he used to be
cleaning you know, right now he just wakes up and the just go, when he comes back he
wants food. I give him the food as a parent, I would not deny him food and kick him out
to the streets and he go steal and I will remain hurting, is it not? (Participant #11)
Participant #10 said that her family said that she should be happy that the child is no
longer around to steal. She however said that she sits with pain of not knowing how the child
is. She said:
Right now I wish that he could return from Marabastad, if he would live at the station
and return so that I can see him, now I do not see him and it hurts me, even when the
children say are you not happy your things are safe, [Participant #11 added]: (and you
cannot be happy having a parent’s heart), I am not happy, [Participant #9 supported]:
(right now you do not know what is happening), what is happening with him I do not
know, I am even scared to go to town to meet with him, how would he look like?
Some of the parents said that the blame came from the community members. One the participants said that:
Sometimes you think you are moving with people but when you turn your back they say
this one is annoying, every time where we are she talks about our child who smokes
nyaope, what does she expect us to do. Our people have a tendency to say that she
spoilt him; can you give birth to a child and then spoil him? (Participant #1)
Frustrations. This sub-theme relates to the challenges that the parents went through since their children started using nyaope. These challenges have become a huge stressor in the parents’ live and they have with no success tried to resolve. Participant #1 said that, “I 98
mean things have happened and you find yourself confused, not knowing what to do or where
to go because sometimes you talk to people who do not understand you”.
Another participant said that dealing with an addicted child gave her sleepless nights.
She said that this caused her to be stressed and sometime to lose focus on her day to day functioning. Below is how she described her frustrations,
It is not nice, it is not nice, they do not even know what to do, you know it is not nice
especially for the parents who have given birth to them, it started with us first, do you
understand? You find that you have stress and losing sleep, at night you will only fall
asleep in the dawn, you think a lot, you have a very great deal of stress. When you fall
asleep it is already dawn, and they young ones are going to school, I am supposed to
wake up and warm the water, I should prepare for them so they can go to school. My
mind on the other side sometimes stop working, I forget that you told me something,
you would say that I told you, and I would ask if it was me, he would say you even
agreed. (Participant #5)
Hopelessness. This sub-theme refers to the state of no hope that the parents are going
through. To most parents they have tried a lot of things to assist with their problem but it is
still present. One of the parents said that she once called people to come and beat her son up.
She said that she was prepared to bury him in hope that she would find help. She shared,
I went to join Mapogo a Mathamaga in Dithabaneng [a local community vigilante
security company], they came and they beat him up, they gave him a good beating, he
still has blue eyes even now where ever he is. So I called them to come and beat him up
and kill him, I pay for society, so that I can rest. So I told myself that I will cry like the
parents whose children were killed by the community. And then I will cry for one day
thereafter I will relax and I will be like everyone. (Participant #4) 99
In the above theme the researcher learned that the participants’ emotions were in
turmoil. Not all the emotions which were described during the process of data collection were reported; those that were selected were the ones that were more prominent or shared by
most participants. The participants reported that they were hurt by their children’s use of
nyaope, and other people’s words and actions. They blamed themselves and were also
blamed by others for their children’s choices. An attempt to find solutions for their predicament left them frustrated and hopeless.
Mode of discovery. Mode of discovery outlines the process of parents finding out about their child’s use of the drug nyaope. Parents in the study described different way in which they discovered their children’s use of the substance. The different modes of discovery identified were theft, hearsay, finding the substance, the child’s mood and confession. Below the different modes of discoveries described during the process of data collection are discussed.
Hearsay. Hearsay is when parents hear from other people that their child is using nyaope. This mode of discovery appeared to be the most common way of finding out about the use. The most common reaction to the news to most parents was disbelief; however it led
to them being more observant. Some parents said this:
He used to tell me that he is smoking but I did not believe it, I started believing, then his
uncle reported that his pill were missing, he even chased him out and he came back to
stay with us at home. He started stealing, and you only realised when you are told that
there is nothing, and the neighbour saying that we do see him passing carrying a bag
pack. (Participant #10)
She explained that she started realising when things started going missing; that’s when
she started believing that her child could be using nyaope. 100
One mother in one of the sessions said that she was told by her daughter that she heard that her brother has been using nyaope for three months at that time. She said that what hurt the most was that she did not even know what this was. By her own account she said:
I asked the one I was going with and she said youh. She said mama I have been seeing
him like this for three months now. And then what is happening? She said when I asked
that he is behaving in this manner, he said he was smoking. These three months with
my observations I doubt that it is three months; it appears to be more than three
months. My brother, this thing they are talking about I do not know. I started feeling
pain. (Participant #1)
Another parent said that she being told that her child was using nyaope was confirmation to the suspicion she was having. She stated:
Then this boy came to me and said that he is not going to school, do you know that he is
staying at the bush and he is using nyaope. I said but often I have seen him hanging
and asked why are you hanging? (Participant #7)
Theft. To many parents, experiencing loss of their items in the house was a way of discovering that there was a problem. One of the participants said that she discovered that her son was using nyaope after he started stealing things from his father’s business. She told the researcher that it was after his father turned against him complaining that he was stealing from him that:
I noticed when he started smoking nyaope, his father, did you see that yellow zozo next
to the house? His father had opened a business and the boy was selling in there. His
father started to turn against the boy, he is stealing this and that. (Participant #11)
Another parent described how she started noticing the child stealing money from the bank account. She said that she used to send him to school with the bank card to withdraw 101 money for them after school. She said that she started to realise that the child was withdrawing more than the money he was asked to withdraw. She said:
When nyaope started or when I first saw it, it was when we started losing things, the
child was no longer understanding, and I would say we taught him because when he
went to school we liked giving him the bank card so that he would get money for us at
Checkers, he would bring the money from there, as it was at Checkers that side, and he
would go to school with it. He started there at school to withdraw, he withdrew even
more because we were not having cell phone banking, even on his side he started being
messy, he was now naughty, he started being confusing, even when you send him
somewhere and give him things and say go to the shops and do things for us, he no
longer gets there, the money does not get there, or sometimes when he steals things that
are placed there, you find that they are gone. Some phones as we put them around are
no longer there. That is when this thing started, that’s when we notice the start of
thing. (Participant #2)
Finding the substance. The parents described how they discovered the substance, the plastics or packaging of nyaope and also the things they use to smoke the substance while going through their child’s things. These discoveries led to them finding out that their child was using nyaope. One parent said that she found pieces of plastics that are used to wrap nyaope while she was doing laundry. She said that she collects them and puts them inside the gate pole to show them to him when he comes back. She said:
It is not cannabis that thing, I will show you when you take me home, I will show you
the plastic wrap. When we wash his jeans they come out, I even dump them inside the
pole of the gate. If you continue to bother me like you do, if I do not hurt you I am
taking you to the police station, and the child would say leave him alone. And I would
say this person is making noise. (Participant #3) 102
She further said that sometimes when she is sweeping the yard she would discover
razor blades which they are believed to be used to scrape the nyaope off the plastics when
they smoked. She said: “there are a lot of razors, when we sweep the yard. I sometimes see
the child…even on the books scratching and when I look at him I am seeing nothing but he
sees it”.
One parent said that she went to her child’s school to collect his progress report, and when she was there she was discovered that her child was using a false name at school. After
the discovery she found packets of nyaope in her child’s bag. She said that that was how she
discovered that her child was using nyaope. She said:
Then I requested to check all his books right there because when I ask him where he got
this surname he does not answer me he keeps quiet, so I am requesting that we check
his books. We checked his books, when we checked his books, his books have been
written on for only April, May, June, and when we checked in the books we found it, we
found live it was alive it is nyaope. It is tied up in yellow plastics. (Participant #8)
During the discovery of the nyaope in her child’s bag she said there was also a letter from the dealer written to her child informing him of the new product on the market that they would like for him to come and try out. She said, “they even wrote him a letter at the nyaopes. They wrote a letter that is this long, they said we found new stuff; we wanted you to try it out, this one is not available in South Africa” (Participant #8).
She said that they called the police to attend to the matter (more on this will be discussed in the section of assistance sought). She said that she further continued to discover things her child used and she has created a box where she stores these things. She said, “so when I find those things I tend to look for an old box and put them in there, I want to show my siblings at home even when I see them”. 103
Child’s mood. This sub-theme speaks about the changes in the child’s expressions of emotions that led to the parents finding out about the substance use. Parents said that the children started to experience mood changes which they said led them to discover that their child was using nyaope. They further said that, after discovering that the child was using the substance, they would then use the mood that they are in to also know whether the child had smoked or not smoked nyaope at that time (this will be discussed further below). One parent said that she started noticing that her child was moody and full of anger especially when he has not smoked nyaope. She said in her own words:
Yoo, I noticed after a long time, he was moody, he had anger. He was… I mean he
was… when it is in the morning, as in the morning he has not smoked it. I would ask
myself that what was happening? (Participant #1)
Child’s confession. Some of the parents said that at some point while having their suspicions their children would approach them and tell that they were using nyaope. They said that, in the beginning, the child would deny the substance use and at a later stage the child would come and confess seeking help. A participant said that her child came to her and told her that he was having a problem and that problem was that he was smoking nyaope.
She said that the child explained that he was telling her because he was looking for help to stop using. She said:
Time went by and he approached me, he said I have a problem. You have a problem? I
also smoke. What are you smoking? He spoke. When did you start? That time I went to
stay with aunt there, I was trying to run away so that you did not notice that I am
smoking. So what were you saying? I want help. (Participant #2)
One parent described one of the discussions where the child was confessing about his nyaope use. She said that her child told her that he was introduced to the substance by a 104 friend and that his first pull of the drug destroyed his life. She said: “One day I did ask my child, he said mama the following day I was regretting why I did it, because that day that one pull I did destroyed my life” (Participant #1).
The researcher identified ways in which parents discovered their children substance use. To most parents theft was the initial indicator that their children could be using nyaope.
Other modes included hearing from other people in the family or the community (although some parents initially denied the reports), finding the substance or the apparatus used to smoke it, noticing mood changes in the children and having the children’s confess in an attempt to find help.
Support. Support refers to the help and encouragement parents received from those around them. During the groups, two support systems were discussed by the participants.
These support systems were the family and the community to which the parents belonged.
Parents expressed different views about these support systems.
Family. Family in this context relates to a group of people who are related to each other. It could be by blood or marriage and at times through adoption. This includes the immediate family members and extended members. Some parents expressed that they receive support from their families in the times of their need; however some said that there was little to no support from their families. One mother said that her family was supportive and even assisted in buying things for the child and at times assisted in an attempt to find help for him. She said:
They support me, I do not want to tell lies, they cry with me you know. Even this one in
Durban my sister’s child wanted to take him there. We left here and went with him to
Joburg, when we got there he said I do not even know why I am here… as I was taking
him to Durban, he said I do not know why I came here, and they also buy him clothes, 105
but we do not buy expensive clothes, 69, 89, I will not buy the expensive ones never, I
do not want to lie I will never. (Participant #1)
Some parents reported that the family has not being supportive. One of the parents said
that her family does not want to be part of the child’s life. She said she would ask for
assistance and they would say that he would steal from them or sell the things that they would
have bought him. She said:
To tell the truth my family does not want him anymore, he was a child, he is my first
born, and they liked him in the family. He used to go to school, but now when you start
talking they say he is going to steal from us. Even if you were to say I don’t have
money, please buy my child shoes, so that he goes sell them? Do you see it is? Yes you
know when it is winter, please buy him this and that at Edgars so that he go and sell it?
So you see that they no longer want him? (Participant #8)
Another participant said that she was no longer attending some of the family gatherings because she avoids being hurt by the family. She said that some of the family members would gossip about her and the child. She did mention that not all her family members are lacking in support and she does go to the events of those who would show some level of support. In her own words she said:
I do not know about the other mothers, with me I have families that I go to, those that I
know that they accept me as I am, the way my child is. But there are other families I
mean even when we meet, you can see that this people look at you with an eye that is
not okay. When you move from them, even if you did not know, and you are visitor, you
will know. That causes you that if you have to go to a particular place. You would tell
yourself that I am not going, I do not want to be hurt, is it not that I will be hurt, I do 106
not want to be hurt, it is better I stay right here in my house, and you stay home.
(Participant #1)
Another parent shared the same sentiments that not all family members are supportive.
She said that some do not care because they do not have children who are using nyaope and some of the family members understand and they do show that they care. She said: “Ai, some of them do not care, others are sympathetic with us, some of them as they do not have children who are doing this thing, they do not have boy children, they do not care”
(Participant #5).
Community. Community refers to the society that the participants belong to. When it
comes to the community, most parents reported that there was no support. They said that
instead of being supported by the community they are ridiculed, and at times these children
are assaulted by the community after being caught doing crimes. One of the parents said that
there was not much support from the community. She continued to say that the support
would be from parents whose children were using nyaope or those who have an
understanding or knowledge about it. She said that they do receive support from churches in
the community and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) around the community. She
said:
Community, community, is it supportive? They are not supportive. It is the people who
have children who use nyaope that I think that, and those who understand about it,
those are the ones who are supportive. Many times we are assisted by the social
workers, and then people from the churches and NGOs. (Participant #2)
Another parent said that she felt that the community wanted to help or support them,
but there were a number of things that happened that prevented the community from helping.
She said that parents whose children use nyaope do not take part in community meetings 107 about the challenge, and because of these factors she did not blame the community for responding as they did. She narrated a story where she was in a community meeting and requested assistance. She told the meeting that the community members were being victims of crimes committed by the children who use nyaope and in turn it would cause fights between the parents whose children use nyaope and the victims. She said that the community members responded by saying that there were a lot of children who were using nyaope in the community but they only see her coming forward to seek assistance.
And then what is the reason for the community to give up on us? I have not yet
challenged them, as in when there is a meeting I stand I speak on this thing. I once
spoke about it in a meeting as a counsellor, when you see these cars which take people
in Hammanskraal saying we are going to rehab, it is because of me, I tried talking to
the councillor, and then they called Ramokgopa and he sent his person. So when that
person arrived he said they will make a plan that they will send ambulances that would
fetch the children at the crossings and the station. And then before they go at the
station they cook for them and they eat, they take them to rehab, but when they come
back they are still smoking. Sometime the community gets tired with us as parents
whose children smoke nyaope, I have a desire that my child can quit, but where can I
make that challenge? In the community you can see that we are having damages, and
who is causing these damages? It is our children, so as a parent I request that the
community, I am requesting your support, that you support us. I do not want to be
pointing fingers with my neighbours because of my child. Tomorrow he would have
searched the man of that house, so I was requesting your support. The community did
respond to me, they responded and said sister we only see you alone standing here, all
of them should come here with those who have children who are not smoking and those
who do not have children, we should come together and see what are going to happen 108
with this nyaope, but we come together for one person. I always cry, they know me
everywhere, Marokolong, Ramotse until Corousel view they know me. I try to find
parents. (Participant #4)
The researcher discovered that there were two major support systems that parents had. These
were the family and the community. However, the participants stated that these systems of
support were either inadequate or ineffective in helping them to cope.
Knowledge. This theme refers to the knowledge about nyaope the parents had. Most
of the parents in the study had little to no knowledge about nyaope. The data showed that the
information they knew about the substance was how the substance looked, how it was used,
how long the child had been using, signs of using, and signs of quitting the substance.
The substance. Here the researcher discovered if the parents knew what nyaope is and
what it looks like. Most parents said that they have never seen it they only heard about it when people were speaking about it. Participant #2 said that she has never seen it, she only saw the plastic wrappings that are found in his trousers when they did laundry. She said, “I
have never seen how this thing looks like, I just see that paper”.
In every group there was at least one parent who said that they knew what nyaope was
and that they have seen it. One parent said that she once spoke to the users and they told her
that it was a concoction of things mixed together. She even said that she asked them why
they were not buying the ingredients and make it themselves. In her own words she said:
Because when you ask these people and say to them the thing you are smoking do you
know what it is and where does it come from? They would tell you that it is a
concoction, they also know that. I would say to them, why are you not mixing for
yourselves? Make that mixture yourselves. Why do you not mix it yourself? Make that
mixture yourself. (Participant #1) 109
When it comes to describing nyaope, the parents’ description was similar. They
described it as a powder that looks dirty. They said that it was not a pure white substance but
appeared to be creamy. One parent (Participant #1) said that it looked like ceiling when you break it up. She said, “that thing is dirty, when I say dirty I mean its colour is not white, it is not pink, what can I say? Do you see that thing they would place on the ceiling, that colour?”
Another parent described it as a crushed stone. She said it looked yellow in colour.
She had promised that, if we were to meet again, she would bring it to show to us; however that was the last meeting of the group:
It is a yellowish colour, it looks like a powder, like have you seen a stone on the inside,
if you crush a stone a powder will come out it, it is a powder that looks like that mixed
with a yellow colour, eish I do not know if we will meet again, I would bring it, I have
put some away and the injections that this child was using, I also want to know where
do they get this injections. (Participant #4)
Participant #8 described it as a mixture of tablets crushed and mixed together. She said,
“it is powder like, it looks like crushed pills. It is white, but not like white but cream like, it
looks like mixed tablets”. Participant #3, on the other hand, said that it looked like Grandpa
powder. She said, “it is a powder and you would not notice it, it looks like a Grandpa. If you
find the plastic you are going to throw it away”.
There was contention over the colour of the plastics that are used to wrap nyaope. Most
of the participants said that they have seen it wrapped in a yellow plastic. What the
participants agreed on was that the plastic was cut into very small squares where they would
wrap it. Some parents said that it is even difficult to understand how it is wrapped into such
small pieces of plastic. One of the parents said, “you must look for this kind of plastics, they
are this big, they are yellow, they are this big, it is not the plastic you can put things in it is 110
cut in a square like this” (Participant #4). Participant #2 saw something else, and said:
“They are brown, and you would understand how they fold it”.
Participant #1, on the other hand, said that the plastic wraps come in all colours as it
depends on the supplier the nyaope was bought from. She said, “it is all colours, it depends
on the suppliers which plastic are they using, but if you were to see it, even if you find it
wrapped, truly you would not suspect that there is something there”.
How is it used. This sub-theme speaks about the different ways of smoking nyaope that are known to the parents. During the groups session the researcher learnt that there was a common way of using nyaope, and recently (at the time of data collection) there was another way that the users had started exploring. The common way of using nyaope was mixing it with cannabis and rolling it into a zol (a hand-rolled cigarette, also called a joint). One of the participants said that they would take the plastic wrap and sprinkle it on top of cannabis that is placed on a rizzla (a soft paper that is used to roll a cigarette), break a tip from a cigarette and the mix it together with the nyaope and cannabis and then roll it in that rizzla and then light it up using matches and inhale it like they were smoking a cigarette. She also said that in some instances they would use a cigarette to pull the nayope into the cigarette and then smoke it.
No, it is that powder, he puts it on the paper, on the rizzla, no he does not pour it on the
rizzla, he puts the cannabis on the rizzla and then he takes his plastic and the rizzla and
do this (scratching) on the cannabis and sprinkle it, and then take a tip of the cigarette
and do this, yes and then mix it in there and then roll it up, it is not the whole cigarette,
yes, it is a bit of mixer and then throws it in and then roll it roll it roll it. If he does not
want to do it that way, he takes cannabis and mixes it with that thing on the plastic and
then light up a cigarette, after lighting the cigarette and he would do this (pulling like
she is pulling on the cigarette). (Participant #1). 111
One of the parents described something similar. She said that she has seen them around
a shop near her place. She said that around 7 o’clock in the evening is normally the time for
their last fix of the day. She further said that it did not matter how many they were, one zol
(joint) would be shared. She said:
When you want to see them, do you see that shop there next to my house? Around seven
it is their time where they gather as they return from wherever it is where they come
from. There is no job anymore, they will sit there at the stoep there and roll it up
properly, and they will tell you that we are going to sleep now. They mix it well with
cannabis, cigarette and then they sprinkle it on top there and they roll it, we all going
to smoke it, this R30 one, we will get high, and no one is going to run short.
(Participant #8)
One of the parents said that there was a new way of smoking nyaope that has been developed. She said that they were using a needle to inject it into the bloodstream. She said that they draw blood from their veins and then mix the blood with nyaope in a cold drink cap, then would draw the mixture from the cap and inject back into themselves. She believed that this would give them a high quickly. She said:
They draw blood here, and then they look for a cold drink cap, do you see? They pour
in that blood in there, and they put in nyaope and mix, when they are done they draw
with the injection and inject back on his body, do you see what it does? So my child is
doing those things, I am talking about my child who is doing them. (Participant 4)
Participant #4 continued to say that the children who normally do this run out of veins to draw from their body. They would then resort to drawing from the jugular vein or from their penises. 112
All his friends who were doing that thing died, he is the only one left among them. And
now they are worse, sorry Mr and sorry my brother, now when their veins are finished
they inject themselves on the private parts, everywhere even at the station, I am telling
you the truth. When they are not injecting on their penises they inject this vein, this one
the big vein, you will find that person stretched because they inject on the vein, here his
veins are finished they are no longer visible.
How long has the child been using? This sub-theme refers to the duration of the child’s nyaope use. Most parents said that they did not know how long the child has been using nyaope, however, they said that they started noticing the change while their children were in school (mostly in middle school). Middle school covers from grade 7 to grade 9.
One parent said that it started in school where the child would withdraw more money than he was sent to withdraw while in middle school. He started stealing at school when he stole the teacher’s cell phone.
She continued to say that her child has been using nyaope for close to nine years at the time of data collection. She said, “right now with mine it has been nine years smoking … nine years, it is been years”.
To most parents, as stated above, their children started smoking nyaope when they were school going age. Most of the children appeared to be in middle school and most of them did not finish high school (see Table 3 on page 79 above). One parent said that when her child was in middle school she used to give him money thinking that he was going to school. It was when he did not bring a progress report from school that she started inquiring. She said that when she went to school they went through her child’s bag and they found nyaope. In her own words she said: 113
I used to work, he was in middle school, so I used to give him money thinking that he is
going to school. I am one person who likes to often check the children’s books, so I say
to him I, I sign the children’s books at the bottom, when the teacher signed here I sign
at the bottom to show that I saw them. I write the date of the day I checked them. So
with that one I could not check his books from January to June. In June I wanted a
report, the report is not there, he said that they said that they will give them when the
schools reopen. It forced me to miss work, on Monday I missed work. When I get to
the school wanting to know about my child’s issue, they said that give a name, and then
I gave them the name, they said we do not have that kind of a person. They said the
person we have is so and so. I requested to see, I mean the name was correct but the
surname was not correct. I requested to see him, when they called him it was him.
When I looked into it they said that the surname was wrong, but when he came to
school he came and registered in that surname. I said I have this person’s report. So
they said come with it, I came with it and went back to school and gave it to them, and
then I requested to check all his books right there because when I ask him where he got
this surname he does not answer me he keeps quiet, so I am requesting that we check
his books. We checked his books, when we checked his books, his books have been
written on for only April, May, June, and when we checked in the books we found it, we
found live it was alive it is nyaope. It is tied up in yellow plastics. (Participant #8)
Another parent said that when she was told that his child was using nyaope he was no longer going to school. She said that he started hiding in the bush near her home instead of going to school. When she confronted him, the child denied and then moved out of the home to stay at Hammanskraal station. She said:
With me it started this other day when I said go to school, no this person does not want
to go to school, when I hear they say that he stays at the Mahlangu’s bush, do you see 114
it? That time when it used to be a bush. Then this boy says that he is not going to
school, do you know that he is staying at the bush and he is using nyaope. I said but
often I have seen him hanging and ask why are you hanging? He said I am tired. I said
when a person is tired he does not hang like this. That means that there is something
you are smoking, I would ask but can a person who smoke nyaope hang like this? It
was then that he quit school, and he was staying there at the station, and he no longer
comes home. (Participant #7)
One of the parents (Participant #8) said that she did not know how long her child has
been using nyaope, but recalled the years that her child had stopped using nyaope. She said
for eight years her child had stopped using nyaope and at that time he was not even smoking
cigarettes. She said, “mine it is been a long time, but he once stopped using for eight years,
eight years he had stopped smoking, he was not even smoking cigarettes”.
The researcher noticed that few of the participants had had knowledge about nyaope
before their children began using it. Those who had knowledge were able to describe how it looked and how it was used. In addition, most parents could describe the signs displayed when their children were using and when they were trying to stop using nyaope. When it came to the question of how long their children had been using, most parents could estimate
the duration of the use. However, the researcher hypothesises that they estimated the
duration based on the time that they discovered the drug use, which may have been later than
the actual start of the use.
Assistance sought. This part of the report addresses the different ways and places
where parent sought assistance in an attempt to find relief. Some parents said that they did
manage to get help, however it was not enough. Other parents said that their attempts to get
help failed. During the group sessions the parents mentioned that there were three places that 115
they tried: it was the police, the Department of Social Services and the Non-Governmental
Organisations in the community (including churches).
Social workers and the rehabilitation centres. Social workers are professional
individuals hired by the Department of Social Services to attend to the social welfare of the
community they are based in. During the process of data collection and analysis it appeared
that the social worker played a huge role in getting these children into rehabilitation centres.
Participants said that, though their children manged to get to the rehabilitation centres, there
was no change to their drug use behaviour. Some said that there were changes that were
noticed when the child returned, however they were not long lasting. The services offered by the social workers seemed to be directed to the users. There was nothing mentioned in any of the groups about programmes that were directed at helping the parents.
Participant #2 stated that she was not experiencing a lot of support from the community
but from the social workers. She said, “they are not supportive. It is people who have
children who use nyaope that I think that, and those who understand about it, those are the
ones who are supportive. Many times we are assisted by the social workers”.
She further stated that her child was assisted many times by the social workers to be
admitted to the rehabilitation centre. She said that he keeps relapsing and going back. She
gave an example of the latest admission where her child stopped using for about a month after being discharged. She said:
Mine it is like went many times, that child I think even in December he went. He came
back on the 21 of December and I think around the 25 of January he was already
showing signs that took him there, I was seeing them. When he returns those signs are
not there, like I say that you can send him to Usave to buy bread and he would bring
back the change and the receipt, but from the 25 of January, he stay, he used to stay at 116
home and be busy, if he wants to clean the house, wash his clothes. Wash the dishes,
the cupboards he cleans them. But when he goes back he does not care about them
anymore. (Participant #2)
Participant #4 narrated a story where her child was referred to a rehabilitation centre.
She said that she was given the rules of the institution. She said:
They welcomed him well and gave the rules that I will see my child after three weeks.
And then you leave money amounting to R100 for him, you do not give it to him you
register it for him. If he want something like cigarette, as he went to rehab for that
side, so he will continue smoking cigarette. So I registered that money for him. But
they said that their rules says that they do not force the child, if he says he wants to
come back they will give him that money and he comes back home. And that thing
really happened to me, I took my child on Tuesday, then Wednesday, then Thursday,
Friday while I was at a funeral helping with peeling my brother came to visit me at
home, he did not know that I am not around I went to the funeral. When he called me,
he say sister I am home, where are you ? I said I am at a funeral, he said I am home
and here is the child with bags. I left the funeral before the body could arrive, I ran
and I was scared, I ran, when I arrived, and you, why have you come back? He said
that he was supposed to come back, he did not know all the people in there, and he did
not even know what to say to them.
One of the participants who got assistance from the social workers said that in her experience the rehabilitation centres her child was sent to had different outcomes. She said that there was one centre that helped her child for a while and then he went back, and there was another where the child returned without any change. She said: 117
There are changes as the first one he went to was the one we payed for. I mean that
child was beautiful. The one where I do not see change in a way it is this one in
Magalies. Even if he goes, I am not denying that… but to me he returns the same way
as he went, he returns looking the same way as before he left home. This one of
SANCA worked for me, but the one in Magalies and I asked those women there and I
said to them I don’t know that this child leaves in this way, that child is one child who
listens when you talk to him, but this thing he is smoking makes him to be like this.
When he goes there he does not change because even when you talk he does not hear
you, like the time he was in SANCA. We went to visit him with the children and we had
money for him, he returned it and he said I request that this money mama and papa that
you return with it home. Here uncle has paid for me to get the things that I need. So I
am requesting that as we are approaching December save it so you can buy clothes, but
when he returned from there I do not see this thing.
Some parents said that it appeared that at some rehabilitation centres the children continued to smoke while admitted. One of the parents said that her child failed a drug test while he was in rehabilitation because he was smoking nyaope while being admitted. She said:
Even with my child, he failed because he was smoking while he was still in there,
pretending that he was not smoking, yes and you must know that there they meet people
from Joburg and other places, all the smart people go there. They make friends while
in there, they make a lot of friends. My child used to smoke while in there, that is why
even the 11th day they give them to come to be tested and he failed even before he left
that place, I remember waiting for him in Bosman there and he just disappeared at
Bosman and we returned without him. (Participant #8) 118
The police. The police are the law enforcement individuals in the community. Pretoria is one of the metropolitan cities of South Africa. This means that in addition to the South
African Police Services (SAPS) there is the Tshwane Metro Police Department (TMPD) where the members of the community can go if they need assistance. Participants in the study had different submissions when it comes to the help by the police. Some of them said that there was no help at all from the police, and those who got assistance said that it was not enough. Participant #1 narrated an event where her grandchild (the user’s child) went to the police to open a case against the father. She said that the child complained that the police did nothing to help and the situation remained the same. She said.
One of the things that hurt me is when the child went to the police station to open a
case against him, the child opened a case against him but the police did not take the
child’s case serious. I just saw while I was at home the child came without the police.
Son what is wrong? And he said no mama I went and they did not help me with
anything. He said when I went there I wanted the police to lock daddy up because he
does not take care of us, you and papa are the ones who are struggling with us.
Another participant said that she had gone to the police to ask them to take the boy to where he sold the items in order to retrieve them. She said that the police told her that they would come to arrest him and not intimidate him as they were not intimidators. She said:
I once went to open a case against him, I asked the police to come and take him to go
with him to where he took people’s things to return them. At the police station they
said that they not intimidators, when I come there having a challenge with a child who
uses nyaope, I must open a case so that they can go to court and he may go to trial. I
only opened a case because I wanted the police to help by taking us to go fetch people’s
things, so it remained that way. (Participant #9) 119
Some of the parents said that they had lost things from the house. Participant #10 said when she went to the police they did not follow up on the case and those things were never found. She said in one instance, however, they did come and followed the case up and the items were found. She said:
And at home I even went to open a case, when I went to open a case the police did not
follow the case up, when you open a case it is done. And then they came one day with
the latter case and they found the pot, but the one with those dishes, bag packs, the
camping chairs no follow up was made. They only followed on the pot and the pot was
found.
A participant said that she went to her child’s school where they found a packet of nyaope and the letter written by those who supply it. He said the matter was reported to the police and the child took them to the house where he bought the nyaope. The police arrested the individual who sold it; however, that person was seen a while later, released and nothing further happened. She said:
They wrote a letter that is this long, they said we found new stuff; we wanted you to try
it out, this one is not available in South Africa. So we took effort and called the police.
The police came and they asked him where does those things come from, we went to
that house, truly he is selling them and then if he sends it to a child at school, in the
school it was more than hundred and something children, who were smoking, we found
him, the police took him but after a week he was back. (Participant #8)
Some parents reported that the police, instead of helping, were the ones who were actually selling it. Participant #5 said that the police are working together with the dealers.
They either sell the drug or they would tip off the dealers when you go to report them. She said: 120
We are talking about the law of the police that they are the ones that need to look for
the root of the existence of this thing, because it is destroying our community. Right
now they are the ones who are selling it, they are the ones who tell them when you go
and report saying so and so I saw it. They tip them off before that, move away the
police are coming; do you see how it is? So when I talk so strongly about it I am not
talking like this, scared to say it even when we take it up.
Community organizations. There are various organizations in the community that participants talked about in their search for support. These include Non-Governmental
Organizations (NGOs) and the churches. One of the parents said that the social workers and the churches in the community are the people they get a lot of help and support from. She said, “many times we are assisted by the social workers, and then people from the churches and NGOs” (Participant #2).
Participant #8 said that one of the organizations that helped was called Hands of
Compassion which is in Randburg. She said that they required the child to stop smoking before he/she is admitted. The child would be there for some time where they are taken to schools and colleges. She said:
Hands of Compassion that is in Randburg. Do you know what they say there? When
you are there, they do not heal nyaope, they want the child to spend six weeks at home
treating himself off nyaope, yes, that it leaves his system. When he gets there he has to
stay there for a year, if he does not have matric he would do it while there, anything I
mean he would leave the place equipped, if he wants to study teaching, he would be
there and attend a college, there is a car provided from Rhema that waits for him. He
would go back to Rhema and wake up and go to school just like that until he himself
stops using nyaope. 121
Other parents reported that they tried taking their children to the same organization and they failed. They reported that the reason for them failing was the requirements of the organization. One of the parents said that the child needs to bring their own appliance (like irons) and that was difficult as they could not afford them. She said:
There is no support, we tried a lot of things. Do you remember there where we went
thinking we will get help, there where you helped us there and they had some
requirements. They wanted us to bring irons; we had to buy irons and food in Joburg.
(Participant #9)
It was identified by the researcher that parent sought help from three major places in the community: social workers, the police and non-profit organizations and churches in the community. In all this they reported that that they experienced little to no help in trying to solve their challenges. The social workers focused on placing the children into rehabilitation centres which had limited success while the police only wanted to arrest the user and let the courts decide on what to do with the children. Non-profit organizations and churches did provide some support, but they often failed to provide practical solutions.
Dreams. This is the last theme that the researcher found from the analysis of the data.
It refers to the wishes and hopes the parents expressed that they have. It also discusses their nightmares of losing a child (through changes in the child, and the physical loss of the child).
Three subthemes will be discussed in this section. These sub-themes are: hopes and wishes, mourning the child that was, and the future.
Hopes and wishes. This section speaks about the wishes that they have about their children, and the hopes they have about their current situation. Participant #1 said that she wished that her child would live up to the person she planned for him to be, and that he would be alright in life. She said: 122
He is a grown man as it is, he is old and life belongs to no one, this life that he is living,
I know he is living for himself. But as a parent sometimes you wish as if you can see
your children live the life which you nurtured them to live, that they may be alright in
life.
Another parent said that she wished that her child could return home or be closer to home where she could see him after the child left to stay in Marabastad. She said, “right now
I wish that he could return from Marabastad, if he would live at the station and return so that
I can see him, now I do not see him and it hurts me, even when the children say are you not happy your things are safe” (Participant #10).
Participant #6 said that he would want to take his child to a place where he never
returns home until he had stopped smoking. He said on that day of his return he would
slaughter a cow and celebrate. He said:
I had said that he is supposed to go stay in Pietersburg, he should never come back
home. When he returns from Pietersburg he should come back beautiful, I will
slaughter a cow and we should never hear again that you are smoking nyaope, nyaope
would have left.
One of the participant said that she wished that she would die in order to rest from the suffering she constantly wakes up to. She said: “I even wish that I would not wake up, as in
when I go sleep, then it would be that I finally get to rest, because when you wake up, you
wake up to suffering, we are really suffering” (Participant #1).
Participant #6 on the other hand said that he hoped that he would be able to get help for
his child before he dies. He said that he would rest well knowing that his child is helped. In
his own words he said, “I hope at that time this thing would have ended so that when I die I
would know that I have helped him”. 123
Mourning the child that was. This section relates to the changes that the parents have noticed since the child started using nyaope. Parents reported that what the child has become is not what the child used to be or that which the child could have been. One of the participants’ child is a qualified teacher. She said that what makes her angry is that he is a teacher yet he is smoking with some of those who never went to school as far as he did. She continued to say that she once spoke to him and said that he has not used what was given to him and he was wasting away who he was. She said:
Look he has… he did… look he is a teacher, but I do not want to say that he is useless,
what should I say? Which word should I use I do not know, he did not use, because he
went to school he is not the same as those children who are at Hamanskraal. Some of
those children did not even go to school. But he went. I told him that you are the one
who is teaching those children nyaope, because those children are looking at you. A
whole teacher, I said you are not doing anything with your life. So the social workers
said that sometimes we need to be patient with him, that as he requested to go, since we
are not paying. I responded and said but at the end of the day you will give up, and
they said one day he will go and when he returns he would have quit forever. So at this
point I do not know, yes anything is possible. (Participant #1)
Participant #5 spoke about her child who is a qualified nurse. She said that she sacrificed so much taking him through school. What hurts her the most is that the child’s certificate is sitting in the house while he is smoking nyaope. She said:
And then the other one I trusted him like his name says, he said he wanted to go to
school to study nursing. I said you are going to do the things you did? You are not
going there. So his father said he should go, tomorrow he will cry about us, at least let
him go. He attended even though I was not working, but I made a plan I paid for him. 124
Right now as I am talking with you that certificate I took it, it is under the base, he has
it, since it is not working, so it is painful, you take your last cent.
Another parent said that he no longer wants his child in the state that he is in; he said that he would rather have him moved to Pietersburg until he has stopped smoking, as he is making him angry and brings a lot of struggles. He said:
No that issue is painful, when you try to get there, there is one child who is not on the
straight and narrow. I tried rebuking him, no baba you like shouting, I no longer want
that child, and how can you struggle like that? Struggling like that as if you did not go
to school. He agrees by talking. Even yesterday he arrived well and he was sober, I
said yes today you came in properly. I had said that he is supposed to go stay in
Pietersburg, he should never come back home. (Participant #6)
Future. This sub-theme refers to what the participants hoped could happen in the future in order to help them. Participant #2 said that she hoped that their challenges could be heard and that one day there would be a community rehabilitation centre built in order for their children to be helped. She said that if the children could be equipped with education while being rehabilitated, it would be a step in the right direction. She said:
You see it is as if we could have a centre of our own, where they would take them and
they are rehabbed, and then they find work, or if it is not work, those who want to go to
school should go, because there are a lot of children who are at school who are still
young, some of them are girls and they have children. (Participant #2)
Participant #1, on the other hand, said that if the government would start taking the plight of nyaope as seriously as they did the HIV/AIDS plight things would be better. She said that if they would make campaigns to make people aware of the challenges of nyaope it would help them. She said: 125
My wish is that the government like they did stand on their feet about AIDS, and fought
and look for people with the virus and found help for them, they stood on their feet, they
should also stand on their feet with nyaope, because I think that if the government can
take it serious, this thing can come to an end.
In the above theme the researcher identified what parents had wished and hoped for their children to become when they grow up, and discovered that most appeared to be in mourning for their children even when they were still alive because of the death of their dreams for them and their lack of hope for a brighter future for them. Some of the parents expressed their wish to actually have the child die in order to experience peace and rest.
Conclusion
What the data made most clear was that the parents of nyope users faced many challenges. One of the challenges was that they often discovered the usage through theft which led to the disintegration and breakdown of the participants’ significant relationships, and also prompted abuse from members of their families and the community. As a result, parents had to deal with many difficult emotions, and many blamed themselves or were blamed by others for their children’s usage. Parents sought support from their families and the community. However, these systems of support were either inadequate or ineffective in helping them to cope. Seeking help from social workers, the police, and non-profit organisations also provided little relief. Because of this, attempts to find solutions for their predicament left parents feeling frustrated and hopeless.
In the next chapter the researcher discusses these themes and compares them with the literature that was discussed in the literature review chapter. 126
Discussion
Introduction
This is the final chapter of the study, and the researcher discusses the important
findings regarding the parental experiences of having a child/children in the immediate
family who use/s nyaope. In addition, the researcher compares some of the findings of the
study to the available literature on the topic and related topics.
The research question of the study was: what are the experiences, knowledge and
coping mechanisms of parents whose children use the drug nyaope in Temba Township north
of the Pretoria Central Business District (CBD)?
The researcher believes that the research question will be answered when the researcher relates the findings of the study to its aims and objective that have been achieved.
The researcher outlined a set of objectives to assist him in answering the research
question and to achieve the aims. The objectives of this study were as follows:
a) to gather information on the actual experiences of the parents of children who
use nyaope, including their feelings and reactions.
b) to establish the extent of their knowledge about:
1) the drug itself;
2) the signs/symptoms displayed by the drug user;
3) the age range of the drug users; and
4) whether females or males are more likely to use the drug.
c) to establish what the parents’ coping mechanisms are;
d) how effective they felt these were in dealing with their children’s substance use;
and, 127
e) to establish what professional help is available to, and taken advantage of, by
parents.
Findings in Relation to Objectives
The researcher expanded the data collected and analysed by identifying how it links to the objectives of the study, and comparing these findings with the available literature. He believed that this would assist in addressing the research question and the aims of the study.
Experiences of the parents of children who use nyaope. In this section the
researcher discusses the parents’ experience from the time they discovered that their children
were using nyaope. The parental experiences of the parents that were found from the data
were that their children who used nyaope engaged in theft, and that the child’s substance use
contributed to family disintegration, relationship breakdown, rejection, abuse and a sense of
loss. These experiences will be discussed below in relation to other studies that were reviewed in the literature chapter.
Theft. Many participants mentioned that their children started to engage in stealing
when they started using nyaope. These experiences echo that of a father of a nyaope user in a
different context who said that the son would steal appliances in the house in order to sell
them to the neighbours for a fix (Tuwani, 2013). Participants stated that the theft affected
both their families and the wider community. One of the participants said that the level of
crime in their community has risen and this was due to nyaope use. This supports the theory
that addicts often steal from their already-poor neighbours in order to finance their addiction
(Kaminski, 2014).
Family disintegration. The parent in the study reported that their children’s use of
substance has affected all areas of their live. In this section the researcher discusses the impact this had on the family specifically. Participants reported that the drug use had thrown 128
the family into turmoil and conflicts. Jackson et al. (2007) echoed the same sentiment in saying that families are destroyed as the child continues to use drugs, with the parents caught
up in trying to keep the family together while at the same time managing the stress and
frustrations that come with having a child who uses drugs. This finding agrees with the finding by Bernard (2007) that parents fight a lot on how to deal with the challenge of a substance using child.
One of the parents said that the challenge was that her husband is not the biological father of the child. She said that she fights a lot with her husband which in turn makes her to keep some of the things that the child does from the father. This kind of behaviour around an
addict is referred to as co-dependency by The Right Step (2013). They say that the co-
dependent person will do anything in their power to hide the mistakes of the user from the
other people. This will allow the drug use behaviour to continue.
Relationship breakdown. The findings in the study indicate that the participants’
relationships were affected because of the substance use. One of the parents said that she has
lost touch with some of the family members to a point that she chooses the family gathering
depending on the level of acceptance that particular branch of the family gives. This finding
was in line with the finding of the similar study by Choate (2015), who noted that parents’
lives were in turmoil, and that the whole family system was affected by the drug use. The
family interactions grew weaker and the fighting and arguments in the family became more
common.
It also emerged in the study that the breakdown in the relationship was not in the family
system only. Participants reported that they would be in arguments with their neighbours and
members in their community because their children were stealing from them. This finding
confirms what Kaminski (2014) said, in that addicts often steal from their neighbours in order 129
to finance their addiction. This may cause escalations between the family and their
neighbours.
Rejection. This section refers to the rejection that participants reported that they are
faced with because their children are using nyaope. Participants said that they feel misunderstood by those whose children do not use the drug. In one of the session one of the parents said that they were trying to address community members at a meeting to assist them with help. The response they got from some of the community members was that they were not going to take part in the meeting, unless those whose children smoked were present in numbers, since at this meeting there were few parents whose children were using nyaope.
Community members also argued that the parent should get all parents of nyaope users together so that they could address the community meeting.
Abuse. This section discusses the abuse that parents went through because of their children’s use of nyaope. Parents reported that they were dealing with verbal abuse and the threat of being physically abused by the user. This is in line with what Choate (2015) said in that parents’ attempts to find out about the users often led to escalations of tension in the family, with the user becoming more confrontational and fighting with family members at times. Usher et al. (2007) echoed the same sentiments in this matter saying that in addition to the theft, the family was faced with verbal abuse from the user. Participants in the study also reported of instances where the abuse was from other people either in the family or the society at large.
A sense of loss. In this section the researcher will discuss the feelings of loss the parents reported that they experienced since their children started using nyaope. They reported that the changes that were displayed by the child due to the substance use were like loosing the child all together. The dreams and wishes they had towards the child were lost and became a distant memory since nyaope came to their life. This was in line with the 130
statement made by Jackson et al. (2007) saying that parents are left with the feeling of loss.
Their efforts in creating a brighter future for their child have been lost in who the child has
become.
Feelings and reactions. Casa Palmera Staff (2010) writes that having an addict in the
house is a very painful experience that affects the emotional, behavioural and financial aspect
of those living with them. This appeared to be true for the participants of the current study
who expressed feeling a roller coaster of emotions when they discovered their child’s use of
nyaope. Some participants reported that they felt the need to isolate themselves from some of
their families and the community. They reported that this experience stripped them of their
dignity and they felt humiliated.
The participants reported that they felt hurt and blamed by others. Some said that at times they blamed themselves for their children’s use. They felt that their situation was hopeless to a point that some of them felt that they wanted to die, and they were constantly dealing with worry over their children’s safety or well-being. This confirms what Jackson et al. (2007) said in their study where they were talking to mothers whose children use substances. They said parents raised concerns that society blamed them and held them responsible for their child’s behaviour. Some parents hence avoided seeking help and felt ashamed and embarrassed because society believed that they had played a role in the behaviour of their child. Parents reported that they experienced a sense of guilt because of the role they believed they had played in their child’s use of drugs. Parents stated that they sometimes felt like giving up but would then feel guilty that something bad might happen to their child.
Extent of their knowledge. The researcher in this section highlights the parents’ knowledge about the use of nyaope in four areas and discusses how these findings relate to existing literature. 131
The drug itself. The participants’ description of nyaope was in line with Simelane and
Nicolson (2013) who identified it as a white powder that sometimes takes on a creamy tint
and is usually sold in small parcels at R30 a portion. However, though Simelane and
Nicolson further identified some of the ingredients found in nyaope, parents in the study
never went into the details of what the drug is made up of.
The description of how the drug is smoked mentioned by the participants confirms what
Simelane and Nicolson (2013) described in saying that the drug is mixed with cannabis and
then rolled up into a joint which is lit and smoked. One of the participants described another
mode of administration that is closely related to that of Phakgadi (2017) which reported that
the users are sharing the blood of the already high individual through a needle. The
participant’s description was a little different to that made by Phakgadi, indicating that the
users even mix their blood with nyaope inside a bottle cap and then inject the mixture into
their bodies through a needle.
Signs/symptoms displayed by the drug user. The finding of the study about the signs
and symptoms displayed by the drug users were in line with what Health24 reported in 2014.
One sign is a painful stomach; one participant described it as though razor blades are cutting
through the stomach. Additional symptoms related to the use of nyaope reported were that
their children would look very sick and weak. Some parents described their children
scratching and rubbing their noses because they itched.
According to Sadock and Sadock (2007), individuals who use drugs fail to fulfil major
roles and obligations at work or at school, resulting in repeated absence and poor
performance related to substance abuse. Participants confirmed this, reporting that their children did not take care of their hygiene, most of them never completed their matric, and those who had children neglected their responsibility to take care of them. 132
Age range of the drug users. Beyever (2009) said that the average age of initiation of substance use in South Africa was 12 years and this age of initiation was constantly dropping.
Similarly, Sargent and DiFranza (2003) stated that the age of initiation was around the middle school going age. Participants’ reports on the age group of substance use supported this.
Although they did not say the actual age, it seemed that most of their discoveries about the use were when the child was in middle school.
Females or males are more likely to use the drug. According to UNODC (2004), being male is one of the identified risk factors that an individual may use substances. This does not mean that only males may use drugs, but that there is a greater chance of males choosing to use drugs than females. This idea was supported by the findings in the study in that all the participants’ children were male. It must, however, be noted that some of the parents did indicate that there were females that were known to them who used nyaope. One of the participants described an incident where she saw a young woman carrying a baby while she was a known nyaope user.
Their coping mechanisms and their effectiveness. What the researcher discovered during the study confirmed Wallace’s (2014) statement that parents found their children’s addiction difficult. One of the participants said that she wished that she would go to sleep and not wake up in order to rest from the suffering she faced every time she woke up. In essence, the parents were not coping with their day to day functioning and at times neglected their responsibilities in the family and focused more on resolving the addiction. Some parents had even stopped running their businesses or going to work. This is in line with
Jackson et al. (2007) findings that addiction affects the parent in all aspects of their lives including the family and that their families are destroyed because they use most of their time and energy dealing with the frustrations of managing the addiction. 133
Professional help sought. The study found that the three sources of help that the parents sought the most were the social workers and the police. There were also organisations in the community that provided assistances such as non-profit organisations, the church and rehabilitation centres.
The participants said that though there was help available it was not enough to help them cope with their child’s use of nyaope. They reported that social workers focus on getting the children into facilities like rehabilitation centres. However, they indicated that their children’s recovery was not long lasting. In an interview with a mother of an addicted child, who said that she was concerned that her son who was 22 years and in prison, was admitted to rehabilitation centres on more than four occasions, Rivers (2010) suggested that it was not the responsibility of the parent to fix the child but the child has to come to their own realization for the effected change to be long lasting. This confirms the parents’ experiences of having their children admitted to rehabilitation centres on many occasions.
In addition, drug rehabilitation centres are expensive and the participants said that they could not afford it or that, if they could, the family suffered from the financial burden. This perception by the parents confirms what Casa Palmera staff (2010) indicated, that having an addict in the house affects the whole family’s well-being including the financial aspects.
Parents reported that the police were unhelpful, simply saying that they could not intimidate the child to reveal where the stolen items were, but they would only arrest them and wait for the courts to make a judgement. This appears to add to the parents’ challenges as they would now have to worry about an arrested child in addition to the drug use.
Findings in the Study about Substance Use in General
The researcher in this section discusses the finding in the study that are not directly related to the parental experiences but related to drug use in general. 134
The biggest challenge faced by the researcher in the beginning of the study was the limited information available on the experiences of parents whose children were using nyaope or substances in general. The researcher made note of the huge gap existing in this area. Because of this gap, the knowledge of how to assist parents in this predicament is limited, and the parents experience a big sense of helplessness. During the group process, parents reported that they had tried on their own to find relief and failed. They were also failed by the systems put in place to assist them.
Different drugs are being used and they are more often than not area specific. Cheap drugs are mostly used by people in areas where poverty is high. According to Hamdulay and
Mash (2011), low income families tended to use cheap and affordable substances, most of which tended to be illegally manufactured or produced. The statement seems to show reasons why young people in Temba tend to use nyaope. Temba is a place that is high in unemployment and poverty. Van Huyssteen (2000), in describing the current state of Temba said that the reduction of functional factories in the Babelegi industrial area could be one of the main reasons of high unemployment rates. Looking into the above it is apparent that people who are staying in Temba do not have employment and thus may be rendered to be in the low economic status zone. Since nyaope is a cheap drug that goes around at R30, it is a drug of choice in such areas. This makes the drug to be highly available in the area.
Circumstances Influencing Substance Use
The literature suggested a variety of circumstances which explain the need for young people to use substances. This study provided evidence of the following factors being important in the high incidence of nyaope use in Temba: environmental, genetic, and social learning. These findings will be discussed below. 135
Environmental factors. This study confirmed Lipari et al. (2015) statement that the
easy availability of drugs may increase the probability of substance abuse. As already mentioned above nyaope is a drug that is readily available to the youth because of its affordability. With the drugs readily available and the demand high, opportunities for the unemployed to start businesses in the market increase as this has shown to be a good way of making quick money (Dunlap et al., 2010),
In the analysis, it came out that the majority of the parents in the study either used or have family members who use substances. This finding supports the notion that environmental influences may play a role in the child’s drug use behaviour. It also correlates with the National Institute on Drug Abuse’s (2010) suggestion that substance use by parents or adults in the family may play a role in encouraging their children to begin and continue using the substance.
Genetic and biological factors. The majority of the parents who participated in the study reported that they were using, the spouse was using or there was a close relative who was using substances. This may be indicative of the fact that some users are genetically predisposed to experience substance-related disorders, an idea that was put forward by the
NCADD (2015). Some participants reported that, in their experience, the withdrawal
symptoms were making it difficult for their children to quit nyaope. This finding confirms
Clark’s (2011) statement that symptoms like tolerance, withdrawal and cravings appear to
support the idea that addictions are biological entities and medical problems. It is like the
need for the substance is an invasive element in the human body which regulates the needs
the user has for his or her well-being.
Social learning. The high incidence of substance use among parents and other adult
family members suggests support for the idea that learning by observation and adopting the
behaviours of significant others in their lives is a significant factor in substance use (Akers & 136
Sellers, 2004; DiClemente, 2006). In particular, the current study findings support the importance of two of the variables that were listed by Akers and Sellers (2004): differential associations and imitation. The findings of the study support the above statements in that most of the participants’ children could have learned the behaviour of substance use from their parents or those close relatives who also use. The researcher thus wishes to put forward the following hypothesis on the basis of his study findings: With regards to differential associations; the participants’ children having grown in a family where substance use was constantly observed by the children may explain the rationale for the children to adopt that behaviour. Regarding imitations; though the parents tried to relinquish the substance use behaviour adopted by their children, the children continued to use nyaope as this was mimicking what the child observed or was observing.
Limitations of the Study
Although the study provided valuable information, it had some limitation to it which could have affected a more rich conceptualizing of the experiences the parents had since discovering that their children were using nyaope.
One limitation was that the sample used in the study was small in relation to the population of Temba Township. The findings of the study therefore cannot be generalised to the whole population. What also appeared to be prominent was that the participants were predominantly female (with 10 females and one male). This meant that the experiences identified were more of mothers than of fathers and that there may be differences in the fathers’ experience.
Focus groups were the mode of data collection used. The make-up of the group only included one facilitator who was the researcher. This meant that the researcher had to take up the role of facilitating the group and observing the process that unfolded. This meant that at 137
times the facilitator might have missed the opportunity to observe or to facilitate to his
optimum level, which may have contributed to some of the rich data that needed to be
collected to be lost.
Though most of the participants’ children started using nyaope at a younger age, they
were adults at the time of the group meetings. This meant that most of the experiences of the
parents were of those who have been dealing with the child’s substance use for a long time.
Little information of the experiences of those who have recently discovered the substance
was collected.
Conclusion and Recommendations
The researcher intended to study the experiences that parents had since discovering that
their children used nyaope. There is a lot of challenges that comes with the child’s use of the
drug nyaope that parents have to face. The researcher also noticed that the support and
coping mechanisms employed by the parents were either inadequate or noneffective. He identified that a lot still needs to be done in the area of understanding parental experiences of having a child who uses nyaope and other drugs in general in order to assist them to deal with them effectively.
Participants in the study shared their experiences and the researcher explored these experiences. The findings in his exploration showed that the parents were struggling to find support and assistance from the community and the professionals in the community. This has
led to them feeling a lot of overwhelming emotions. They have experienced theft in their
families and community, disintegration of their family and system breakdown of some of
their significant relationships, and some of them lost their businesses or their businesses were
on the verge of collapse. It also emerged in the study that there was little known about
nyaope and substance use in the community. 138
Based on the finding of the study the researcher developed the following recommendations:
1) Parents spoke about the challenges they had faced since their children started
using nyaope. Some of those challenges were observed during the data
collection process by the researcher. The researcher recommends that service
providers take into account these parental challenges and aim to incorporate and
address these challenges in their interventions. Parents reported that they felt
alone and did not have anyone to talk to except those who were going through
what they were going through. The researcher recommends that a support
group be created where parents whose children use nyaope could meet as often
as possible. This group could be facilitated by a trained individual or someone
in the community could be trained to facilitate such groups.
2) Parents in the study highlighted that, though there is help for their children to
quit nyaope, little was done to help parents during the process. Professional
helpers who work with children who use nyaope may need to work in
collaboration in order to find ways in which they can include parents in their
intervention programmes. Psycho-education about the drug and its effects
should be done with parents in order to bring understanding of what parents can
expect and where they can go to seek assistance for themselves.
3) One of the participants stated that the biggest challenge they are faced with in
the community was the lack of knowledge. With this in mind, the researcher
recommends that there be awareness campaigns in the community about
nyaope. These campaigns could include road shows, utilising the community
radio station, and writing in the local newspapers. 139
4) It is recommended that the South African Police Service includes a division that
is solely responsible with dealing with the parents who come with the
challenges of their children’s use of substances. Training should be provided to
the police on how to deal with and assist these parents. 140
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Appendix A: Letter of Request
Vusimusi Collet Radebe
University of Limpopo (Medunsa Campus)
School of Medicine
Clinical psychology department
Box no: 110 Medunsa 0204
Santa Maria Village for the Aged, Children Foster and Day Care, and Place of Safety
866 Unit 1
Temba
0407
Dear MS M.H. Nchabeleng
My name is Vusimusi Collet Radebe a Clinical Psychology student at the University of Limpopo (Medunsa Campus). As part of my academic assessment I need to complete a research towards my mini-dissertation, titled Parental experiences of nyaope users in Temba Township, Pretoria (Gauteng) which will be used together with my course work marks as a final mark towards my degree.
My request to your organization is assistance to identify individuals in the community who might be interested in taking part in the study since your organization works in assisting their children. I believe that my study would contribute towards the organizations hard work in bettering the live of the affected individual and the community at large. A copy of my research proposal has been attached to this letter in order to put you in context of the study
Hope you find all in order
Kind regards
Mr. Vusimusi Collet Radebe
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157
Appendix B: Permission to Conduct Research
158
Appendix C1: English Research Participation Leaflet
RESEARCH PARTICIPATION LEAFLET
The researcher
My name is Vusimusi Collet Radebe, a student at the SEFAKO MAKGATHO HEALTH SCIENCES UNIVERSITY), I am currently studying Maters of Science (MSc) in clinical psychology. I am currently planning to conduct a study (towards completing my degree) in the community of Temba, where I will be exploring the experience of parents who have children that might be addicted to nyaope.
The study:
The title of my study is PARENTAL EXPERIENCES OF NYAOPE USERS IN TEMBA TOWNSHIP, PRETORIA (GAUTENG), which will involve participants from the community who are interested in taking part in the study. The study would be exploring the experiences, coping mechanisms and views of parents whose children use the drug nyaope.
Reasons
As a the researcher is also a resident in the community of Temba, he was challenge to come with a study to understand the parent’s experience and views on their children’s use to understand the family system’s system towards the perpetuation or inhibition of this behavior. One of the center stone of the researcher’s interest is that he was born and raised in the community and some of the users are known to the researcher (being classmates, acquaintances, and even friends), and he would like to give back to the community that contributed much to his life.
Vusimusi Collet Radebe (chief researcher)
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159
Appendix C2: seTswana Research Participation Leaflet
PAMPITSHANA YA KITSISO YA THUTO
Mmatlisisis
Leina la me ke Vusimusi Collet Radebe, moithuti kwa Unibesithing ya SEFAKO MAKGATHO HEALTH SCIENCES UNIVERSITY mo nakong e ke ithutela masetasi ya tsa saense mo dithutong tsa Clinical Psycholgy. Ke ikaeletse go dira dipatlisiso (e le karole ya tiro ya sekolo) mo motseng wa Temba, moo ke tlabeng ke batlisisa ka maikutlo a batsadi bao bana ba bona ba dirisang seritibatsi sa nyaope
Thuto
Sethlogo sa thuto ya me ke MAIKUTLO A BATSADI BAO BANA BA BONA BA DIRISAND NYAOPE KWA LEKEISHINING LA TEMBA, TSHWANE (GAUTENG), moo bao tlabeng ba tsaya kaorolo e tlabe ele badudi ba mo motseng baba nang le kgatlhego mo go tseyeng karolo mo dibatlisisosng tseo. Dipatlisiso tse di tlabe di batlisisa maikutlo, ditsela tsa go phela ka maemo a, le dipono tsa bona tsa batsdi bao bana ba bona ba dirisang nyaope
Mabaka
Oo a diring dipatlisiso tse ke modudi wa motse wa Temba, o ileng a ba lekgwetlho gore a batle go utlwisisa maikutlo a batsadi le dipono tsa bona mabapi le tiriso ya bana ya nyope, gore a kgone go utlwisisa karolo e tshamekang ke ba lelapa go tsweletsa kgotsa go thiba maitshwaro aa. Taba kgolo ya ee dirileng gore moithuti yoo a be lekgatlhego ee ke gore o tsetswe aba a golela mo motesng oo wa Temba, ebile bangwe ba badirisi ba nyaope oa aba iste (baka ba ba tsene botlhe kwa skolong, baitsana ka go bonana mo motseng nako dingwe ele ditsala), ebile a ka rata go dira phetogo mo motseng oo o dirileng di le dintsi mo bophelong jwa gagwe.
Vusimusi Collet Radebe (mmatlisisi mogolo)
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Appendix D1: English Consent Form
SEFAKO MAKGATHO HEALTH SCIENCES UNIVERSITY ENGLISH CONSENT FORM
Statement concerning participation in a Research Project.
Name of Study: PARENTAL EXPERIENCES OF NYAOPE USERS IN TEMBA TOWNSHIP, PRETORIA (GAUTENG)
I have read the information on /heard the aims and objectives of the proposed study and was provided the opportunity to ask questions and given adequate time to rethink the issue. The aim and objectives of the study are sufficiently clear to me. I have not been pressurized to participate in any way.
I know that sound recordings will be taken of me. I am aware that this material may be used in scientific publications which will be electronically available throughout the world. I consent to this provided that my name is not revealed.
I understand that participation in this Study is completely voluntary and that I may withdraw from it at any time and without supplying reasons. This will have no influence on the regular treatment that holds for my condition neither will it influence the care that I receive from my regular doctor.
I know that this Study has been approved by the SEFAKO MAKGATHO HEALTH SCIENCES UNIVERSITY), SEFAKO MAKGATHO HEALTH SCIENCES UNIVERSITY / Dr George Mukhari Hospital. I am fully aware that the results of this Study will be used for scientific purposes and may be published. I agree to this, provided my privacy is guaranteed.
I hereby give consent to participate in this Study.
......
Name of patient/volunteer Signature of patient or guardian/parent
......
Place. Date. Witness
______161
Statement by the Researcher
I provided verbal and/or written information regarding this Study
I agree to answer any future questions concerning the Study as best as I am able.
I will adhere to the approved protocol.
...... …… …………………….
Name of Researcher Signature Date Place
162
Appendix D2: seTswana Consent Form
SEFAKO MAKGATHO HEALTH SCIENCES UNIVERSITY SETSWANA CONSENT FORM
Seteitemente se se ka ga go tsaya karolo mo Porojeke ya Patlisiso.
Leina la Patlisiso: MAIKUTLO A BATSADI BAO BANA BA BONA BA DIRISAND NYAOPE KWA LEKEISHINING LA TEMBA, TSHWANE (GAUTENG)
Ke buisitse tshedimosetso mo */ke utlwile maitlhomo le maikemisetso a patlisiso e e tshitshintsweng mme ke filwe tšhono ya go botsa dipotso le go fiwa nako e e lekaneng ya go akanya gape ka ntlha e. Maitlhomo le maikemisetso a patlisiso e a tlhaloganyega sentle. Ga ke a patelediwa ke ope ka tsela epe go tsaya karolo.
Ke itse gore kutlwagalo kgatiso e tlo tsewa ya me. Ke itse gore matheriale oka ba ya dirisiwa ko saentifiki ya phitiso eo tlabolong e fitisiwa ka tsela ya
Ke tlhaloganya gore go tsaya karolo mo Patlisiso ke boithaopo le gore nka ikgogela morago mo go yona ka nako nngwe le nngwe kwa ntle ga go neela mabaka. Se ga se kitla se nna le seabe sepe mo kalafong ya me ya go le gale ya bolwetsi jo ke nang le jona e bile ga se kitla se nna le tlhotlheletso epe mo tlhokomelong e ke e amogelang mo ngakeng ya me ya go le gale.
Ke a itse gore Patlisiso e e rebotswe ke Patlisiso le Molao wa Maitsholo tsa SEFAKO MAKGATHO HEALTH SCIENCES UNIVERSITY, SEFAKO MAKGATHO HEALTH SCIENCES UNIVERSITY / Bookelo jwa Ngaka George Mukhari. Ke itse ka botlalo gore dipholo tsa Patlisiso di tla dirisetswa mabaka a saentifiki e bile di ka nna tsa phasaladiwa. Ke dumelana le seno, fa fela go netefadiwa gore se e tla nna khupamarama.
Fano ke neela tumelelo ya go tsaya karolo mo Patlisiso e.
...... Leina ka molwetse/moithaopi Tshaeno ya molwetse kgotsa motlamedi/motswadi
...... Lefelo. Letlha. Paki ______
163
Seteitemente ka Mmatlisisi
Ke tlametse tshedimosetso ka molomo le/kgotsa e e kwadilweng malebana le Patlisiso e. Ke dumela go araba dipotso dingwe le dingwe mo nakong e e tlang tse di amanang le Patlisiso ka moo nka kgonang ka teng. Ke tla tshegetsa porotokolo e e rebotsweng.
...... …… ……………………. Leina la Mmatlisisi Tshaeno Letlha Lefelo
164
Appendix E1: English Data Sheet
Research participant code:
Date: ………………………………………………………………………….
Name and Surname: …………………………………………………………
Address: ………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………
Telephone number: ………………………………………………………………………….
1. Date of birth ……………………………………
2. Age ………………………………………………
3. Gender……………………………………………..
4. Marital status………………………………………
5. Education………………………………………………
6. Employment …………………………………………..
7. Child’s date of birth ………………………………
8. Child’s age……………………
9. Child’s gender………………….
10. Child’s educational background ………………………………………………………….
11. Are you a primary care giver to the child? ......
13. Any history of substance use in the family? ......
165
Appendix E2: seTswana Data Sheet
Research participant code:
Letlha: ………………………………………………………………………….
Leina le sefane: …………………………………………………………
Aterese: ………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………
Nomoro ya mohala: ………………………………………………………………………….
1. Letlha la Matsalo……………………………………………………………..
2. Dingwaga …………………………………………………………
3. Bong ………………………………………………………………
4. A o nyetswe? …………………………………
5. O feditse ka mophato o fe kwa sekolong? …………………………..
6. A o thapilwe? ………………………………………………………..
7. Letlha la matsalo la ngwana ………………………
8. Dingwaga tsa ngwaga ………………………..
9. Bong jwa ngwana …………………………..
10. Ngwana o feditse mophato o fe kwa sekolong ……………………..
11. A ke wena o rweleng maikarabelo mo ngwaneng o? ......
12. A go kile ga ba le mongwe mo losikeng yo o dirisanf diretebatse? ………………. 166
Appendix F1: English Focus Group Guide
FOCUS GROUP GUIDE
These were the questions which were used to guide the researcher to conduct the focus group.
1. What are your experiences of your child’s use of nyaope?
2. What are your feelings and reactions towards nyaope and drug use in general?
3. What knowledge do you have about nyaope use?
4. What are the myths and truths about nyaope that are known to you?
5. What are your opinions or views about young people who end up using nyaope?
6. In your experience, what role can the family system play in an attempt to assist your child?
7. What are your coping strategies?
8. How effective are these strategies?
8. What sort of assistance could be useful to you?
167
Appendix F2: seTswana Focus Group Guide
TSELA YA GO DIRA KA SETLHOPA SE SEKGETHILWENG
Tse ke tsona dipotso tseo mmatlisisi a ileng a di dirisa go ka tsamaisa setlhopa sese kgethilweng.
1. Ke eng maikutlo a gaog mabapi le tiriso ya ngwana wa gago ya nyope?
2. Ke eng maikutlo le monagano wa gaog mabapi le tiriso ya nyaope ka kakaretse?
3. Ke eng se o se itsing mapapi le tiriso ya nyaope?
4. Ke eng maaka le dinnete tse o di itsing mabapi le tiriso ya nayope?
5. Monaganoa wa gao le dipono tsa gago ka bana baba dirirsang nyaope ke eng?
6. Ka kitso ya gago ke eng se lelapa le ka se dirang go leka go thusa ngwana wa gago?
7. O phela jang ka maemo aa?
8. Tsela e o phelang ka yano aa e go tswela mosola?
9. Ke eng se se ka dirwang gogo thusa?