Kathleen Broderick
Director,
Grandmothers Against Poverty and AIDS (GAPA)
Projects
No current research is being conducted, but the GAPA programme is designed to meet the needs of older persons whose families are affected by HIV/AIDS. To this end, we are flexible in our approach to workshop content. Workshops are conducted each month and facilitated by grandmothers in the mother tongue of participants. Support groups are also flexible and thus meet needs of members. Support groups are evolving from providing emotional support to becoming small business cooperatives operating out of peoples’ homes. Mini research projects are currently carried out by post-graduate students from the University of Capetown. A current project looks at the meaning of our pre-school bursary programme for the recipient grandmothers.
Related Projects
An evaluation of the effectiveness of GAPA was researched. A questionaire was administered to 163 grandmothers who attended support groups. At monthly gatherings, a recording was made of the grandmothers responses to the question, 'What does GAPA mean to you?'
Older women as carers to children and grandchildren affected by AIDS: towards supporting the carers
A longitudinal study was conducted in 43 households in three historically disadvantaged townships of the Western Cape metropole, South Africa. In each household an older woman (grandmother) was caring for an adult child or children terminally ill with AIDS and co-resident grandchildren. The study identified material, physical and psychosocial difficulties experienced by the older carers; recorded changes in the caregiving situations and coping strategies over six months - including AIDS related deaths; and planned and implemented an intervention. The evaluation outcome of the subsequent four-month intervention, aimed at support and empowerment of older carers, led to the establishment of an NGO, Grandmothers Against Poverty and AIDS, which now operates 22 support groups in townships across the metropole and three groups in the Eastern Cape Province. Evaluation of the intervention and support group model is ongoing. The research component of the project was funded by a grant from the Bristol-Myers Squib Community Outreach and Education Fund “Secure the Future” Program; 1999/2001. Office reports available on-line (separate reports on the survey and the intervention). Request: mf @ cormack.uct.ac.za