The influence of the social behaviour change communication programme (YOLO) on youth in the Bojanala district

Abstract

South Africa, alongside the rest of the world, is going through a difficult time in terms of the HIV and AIDS pandemic. A search through literature has shown that the pandemic has proved to be disastrous to the 15 to 24-year-old age group. Not only has South Africa been plagued by HIV and AIDS but it is also suffering from the scourge of teenage pregnancy within the same group of youths. Having been faced with such a challenge, the South African government was called upon to act drastically and with urgency to find the best way to deal with the situation. Through the Department of Social Development (DSD), the government developed a Social Behaviour Change Communication (SBCC) programme in an attempt to alleviate the challenges faced by the youth in empowering them to fend off the pandemic and teenage pregnancy. The study aimed to partially evaluate the SBCC change programme (named ‘YOLO’) which was introduced by the DSD. The targeted youth were from within the Bojanala Platinum District, which is part of the North West Province. The researcher made use of the quantitative approach through the use of a paper-based data collection method. Six scales were used to collect snapshot data from intervention participants as well as non-participants. The analysis of the data that was collected was done through the use of the IBM® Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS®) Version 24 software. This analysis was done by a statistician from the North-West University Statistical Department. The results of the study were presented in four sections. The first section outlined the introduction and orientation of the research. This was followed by the research article which was structured according to the requirements of Social Work/Maatskaplike Werk. The third section dealt with the conclusions and recommendations as drawn from the study. Finally, the last section provided a list of the different annexures as used in the study.