- Title
- Disability, employment, and social justice: employment experiences of people with epilepsy in Harare, Zimbabwe
- Creator
- Mugumbate, Jacob
- Relation
- University of Newcastle Research Higher Degree Thesis
- Resource Type
- thesis
- Date
- 2017
- Description
- Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Description
- This qualitative study examined employment barriers for people with epilepsy, a non-communicable neurological condition characterised by recurrent seizures. Although epilepsy treatment is usually successful with antiepileptic medication, misconceptions about epilepsy in society and long-term social stigma often leads to social exclusion, with epilepsy being viewed as a disability. The exclusion of people with disabilities from employment results in huge socioeconomic costs to society. As in many other countries in the Global South, where public services are less than ideal, people with epilepsy in Zimbabwe encounter difficulties in obtaining social support and employment assistance. This study revealed the social injustices experienced by people with epilepsy, which resulted in complex barriers to employment. Nancy Fraser’s theory of social justice, which situates injustice in the economic, cultural/legal, and political domains, was used to understand injustices as they related to disability and employment. Further, a systematic review of the literature revealed that most researchers viewed epilepsy from an individualistic rather than structural perspective, treating it as a biomedical rather than a social condition. Accepting the biomedical approach to treatment, this study employed a social model of disability to focus on the social injustices endured by people with epilepsy due to ignorance-induced social stigma. This qualitative study used in-depth interviews with 16 unemployed and 14 employed people with epilepsy (n=30), who were members of the Epilepsy Support Foundation (ESF) in Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital. Participants comprised of 13 females and 17 males with a mean of age of 33 years. To deepen understanding of the interview findings, the perspectives of ESF service providers (n=7) were sought through a focus group discussion. The service providers included two health workers, three social service workers, and two advocacy workers. The two datasets were analysed separately using NVivo, a computer-assisted, qualitative data-analysis package. The analysis showed that factors that influenced employment related to: (i) prevalent beliefs about epilepsy; (ii) inadequate public services; (iii) competitive job-seeking and workplace environment; and (iv) the self-management strategies used. These findings highlighted the structural barriers leading to poor employment outcomes for people with epilepsy, including poor public services and cultural and religious beliefs that fostered misconceptions about epilepsy, negative social attitudes, stigma-related fear and exclusion, compromised education and vocational training, sustained ineffective traditional interventions, and delayed medical treatment. Faced with these social barriers, effective self-management strategies enabled some participants to achieve better employment outcomes than others. A comprehensive epilepsy-management model was proposed. The model suggested increased formal and informal social support, healthcare, public education, advocacy, and employment services provision to enhance the employment participation of people with epilepsy and achieve their greater social inclusion.
- Subject
- social work; social justice; epilepsy; disability; employment; Zimbabwe
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1353306
- Identifier
- uon:31081
- Rights
- Copyright 2017 Jacob Mugumbate
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT01 | Thesis | 2 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download | ||
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT02 | Abstract | 314 KB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |