We are excited to announce the appointment of Dr Liezl Schlebusch as a lecturer in the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Dr Schlebusch is a social scientist with a background in early childhood intervention, augmentative/alternative communication for people with limited or no functional speech, and accountancy. Her research mission is to use science to find out how to enhance the quality of life of families who are raising children with developmental disabilities, including those with autism, and especially those families living in low-resource settings.

She will be using her multidisciplinary experience to coordinate a pilot project in collaboration with the World Health Organisation, the South African Department of Social Development, and Autism South Africa. The purpose of the pilot project is to determine the acceptability, feasibility, and effectiveness of a training programme for caregivers of children with developmental disabilities.

The Caregiver Skills Training (CST) programme was developed by the World Health Organisation and international partners to make available a caregiver education program that can be delivered by non-specialist providers in low- and middle-income countries. The CST Programme targets caregivers of children 2-9 years old with developmental disabilities. While the program is based on the best available evidence in high-income countries, there is a need to demonstrate that the programme is also effective in improving caregivers’ competences and children’s development when implemented in low-resource settings outside high-income countries.

Dr Schlebusch and her team will be working together with families and key stakeholders to adapt the programme for the South African context - thus making sure that the materials and strategies are culturally acceptable, responsive to the local socioeconomic and political context, and delivered in a way that meets the needs of families affected by childhood disability issues. The pilot project will provide preliminary evidence of the impact of the intervention and contribute to the global goal of finding affordable, sustainable, and scalable interventions for families who are raising children with developmental disabilities.

For further information, please contact Prof Petrus J de Vries or Rehana Effendi