Soul Buddyz plays a dual role in relation to interpersonally and environmentally supportive factors (particularly discussion of issues with parents / caregivers, peers or teachers): where the latter is absent, exposure to Soul Buddyz seems to play a facilitating and positive role (i.e. “fill the gap” so to speak). Where there is discussion of issues with others, direct exposure to Soul Buddyz often seems to reinforce the positive impact of such interpersonal discussion. Thus, Soul Buddyz played both a supplementary and facilitating role when it comes to interpersonal communication / discussion of issues.

African parents who had watched Soul Buddyz TV were more likely to have rated “respect for children” as “very important”: 57.6% of African parents with no exposure to TV, 60.4% of African parents with no exposure to Soul Buddyz on TV, and 70% of African parents exposed to Soul Buddyz on TV thought that respecting ones child was very important (p=0.000).

As a rule, exposure to Soul Buddyz on television was associated with increased reporting (amongst parents) of discussion of key issues dealt with on Soul Buddyz. E.g. African parents / caregivers exposed to Soul Buddyz TV were more likely to discuss sexuality / sex with their children than parents who had not watched Soul Buddyz – 13.9% of African parents with no exposure to TV, 19.4% of African parents with no exposure to Soul Buddyz on TV, and 22.1% of African parents exposed to Soul Buddyz on TV “often” discussed sexuality with their children; similarly 28.9% (no TV), 33.7% (No Soul Buddyz TV) and 38.4% (Soul Buddyz TV) respectively discussed sexuality “sometimes” with their children (p=0.000).

“What makes it easy is that we watch Soul Buddyz together then it is easy to ask about something they see on TV.” [Rural parent]

Approximately 3 in 4 (77%) children who watched Soul Buddyz on television said they talked about the things they had seen on Soul Buddyz with other people.

As a rule, exposure to any Soul Buddyz media is associated with increased reporting of discussion of all key topics dealt with in Soul Buddyz within various audience segments. E.g. 11 to 13 year olds exposed to any Soul Buddyz media were more likely to talk about HIV/AIDS that those not exposed to Soul Buddyz media: 64.1% of 11 to 13 year olds not exposed to the Grade 7 Booklet reported talking about HIV/AIDS, whereas 80.2% of those exposed to the Grade 7 Booklet did (p=0.000). 52.1% of 11 to 13 year olds with no exposure to TV reported discussing HIV/AIDS, whereas 60.5% with no exposure to Soul Buddyz TV, 69.4% with lower exposure to Soul Buddyz TV, and 75% with higher exposure to Soul Buddyz TV did (p=0.000).

“It [Soul Buddyz] has changed the way I interact with my friends, parents and people in the community; I have learnt to be more respectful and I have learnt to talk about things that are of great concern to me or that hurt me.” [Peri-urban child]

In the context of what they had gained from exposure to Soul Buddyz (particularly the parenting booklet), parents frequently commented on the impact of Soul Buddyz on conflict resolution, and attributed the improvement in their own behaviour and parenting to what they had learned from Soul Buddyz.

“What I learnt that is interesting is about anger, because sometimes I get fed up and I don't want to communicate with the children when I'm angry, but from that book I learnt that you mustn't. So that you must listen to them when they are coming with problems and you must guide them. And when you are angry, you must call them and talk to them so that the problem must be solved.” [Rural parent group]

Where the Grade 7 booklet has been integrated into Lifeskills teaching in one particular school, the qualitative evaluation documents incidents of children trying out their negotiating skills on their parents – with varying degrees of success.

Soul City / Soul Buddy lifeskills materials were amongst the better-utilized lifeskill materials found in schools (i.e. utilized most frequently other than material distributed by the Department of Education), with 36% of teacher using the Soul Buddyz Lifeskills Booklet for Grade 7s in preparing their lifeskills orientated lessons, and 32% using other Soul City materials in preparing their lifeskills lessons.

Almost all (96.6%) teachers interviewed felt that the Soul Buddyz materials had impacted on them in some way:

• 1 in 3 (34.5%) felt that it equipped them better to discuss sensitive issues with the children in their class.
• 1 in 4 (27.6%) felt that it helped them to better understand children and the issues faced by children.
• Exposure to the Soul Buddyz materials had a relatively strong impact on whether respondents had known the Childline number, or had the number written down at home: 6.5% of girls with no exposure to the Grade 7 Booklet accurately recalled the Childline number, whereas 18.9% with exposure to the Grade 7 Booklet did (p=0.000); 8.1% of 11 to 13 year olds with no exposure to TV had the Childline number written down somewhere, whereas 15.3% with no exposure to Soul Buddyz TV, 19.7% with lower exposure to Soul Buddyz TV, and 31.2% with higher exposure to Soul Buddyz TV did (p=0.000).

1 The demographics of the sample with reference to racial breakdown presents problems for interpreting impact analysis related to different race groups; the sample sizes of Indian, Coloured and White children as well as parents were often too small to validly and reliably interpret impact within these race groups.