Short term outcomes of an HIV and AIDS medical education partnership initiative (MEPI) clinical programme for nursing students in a selected site : a descriptive evaluation study.

Master of Nursing. University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2015.Background HIV/AIDS education and training in nursing generally has been inadequate and has not been formalised. As a result, it places nurses in a challenging situation when they have to nurse HIV/AIDS infected individuals in their care, because they often have knowledge deficit. Medical Partnership Education Initiative (MEPI) has innovated strategies to combat such lack and deficit in HIV knowledge for undergraduate nursing students. Objectives The objective of the study was to describe the demographic profile of the MEPI HIV and AIDS clinical programme recipients, as well as to describe the short term outcomes of the programme and participants’ perception of the HIV and AIDS clinical programme as presented through MEPI programme. Methods A quantitative approach was employed for this evaluation study using an adapted research instrument from the University of Wisconsin-Extension called G3658-11Collecting Evaluation data: End-of-Session Questionnaires. SPSS version 23 was used to analyze data, using descriptive statistics and open ended questions were subjected to content analyses and themes were formulated. Results The population size was N=133, and the majority of the programme recipients’ were African (n=109; 81.9 per cent), females (n=110; 82.7 per cent), from South Africa (n=127, 95.5 per cent). The age of participants ranged between a minimum of 17 years (n=1, 0.8 per cent) to a maximum of 45 years (n=1, 0.8 per cent) and an average age was 22 years (n=37, 27.8 per cent). Participants were either in the 2nd, 3rd or 4th year of study, with 1 to 3 years of exposure to the programme. The majority (n=116; 87.5 per cent) of nursing students across all study levels gained theoretical HIV and AIDS knowledge, in topics such as HIV transmission, HIV diagnosis (n=109; 82.5 per cent), HIV prevention strategies (n=118; 88.4 per cent), stages of HIV and Stage monitoring (n=106; 80 per cent), (n=118; 88.7 per cent) are knowledgeable on pre and post HIV counselling. (n=125, 93.7 per cent) of students gained HIV related skills competency including conducting a rapid HIV test, and (n=111, 83.1 per cent) could interpret and issue such results accurately. Furthermore (n=99; 74.2 per cent) of the students reported changes in attitudes and beliefs as a results of attending the programme, yet (n=34; 25.8 per cent) reported no changes. Students possessed conflicting attitudes towards HIV and AIDS. They reported positive attitudes towards people living with HIV and AIDS (n=126; 95 per cent) yet grossly negative attitudes were also reported especially when in reference to HIV/AIDS was removed from the health care setting. Recommendations HIV and AIDS content to be increased in all levels within the undergraduate curriculum so that nursing students may graduate with core HIVand AIDS clinical. Nurse educators also need to receive HIV and AIDS education in order to allow transfer of knowledge from them to students. Conclusion Nursing students from have benefited momentously from the MEPI HIV and AIDS clinical programme activities and has contributed to the nursing students’ academic, professional and personal development. The need to include and expand the HIV and AIDS content within the nursing curriculum is vital as this evaluation study findings suggests

The role of international partnerships in building the capacity of health professional programs in Kenyan and Tanzanian universities

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD (School of Public Health)International interuniversity partnerships are recommended for increasing the capacity of sub-Saharan African universities. Numerous case studies of individual partnerships exist, as do tools for guiding collaborations, but systematic analysis and the science of examining partnerships remain limited. This research mapped the health partnerships in medicine, nursing and public health of four universities in East Africa, examined why representatives of the focus and international universities valued them and considers how the analysis of reciprocity within global health partnerships can be improved

Empirical investigation of ethical issues raised by two research ethics committees reviewing biomedical research in South Africa.

Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg 2017Abstract available in PDF file

An exploration of nursing students’ experiences of a community-based health promotion and illness prevention programme in a selected school of nursing in KwaZulu-Natal.

Masters of Nursing. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2017.Background Health promotion constitutes a priority in the World Health Organization’s agenda of health for all (WHO, 2014b). Therefore, nursing students should be introduced to the principles of health, illness prevention and health promotion early in their course of training. They need to develop competencies required for their career as well as to improve the health and wellbeing of the community. Purpose The purpose of this study is to explore nursing students’ experiences of a community-based health promotion and illness prevention programme in a selected school of nursing in KwaZulu-Natal. Methodology A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive research design is used to investigate the experience of seventy second-year nursing students in the Bachelor of Nursing programme at a selected school of nursing who were exposed to a community based health promotion and illness prevention programme. Data was collected through focus group discussions and content deductive analysis was used to analyse data. Findings The findings of the study are presented and discussed according to the four main themes that emerged during the data analysis: (1) community accessibility (2) safety in the community environment (3) learner support, and (4) skills development. Each of these themes have sub-themes that are presented and discussed, facilitating a full insight into the experiences of the participants in this programme. Conclusion Satisfying personal experience enhanced students’ clinical skills, especially in building the confidence and expertise required by health promotion and illness prevention programmes. Students’ participation in this programme developed capabilities such as: creativity; the identification of community health issues; the promotion of a greater sense of community responsibility; the ability to engage in group discussions; the envisaging of professional goals and the encouragement of a sense of connection with the community

7th International Conference on Higher Education Advances (HEAd'21)

Information and communication technologies together with new teaching paradigms are reshaping the learning environment.The International Conference on Higher Education Advances (HEAd) aims to become a forum for researchers and practitioners to exchange ideas, experiences,opinions and research results relating to the preparation of students and the organization of educational systems.Doménech I De Soria, J.; Merello Giménez, P.; Poza Plaza, EDL. (2021). 7th International Conference on Higher Education Advances (HEAd'21). Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/HEAD21.2021.13621EDITORIA

An analysis of health behaviour of children from child headed households in a selected health district in KwaZulu-Natal : an ethnographic study.

Ph. D. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 2013.Introduction The loss of a parent predominantly as a result of HIV and AIDS disease has a negative effect on children, which can lead to increased number of orphans. Traditionally the extended family would take in orphaned children into their extended families and make one big family where culture of ‘’Ubuntu’’ still prevailed. The changes in the socio-economic systems and family structure leaves the children with very little choice but to make alternative living arrangements, where they find themselves in child headed household families. The eldest child becomes the head (caregiver) within a household. The aim of the study was to explore the health behavior, health seeking behavior and issues of access to health and social care services to children coming from child headed household families in a selected district in KwaZulu Natal. Methodology A qualitative approach using ethnographic method was conducted. Three households were purposefully chosen with a total of nine participants. Data collection processes included participant observation in their natural setting, individual interviews as well as focus group interviews in their own environment. Children participants were so heterogeneous that they could not be studied together in a focus group for three families, but the volunteers and professional group could be studied together in a focus group. The data analysis followed Spradley’s (1980) three levels of analysis called the domain, taxonomic and componential analysis as presented in chapter five. Findings The children’s health behavior is affected by the HIV and AIDS infection, poverty and lack of support from the extended family and communities. Their health seeking behavior is influenced by the previous history and attitudes towards the health professionals. The access to health and social care services is also surrounded with mistrust of the present health care system. Conclusions and study recommendations The discussions in the current study focuses mainly on the logistics of awarding the child headed status by the court of law as the lengthy and tedious process, but as the best practice because it eliminates the corruption and fraud in the system by expecting the children to be physically (identified) presented before the court of law before awarding of the status. The legislative ambiguity, shortage of volunteers, unaffordable transport and the attitude of the health care professionals impact negatively on the child headed household children’s health seeking behavior to an extent that children tend to avoid accessing health and social care services until they are very ill to be picked up by an ambulance which bypasses the administration section which subjects them to sad memories and embarrassing questions such as those related to HIV statuses of their late parents which could imply theirs too, within a limited space. The study recommended a longitudinal case study to be undertaken to follow up on the children who are 18 years and above as it appears that they tend to get lost in the thick vicious world and end up in the wrong side of the law. All participants echoed that the poor coordination of services made available for such children should be urgently attended to by government, the Faith Based Organizations (FBO) meaning the structures that represent the church and responsible Non-Governmental organizations (NGO’s). The greatest limitation of the study was that it was qualitative and used only nine participants in three families, hence cannot be generalized beyond the context of the study