Perceptions about Authentic Leadership Development: South African Occupational Therapy Students\u27 Camp Experience

Background. Twenty-three years into democracy, concern is deepening regarding the slow progress of Occupational Therapy (OT) in South Africa, especially with regard to diversity and inclusion within OT. Methods. This study explores authentic leadership development primarily among Black OT students attending a pilot Occupational Therapy Association of South Africa (OTASA) National Student Leadership Camp. It seeks to ascertain their perceptions on leadership and leadership development. This descriptive pilot study employs in-depth interviews and subsequent content analysis, with 12 OT students from six university OT programs in South Africa. Findings. Four categories of participant perceptions on authentic leadership development emerged from the analysis: (1) perceptions about oneself as a leader based on personal narrative, self-awareness, self-control, and psychological capital; (2) perceptions about others, specifically current leaders, with regard to their moral crisis, including continuing inequality, insincerity, greed, and selfishness; (3) goals and aspirations for leadership development via student camps; and (4) effects of leadership on the system. Conclusions. Recommendations for future practice include promotion of storytelling as a means of personal reflection for authentic leadership development and focused investment in camps for developing student leadership skills and building authentic leadership knowledge. © 2018 Fatima Hendricks and Susan Toth-Cohen

Perceptions about Authentic Leadership Development: South African Occupational Therapy Students’ Camp Experience

Background. Twenty-three years into democracy, concern is deepening regarding the slow progress of Occupational Therapy (OT) in South Africa, especially with regard to diversity and inclusion within OT. Methods. This study explores authentic leadership development primarily among Black OT students attending a pilot Occupational Therapy Association of South Africa (OTASA) National Student Leadership Camp. It seeks to ascertain their perceptions on leadership and leadership development. This descriptive pilot study employs in-depth interviews and subsequent content analysis, with 12 OT students from six university OT programs in South Africa. Findings. Four categories of participant perceptions on authentic leadership development emerged from the analysis: (1) perceptions about oneself as a leader based on personal narrative, self-awareness, self-control, and psychological capital; (2) perceptions about others, specifically current leaders, with regard to their moral crisis, including continuing inequality, insincerity, greed, and selfishness; (3) goals and aspirations for leadership development via student camps; and (4) effects of leadership on the system. Conclusions. Recommendations for future practice include promotion of storytelling as a means of personal reflection for authentic leadership development and focused investment in camps for developing student leadership skills and building authentic leadership knowledge

A Narrative Review of Student Evaluations of Teaching in Decolonial Praxis: Implications for Occupational Therapy Higher Education

Student evaluations of teaching (SETs) are the primary source for evaluating teaching effectiveness and are used for deciding tenure and promotion. However, as efforts to engage in a decolonial critique of higher education amplify, the use of SETs in teaching and learning requires scrutiny. A narrative review was used to address the research question of SET biases in decolonial praxis and what insights may be useful for OT decolonial praxis. We identify and describe two content areas: (a) SET biases and (b) recommendations for alternatives promoting OT decolonial praxis. A total of 92 articles were sourced from five databases. Of the 92 articles, 44 met the inclusion criteria: peer-reviewed across disciplines, written in English, research conducted in the US, and published between 2011–2021. SETs scores are affected by factors beyond the influence of the instructor. Twenty-nine factors contributing to SETs biases were grouped into three main categories: SETs biases against instructors, other biases from students, and SETs biases in processes. Alternative methodological approaches are highlighted that may mitigate the identified biases for application in decolonial praxis in OT higher education

Paediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome : what should we look out for in South Africa?

Despite the mayhem caused by COVID-19, children appear largely to have been spared. The disease in children is also more forgiving than in adults, and most children experience mild symptoms or are asymptomatic. While clinical presentation in children is similar to that in adults, with symptoms including fever, cough, sneezing, sore throat and malaise, progression to more severe lower respiratory tract disease is significantly less common. There have been reports of gastrointestinal manifestations in children, including diarrhoea and vomiting.http://www.samj.org.zaam2021ImmunologyPaediatrics and Child Healt

Coronavirus host genetics South Africa (COHG-SA) database—a variant database for gene regions associated with SARS-CoV-2 outcomes

The SARS-CoV-2 virus is responsible for the COVID-19 global public health emergency, and the disease it causes is highly variable in its clinical presentation. Clinical phenotypes are heterogeneous both in terms of presentation of symptoms in the host and response to therapy. Several studies and initiatives have been established to analyse and review host genetic epidemiology associated with COVID-19. Our research group curated these articles into a web-based database using the python applicationserver framework Django. The database provides a searchable research tool describing current literature surrounding COVID-19 host genetic factors associated with disease outcome. This paper describes the COHG-SA database and provides an overview of the analyses that can be derived from these data.The South African Medical Research Council through its Division of Research Capacity Development under the SAMRC Internship Scholarship Programme from funding received from the South African National Treasury; the CIDRI-Africa Wellcome Trust grant; the NIH H3ABioNET award; the UKRI/MRC and the University of Pretoria through the Institute for Cellular and Molecular Medicine.https://www.nature.com/ejhgam2023BiochemistryGeneticsImmunologyMicrobiology and Plant Patholog

Factors to Consider when Planning an Electronic Health Record (EHR) System Implementation: Global Lessons for South Africa

This paper was completed as part of the final research component in the University of Oregon Applied Information Management Master's Degree Program [see htpp://aim.uoregon.edu].This annotated bibliography examines thirty references to develop factors for consideration when implementing electronic health records (EHR) in South Africa. Factors are derived from experiences in developed and developing countries, including case reports from Brazil, Russia, China, and India (BRIC). Sixteen contextual factors include clustering/collaboration, infrastructure/systems, trained/experienced staff, and open standards/software. Twenty-four positive experience factors include user participation and change management. Twenty-eight negative experience factors include inadequate support for resources (human, technical, financial, and training)