The prevalence of obsessive-compulsive disorder symptoms and their psychological correlates amongst pregnant clinic attendees in the Capricorn District, South Africa

This study investigated the prevalence of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) symptoms and their relationship with pregnancyrelated anxiety, perinatal depression and clinical anger among pregnant black African women in South Africa. The sample consisted of 206 women attending their antenatal check-ups at the Mankweng, Nobody, and Rethabile Clinics, and the Mankweng hospital in the Capricorn District, Limpopo Province. Quantitative data was collected from a convenience sample, within a cross-sectional survey design. First, the prevalence of OCD among the women was established. Then Pearson‘s correlation analysis was used to establish if there was a linear relationship between the variables of the study. Variables that were related were then subjected to regression analysis, seeking to establish if the independent variables, pregnancy-related anxiety, perinatal depression and clinical anger, together with other pregnancy-related variables, would predict OCD symptoms. When correlational analysis was conducted, the patient characteristics of having undergone a medical check-up, and having previously delivered a live baby generally did not correlate with any of the main scales measuring OCD symptoms, perinatal depression, pregnancy-related anxiety and clinical anger (p > 0.05). Almost 39.5% of the pregnant women could be classified as obsessive-compulsive disordered, when using the cut-off score of 36. Furthermore, findings from regression analyses indicated that higher age, the number of gestation weeks, having previously experienced pregnancy-related complications, perinatal depression, pregnancy-related anxiety and clinical anger were variably positive predictors of the Revised version of the Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory (OCI-R) measured OCD symptoms. The predictors were specific to each of the symptoms. It can be concluded from the study that there is a relationship between OCD symptoms and all the independent variables used.Keywords: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, pregnancy-related anxiety, perinatal depression, clinical ange

Factorial validity of the death obsession scale in African university students

In this study the factor structure of the Death Obsession Scale (DOS) was examined using confirmatory factor analysis. Data used consisted of DOS reports of 328 Black African students. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that two- and three-factor models obtained among female and male African students, respectively, provided the best fit to the data. The two factors in female African students were Death Rumination and Apprehension, and the three factors of their male counterparts were Death Ruminations, Apprehension, and Comprehensibility of Death. Factor intercorrelations did not resolve the dimensionality issue of the measure, leading to the conclusion that the factors must be investigated further.http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/udst202016-08-30hb201

Work-family and family-work conflicts amongst African nurses caring for patients with AIDS

Background: South African nursing environments are marked by various incapacitating stressors. This study explores work-family (W-F) and family-work (F-W) conflicts as aspects of stress amongst nurses working with patients who have AIDS. Objectives: The study sought to determine the value of W-F and F-W conflicts as predictors of work and family satisfaction, as well as turnover intentions and the moderating role of supervisor and significant other support, amongst nurses caring for patients with AIDS in public hospitals within the Capricorn and Mopani districts, Limpopo Province. Methods: The study used a cross-sectional design, with data collected at one point only. Ninety-one nursing staff provided the data for the study by completing structured, self-administered surveys. Analysis involved computing correlations of all study variables. Thereafter, associated variables were used as predictors. In each predictive analysis, the nurses’ stress served as a control variable, W-F and F-W conflicts were the independent variables and significant others and supervisor supports were moderators. Interaction terms were derived from independent and moderator variables. Results: Although the findings of the study were not generally supportive of the hypotheses advanced, they nevertheless showed, amongst other findings, that F-W conflict predicted work satisfaction whilst W-F conflict predicted turnover intentions. Moreover, significant other support had a direct effect on family satisfaction whilst supervisor support moderated reports of W-F conflict and experiences of work satisfaction. Conclusions: The study showed that inter-role models that appear to be established in the context of developed societies require some further investigations in South Africa

Factorial validity of the death obsession scale in African University students

In this study the factor structure of the Death Obsession Scale (DOS) was examined using confirmatory factor analysis. Data used consisted of DOS reports of 328 Black African students. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that two- and three-factor models obtained among female and male African students, respectively, provided the best fit to the data. The two factors in female African students were Death Rumination and Apprehension, and the three factors of their male counterparts were Death Ruminations, Apprehension, and Comprehensibility of Death. Factor intercorrelations did not resolve the dimensionality issue of the measure, leading to the conclusion that the factors must be investigated further.http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/udst202016-08-30hb201