Completeness of HIV intervention trial protocols : a systematic survey

Thesis (MMed)--Stellenbosch University, 2019.ENGLISH SUMMARY : Introduction: The Standard Protocol Items: Recommendations for Interventional Trials (SPIRIT1) 2013 guideline provides guidance to improve the quality of protocols. The aim of this study was to determine the completeness of randomised controlled trial protocols evaluating the efficacy or effectiveness of HIV prevention, treatment and care strategies using the SPIRIT 2013 checklist, and to identify factors associated with completeness of trial protocols. Methods: We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, LILACS, Africa-wide information (EBSCOhost), Web of Science, Clinicaltrials.gov and CENTRAL (Wiley Cochrane Library) for randomized controlled trial protocols in May and June 2018. We included protocols for interventions in the HIV prevention, treatment and care fields published between 2008 and 2018. Two individuals independently screened the titles and abstracts. The adapted SPIRIT checklist was pilot tested independently in duplicate on the first 4 (5%) protocols. The rest of the data was collected by a single individual and verified by second reviewer. Disagreements were resolved by consensus. We summarized categorical data using count (percent) and continuous variables using mean (standard deviation). Generalised estimation equations assuming a Poisson distribution were used to assess association of protocol factors with number of checklist items reported. Results: Seventy-nine protocols met the eligibility criteria and were included in the analysis. A mean of 32 (SD= 5) of the possible 51 SPIRIT checklist items were reported in the protocols. Detailed methodological aspects relating to intervention allocation, blinding, data management, study monitoring and dissemination policy information were often missing in the protocols. Intervention category, period of publication (before or after SPIRIT 2013 publication) and study setting were not significantly associated with protocol completeness. Conclusion: There is need for improvement in the reporting of recommended SPIRIT 2013 checklist items in HIV intervention protocols. We recommend active implementation strategies of the SPIRIT guideline from publishing journals and HIV trialists to ensure more improvement in protocol quality.AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING : Geen opsomming beskikbaar

An Investigation of Teenage Pregnancies as a Possible Barrier to Girls’ Education: A Case of Four Wards In Tsholotsho District in Matabeleland North

The study sought to investigate Teenage Pregnancy as a possible barrier to girls’ education. In conducting the research the researcher used questionnaires to solicit information from the girls. Interviews were also used to obtain information from teachers, traditional leaders’, headmasters and the district education officer. Interviews conducted showed that girls falling pregnant in schools was the greatest education obstacle hence this is causing a high dropout rate in the District. Although a schoolgirl is allowed to return to school after the birth of her baby, she is faced with many challenges in trying to cope with the demands of motherhood and schooling simultaneously. Research has established that pregnancy and motherhood have a profound impact on the mother and child by placing limits on her educational achievements. Data was summarized quantitatively and qualitatively using evaluative descriptions and SPSS (Statistical Product Service Solution). This study revealed that most of the girl child dropouts were a result of early marriages, abject poverty, long distance traveled to school, peer pressure and economic hardships as well as religious and traditional beliefs that work against educating the girl child. This paper recommends that civil education and the conscientisation of rural parents, teachers and the girl child on the importance of girl child education be made as a matter of urgency if the current situation is to be remedied.,Lupane State Universit

‘AFRICA HAS ERRED IN ITS MEMORY’: EXPLORING CONTINUITIES AND DISCONTINUITIES IN TEXTS BY PETINA GAPPAH AND YVONNE VERA

In the short story collection Why Don’t You Carve Other Animals (1992) the Zimbabwean author Yvonne Vera initiates her construction of alternative historical narratives, particularly ones that are able to voice women’s experiences. Her project of fostering an alternative engagement with Zimbabwean history locates her in a group of writers that have moved away from simple adherence to historical narratives. The importance of addressing the elision of women from history becomes all the more apparent when one considers that the silencing of their voices and the construction of identity has been twofold: identity was shaped by both the imperial discourse of the coloniser and by the patriarchal discourse of men. While women have certainly negotiated these pressures in myriad ways, imperial and patriarchal discourses have established the frameworks within which they were able to construct their identities. The need to create texts that will mirror the experiences of the female subject from their own perspectives is thus an important feminist and post-colonial project. While academic discussions of Vera’s texts have often compared and contrasted her work with male Zimbabwean authors, no work has focussed on analysing her together with one of the most prominent female authors to have emerged from Zimbabwe since Vera herself. This article focuses on Vera’s work and Petina Gappah’s short story collection An Elegy for Easterly (2009) to explore the concerns that these two Zimbabwean authors address in their fiction