Measuring perceived learning gains of undergraduate nursing students in ICT skills: One group pre-test and post-test design

Purpose: This study aimed to measure learning gains during an ICT training intervention in first-year students completing a four-year undergraduate nursing degree. Methodology: This study adopted a quasi-experimental, one group pre-test and post-test design. The intervention effectiveness was measured using individual single-student normalised gains, g; class average normalised gain, 〈g〉; and average single-student normalised gain, g(ave). Results: In this study, the class average normalised gains, 〈g〉 ranged from 34.4% to 58.2%, and the average of single student normalised gains, g(ave) ranged from 32.4% to 50.7%. The overall class average normalised gain 〈g〉 was 44.8%, and the average of the single student normalised gain was 44.5%, with 68% of students having a normalised gain of 30% and above, indicating that the intervention was effective. Conclusion: Similar interventions and measurements are recommended to all health professional students during their first academic year to pave a foundation for ICT usage for academic purposes

Policy gaps and food systems optimization: a review of agriculture, environment, and health policies in South Africa

South Africa faces the triple burden of malnutrition, high poverty levels, unemployment, and inequality. “Wicked problems” such as these require innovative and transdisciplinary responses, multi-stakeholder coordination and collaboration, managing complex synergies and trade-offs, and achieving sustainable outcomes. Through qualitative content analysis of national and provincial sector-based policies, we explored the interlinkages between the agriculture, environment, and health sectors in South Africa in the context of sustainable food and nutrition security and the extent to which these interlinkages are integrated into policy and planning. A systemic analysis of the review outcomes was performed to identify its main learning outcome, the status quo in the policy process. The nature of feedback loops was identified, and a leverage point was suggested. The review highlighted that policymakers in the agriculture, environment and health sectors are aware of, and have understood, the relationships among the three sectors. They have also made attempts to address these interlinkages through collaboration and coordination. Unfortunately, this has been met with several challenges due to fragmented sector-specific mandates and targets and a lack of resources for integrated solutions. This creates implementation gaps and unintended duplication of activities, leading to poor service delivery. Transitioning to sustainable and healthy food systems will only be possible after these gaps have been closed and implementation optimization has been achieved. Focusing on meta-level problem-framing, functional collaboration through transdisciplinary approaches, and integrated targets are critical to successful policy implementation and progressive realization of national goals related to sustainable food and nutrition security, unemployment, poverty, and inequality

Annual International Conference on Forensic Nursing Science and Practice: Lessons Learnt

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"They all laughed and asked me if I enjoyed having sex with those guys": Exploring men's lived experiences when reporting rape to police in South Africa.

Rape is the most demoralizing type of crime violating human rights worldwide. Research has primarily focused on children and women's experiences of rape, even though victims include men and little documentation available concerning their experiences of reporting these incidents. The study aimed to investigate men's experiences when reporting rape to the police. An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used to collect and analyze qualitative data from a purposive sample of eleven men who were rape victims. The findings of the study revealed three superordinate and twenty-two subordinate themes. First, motivation for reporting rape to the police included self-protection from re-victimization, being killed, and prevalent prison cultural practice, seeking justice and answers for rape, moral duty, family support, and encouraging reports of the crime. Second, perceived barriers for reporting rape included fear of stigmatization and ridicule, unknown perpetrators, internalized homophobia, men's preconceived prejudices, perceived justice system delays, fear of being killed, and protecting their reputation. Third, negative experiences when reporting rape included a long waiting period at the reception before opening a case file and the delayed responses of police investigating the rape scene. Also, there was discouragement from the police, disparaging behavior of police, victim-blaming, lack of communication with the victim about case progress and experiences of police homosexual intolerance. The findings show that most men were motivated to report rape to the police despite the perceived barriers and negative experiences they had with the police. Thus, this provides baseline evidence for strategies to be developed to encourage the reporting of rape. Each police station must provide dedicated personnel for professional and sensitive handling of all rape victims, including men. Furthermore, future studies should be conducted to evaluate rape victims' satisfaction with the services provided by the police

An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of the lived experience of sensuality expression among women over 50 years of age in Nigeria.

IntroductionSensuality, an essential component of sexuality, is the enjoyment, expression, or pursuit of physical and sexual pleasure or satisfaction. Sensuality expression of women over 50 is under-researched and often ignored, making it difficult to have a scientific basis to develop age-appropriate healthy-ageing programmes for this group in Nigeria. An exploratory study was conducted to explore the lived experiences of the expression of sensuality of Nigerian women over 50 and the meaning they attach thereto.MethodologyAn Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis approach was used to collect and analyze data from 17 female teachers from three public secondary schools in Osun state, Nigeria, to represent a homogenous group of professional women over the age of 50. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to obtain qualitative data that was thematically analyzed.FindingsFour superordinate themes emerged: 'Self-reinvention to camouflage ageing realities for sensuality expression'; 'Embracing own sensuality'; 'Yearning for old self'; and 'Loss of interest in romantic relationships', with various subordinate themes.ConclusionThese finding provide the basis to develop age-appropriate healthy-ageing programmes for this group, and a baseline for further sexual health research among this group of women in Nigeria, who are often overlooked or considered asexual due to their being beyond the reproductive age

Female students’ perceptions of interpersonal risk and protective factors for dating violence in a Nigerian university

Dating violence is a public health problem with severe implications for social, physical, mental/psychological and spiritual health of victims/survivors, families and the society at large. For female students, it can gravely affect their academic performance and thus affect gender equality in universities. This article identifies and described the interpersonal risk and protective factors associated with dating violence in a Nigerian University. Data were collected from a sample of 90 undergraduate female students in the university of Benin using nine (9) focus group discussions. Thematic content analysis, using the socio-ecological framework revealed interpersonal risk factors a theme with subthemes which are: negative childhood experiences, negative influence from other persons, and the clash in belief systems between partners. While the theme: protective factors have subthemes which are: having elders as good role models, trusting relationships, mutual respect between partners, open relationship and transparency between partners. This study identified that students should be given orientation in schools to avoid bad peer, friends, influence; Mentoring between older students and younger ones to be encouraged as they serve as elder and adviser to the young ones. In addition, Nigerian universities’ management and stakeholders should develop evidence-based policies and programs. Including heathy relationship topics built into the school curriculum gear at having healthy relationship, prevent dating violence and respond to other forms of gender-based violence

First-year nursing students’ digital literacy: A cross-sectional study

Background: The digital world is rapidly changing, and so do the required digital skills. As physical devices and software are adapted to meet new possibilities and demands, individuals’ skills must adapt to technological advancement. Digital literacy is increasingly used in the public discourse, becoming a core requirement of students, academics, patients and healthcare professionals. Assessing nursing students’ digital literacy at the entry-level is vital to ascertain their abilities to use digital technologies. This study aimed to assess basic digital literacy among first-year nursing students at a selected university in South Africa. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted from 1st March 2019 to 31st May 2019 at a university in South Africa. The population consisted of 82 nursing students from the first-year students in the 4-year nursing programme. The convenience sampling technique was used to determine the participants of this study, and 76 respondents completed a structured questionnaire. Data were analysed descriptively using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS R©) software (version 25) from the International Business Machines Corporation (IBM R©). A reliability test of the instrument was conducted, and Cronbach's Alpha was 0.85. Results: The students’ digital literacy included: (i) basic computer skills — performing basic computer operations, MS Word and PowerPoint; (ii) internet skills — using e-mail, Moodle R©, social media platforms, accessibility to the internet; and internet searches (iii) digital device usage — desktop, laptops, tablets and smartphones. Overall, the mean for internet skills was 3.61 (SD = ±0.62), 3.11 (SD = ±0.85) for computer skills, and 3.00 (SD = ±0.47) for digital device usage. Computer skills was positively correlated with internet skills (r = 0.278, p = .012) and computer skills corrected with digital device usage (r = 0.384, p < .001). The overall score for internet skills was higher in the female group than in males, with the mean of 4.00 (SD = ±0.62) and 3.61 (SD = ±0.54), respectively (t74 = -0.405, p = .019). Furthermore, the overall score for digital device usage was higher in the age group of 20 years and above with a mean of 3.19 (SD = ±0.38) than in the age group under 20 with a mean of 2.90 (SD = ±0.48), and those differences were statistically significant (t74 = -2.420, p = .018). Conclusions: An adequate digital literacy at the entry-level of the nursing programme is a foundation and a critical factor to academic success and future use of technology in nursing education and practice. Having adequate digital literacy among nursing students would positively impact their ability to perform electronic documentation, communicate and collaborate, and search for information to support evidence-based practice

Table_1_Policy gaps and food systems optimization: a review of agriculture, environment, and health policies in South Africa.DOCX

South Africa faces the triple burden of malnutrition, high poverty levels, unemployment, and inequality. “Wicked problems” such as these require innovative and transdisciplinary responses, multi-stakeholder coordination and collaboration, managing complex synergies and trade-offs, and achieving sustainable outcomes. Through qualitative content analysis of national and provincial sector-based policies, we explored the interlinkages between the agriculture, environment, and health sectors in South Africa in the context of sustainable food and nutrition security and the extent to which these interlinkages are integrated into policy and planning. A systemic analysis of the review outcomes was performed to identify its main learning outcome, the status quo in the policy process. The nature of feedback loops was identified, and a leverage point was suggested. The review highlighted that policymakers in the agriculture, environment and health sectors are aware of, and have understood, the relationships among the three sectors. They have also made attempts to address these interlinkages through collaboration and coordination. Unfortunately, this has been met with several challenges due to fragmented sector-specific mandates and targets and a lack of resources for integrated solutions. This creates implementation gaps and unintended duplication of activities, leading to poor service delivery. Transitioning to sustainable and healthy food systems will only be possible after these gaps have been closed and implementation optimization has been achieved. Focusing on meta-level problem-framing, functional collaboration through transdisciplinary approaches, and integrated targets are critical to successful policy implementation and progressive realization of national goals related to sustainable food and nutrition security, unemployment, poverty, and inequality.</p