Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Health Sciences at The Durban University of Technology in partial compliance with the requirements for a Master's Degree in Technology: Chiropractic, 2008. / Objective: To determine the current knowledge and perceptions of biokineticists with respect to the chiropractic profession in South Africa. Design: A descriptive design was utilized in a qualitative questionnaire in order to evaluate, in a structured manner, the knowledge and perceptions of biokineticists with respect to Chiropractic. Subjects: The total population size used in the study was 657 (response rate n=78; 11.87%). Outcome Measures: These were based on a questionnaire which addressed biokineticists knowledge of Chiropractic, interaction with Chiropractic, Chiropractic terminology and scope of Chiropractic practice. Results: Of the 657 questionnaires that were mailed, only 78 questionnaires were returned and this gave a response rate of 11.87%. The most frequent view or attitude towards chiropractic was that it had a valuable role in the health care system (64%). About 50% of the respondents believed chiropractors to be greatly competent in examination and diagnosis whilst 40% felt that chiropractors were moderately competent in examination and diagnosis. Nevertheless, the rate of communication between biokineticists and chiropractors was found to be quite high, in this study. All together, 67% of biokineticists had communicated with chiropractors. Of those that had communicated, the communication was rated as positive (94.4%). Of those who had referred patients to chiropractors, 41.8% had received treatment feedback reports and of those who had received reports, 68.8% said they were concise and valuable. Conclusion: The results of this study show that the mean knowledge score was 60%. Thus the overall knowledge of chiropractic was high. The only factor that significantly affected respondents’ knowledge was their self reported knowledge of chiropractic. In congruence with this, the most common attitude towards chiropractic was that it had a valuable role to play in the health care system (64%).

Clinical leadership and compassionate care in the NHS have become priorities in influential papers and policies. There is a paucity of research to underpin conceptualisations of compassionate leadership and of leadership development in clinicians in the NHS, particularly clinical psychologists who may be able to lead in healthcare environments in unique ways due to the values and competencies of their profession. This present study sought to use a grounded theory approach to build a preliminary model of the transformational process of how clinical psychologists may evolve into compassionate leaders. Twelve clinical psychologists from varied specialities and with different years of experience took part in semi-structured qualitative interviews. Their data were analysed using a grounded theory methodology involving open, selective and theoretical coding. The findings indicate that psychologists may develop as leaders through their personalities and sense of mission, through reaching out to and being accepted by colleagues and through leading by doing. Participants who became compassionate in leadership seemed to be enabled by reflection, supervision and being treated with compassion. These findings are discussed with regard to extant theory and literature. Clinical and theoretical implications and a methodological critique are discussed.

This study investigated the prevalence of voluntary self-practice of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) by accredited CBT practitioners, and explored the ability of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) to predict intentions to engage in CBT self-practice. A TPB questionnaire was constructed by implementing the protocol devised by Francis et al. (2004), with content specific items generated from an elicitation exercise to obtain salient beliefs regarding CBT self-practice. A sample of 177 accredited CBT practitioners completed an online survey which included demographic items and the TPB questionnaire. It was found that 46.4% of participants intended to self-practice CBT more than once a week over the following month. While the TPB predicted intentions to self-practice CBT (R2 = .445, p < .001), structural equation modeling revealed that the theory of reasoned action (R2 = .473, p < .001) was the best model fit of the observed data (RMSEA = .00, CFI = 1.00). It was concluded that a substantial proportion of CBT practitioners intended to regularly engage in CBT self-practice, with intentions predicted by subjective normative beliefs and attitudes towards the behaviour. Implications are discussed, with calls for the study to be replicated. Potential future research is considered, with suggestions to explore the role of CBT self-practice to promote therapist wellbeing.

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

This study examined the effects of test anxiety reduction strategies on U.S. Air Force allied health care students and had a fourfold purpose. The first was to estimate the extent of student test anxiety in allied health care students. The second was to determine the predictors of student test anxiety. The third was to determine if the Student Learning Center provides an effective method of reducing test anxiety in the subjects. The final purpose was to recommend areas for future research.

The problem addressed is the significant lack of empirical research to describe the nature and extent of technology for use in physical therapy education (PTE). The goal was to facilitate the use of instructional technologies in accredited physical therapy (PT) courses. Computing technologies offer efficient, accessible methods for delivery of education as well as instructional formats with unique advantages for the allied health sciences. In order to facilitate the use of instructional technologies in accredited PT courses the nature and extent of current technology use in PTE are described. A description of technologies used for health professional education was extracted from the literature and used to develop a valid and reliable online survey instrument. An effort was made to survey all full-time faculty in the 200 Doctor of Physical Therapy programs accredited by the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education. A 44% response rate was received from 904 faculty representing 193 programs. The results demonstrate that the technologies used most can be characterized as those that support cognition rather than content delivery. It is also apparent that a significant number of faculty are using technology for education while their self-assessment indicates that they have insufficient knowledge and skills to do so. Also, the findings indicate that many faculty have a limited knowledge of the technologies used in the locations where their students will receive clinical education and possibly gain employment following graduation. These results are discussed in detail. Seven recommendations are offered to facilitate diffusion of technology throughout courses offered in graduate PT programs.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Masters of Arts, Johannesburg, 1990. / The prevailing understanding of burnout is firmly entrenched in, and has been fundamentally influenced by, the three component definition of the burnout concept proposed by Maslach and Jackson (1981), as evidenced in its almost exclusive application in the burnout research and theoretical developments (Maslach & Jackson, 1986; Shirorn, 1989). Although the construct validity of the three factor burnout structure is well established, no research could be found which has investigated the discriminant validny of this construct. Thus the aim of tha present study was to determine how emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, and low feelings of personal accomplishment may relate differentially to conceptually related variables. [Abbreviated Abstract. Open document to view full version] / MT2017

Hip fracture is the most common reason for admission to an orthopaedic trauma word. It is usually a 'Fragility' fracture caused by a fall affecting an older person with osteoporosis or osteopenia (a condition in which bones lose calcium and become thinner, but not as much as in osteoporosis). The National Hip Fracture Database worldwide reports the average age of a person with hip fracture is 84 years for men and 83 years for women, 76% of fracture occurs in women. By 2050, the worldwide incidence of hip fracture in men is projected to increase by 24% in women and 31% in men. Hip fractures due to sideways falls are a worldwide health problem, especially amongst elderly people. The experienced force to the proximal femur during a fall leading to hip fracture is significantly dependent on density, thickness and stiffness of the body during impact. The process of fracture and healing can only be understood in terms of structure and composition of the bone and also its mechanical properties. Bone fracture analysis investigates to predict various failure mechanisms under different loading conditions. In an effort to improve and assist scientists and researchers to predict the impact damage response of bone structures and estimate femoral fracture load in vitro, an accurate explicit finite element (14E) method has been investigated in this study. In the first part, the main goal is to create a 3D reconstruction and registration of semi-transparent Computed Tomography (CT) scan image data using SIMPLEWARE software. In the second part, effect of cortical thickness and impact velocity on the energy absorption of hip during a fall has been investigated on a 3D model. Additionally composite femora were mechanically tested to failure and regression analyses between measured fracture load and FE-predicted fracture load were performed. The results indicate that this sophisticated technique, which is still early in its development, can achieve precision comparable to that of densitometry and can predict femoral fracture load to within 18% with 95% confidence.

There is a growing interest in understanding recruitment, retention, and turnover of allied health professionals considering employment trends and workforce mobility, an increased need to understand the healthcare delivery system, and the dynamic nature of the allied health workforce especially for rural areas. A survey was sent to allied health administrators across a variety of allied health disciplines from the state of Tennessee hospitals in order to gauge opinions on retention and recruitment strategies. Overall successful strategies for recruitment and retention of allied health professionals were reported as well as differences between urban and rural areas, differences among allied health disciplines perceptions of strategy effectiveness, and key strategies for rural allied health recruitment.

Teaching requires constant adapting, and need to continually reflect, and be ready to make changes when teaching elements may not prove effective. The purpose of this study was to examine faculty and student views of effective elements of teaching in an associate level allied health program. Surveys were collected from associate degree seeking allied health students and full-time faculty currently employed at a technical college in the northeastern region of the state of Georgia. The results showed a high confidence level with little to no difference in mean confidence levels between faculty and student responses on 15 Likert-scaled questions. Two open-ended questions showed little difference as well with faculty and students having similar responses when asked their preferred teaching/learning method. Results of this study will help to improve educational instruction for allied health programs.