Magister Public Health - MPH / From 2004 the Eastern Cape Department of Health (ECDoH) started implementing the new community health worker (CHW) programme in all its clinics, but so far little is known about its implementation process, its successes and challenges. The aim of this study was to assess the implementation of the new government funded CHW programme at three clinics of the Eastern Cape Province. / South Africa

Magister Scientiae - MSc / The chief aim of this project is to investigate the groundwater flow dynamics of the various fractured-rock aquifers (deep and shallow) associated with Karoo dolerite ring complexes in the Qoqodala area (northeast of Queenstown in the Eastern Cape Province). / South Africa

Magister Curationis - MCur / The purpose of the study will be to explore the discharge referral pathway for patients that have been discharged from hospital to home in the Western Cape Province. A mix of quantitative and qualitative research, using a descriptive design will be undertaken. Quantitatively, following the patient paper trail from Tertiary Hospital to grassroots level. Qualitatively, to identify whether the referral pathway was user friendly. Records of discharged patients from the Tertiary Hospital will be used as the study population. Patient information will be accessed from patient files at the hospital. Interviews will be conducted with the relevant discharge liaison officers at the Tertiary Hospital, and Primary Health Care level. Relevant staff members within the non–governmental –organisations (NGOs), will also be interviewed in order to determine their perception of the discharge referral pathway. The findings of the study will be used to inform policy guidelines. Challenges encountered by staff members in referring patients for continuum of care, and the perception of consumers will also be described and documented.

Magister Commercii (Industrial Psychology) - MCom(IPS) / Achieving organisational effectiveness and sustainable growth is the ultimate goal of organisations in their quest to deliver the services required by society. The achievement of organisational effectiveness is not a random event; organisations rely on their employees' ability to go the extra mile by exhibiting some organisational citizenship behaviours. In order to elicit organisational citizenship behaviours, organisations need leaders who can cultivate some commitment in employees which can arguably lead to the enactment of organisational citizenship behaviours. The culture of an organisation is often determined by the beliefs, values and behaviour of the leader. A paternalistic leadership style is likely to create a culture in which caring for subordinates is crucial, moral integrity is greatly esteemed and authority is respected. When this type of culture is evident in the organisation certain desirable behavioural patterns will come forth from the employees. The purpose of the current research study is to answer the question, "Does paternalistic leadership have a significant influence on organisational commitment and organisational citizenship behaviour among employees working in selected organisations in the Western Cape?". In order to answer the research question explaining the hypothesised relationships, the manner in which paternalistic leadership affect organisational commitment and organisational citizenship behaviour was discussed culminating in a theoretical model which was developed and tested in the present study. The study was conducted using employees drawn from selected organisations in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. The participants were asked to complete three questionnaires comprising the Paternalistic Leadership questionnaire developed by Cheng, Chou and Farh (2000); an adapted version of the Organisational Commitment questionnaire by Allen and Meyer (1991) and the Organisational Citizenship Behaviour questionnaire Podsakoff, Mackenzie, Moorman and Fetter (1990). Out of 300 questionnaires that were distributed to the employees, 230 (n=230) completed questionnaires were returned. Item and dimensionality analyses were conducted on all of the dimensions using SPSS version 23. Subsequently, confirmatory factor analysis was executed on the measurement models of the instruments used. The proposed model was evaluated using structural equation modelling (SEM) via the LISREL version 8.80 software. It was found that both the measurement and structural models fitted the data reasonably well. The results indicated positive relationships between benevolent leadership and organisational commitment; authoritarian leadership and organisational commitment; moral leadership and OCB; and organisational commitment and OCB. There was, however, no significant relationship between moral leadership and organisational commitment; benevolent and OCB. Due to the fact that a few studies on paternalistic leadership exist in South Africa this study adds to the board of knowledge on paternalistic leadership and how it affects employee commitment and OCB. The practical implications of the study and limitations are discussed as well as the direction for future studies.

[The] region, as defined, excludes not only these metropolitan areas themselves but also the inner peripheries of their hinterlands. Thus, virtually all areas within regular (i. e. daily) commuting distance of the metropolitan centres, and all areas into which urban development in the latter might 'spill over' in the foreseeable future are excluded. In the case of Metropolitan Port Elizabeth, these exclusions are reflected in the roughly 'crescent-shaped' southern boundary of the region. The situation of the region can further be described in terms of its major physiographic features which reveal a number of factors which are also of importance for understanding and analysing the economy of the area. Intro., p. 1.

The researcher has since 1996 been involved professionally in the field of Employee Assistance and has been witness to its evolution, growing complexity and potential to make a positive impact on the development of individuals and organizations through employer-employee relationship and workplace dynamics. The motivation for this study came from an interest to gain deeper understanding of the concept and implementation of EAPs by organizations in the researcher’s immediate environment and circle of potential influence. The development of EAPs in South Africa, influenced by various professions, has evolved as a result of different organizational needs which occur in varying forms and levels of sophistication depending on staffing, availability of resources and capacity within organizations. There is limited information available to EAP as a developing profession in terms of how programmes occur in South Africa. This study sought to analyze the prevalence and nature of EAPs in work organizations within the Buffalo City Municipal Area (BCMA) in the Eastern Cape Province, mainly to obtain reliable information on these programmes so that implementation of employee assistance can be evaluated and improved. This investigation provides a critical description of the implementation of EAPs in the BCMA with a view to establish prevalence, critically analyze the nature of EAPs, and to benchmark against existing Employee Assistance Professional Standards. The literature review includes a detailed examination of the history of EAPs in South Africa, contributions of the different professional disciplines, definitions of EAP, models currently in practice with the advantages, disadvantages and factors that influence the organizations choice of model and core technology of EAPs, as well as a critical examination of the 27 EAPA-SA Standards of 2005. The study is quantitative, exploratory and descriptive in nature as it sought to measure prevalence and provide descriptions of implementation methodologies in terms of form, shape, scope, staffing and services offered. These descriptive elements are benchmarked against the Standards for EAPs in South Africa, developed by the EAPA-SA, the official voice of the EAP profession. Questionnaires were administered to respondents that attended the local EAPA Branch and Occupational Health Nurses Association as well as Provincial Forum for Public Sector EAPs meetings. The respondents that were not reached this way were administered questionnaires personally. The population included organizations from both the private and public sector that employed a minimum staff compliment of two hundred. Since there are only 47 such organizations in the BCMA (both public and private sector), the entire population consisted of respondents and no sample was selected. Univariate analysis was used to assess data collected. The findings of the study indicate that EAPs are prevalent in BCMA organizations but they vary considerably in the way they have been developed and implemented. Benchmarked against the EAPA-SA Standards it is evident that while employee assistance programmes have certain basic elements in common, the overall design and implementation is fortuitous at best. Since the EAPA-SA standards have been developed concurrently with EAPs it is hoped that newly established EAPs will be a product of careful design rather than an inadvertent incident. EAPA-SA, educational institutions and business development forums need to collaborate and partner to provide comprehensive support to organizations and EAP practitioners to strengthen their EAPs. Correctly implemented, capacitated and resourced, EAPs can assist organizations to effectively manage their human resource behavior and health risks, maximize productivity as well as support individual employees to optimally manage personal and work challenges and function at their best. Copyright / Dissertation (MSW)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Social Work and Criminology / unrestricted

Please read the abstract in the section 00front of this document / Dissertation (M Inst Agrar (Agricultural Economics))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development / unrestricted

The control of ticks, and to some extent tick-borne diseases, over much of South Africa is currently dependent on acaricides and will probably remain so for the foreseeable future. Resistance to these chemicals by ticks thus poses a major threat to the livestock industry especially as these chemicals constitute an ever-diminishing resource with fewer being discovered and the cost of their development becoming prohibitive. In order to determine the extent of acaricide resistance in the eastern region of the Eastern Cape Province one-, two- and three-host ticks were collected from cattle at 58 dip-tanks over a period of 2 years. The one-host tick selected was Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus, the two-host tick Rhipicephalus evertsi evertsi and the three-host tick Rhipicephalus appendiculatus. The ticks were tested for resistance to three compounds, namely amitraz, cypermethrin and chlorfenvinphos. The Shaw Larval Immersion Test detected emerging resistance to amitraz in the one-host tick R. (Boophilus) microplus at two dip-tanks and resistance at a third. It also revealed resistance in this tick to cypermethrin at one dip-tank, and emerging resistance to chlorfenvinphos at eight dip-tanks and resistance at two. The two-host tick R. evertsi evertsi was susceptible to amitraz and cypermethrin at all dip-tanks, but showed emerging resistance to chlorfenvinphos at seven dip-tanks and resistance at four. The three-host tick R. appendiculatus was susceptible to amitraz and chlorfenvinphos at all dip-tanks and demonstrated emerging resistance to cypermethrin at one. With the exception of R. (Boophilus) microplus, in which emerging resistance to amitraz was detected at one dip-tank by the Reproductive Estimate Test, all three tick species at all dip-tanks at which sufficient numbers of ticks had been collected, were susceptible to the three acaracides in both the Egg Laying Test and the Reproductive Estimate Test. Thus despite its fairly long and widespread use in the eastern region of the Eastern Cape Province very little or no resistance to amitraz was detected in three tick species regularly encountered on cattle in this region, namely R. (Boophilus) microplus, R. evertsi evertsi and R. appendiculatus. On the other hand resistance to chlorfenvinphos was detected in both R. (Boophilus) microplus and R. evertsi evertsi at a number of dip-tanks even though it, or other organophosphorous-based compounds, had probably not been used for tick control in the region for a number of years. The localities at which ticks were collected had already been mapped and the localities at which acaricide resistant ticks were encountered were mapped during this study. The three tick species that were targeted for acaricide resistance testing were widespread throughout the study region, but no pattern of geographic distribution for the acaricide resistant strains of these species that were detected, emerged. The rapidity of selection for acaricide resistance appeared to be closely related to the life cycles of the three ticks and the number of days that they theoretically would spend annually on their preferred host animals. Thus a greater number of acaricide resistant strains were encountered amongst the one-host tickR. (Boophilus) microplus and the two-host tick R. evertsi evertsi than the three-host tick R. appendiculatus. The fist two ticks both complete more than one life cycle a year and hence spend a longer time on their cattle hosts than the three-host tick R. appendiculatus, which completes only one life cycle a year and in addition is a rapid feeder in all its stages of development. To counter selection for acaricide resistance it is proposed that regular testing for resistance should be carried out, and that as soon as emerging resistance is detected in ticks on cattle at a particular dip-tank, that the acaricide in use at that dip-tank should be changed to a compound belonging to a completely different group of chemicals. Copyright / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Veterinary Tropical Diseases / unrestricted

Maize is the most important grain crop produced in South Africa, serving as a food source for humans and animals, an input provider to other sectors, a source of job creation, a contributor of value added to the national economy, and an earner of foreign exchange. The South African maize industry plays an important role in the South African economy and consequently its role players should be supported to promote the industry. However, since the abolishment of the agricultural marketing boards and the deregulation of South African agriculture, farmers have suddenly found themselves exposed to global competition and a liberalised economy. Maize prices are uncertain and volatile, leading to increased risk. In addition, input prices have increased more rapidly than maize prices in some instances, and since no government protection exists, the cost squeeze effect places many farmers in a financial predicament. In order to mitigate the cost squeeze effect, farmers have started exploring farming methods and strategies that can improve their financial position. Precision farming (PF) is identified as a technological tool that can improve the profitability of a maize farm through higher yields and lower input costs, and can also indirectly assist in the general farm management and financial functions on the farm. The literature indicates that PF has been successfully implemented on various occasions with subsequent benefits, whether financial or qualitative. It could also be a useful tool to improve the profitability of South African maize farmers. Despite its various benefits, PF is associated with high capital expenditures and therefore farmers are reluctant to implement this technology on their farms. However, a PF service system that requires little capital expenditure is implemented by an agribusiness (Griekwaland-Wes Koöperasie) in the Northern Cape Province. Farmers who are part of this program only pay PF service fees that are charged on a perhectare basis. Most of the PF technologies and knowledge are provided by GWK and/or affiliated fertilizer companies, which subsequently mitigate the burden of high capital expenditures. The general objective of the study was to investigate the impact of PF on the profitability of selected maize irrigation farms in the Northern Cape Province. This was achieved by comparing the profitability and risk position of selected farms under a conventional farming (CF) system with the profitability of the same farms when converting to a PF system. The specific objectives of the study were to determine whether PF would generate better profits than CF; to determine whether PF would improve the farmer’s ability to repay his debt and generate an income (thereby improving the financial survivability of the farm); to determine whether PF would improve the debt-to-asset position of the farmer; and to determine whether PF is less risky than CF with respect to net farm income and cash position. The Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP) farm-level model developed by Strauss (2005) proved to be a useful tool to achieve the set objectives, since the BFAP farm-level model is linked with the BFAP sector model, which enables it to accurately analyse the impact of changes in policies and markets at both farm and sector level in South Africa. A positivistic approach was followed in order to answer the question, “What will the likely outcome be?” The model has the capacity to do simulations in both deterministic and stochastic modes. Three maize irrigation farms in the Northern Cape Province were chosen by a panel of agricultural specialists who are accustomed with the irrigation farms and PF system in this province. The farms were analysed by means of the BFAP farm-level model in order to determine the impact of PF on the profitability of each farm. The BFAP baseline of 2008 was used for this purpose. Key input variables were identified and simulated based on the BFAP baseline of 2008, as well as actual data, assumptions regarding PF and CF farming, and reported features and benefits associated with PF. In order to simulate the risk associated with CF and PF through stochastic modelling, correlated probability distributions were assigned to the relevant key input variables by de-trending the historical data of the key input variables. A correlation matrix based on the absolute deviation of a specific variable from its trend was subsequently constructed. Each variable was then simulated by means of a correlated empirical distribution, with 500 model iterations being run for each simulation in order to obtain stable probability distributions. From the results obtained in the study, the conclusion can be drawn that PF not only improves profit margins, but indirectly contributes to improved financial management. Considering the higher profit margins, more cash is at the disposal of the farmer. When this extra cash is again reinvested in the farming business, debt (in terms of production loans and medium- and long term loans) can be repaid more quickly and/or less debt has to be incurred, leading to lower interest payments that in turn further increase profit margins, ultimately improving the debt and cash position of the farm. The results also indicate that the risk position of the participating farms improved significantly with the implementation of PF. It can therefore be concluded that PF could also serve as a valuable risk management tool. From the discussions with the farmers it also became apparent that their overall farm management abilities were improved significantly, due to the informative nature of PF. Based on the results of this study, it can be concluded that the hypothesis as stated in Chapter 1 cannot be rejected. In addition, several other aspects pertaining to PF should be considered. Firstly, the results are applicable to the specific participating farms in the study only, and cannot be attributed to all maize farms in general. Secondly, despite a meticulous process of data verification and validation, the conclusions drawn in the study are based on the quality of the data provided by the stakeholders. Thirdly, factors such as farming operations, management decisions, market, weather and disease conditions might divert from the assumptions made in the study and thereby affect the actual results in future. Fourthly, since the study focuses solely on irrigation farming, a similar study can be conducted on dryland maize farming, since the majority of maize is produced under dryland conditions. Fifthly, the study could serve as a starting point for a comprehensive study on the impact of PF on maize farming throughout South Africa. Sixthly, the study could pave the way for an investigation into using PF as a tool to negotiate lower crop insurance premiums for farmers. Lastly, it would be useful to conduct a similar study on the impact of PF on maize farming where farmers are responsible for the acquisition of their own PF equipment, unlike on the participating farms where no extra capital expenditures were required. This could enable researchers to provide a better answer on the question of costs involved when converting to a PF system, as well as the ideal farm size in terms of economies of scale. Copyright / Dissertation (MScAgric)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development / unrestricted

Thesis (MTech (Business Administration))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2020 / Employee perceptions of Workplace Health Promotion (WHP) are pivotal for researchers to ascertain the degree of employee satisfaction and as a quality indicator of such an initiative within an organisation. However, there are considerable challenges faced regarding participation in WHP as employees do not trust the confidentiality of the programme. The problem is further exacerbated in that employees experience the wellness programme as a demand by the employer rather than a beneficial resource to the employee. Thus, this research study aimed to determine the effect of workplace health promotion on downstream outcomes within an organisation. To realise the primary research objective, this study looked into the effect of WHP on clothing and textile employee’s (CTE) physical, mental, cognitive and affective outcomes, and social wellbeing. It also explored the effect of the facilitation of preventive interventions. This study evaluated the perceptions of employees on workplace health promotion in the clothing and textile industry in Cape Town. A combination of both qualitative and quantitative research approaches was followed. Quantitative data were collected from 121 CTEs through a survey questionnaire. The qualitative data were collected via interviews amongst managers, clinical staff and WHP program promotors. SPSS was utilised for analysing the quantitative data, and content analysis was conducted for qualitative data. The results of the study mostly pointed to the fact that employees in the clothing and textile industry perceived WHP in a very positive light. Most respondents recognised the benefits of WHP to the organisation which includes reduced healthcare costs in the long term and employee satisfaction, among others. The findings further revealed that the majority of CTEs were either unsure or noticed no effect of WHP on their physical health. However, this statement is contradicted in that 84.3% of respondents stated that they feel physically better due to participation in the WHP service offering. A previous study reported disagreement or indecisiveness to this statement amongst WCWs. This study revealed that there had been a positive impact on absenteeism and psychosocial issues. Most of the CTEs perceived that participation in WHP made the prevention of illnesses financially affordable.