<p><font face="Times New Roman">This study explored the lived experience of spouses living with depressed partners. A qualitative phenomenological,&nbsp / exploratory study design was used to explore the lived experience of the spouses, identifying the coping strategies and challenges that they face as they live with the depressed partners. A purposive sample of seven spouses living with their depressed partners who were being treated in outpatient department were recruited to participate in the study.</font></p> <p align="left">In-depth, face-to-face interviews were conducted, audiotaped with the participants&rsquo / permission and transcribed verbatim. The data from the transcripts, field notes, and demographic questionnaires was organized ready for analysis. Thematic data analysis was used to code the data, and group the codes to form categories. The categories were further regrouped to form themes. The themes were conceptualized and contextualized to uncover the meaning that the spouse carers attached to the lived experience.</p> <p align="left">It emerged that most of the spouses described their partners and the relationship negatively due to the burden of care. The male carers as compared to the female carers expressed the negativity more and it impacted on the quality of care they were providing to the depressed partners. It was revealed that inadequate professional support was linked with the ineffective coping strategies employed by the spouse carers. Hence, most of the spouse carers presented with symptoms of depression and were at the stage of impoverishment according to the adaptive potential assessment model. A recommendation to involve spouse carers in the treatment plan and improve the support system to the spouse carers was made to the stakeholders of health service providers at the primary health level.</p>

<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> <p align="left">The study made use of cross-sectional design that compared the performance of younger children (6- to 7-year-olds) with that of older children (12- to 13-year-olds) on various measures of executive function. Within this, it made use of a natural experimental design, with children exposed to alcohol<i><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> as the experimental group and non-exposed children as the control group.</font></i></p> </font></font></p>

<p><font face="Times New Roman">This study explored the lived experience of spouses living with depressed partners. A qualitative phenomenological,&nbsp / exploratory study design was used to explore the lived experience of the spouses, identifying the coping strategies and challenges that they face as they live with the depressed partners. A purposive sample of seven spouses living with their depressed partners who were being treated in outpatient department were recruited to participate in the study.</font></p> <p align="left">In-depth, face-to-face interviews were conducted, audiotaped with the participants&rsquo / permission and transcribed verbatim. The data from the transcripts, field notes, and demographic questionnaires was organized ready for analysis. Thematic data analysis was used to code the data, and group the codes to form categories. The categories were further regrouped to form themes. The themes were conceptualized and contextualized to uncover the meaning that the spouse carers attached to the lived experience.</p> <p align="left">It emerged that most of the spouses described their partners and the relationship negatively due to the burden of care. The male carers as compared to the female carers expressed the negativity more and it impacted on the quality of care they were providing to the depressed partners. It was revealed that inadequate professional support was linked with the ineffective coping strategies employed by the spouse carers. Hence, most of the spouse carers presented with symptoms of depression and were at the stage of impoverishment according to the adaptive potential assessment model. A recommendation to involve spouse carers in the treatment plan and improve the support system to the spouse carers was made to the stakeholders of health service providers at the primary health level.</p>

<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> <p align="left">The study made use of cross-sectional design that compared the performance of younger children (6- to 7-year-olds) with that of older children (12- to 13-year-olds) on various measures of executive function. Within this, it made use of a natural experimental design, with children exposed to alcohol<i><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> as the experimental group and non-exposed children as the control group.</font></i></p> </font></font></p>

The under-provision of education for black South Africans has reached crisis proportions. While the education for black people in general is discriminatory and unequal, black rural people suffer further deprivations as there is a serious imbalance in the allocation of resources and the provision of education between urban and rural areas. Black education in the rural areas has been historically neglected for political and socio-economic reasons and, as a consequence, rural blacks have limited or no access to education. The purpose of this' study is to examine an aspect of rural education; viz: black farm schools in the 'white' commercial farming areas. It is argued that the provision of farm schools is intricately linked to the labour requirements of farmers and consequently farm schools cannot be understood independently from the social relations within commercial farming areas. The impact of local decision-making on the process of farm schooling is also significant and is an important aspect of this study. This thesis explores the political and socio-economic processes that have structured the provision of education within a small farming community, looking specifically at the effects of particular interest groups on the provision of black farm schools. The study operates on three levels. The first level provides a theoretical framework within which rural education can be better understood. It is argued that the bias towards urban areas is reflected in the current theoretical debates on the role and function of education ·in South Africa. As these theories are generally incapable of explaining rural education, an alternative model is proposed. As education cannot be understood in isolation from the rest of society, the second level of the study locates farm schooling within the broader political and socio-economic systems. This is done from two perspectives. The first perspective focuses on black education in general, tracing aspects of its development and highlighting the impact .of economic interests, white political control and black resistances to this development. The neglect of rural education is also contextualised historically and politically. The second perspective looks at rural education at a macro-level. The historical origins of the farm schools system and the effects of the relationship between agricultural capital and the state, and between farmers and farm workers on the process of farm schooling is examined. The final level of the study focuses on the micro-situation and provides an in-depth analysis of the political and socio-economic dynamics which have impacted upon the provision and process of farm schools within a specific farming community. In an attempt to understand the types of issues effecting farm schooling in this area, the attitudes of farmers, farm workers, farm- children and farm school teachers towards education are investigated. Four main issues were identified and are discussed in depth, viz: I) factors effecting the provision of black farm schools; 2) the relationship between education and the economic structure of the area; 3) the value of education; and 4) socio-economic factors effecting education in the area.

The study explored professional nurses' experience of working in a remote rural hospital in the Eastern Cape Province. A qualitative phenomenological design was used and the study was conducted in a remote rural hospital in region `D'. Eight professional nurses were selected non-randomly from a population of professional nurses who had been working in the hospital for more than one year. Purposive sampling was used to select the participants and semi-structured phenomenological interviews were conducted to collect data. Colaizzi's eight-step method was used for data analysis. The themes that emerged from the data analysis were shortage of human and material resources, poor access, communication problems and lack of safety and insecurity. The study found that the professional nurses at the remote rural hospital experience many obstacles to quality service delivery. / Health Studies / M.A. (Health Studies)

This dissertation is a narrative account of a self-study undertaken with the primary aim of positively influencing the morale of colleagues in my school department. It addresses an area of personal and professional concern where my values were being denied in my practice. As a Head of Department, I was worried that the low morale of my colleagues would negatively impact on the quality of teaching and learning at school, and on their own mental health. Situated within self-efficacy theory, my study reflects the values I attach to human dignity, respect, fairness, honesty perseverance and caring. These values were applied as the living standard by which I judged the quality of my leadership practice. I describe how I used an Action Research methodology as a living transformational process to reflect on my own leadership in terms of how I could influence the development of positive morale in the department. My findings offer new conceptualisations about how teachers can take action to improve the emotional climate of the school. I am claiming that the significance of my research is grounded in my ability to facilitate an improvement in the low morale of myself and my colleagues in order for us to ultimately contribute to self and school improvement.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / South Africa

Magister Public Health - MPH / Background: Tuberculosis (TB) poses a major public health challenge in South Africa and in the Northern Cape Province. The province has the third highest in TB incidence rate in the country. Poor adherence to TB treatment impacts negatively on treatment outcomes. Siyanda district in the Northern Cape Province has the second highest number of TB defaulters in the province despite the fact that 79.9% of these patients are on Community Based Direct Observation of Treatment (CBDOT). Aim: To explore the reasons for defaulting of TB patients from TB treatment in the CBDOT Programme in the Siyanda district, Northern Cape Province Study design: This was a qualitative exploratory study. Study population and sampling: Two TB nurses with varying years of experience in the TB Control Programme serving as key informants were selected from the participating facilities in the study area. Ten TB defaulters who were on the CBDOT programme were selected from the Electronic TB Register. Two focus group discussions (FGDs) comprising of purposively selected DOT Supporters (five in one group and six in the other) from different NGOs in the community were selected for maximum variation. Data collection: Key informant interviews were conducted with the TB nurses. Records of all defaulters in the study population were reviewed including clinic progress notes and patient TB treatment cards. In-depth interviews were conducted with the TB patients. FGDs were conducted with DOT supporters. Analysis: Analysis commenced simultaneously with collection of data. This enabled the researcher to continuously review and reflect on the data collected. Thematic content analysis was done.Categories emerged through the inductive process of the data analysis. Notes that were kept during data collection, reflections, audiotapes and transcripts were used to support the thick description of the findings. Results: The participants generally appreciated the programme and mostly had a good relationship with the DOT supporters. However, the quality of care exacerbated by inadequate health services such as lack of adherence counselling training of health professionals, low levels of education amongst TB defaulters, were found to be major contributory factors to TB defaulting. The patients interrupted treatment several times before defaulting, were not counselled during the interruption phase and understood TB messages differently. TB defaulters in the Siyanda District face socio economic challenges which include alcohol abuse, a major historic ill in the district and the grape farming community in the region. The impact of the disability grant on TB treatment adherence remains anecdotal and requires further research as TB defaulters did not admit to defaulting so that they could continue benefiting from the disability grant although these statements were refuted by the DOT supporters and key informants. The attitude of employers and fear of losing employment were also contributing factors. Conclusion and recommendations: It has become evident that TB in the Siyanda District is a public health issue. The predominantly rural, impoverished and transient community that moves to the farms to seek employment requires a CBDOT programme that will address pertinent challenges in the district to achieve a positive reduction in the TB defaulter rate. It will require collaboration with stakeholders including farmers, to address the challenges posed by the disease. Improved staff allocation, staff capacity development and community education are also recommended to improve quality of care.

Magister Scientiae Dentium - MSc(Dent) / ‘A satisfied worker is a happy worker’, this statement by Robbins (1998), sums up the importance of job satisfaction. Locke (1976), defined job satisfaction as the ‘positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job and job experiences’. The Northern Cape province is the largest province in South Africa, by area. Oral health mainly focuses on primary health care and pain relief. Dental staff in the public sector are employed at district level, and not at sub-district level. This scenario requires dental staff (dentists, dental therapists, oral hygienists and dental assistants) to travel to rural areas that have working conditions that are not always optimal for dental treatment. Faced with numerous work-related challenges, it is believed that staff morale and motivation is particularly low in the province, as in the rest of South Africa in the public health sector (Howse, 2000). This research assessed the job satisfaction of dental staff in the public sector in the Northern Cape, and aims to make management aware of the need and the importance of oral health services, for staff and patients. The study found that the majority of the dental staff appear to enjoy their working environment (60%), love what their job entails (76%), and would like to continue their job in the long run (74%). Eighty percent of the participants reported that they experienced teamwork and 71% appreciated the support of their staff, which are very positive findings. However, it appears that the staff are not totally happy or satisfied with their work environment, and have identified various factors that need to be addressed to improve their job satisfaction. Seventy-four percent of the staff listed resources (human, financial, physical) as the major work-related factors that need to be addressed to improve their job satisfaction. iii The majority of the dental staff reported that the staff shortage, the poor communication with their administrator, the inadequate quantity and quality of equipment, the limited services being offered to patients, the lack of opportunities to make use of and improve their clinical skills, and their salary, are factors that need to be addressed to improve their job satisfaction. Just over half of the participants also stated that the salary they earn is not as important as the satisfaction gained from serving the public, and 80% of the participants felt that their job allows them to make a contribution to their community. Having a significant proportion of staff who feel that the salary they earn is not as important as serving their community is both interesting and praiseworthy. The dental staff seem to be giving of their best despite their current work environment, but expressed a need and willingness to deliver a more comprehensive oral health service that makes full use of their clinical skills, and that is not constrained by a lack of finances or limited treatment options. This is a positive foundation that needs to be built on to improve a service that clearly needs improving. The Department of Health of South Africa should provide adequate oral health services to the public, and should ensure that the dental staff are satisfied with their jobs. By identifying areas of concern that affect job satisfaction, these specific areas can be improved (Shugars et al, 1990). By increasing the dental staff’s job satisfaction, the staff morale can be improved. This will lead to increased productivity and quality of care (Harris et al 2008; Syptak et al, 1999). Satisfied practitioners are particularly important for a successful dental practice and the well-being of patients (Puriene et al, 2008a).