Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Montana, 2007. / Title from title screen. Description based on contents viewed Apr. 2, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 87-92).

University of Macau / Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.Med.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1981.

This is a cross section study of the White elderly patients who attended Addington Hospital, Durban, Out-patient Department during a two week period in July 1985. Screening was by means of systematic sampling, a standard questionnaire was administered to 321 of them and their characteristics and needs were identified. In order to determine the attitudes of the medical and nursing staff who work in Addington Out-Patient Department, a further questionnaire was used. It was found that 88,37% of health professionals did not have a particular leaning towards looking after the elderly, but 88% agreed that the needs of the elderly were different in comparison with other age groups. 92,8% considered that geriatrics is a speciality in its own right. Recommendations are made for a 24 hour community geriatric service, the establishment of day centres to serve the needs of the greater Durban area, and for the establishment of a Chair of Geriatrics at the University of Natal. / Thesis (M.Med.)-University of Natal, 1987.

This commentary is essentially a report on various aspects of assessment of health needs and priorities in a peri-urban black community (mainly African) situated near Pinetown. The study was initially conducted under the auspices of the Pinetown Health Department, and the main findings are as follows (a) The geographical area of Mariannhill II Location includes what the local people call "Impola" and "Tshelimnyama", and sustains a population of 3 000 persons on some 500 hectares. (b) The origins of the population have been found, contrary to popular belief, to be 92% urban and semi-urban, and only 8% rural. (c) Demographic characteristics are those of an established stable community with a high mortality rate and high fertility (135 livebirths per 1 000 women aged 15 - 49 years per annum). The sex ratio is 99.4 males per 100 females, and there are no migratory characteristics. (d) The average number of individuals per household is 9, with a lot of overcrowding per room (not quantified). Of 1 346 adults of working age 43.68% are unemployed. (e) Morbidity and mortality studies conducted both at the level of the community and hospital revealed that children under the age of one year had the most sickness episodes, while the age groups 6.1 to 18 years had the least. (f) The disease profile is that of a typical third world developing country, with predominance of infections, accidents and physical violence. (g) Diarrhea disease constituted about 11% of the profile and was significantly associated with the water source for the household. (h) The most important cause of the 33 deaths reported over a one year period is motor vehicle accidents and physical violence (33.3%). (i) The major health resource is the local St Mary's Hospital with a 55% uptake of sickness episodes from the community. Nearly half of these ended up as in-patients. (j) 60% of children under the age of 6 years were estimated to have been fully immunized, and virtually all of it had been done by the hospital. (k) Community opinion on their problems and needs overwhelmingly pointed at water, clinic and lack of transport facilities as urgent matters. However, careful assessment of community concern pointed to the threat of removal as the most important single community problem, with implications for housing and all the other perceived problems. The majority of the people looked up to the Catholic Mission as a possible source of help to resolve the problem of availability of water. (l) As the study was initiated with a view to interventive strategies, the main findings are discussed against a background of information distilled from several literary sources, and recommendations for action are advanced. (m) Lastly, the most important problem in data collection has been that of inaccessibility of the Pinetown register of births and deaths to the Pinetown Medical Officer of Health. We regret the difficulty, but we hope to update our study when the problem has been overcome. / Thesis (M.Med.)-University of Natal, 1984.

Background: South Africa, similar to most developing countries is faced with ever increasing demands for health care emanating from various reasons, which include a quadruple burden of disease. More appropriate health policies have been developed since the new government dispensation post-1994. Most of these have been implemented. These include, inter alia, the District Health System (DHS) as a vehicle to deliver Primary Health Care services. The decentralization principle was key to the implementation of the DHS and was intended to shift decision making to the periphery to improve overall responsiveness to local health needs. Study Aim: The study aimed at exploring the management roles and functions of the Registered Nurse-In-Charge of Primary Health Care clinics in eThekwini District, both from a policy and operational perspective. It is envisaged that this body of knowledge will contribute to policy development for effective, efficient and economical management of PHC service delivery at clinic level. Methodology: The study was conducted in eThekwini District and adopted a qualitative design. The target population was the Registered Nurses-In-Charge of clinics. The sampling method employed was purposive, a priori heterogeneous sampling. Data collection methods used included in-depth interviews with key informants and focus group discussions. Eight indepth interviews were conducted on key informants. Two were from a municipal clinic, two were from a provincial clinic and two were from a state subsidized clinic. One was conducted on the District Programme Manager and one on the District Primary Health Care Coordinator. Three focus group discussions were conducted: one with clinic nurses, one with Registered Nurses-In-Charge, and one with Primary Health Care Clinic Supervisors. Data analysis was undertaken using the deductive content analysis which was done according to the predetermined categories guided by the objectives. Within these broad groupings of responses, themes, sub-themes and patterns were established, noting particular similarities and differences between respondents. The patterns were aligned to the study objectives in order to keep focus on the research question Findings: The study revealed that although the Registered Nurses-ln-Charge of clinics possessed certain particular theoretical knowledge on the management roles and functions required of them at clinic level, most of these functions were not being performed. The policy documents, including the Registered Nurses-In-Charge's job descriptions, indicated gaps in relation to the management roles and functions required of Registered Nurses-In- Charge. In certain instances the policy omitted functions that were in the job descriptions and vice versa. This showed that the policy documents were not considered in the development of job descriptions. Major gaps were in leadership and planning, human resource management, financial management and information management. The gaps in the policy documents and job descriptions were attributed to the narrow decision space transferred to the clinics. Most management functions of clinics are still held at support institutions be it at a hospital or community health centre. Some of the reasons reported by the Registered Nurses-In-Charge themselves, as limiting the fulfillment of management roles and functions, were lack of orientation and training on management, lack of dedicated clinic managers, staff shortage and lack of support from clinic supervisors and the support institution. Conclusion: The recommendations include building management capacity, and reviewing the degree of decision space transferred to clinics if they are to succeed in fulfilling the function of being the first entry point into the health system. / Thesis (M.Med.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2008.

Two research methods, a correlational survey and a case study method were used to explore the impact of health focused and economic focused women's organizations on community development and health. Through the study the following questions were answered: (i) Is there a difference in the health and development indicators of the households of Elim Care Group Project members, Akanani members and members of the community who do not belong to any of the organizations? (ii) What contribution have these organizations made to individuals' and/or communities' way of life? (iii) What aspects of these organizations' structure and/or function strengthen or weaken the organization? For the correlational survey, quantitative data were collected from three categories of thirty households each that belonged to Care Group members, Akanani members and community members who did not belong to any organization. The analysis of the data showed that both the health focused and economic focused organizations kept their focus even though their functioning tended to overlap. The health focused group had a greater impact on health indicators e.g. number of diarrhoea episodes, respiratory tract infection episodes, nutritional state, while the economic focused group had greater impact on development indicators e.g. housing, income and education. The improvement in the development indicators did not influence the health indicators directly. The qualitative data collected for the case study provided an indepth information about the case studied. The health focused organization demonstrated stability in its management. This was composed of health personnel under the employment of the Department of Health Managing the Care Group was a paid job for them. The organization was established and supported by the community and therefore expressed the community's concerns. The economic focused organization provided opportunities for the rural people to establish money making enterprises. Some of the problems shown in this study in this regard relate to poor managerial and business skills that resulted in the production of products that were not readily marketable in the locality. This caused a lot of anxiety amongst members as earnings were irregular. The differences in the structure and functioning of the groups were analysed. These influenced the effectiveness and continued viability of the organizations. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1996.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.Sc.U.R.P.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1999.

The generation and preservation of community knowledge have emerged as key factors in how rural communities deal with the consequences and ramifications of HIV/AIDS. Community-Based Organisations (CBOs) are responding to the disease and have a significant role to play in strengthening community education. The Thokozani Support Group is a community-based organisation (CBO) operating in Richmond, KwaZulu-Natal, a rural town that was once the backdrop of a bitter and bloody political war. The town is now characterised by high levels of unemployment, widespread poverty and a spiralling HIV/AIDS epidemic. Many of Thokozani's members are people living with AIDS and they undertake volunteer community work involving outreach and education as well as home-based care. This research takes the form of a case study with its focus on the Thokozani Support Group's contribution to community learning. Anchored in a qualitative paradigm, the case study is bimodal in that it utilises both the life history and photovoice methodologies. The data, gathered from semi-structured in-depth interviews as well as participant interpretations of photovoice material, is approached and examined against the conceptual framework of community learning theories as espoused by Foley (1999) and Wenger (1998), and, in particular, examines issues and concepts including communities of practice, learning in social action, informal, non-formal and incidental learning. The research outcome provides a detailed understanding of how the Thokozani Support Group contributes to community learning in Richmond, which feeds into the broader discourse on the role and challenges faced by rural CBOs responding to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2006.

HIV and AIDS is one of the biggest challenges facing South African young people today (Govender, 2010). Young people are at risk, partly through their own behaviour and partly through the attitudes, expectations and limitations of the societies in which they grow up (Panos AIDS Briefing, 1996).The are many HIV prevention programmes developed globally and nationally, specifically for young people but the pandemic still escalates rapidly. The fourth decade now calls for multidimensional approaches when communicating HIV prevention for young people. This thesis explores how young people can contribute to this multidimensional approach through their active participation in the various phases of developing HIV projects. The study does this through a sample of eight youth-focused HIV organisations in KwaZulu-Natal and a sample of students from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, to gain more insight into participation of young people in the development of HIV programmes. Bodymapping, a visual and art-based method, was used to explore young people’s understanding of HIV, their perceptions of HIV programmes and the possibilities of their participation in the developing of further HIV projects. The study used a grounded approach and applied principles of participatory action research to collect data in four phases. The first phase used interviews and focus group discussions with eight sample organisations to give insight into the programmes offered to young people and how they engage and make sense of their participation within these programmes. The second phase draws on previous bodymapping workshops that have been conducted with students from UKZN and young people in various communities to explore the application and relevance of bodymapping. In the third phase, data is presented on two bodymapping workshops conducted, to engage with young people about their contribution to the development of HIV programmes. The final phase draws on two focus group discussions, conducted with bodymapping participants, to examine their experiences and interpretation of the bodymapping process. Some of the key findings indicate that a blanket approach to HIV programmes will not always work, as young people’s sexual behaviour needs to be explored within a wider socio-ecological framework that recognises the inter-relational and interconnected system in which they make their sexual choices. The data indicates that youth and organisations strongly support the importance of participation and the inclusion of participants when developing HIV projects. However, discussions about participation indicated that while young people could identify the importance of participation, they still lacked an understanding of how to participate and how they could learn more about their lived experiences through participation. This was evident in the data where there was a distinction in how participation was defined from those in the UKZN group and those from rural KZN. In understanding what constitutes participation, young people are better positioned to aid the process of developing effective HIV related projects that are participant specific. I argue that bodymapping can be used as a process to initiate and aid the participation of young people in the various phases of developing HIV projects. A three level model for applying bodymapping and planning processes has been developed to encourage participation with young people where the first step ensures that young people define what participation means to them. This becomes the foundation for how communication practitioners and academics make sense and theorise participation from a participant informed perspective. Bodymapping was pivotal in this process of engaging young people in self-reflection and introspection which encouraged a process of dialogue towards better understanding and defining participation from a participant perspective. Bodymapping in this way can be identified as a catalyst that encourages dialogue as part of communication for participatory development. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2013.