The purpose of this study was to determine factors influencing skilled delivery service utilisation in order to develop strategies to improve utilisation of skilled birth attendance service in North West Ethiopia. The objectives were to explore and describe the perceptions and experiences of the community regarding skilled utilisation of the birth attendance service; explore reasons for non-utilisation of skilled birth attendance service; asses the health system experience of provision of skilled birth attendance service; and formulate strategies to improve utilisation of skilled birth attendance service. The study employed a qualitative, descriptive, and explorative research design to address the research questions formulated by the researcher. The study used focus group discussion guide to obtain information from pregnant women and women who gave birth recently. Furthermore, the study used an interview guide to gather information from health extension workers, midwives, health centre heads, district health office technical experts and heads. It also employed and inductive thematic analysis approach to analyse the qualitative data. The study further used the Atlas ti version 7 for the data analysis. The steps followed for the analysis were data immersion, coding, displaying, reduction, and interpretation. Overall, nine themes emerged from the analysis of the data. Consequently, the researcher used the findings of the study to develop strategies to improve the utilisation of skilled birth attendance service. / Health Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (Health Studies)

Community-based Rehabilitation (CBR) emerged as a response to the failure of the conventional rehabilitation system in developing countries. CBR involves service provision to People with Disabilities (PWDs), changing community attitudes towards disability and transferring knowledge and skills to PWDs, their families and their community. The study investigated the impact of the CBR strategy on PWDs and their families within the Oniipa Constituency in Namibia. The study used a mixed methods research approach and adopted explorative and descriptive research designs. It determined that CBR has initiated positive change processes in community attitudes and increased social integration of PWDs. The study recommends reviewing the definition of CBR, providing financial incentives to CBR Volunteer Workers and reviewing the current legislations on disability in Namibia. A final recommendation is that government should formalise disability studies in the country through the provision of accredited training courses to ensure greater assistance to PWDs and their families. / Public Administration / M.P.A.

The aim of the study was to determine factors contributing to late booking amongst pregnant women at Ekurhuleni health district in order to offer recommendations for enhancing early booking. Interpretative phenomenological analysis design was used. Data were collected using semi-structured individual face-to-face interviews from 20 purposively selected pregnant women. Each interview was audio recorded and lasted between 45-60 minutes. Fields notes were taken to triangulate data collection method. Audio recorded interviews were transcribed verbatim. Data were thematically analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis framework for data analysis. Results indicate that healthcare service related factors such as human resources, infrastructure and the type of service rendered at the clinic contribute to late bookings. Client related factors such as socioeconomic status, cultural beliefs and knowledge deficit also contribute to late bookings. Recommendations are made addressing both healthcare service and client related factors in order to enhance early booking among pregnant woman at Ekurhuleni district. / Health Studies / M.A. (Nursing science)

The purpose of the study is to determine the barriers to utilisation of antenatal care services among pregnant women in Omaheke Region - Namibia. A quantitative, cross-sectional descriptive research was followed, and a structured questionnaire was used to obtain information from study participants. One hundred and ten (110) women of child-bearing age between 18 to 49 years who visited Gobabis District Hospital in Omaheke Region for deliveries (full-term) or kept for postnatal care purposes were selected. A questionnaire with open-ended and closed-ended questions was designed using a Likert scale to gather information. SPSS software was used to generate descriptive statistics. Results indicated that the majority of respondents (39%) who attended antenatal care services, fell within the age range of 18-21 years. Participants demonstrated higher knowledge of the recommended number of antenatal care visits and of the importance of antenatal care services. Transport money and cost, long distances to health facilities, desirability, unplanned or unwanted pregnancy, and limited transportation options are the barriers that contribute to low utilisation of antenatal care services among pregnant women in Omaheke Region. Recommendations for deployment of more qualified midwives at rural antenatal clinics, building more antenatal care clinics in the region and creation of community awareness campaigns on the importance of antenatal care may increase the utilisation of antenatal care services in the Region. It is anticipated that this research will contribute to the promotion and utilisation of antenatal care services among pregnant women in Omaheke Region. / Health Studies / M. P. H.

This study examined Angolan culture as an influence to accessing modern scientific health care with the aim to develop health information brochures to inform the population of the advantages of scientific medicine. The quantitative approach with an exploratory and descriptive design was applied in this study, using a questionnaire to collect data from 100 respondents by means of a convenience sample. The findings indicated that most of the respondents were aware of what caused disease and illness in terms of modern knowledge, preferred to access government hospitals and also that government health care services were more affordable than some of the other alternatives. However, the study also found that a small section of the respondents believed in the powers and advantages of witch doctors, thus confirming that certain cultural issues still influenced the selection of assistance when health care and treatment is required. Recommendations were made through which health education could be distributed. / HEALTH STUDIES / Chemistry / MA (HEALTH STUDIES) / MSC (Chemistry)

The registered midwives are engaged in continuous health education lessons In antenatal visits, discouraging antenatal clients from using hannful traditional and cultural practices in an attempt to preserve pregnancy to tenn. Despite the registered midwives' efforts, the clients continue to use hannful cultural methods, which are life-threatening to both the mother and the foetus In utero. The prenatal clients perceive the registered midwives as not being sensitive to their culture. The results of this study revealed that health education in antenatal clinics should be collaborative: that is, the people who have influence over the clients' pregnancy, like me mother-in-law, the traditional practitioners, cUents and their family members, should be involved by the midwives during the preparation of pregnancy lessons and health education lessons on how to preserve pregnancy to term according to· scientifically proven methods. / Health Studies / M.A. (Health Studies)

Health Studies / D.Litt. et Phil. (Nursing Sciences)

The study aimed at assessing the factors influencing the low involvement of men in prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV programmes in the Mambwe district, Zambia. The factors studied were grouped as knowledge and awareness, socio-cultural, programmatic and demographic characteristics. A quantitative, exploratory study was used and 127 men were interviewed. The major findings were: Knowledge of PMTCT was the strongest factor which was positively associated with the level of men's involvement in PMTCT. Socio-cultural and programmatic factors were found to negatively influence men's involvement (although weakly); and among the demographic characteristics, age and level of education were positively associated with an increase in the level of involvement, while the duration of the relationship with the female partner was negatively associated with the level of men involvement. / Health Studies / M.A. (Public Health)

The concept of youth activity centre (YAC) has not yet been evaluated. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the YAC in Botswana. Accordingly, the researcher explored and described the lived experience of young people utilising the YAC as well as the perceptions of service providers at the Mochudi Centre in the Kgatleng District, in Botswana. Furthermore, the objective was to develop and describe guidelines for the facilitation of youth-friendly services (YFS) at YAC. A phenomenological, qualitative, explorative, descriptive and contextual research design was used to extract young people’s experiences and perceptions of service providers. Thirty-two young people and 27 service providers (peer educators and service delivery officers [SDOs]) were purposefully selected. Methods of data collection used were unstructured individual in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and observations in the forms of field notes. The data, mainly tape-recorded interviews and field notes were transcribed verbatim for data analysis. Tesch’s eight-step data analysis model (Creswell 1994:155) was used. One major theme, youth friendliness emerged with three categories, namely: physical, administrative, and psychological aspects of youth-friendly services. All the respondents indicated that they benefited and affirmed they were empowered and better people after using the facility. However, limited access to the facility by the target group due to location, cost of reaching the facility, and attitudes of service providers as well as failure to implement planned activities due to financial and staff shortage were obstacles to youth friendliness of the YAC. Based on the findings and literature review, the researcher developed guidelines to facilitate YFS and improved access to the YAC. Recommendations made are for practise in the YAC, education of SDOs and for further research. / Health Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (Health Studies)

The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the perception of nurses about the implementation of focused ante-natal care services in nine district health facilities of Dar es Salaam. Quantitative, explorative and descriptive research was conducted to determine how the implementation of the focused ante-natal care guidelines was perceived by nurses who provided midwifery health care services. Data collection was done using a structured questionnaire. A simple random sampling method was used to select the respondents. The study sample comprised of nursing officers (n=50), nurse midwives (53) and public health nurses (40). The SAS/Basic and SAS/STAT version 11.1 was used to analyse data. Validity was ensured and the Cronbach’s coefficient reliability test was 0.86.The findings revealed that the greatest area of concern was the shortage of human and material resources for successful implementation of focused ante-natal care to pregnant women and unborn children. / Health Sciences / M.A. (Health Studies)