Nurses are the backbone of the health care system in South Africa and spend more time with patients than any other member of the health care team. They are required to behave in a professional manner at all times. Unfortunately, professionalism within the nursing profession appears to be deteriorating. Nursing students entering the profession are at risk of assimilating unprofessional behaviour from their colleagues and inevitably, unprofessional behaviour negatively affects service delivery and the quality of patient care. Nurse educators play a key role in facilitating professional socialisation in students to enable them to mould into the nursing profession as they integrate the fundamental norms, values and standards governing the nursing profession. Unfortunately the concept of professionalism is poorly defined and might interfere with this education and assessment of professional socialisation of nursing students. The aim of this study was to define professionalism within the nursing profession using a qualitative, explorative, descriptive and contextual research design to obtain an in-depth understanding of the concept of professionalism. The concept of professionalism was analysed in-depth using the concept analysis method of Walker and Avant (2011), based on Wilson‟s work (1963). A clearer meaning of professionalism was obtained when the ordinary and professional meaning of the concept was examined by using a systematic way to search the literature. Qualitative content analysis resulted in the key attributes of the concept of professionalism being identified and extracted. Thematic analysis contributed to a further reduction of the data into categories of similar attributes, followed by quantitative content analysis where the data was classified in terms of frequency to identify meanings that are most often associated with the concept. Thereafter a connotative definition was formulated. The clarification of the meaning of professionalism was obtained by using model, contrary and borderline cases. The findings reveal many definitions on professionalism with overlapping defining characteristics, however when recognised attributes of professionalism were grouped together an exact definition of professionalism was not easy to obtain. The concept of professionalism was defined in the context of the nursing profession and the aim of the study was effectively achieved. The findings of this study provide the opportunity for further research, education and recommendations for nursing practice. / MCur, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Nurses are the backbone of the health care system in South Africa and spend more time with patients than any other member of the health care team. They are required to behave in a professional manner at all times. Unfortunately, professionalism within the nursing profession appears to be deteriorating. Nursing students entering the profession are at risk of assimilating unprofessional behaviour from their colleagues and inevitably, unprofessional behaviour negatively affects service delivery and the quality of patient care. Nurse educators play a key role in facilitating professional socialisation in students to enable them to mould into the nursing profession as they integrate the fundamental norms, values and standards governing the nursing profession. Unfortunately the concept of professionalism is poorly defined and might interfere with this education and assessment of professional socialisation of nursing students. The aim of this study was to define professionalism within the nursing profession using a qualitative, explorative, descriptive and contextual research design to obtain an in-depth understanding of the concept of professionalism. The concept of professionalism was analysed in-depth using the concept analysis method of Walker and Avant (2011), based on Wilson‟s work (1963). A clearer meaning of professionalism was obtained when the ordinary and professional meaning of the concept was examined by using a systematic way to search the literature. Qualitative content analysis resulted in the key attributes of the concept of professionalism being identified and extracted. Thematic analysis contributed to a further reduction of the data into categories of similar attributes, followed by quantitative content analysis where the data was classified in terms of frequency to identify meanings that are most often associated with the concept. Thereafter a connotative definition was formulated. The clarification of the meaning of professionalism was obtained by using model, contrary and borderline cases. The findings reveal many definitions on professionalism with overlapping defining characteristics, however when recognised attributes of professionalism were grouped together an exact definition of professionalism was not easy to obtain. The concept of professionalism was defined in the context of the nursing profession and the aim of the study was effectively achieved. The findings of this study provide the opportunity for further research, education and recommendations for nursing practice. / MCur, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Self-care is a central concept in heart failure management and nursing practice. Yet, the uptake of heart failure self-care has been uncritical and detached from broader contexts. Therefore, heart failure self-care was explored using Rodger’s evolutionary concept analysis approach to identify antecedents, attributes, and consequences with attention to context, time, application, and meaning. The analysis suggests that heart failure self-care tends to focus on individual behaviours to the detriment of social and structural determinants of health. It also shifts responsibility away from the healthcare system and onto the individual. Moving forward, a more robust conceptualization of heart failure self-care is needed or possibly, the development of a new concept that focuses beyond the self. / Graduate / 2022-12-15

Background Maternal morbidity (MM) describes adverse pregnancy-related outcomes, excluding mortality, among the pregnant and postpartum population. It is a concept without a universal definition, and most of the literature consists of clinical definitions rooted within the biomedical model of health. The MM perspectives of women and people with pregnancy experience (WPPE) are less well understood, which has resulted in a recent increase in qualitative research on the topic. However, the literature varies in its descriptions of MM which limits data comparisons across institutions and regions that measure differently. Objectives This study aims to a) understand the conditions and events that WPPE conceptualize as MM, b) identify the themes that arise across WPPE’s experiences, and c) produce a schematic representation of how WPPE conceptualize MM. Methods A concept analysis adapted from the evolutionary model investigated MM from WPPE’s perspectives. The steps included: 1) Identifying and naming the concept and surrogate terms (synonyms) 2) Data collection: literature search consisting of title/abstract and full-text screenings, appraisal, and chart extraction 3) Identifying the concept’s ‘antecedents’ (events that lead to the concept), ‘attributes’ (events that form concept), and ‘consequences’ (events that result from the concept) 4) Analyzing data using thematic analysis 5) Developing a model of the concept Results A literature search identified 40 eligible studies. Analysis of WPPE’s MM perceptions from these studies resulted in a MM concept consisting of four attributes – physical (themes relating to pain, bleeding, and adverse infant outcomes), social (themes relating to financial distress, lack of support, abuse, and mothering), psychological (themes relating to fear and distress), and healthcare-related (themes relating to the provider-patient relationship and healthcare facility). Antecedents that preceded MM included being labelled high-risk, access to care, financial stress, cultural norms, physical symptoms, previous adverse experience, lack of support, lack of information, effects of pregnancy on WPPE’s life, and lack of resources. The consequences that followed MM included continued morbidity, inability or reluctance to conceive again, changes to bodily function, strained relationship with partner, financial stress, and in some instances positive outcomes (e.g., gratitude for surviving, good health of baby). Conclusions This study illustrated the concept of MM from WPPE’s perspectives by identifying its antecedents, attributes and consequences. In doing so, it demonstrated that MM as perceived by WPPE encompasses more than physical attributes, which largely form the basis of current classification systems. Incorporating these findings into clinical definitions can help inform health and community care approaches to increasingly meet WPPE’s needs. / Thesis / Master of Public Health (MPH) / Reducing poor maternal health outcomes is a global health priority. An indicator of maternal health is maternal morbidity (MM), which describes adverse pregnancy-related outcomes, excluding death, among the pregnant and postpartum population. However, MM is a concept without a universal definition. There has been a recent increase in qualitative research on the MM perspectives of women and people with pregnancy experience (WPPE), which are less well-understood than clinical MM definitions. Therefore, our aim was to understand the conditions and events that WPPE consider as MM. We collected our data from qualitative studies that interviewed WPPE about their MM experiences and analyzed the data for themes that we presented in a concept model. Our findings resulted in a MM concept consisting of physical, social, psychological, and healthcare-related attributes. Factors from the pre-pregnancy period contributed to WPPE’s perceived MM experiences and postpartum events with long-term consequences were also relevant to their health and wellbeing. Protective factors including having good support and faith increased WPPE’s resilience in the face of unexpected MM events. This understanding of WPPE’s perspectives may support future research and interventions to reflect their needs and improve healthcare approaches to MM.

Nous nous intéressons à un cadre théorique de l'analyse de données : l'analyse formelle de concepts. Le formalisme de l'analyse formelle de concepts permet d'exprimer les notions centrales de la fouille de données telles que les implications ou les ensembles fermés, avec au centre la notion de treillis qui décrit la structure et les relations que ces objets ont entre eux. Pour les données multidimensionnelles, une proposition de formalisme existe en tant que généralisation de l'analyse formelle de concepts : l'analyse polyadique de concepts. Dans cette thèse, nous étudions certains problèmes de combinatoire et d'algorithmique dans le cas de l'analyse polyadique de concepts. Nous approchons aussi un cadre plus appliqué à l'analyse de données en proposant des approches de navigation conceptuelle et de classification. / We are interested in formal concept analysis, a theoretical framework for data analysis.This formalism allows to express some central notions of data mining such as implications or closed itemsets, and is centered around lattices, as the description of the relational structure that those objects can have.For multidimensional data, a formalism exists as a generalisation of formal concept analysis : polyadic concept analysis.In this document, we study some combinatorial and algorithmic problems that arose in polyadic concept analysis.We also introduce more applied data analysis techniques of conceptual navigation and classification.

Infant care is an essential part of the healthcare industry and an aspect of healthcare where the multi-disciplinary teams work closely together. Within this collaboration of teams, the term "infant wellbeing" is frequently used. Yet even though wellbeing on its own is a multi-faceted concept, when pertaining to the infant, this concept can become very complex and difficult to understand and apply. Dictionary definitions of wellbeing emphasize a state of being healthy, happy or prosperous. However, despite its common-sense appeal, it was found that the term wellbeing is not a particularly well- defined outcome, especially in reference to the infant. Despite the fact that scrutiny of the literature indicated that the term "infant wellbeing" is used by different members of the multi-disciplinary team, a clear concise universal definition for healthcare settings and professionals is missing from published literature. In fact, no recorded definition for the concept was to be found. Consequently, the aim of this study was to develop an operational definition for the concept "infant wellbeing" that can be used congruently between different members of the multi-disciplinary team. This is done by means of a concept analysis as described by Walker and Avant (2014). The findings revealed that the infant consists of certain dimensions which all play a role in the infant's wellbeing. Equally the infant also functions within a certain system or domain which also affects the wellbeing of the infant. These aspects are discussed in detail. By having a specific general description of infant wellbeing, nurses and other members of the multi-disciplinary team will have a common understanding of what the concept entails which also assists in the development of standardized language within the healthcare profession. / MCur, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Infant care is an essential part of the healthcare industry and an aspect of healthcare where the multi-disciplinary teams work closely together. Within this collaboration of teams, the term "infant wellbeing" is frequently used. Yet even though wellbeing on its own is a multi-faceted concept, when pertaining to the infant, this concept can become very complex and difficult to understand and apply. Dictionary definitions of wellbeing emphasize a state of being healthy, happy or prosperous. However, despite its common-sense appeal, it was found that the term wellbeing is not a particularly well- defined outcome, especially in reference to the infant. Despite the fact that scrutiny of the literature indicated that the term "infant wellbeing" is used by different members of the multi-disciplinary team, a clear concise universal definition for healthcare settings and professionals is missing from published literature. In fact, no recorded definition for the concept was to be found. Consequently, the aim of this study was to develop an operational definition for the concept "infant wellbeing" that can be used congruently between different members of the multi-disciplinary team. This is done by means of a concept analysis as described by Walker and Avant (2014). The findings revealed that the infant consists of certain dimensions which all play a role in the infant's wellbeing. Equally the infant also functions within a certain system or domain which also affects the wellbeing of the infant. These aspects are discussed in detail. By having a specific general description of infant wellbeing, nurses and other members of the multi-disciplinary team will have a common understanding of what the concept entails which also assists in the development of standardized language within the healthcare profession. / MCur, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Bakgrund: Hur mödrar knyter an till sitt väntade barn, vad det påverkas av och vad det kan få för konsekvenser samt hur de lär känna sitt barn under graviditeten innefattas av prenatal anknytning. Prenatal anknytning har stor plats inom mödrahälsovården men som begrepp är det relativt odefinierat. Syfte: Syftet var att beskriva begreppet prenatal anknytning genom en begreppsanalys. Metod: En begreppsanalys med kvalitativ design. Först utfördes en litteratursökning, den teoretiska fasen, och sedan blev fem barnmorskor identifierade genom ett bekvämlighetsurval och intervjuades i fältstudiefasen. Resultatet från fältstudiefasen sammanställdes med resultatet från den teoretiska fasen. Resultat: Begreppet prenatal anknytning resulterar i flera definierade attribut där fosterrörelser har stor del. Andra attribut är interaktion, dela med sig, fantasier och känslor. Referensramen för begreppet bestäms av dess förutsättningar och konsekvenser. Slutsats: Prenatal anknytning kan ses som ett komplext begrepp som anpassas till varje graviditet utifrån de definierade attributen. / Background: Mothers prenatal attachment, what it is influenced by and what the consequences might be and how the mothers experience their child during pregnancy are included in prenatal attachment. The concept is lacking clear definitions. Prenatal attachment has a great part within maternal health care but as a concept it's relatively undefined. Aim: The aim was to describe the concept of prenatal attachment through a concept analysis. Methods: A concept analysis with qualitative design. Five midwives were selected trough a convenience sampling and were interviewed, earlier a literature review was conducted. The result from the field study phase was brought together with the result from the theoretical phase. Results: The concept of prenatal attachment results in defined attributes. Fetal movement was a significant attribute. Other attributes were interaction, sharing, fantasies and emotions. The frame around the concept is set due to its conditions and consequences. Conclusion: Prenatal attachment can be identified as a complex concept adapted to each pregnancy based on the defined attributes.

Une collection documentaire est généralement représentée comme un ensemble de documents mais cette modélisation ne permet pas de rendre compte des relations intertextuelles et du contexte d’interprétation d’un document. Le modèle documentaire classique trouve ses limites dans les domaines spécialisés où les besoins d’accès à l’information correspondent à des usages spécifiques et où les documents sont liés par de nombreux types de relations. Ce travail de thèse propose deux modèles permettant de prendre en compte cette complexité des collections documentaire dans les outils d’accès à l’information. Le premier modèle est basée sur l’analyse formelle et relationnelle de concepts, le deuxième est basée sur les technologies du web sémantique. Appliquées sur des objets documentaires ces modèles permettent de représenter et d’interroger de manière unifiée les descripteurs de contenu des documents et les relations intertextuelles qu’ils entretiennent. / A collection of documents is generally represented as a set of documents but this simple representation does not take into account cross references between documents, which often defines their context of interpretation. This standard document model is less adapted for specific professional uses in specialized domains in which documents are related by many various references and the access tools need to consider this complexity. We propose two models based onformal and relational concept analysis and on semantic web techniques. Applied on documentary objects, these two models represent and query in a unified way documents content descriptors and documents relations.

<p>This dissertation examines how disability researchers define disability. It is based on four studies. The first describes different definitions of disability in disability research. The second study is a conceptual analysis of the use of disability in a sample of disability research classics. In this study, it is evident that use of the concept is all but clear. It is concluded that especially environmentally based disability definitions would benefit from further empirical investigations. The notion that environmental factors (such as barriers) are a causal aspect of disability is rather widely accepted among disability researchers. However, it has not been empirically studied to such an extent that it is possible to construct workable theories of this relationship.</p><p>The third study focuses on administrative definitions of disability and investigates the possibility of using data on disabled people that have been gathered by Swedish welfare authorities. It is concluded that rich data are available, but also that researchers must scrutinize how disability has been defined in these contexts. These authorities often start from medical understandings of disability, which may clash with contemporary understandings of disability as being environmentally based.</p><p>The fourth study is a statistical analysis of the effects of different disability definitions on dependent variables. The analyses emphasize variables often included in studies of living conditions. There are major effects of choice of disability definition on the outcome in relation to such variables.</p><p>The dissertation strongly rejects efforts to standardize disability definitions; different analytical purposes require different kinds of conceptualizations. Instead, the dissertation suggests that case-constructing reflexivity be conducted. Case-constructing reflexivity means that the researcher starts with a careful analysis of how disability is best defined in relation to the aims of the study, and continues by being constantly aware of how the choice of definition may affect sampling, analyses and results.</p>