Magister Public Health - MPH / The negative effect of poor oral health on quality of life and financial implication of work days lost as a result of dental pain can be accepted as a rationale for inclusion of oral health in the primary health care (PHC) package for South Africa. The norms of the PHC package for oral health services are to expose at least 50% of primary schools to organized school preventive programmes and to ensure basic coverage of everybody in the catchment areas. Currently these norms are not adequately fulfilled in Randfontein. The purpose of this study was to gather information that can be used to improve oral health services in Randfontein. The aim of the study was to gain an understanding of the factors that influence the choice of oral health care seeking behaviour as perceived by residents in different contexts and to use these perceptions to inform appropriate health planning strategies and implementation of measures that can improve health promotion in Randfontein. This qualitative study explored oral health care seeking behaviour. The study population comprised all residents of Randfontein above seventeen years old who had visited the oral health section in the Randfontein Primary Health Care (PHC) Facility. There were two focus group discussions (FGDs) from each of three separate residential areas namely Mohlakeng with mainly black residents, Toekomsrus with mainly coloured race residents and from town which is a predominantly Caucasian race area. Data collected was analysed during the data collection stage and thereafter until they made sense to the researcher. To strengthen validity, the accuracy of the interpretation of what respondents said was confirmed with them. Analysed themes were coded and categorized to enable the key researcher to interpret them for final reporting. Appropriate ethical procedures were followed. The findings were that although all focus groups preferred allopathic oral health care seeking, various barriers existed. The study concluded that there should be adequate oral health education and promotion, effectivecommunication and an expansion of these services to Toekomsrus, where they do not exist. Perceptions on factors influencing oral health seeking by Randfontein residents. / South Africa

Notre travail s’inscrit dans le champ de la didactique de la Biologie en général et celui de la reproduction humaine en particulier. Nous nous intéressons spécialement à une « tentative » d’autonomisation des apprenants - plus exactement des élèves - tunisiens en classe de terminale scientifique par le biais de l’autocorrection/auto-évaluation dans l’apprentissage de la reproduction humaine et l’éducation à la sexualité. Le choix de notre sujet de recherche plonge ses racines dans les méthodes et procédés utilisés dans les apprentissages scolaires en rapport avec l’appartenance des apprenants, tout comme les enseignants, à une société arabo-musulmane, où, parler de reproduction reviendrait à parler de sexualité qui est un terme « sale », « vulgaire », « honteux » et l’évoquer pourrait bien être contre la morale, donc une attaque à la pudeur. Mais, cette conception qui empêcherait les élèves, jeunes adolescents, de parler ouvertement de sexualité et de reproduction, est-elle d’ordre religieux ? Ou qu’elle n’est qu’une construction sociale ? La pratique religieuse fait-elle obstacle à l’évocation des questions se rapportant à la sexualité dans la mesure où celle-ci n’est aucunement abordée au sein des familles où les parents sont musulmans pratiquants ? L’Islam comme religion incitant à la pudeur et la chasteté, fait-il de la sexualité un tabou ? Grace à des questionnaires nous avons tenté d’apporter de l’éclairage à tous ces questionnements. De par notre ancienne expérience professionnelle d’enseignante de Sciences de la Vie et de la Terre, nous avons remarqué chez les apprenants une réticence manifeste, qui s’exprime par un manque, voire une absence de participation lors de la construction des savoirs allant jusqu’à s’abstenir de poser des questions. Rien qu’un silence assourdissant qui règne dans la salle de classe lors de l’apprentissage de la reproduction humaine. Nous entendions une voix muette mais opprimée me disant : « Allez, faites vite ! Et pourvu de ça finisse ! ». Cette passivité jouait, éventuellement en faveur d’un paradigme éducatif purement transmissif. Notre idée première était de contraindre, d’une manière ou d’une autre, les apprenants à communiquer entre eux autour de ce thème « problématique » qu’est la reproduction humaine. Cette initiative était aussi bien dans le but de tenter de briser des obstacles éventuels qui pourraient s’interposer d’une part entre les apprenants des deux sexes et l’enseignant et, d’autre part, entre les apprenants et le savoir, que de laisser aux apprenants l’occasion de corriger eux-mêmes leurs propres erreurs, peut-être ne les reprennent-ils plus. Tant de questionnements nous sont venus à l’esprit : bien que non habitués aux pratiques autocorrectives/auto-évaluatives, les élèves tunisiens sont-ils en mesure de porter des jugements corrects à leurs propres travaux ? Si, travaillant en petits groupes dans l’élaboration d’un cours en vue de co-construire un savoir, seront-ils plus performants dans leurs auto-évaluations quant à ce même savoir ? Autocorrection et auto-évaluation, seraient-elles synonymes de remédiation efficace d’erreurs ? Notre expérimentation a porté sur 71 élèves de trois classes de terminale scientifique que nous avons mixées et répartis en trois groupes présentant la même répartition des moyennes en SVT en classe de troisième (niveau précédent). Ces trois groupes étaient : - « A.Auto » et noté « AA » formés des élèves ayant participé à la construction du cours et se sont auto-corrigés et auto-évalués suite à un test préliminaire; - « B.Auto » et noté « BA » composés des élèves ayant reçu un cours magistral, mais se sont auto-corrigés et auto-évalués par suite du même test préliminaire; - « Trad » et noté « T » cet échantillon correspond aux élèves qui ont reçu un cours et une correction traditionnels, comme habituellement. ... / This work falls within the field of Biology didactics in general and that of human reproduction more particularly. We are more specifically interested in a learners’ empowerment attempt that is more precisely related to Tunisian final year science students through self-correction/self-evaluation in the learning of human reproduction and sex education. The choice of our research topic is rooted in the methods and processes used in school learning in connection with learners’ as well as teachers’ belonging to a Muslim Arab society, where, speaking about reproduction would be to talk about sexuality which is a “dirty”, “vulgar”, “shameful” word. If just mentioned, it might be against morality, so an attack against decency. But is this design -that prevents students, young teenagers, to talk openly about sexuality and reproduction- religious? Or is it just a social construct? Is religious practice an obstacle when it comes to issues related to sexuality that there is no way to raise them in families where parents are practicing Muslims? Does Islam as a religion inciting to modesty and chastity, consider sex a taboo? Thanks to some questionnaires we tried to highlight all of these questions.From our old professional experience as a teacher of Life and Earth Sciences, we noticed in learners an obvious reluctance, expressed by a lack of participation in the construction of knowledge and even beyond that to refrain from asking questions. Nothing heard in the classroom but a deafening silence when it comes to learning human reproduction. We heard a silent but oppressed voice saying “Come on, hurry up! And provided it to end!”. This passivity was playing, possibly for a purely transmissive educational paradigm. Our main focus was to force learners, one way or another, to communicate with each other around the "problematic" theme; human reproduction. This initiative was rather designed to try to break any obstacles that might interpose, in the one hand, between students of both sexes and teachers and in the other, between learners and knowledge, than to give learners the opportunity to self-correct their own mistakes, which, perhaps, they would never make again. So many questions came to our mind: although not accustomed to self-correcting/ self-evaluative practice, are Tunisian students able to provide correct judgments of their own work? If they work in small groups in the development of a course to co-construct knowledge, will they perform better in their self-assessments related to that particular knowledge? Would self-correction and self-assessment be synonyms to effective remediation of errors?Our testing focused on 71 students from three final year science classes we have mixed and divided into three groups with the same distribution of averages SVT third class (the previous level). These three groups were:- "A.Auto" and rated "AA" trained students who participated in the construction of the course and have self-corrected and self-assessed following a preliminary test;- "B.Auto" and noted "BA" composed of students who received a lecture, but have self-corrected and self-assessed following the same preliminary test;- "Trad" and rated "T" This sample corresponds to students who received a traditional course and a correction, as usual....

Background Physical and mental health is important for coping with the high requirements of medical studies that are associated with a higher risk for severe stress, insomnia, smoking, harmful alcohol consumption and easier access to drugs. Health behaviors of medical students influence not just their own health but also the health of their future patients. We examined whether socio-cultural factors can explain differences in students’ health status and health-promoting behaviors. Methods A multicenter cross-sectional survey in Germany (Dresden, Munich) and Hungary (Budapest, Pécs) enclosed international medical students in their 1st, 3rd and 5th academic years. The students were invited to voluntarily and anonymously complete a questionnaire on different aspects of health behavior during obligatory seminars and lectures in 2014. The response rate of the total sample was 56.2 % (n = 2935); the subgroup analysis enclosed data of German (n = 1289), Hungarian (n = 1057) and Norwegian (n = 148) students. Results A high number of Norwegian students (84.5 %) assessed their health status as very good/excellent. In comparison, only 60.3 % of the Hungarian and 70.7 % of the German participants reported a very good/excellent health status. The distributions were comparable between the study sites. Although gender, financial situation and nationality were significant health status predictors, they could explain only 8.2 % of the total variance of health status in the multivariable model. A comparably high number of Hungarian students (95.3 % vs. 67.4 % German and 56.7 % Norwegian) reported that they can currently do a lot/very much for their health. In contrast, a significant number of Norwegians (73.0 % vs. 63.7 % Hungarian and 51.5 % German) reported that they currently do a lot/very much for their health (chi2-test, p ≤ 0.001). Financial situation, study site and study year were the strongest predictors for health promotion activities (Nagelkerkes R2 = 0.06). Conclusions Based on our study, gender and study year played only a minor role in the health status and health promotion beliefs and activities of medical students. Structural (study site) and somewhat socio-cultural factors (nationality, financial situation) mainly explained the differences regarding health promoting behaviors. Obligatory, free-of-charge courses for health promotion (activity and relaxation) should be included in study curriculums.

Background Physical and mental health is important for coping with the high requirements of medical studies that are associated with a higher risk for severe stress, insomnia, smoking, harmful alcohol consumption and easier access to drugs. Health behaviors of medical students influence not just their own health but also the health of their future patients. We examined whether socio-cultural factors can explain differences in students’ health status and health-promoting behaviors. Methods A multicenter cross-sectional survey in Germany (Dresden, Munich) and Hungary (Budapest, Pécs) enclosed international medical students in their 1st, 3rd and 5th academic years. The students were invited to voluntarily and anonymously complete a questionnaire on different aspects of health behavior during obligatory seminars and lectures in 2014. The response rate of the total sample was 56.2 % (n = 2935); the subgroup analysis enclosed data of German (n = 1289), Hungarian (n = 1057) and Norwegian (n = 148) students. Results A high number of Norwegian students (84.5 %) assessed their health status as very good/excellent. In comparison, only 60.3 % of the Hungarian and 70.7 % of the German participants reported a very good/excellent health status. The distributions were comparable between the study sites. Although gender, financial situation and nationality were significant health status predictors, they could explain only 8.2 % of the total variance of health status in the multivariable model. A comparably high number of Hungarian students (95.3 % vs. 67.4 % German and 56.7 % Norwegian) reported that they can currently do a lot/very much for their health. In contrast, a significant number of Norwegians (73.0 % vs. 63.7 % Hungarian and 51.5 % German) reported that they currently do a lot/very much for their health (chi2-test, p ≤ 0.001). Financial situation, study site and study year were the strongest predictors for health promotion activities (Nagelkerkes R2 = 0.06). Conclusions Based on our study, gender and study year played only a minor role in the health status and health promotion beliefs and activities of medical students. Structural (study site) and somewhat socio-cultural factors (nationality, financial situation) mainly explained the differences regarding health promoting behaviors. Obligatory, free-of-charge courses for health promotion (activity and relaxation) should be included in study curriculums.

The aim of this quantitative study was to determine whether there were significant relationships between cultural factors and academic achievement of secondary school female learners in the Chimanimani district of Manicaland in Zimbabwe. According to literature, home environment variables, school environment variables and learner variables influence academic achievement of learners. The home environment includes family's expectations, the family's socio-economic status, exposure to role models and child-rearing practices. The school environment includes teacher's attitudes and the curriculum. Learner variables encompass self-concept, gender role concepts as well as the learner's attitude and aspirations. The empirical research found significant correlations between all cultural factors and academic achievement, particularly in English and at times in mathematics. These correlations were low but positive. The investigation also revealed that diverse age groups did not differ significantly in academic achievement in mathematics or in English. However, females from diverse socio-economic backgrounds differed significantly in their academic achievements. / Psychology of Education / M.Ed.(Psychology of Education)

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 objective of this research is to explore the perceptions of rural Samburu women in Kenya with regard to HIV/AIDS in terms of their knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and opinions; to examine several HIV/AIDS awareness channels that have been used to communicate HIV/AIDS messages to the Samburu women to determine how effective they have been in effecting behaviour change.This study is an example of how a communication audit can be carried out on a certain sub-group of a community in order to suggest a tailor-made communication strategy in an effort to stop the spread of HIV among the Samburu women. This study is also a confirmation that the prevention strategies that have been in use to communicate to Samburu women have been inadequate and need to be revised to address the knowledge gaps that exist. The study is located within a relatively new field of health communication where health messages are evaluated to determine whether target audiences are receiving these messages and changing their behaviour in order to live healthier lives. This area of study is also supported by behaviour change models such as the Health Belief Model (HBM), the Social Cognitive Theory (SCT), Diffusion of Innovations Theory, Cultural Models, and Strategic Communication. A qualitative study was undertaken in 2008 by way of ten focus group discussions with Samburu women and eleven in-depth interviews with professionals who ran HIV/AIDS programmes in the Samburu district. The focus groups were constituted by means of convenience sampling whereas the snowball strategy was utilised for the selection of participants for in-depth interviews. The questioning route for the focus group discussions for the Samburu women was guided by five themes namely: knowledge levels of the women; cultural aspects that made the women vulnerable to HIV/AIDS; beliefs about HIV/AIDS; attitudes towards HIV/AIDS; and the different channels of communication used to convey HIV/AIDS messages. The interview schedule for the professionals consisted of open-ended questions and face-to-face interviews were carried out using this schedule. / Communication Sciences / D. Litt. et Phil. (Communication)

Thèse numérisée par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

The thesis provide an analysis of environment that might influence processes of socialization of youth people. Next to this description of socially and/or pedagogically working organizations and institutions that focus on youth and their parents in the area of risk behaviour with an aim to prevent dependence on mind-altering substances is provided. Theoretical part of the thesis discusses socio-cultural factors. Therefore roles especially of family as primary institution responsible for socialization as well as of socio-pedagogically working organizations in drug prevention targeting youth and their parents is described. Empirical part of the thesis addresses ways that parents of young users of drugs used to prevent risky behaviour of their children, what sources and types of informations about drugs they used, and to what extend they have been prepared to solve potential problems that might result in drug dependence. Also with the use of a narrative analysis it is discussed where parents sought professional help and what was their opinion about quality of socio- pedagogical intervention delivered by individual organizations.

Thèse numérisée par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal