MGS / Institute for Gender and Youth Studies / See the attached abstract below

Institute for Rural Development / PhDRDV

MCur / Department of Advanced Nursing Science / The path of children heading families following the death of both parents takes many twists and turns, and a lot of support to face the challenging environment is needed. The path is not easy as compared to children with parents in terms of support and guidance. The purpose of the study was to determine the experiences of children heading families at Makhado municipality of Limpopo Province, South Africa. The objective of this study is to explore and describe the experiences of children heading families. Qualitative research approach with explorative, descriptive, contextual, interpretative phenomenological designs were used. Population of the study comprised of children heading families following the death of both parents, residing at Makhado municipality in Vhembe district of Limpopo Province, South Africa. Non-probability purposive sampling was used to select the participants. The sample size of 20 participants was determined by data saturation. Data was transcribed verbatim and translated from Tshivenda to English language. Tesch’s eight steps criteria was used to analyse data. The results of the study revealed that children heading families following the death of both parent’s experience various challenges and ineffective support from different community structures. The researcher ensured trustworthiness and ethical consideration were considered throughout the study. Recommendations were developed based on the findings of the study. Keywords: Child, Child headed families, Experience, Family, Parent / NRF

PhD (Health Sciences) / Department of Advanced Nursing Science / Disability is the most painful experience for the mother and relatives when a child is born. This is because every parent expects a normal child once a woman conceives. For a mother to be able to cope with their children they need to be supported emotionally, psychologically and physically by the family members, community, and health care professionals and other support service providers.The overall purpose of the study was to develop a model to support mothers of children with intellectual disabilities in selected institutions of Limpopo Province.An exploratory sequential mixed method was employed which includes both qualitative and quantitative approaches to guide the study.Population was all mothers of children with intellectual disabilitiesand health care professionals from the selected institutions where the research was conducted. Health care professionals were purposively selected whereas mothers were conveniently selected. The study was carried out in two phases i.e Phase1(a & b) and Phase 2. Qualitative results were used to build a subsequent quantitative phase. In Phase 1a,a qualitative approach was employed using descriptive and exploratory designs. Qualitative data was collected through individual interviews.Data analyses were done utilising Tesch’s open coding method.In Phase 1b was quantitative approach wherein a cross-sectional descriptive design was used.Questionnaireswere developed and data were collected from the health care professionals in the selected study areas.Data analyses were done using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 24 and the level of statistical difference being set at p<0,05.In Phase 2, concept analysis, model development and validation of the model were performed. Themes and sub- themes were identified from the analysed data. Current study revealed that some mothers were fully supported and some were not supported at all by both the family, friends, relatives, community members and health care professionals. Hence continuous support was seen to be very crucial to them.The study recommendations include: open communication, social, psychological and emotional support, combined available support services, access to special schools and formulation of support groups. / NRF

MA (Sociology) / Department of African Studies / The aim of the study was to investigate the challenges faced by families living with mentally ill relatives in Thulamela municipality in the Vhembe district, Limpopo province. The objectives of the study were to investigate the impact that caring for a mentally ill person had on the family members; to explore the strategies adopted by families to enable them to cope better with the challenges they faced when caring for their mentally ill relatives; and to understand the support services that were provided to families by health care professionals to enable them to cope with such challenges. A Nonprobability sampling, in particular its subtype convenience samplings was used to select five families who participated in the study. A semi-structured interview schedule was used to collect data from the main care givers and a focus group discussion took place to gather more in-depth information from at least three members of each family. Those selected to participate in the study were all family members who were involved in the care giving responsibility. All participants were caring for mentally ill relatives diagnosed with schizophrenia, substance induced psychosis or bipolar affective. The care recipient had to be admitted at Hayani psychiatry hospital. Data extracted from the participants was analysed thematically following the six stages of thematic data analysis.The research findings obtained from family caregivers from Thulamela municipality found in the Vhembe district within the Limpopo province, highlighted that taking care of a family members with mental illness comes with a number of challenges. The impact was experienced by all members of the family irrespective of the age, social or financial status. The impact was experienced emotionally, physically, socially and financially. All participants also reported to be experiencing burnout. They prefer their loved ones to remain living in mental institution as it gives them a chance to live normal lives. / NRF

Thesis (Ph.D. Commerce (Human Resource Management)) -- University of Limpopo, 2021 / This thesis addresses work-life conflict, a topical phenomenon for the career progression and wellbeing of women. Notwithstanding a lot of interest in the topic, as well as various endeavours after treaties and legislation to support women in the workplace it continues to be a subject of research interest since work-life balance has not been achieved yet. The current study intended to explore what the women managers in the public sector of Limpopo Province understand by work-life conflict, as well as their experiences and to proffer a framework for understanding the work-life conflict of women managers. The study highlights that numerous working women are still inundated with non-work responsibilities, which results in conflict with the expected responsibilities in the work environment. The resultant work-life conflict continues to have career-limiting effects on women. The study employed a mixed-methods design to collect data. The quantitative part of the study used questionnaires to collect data and a total of 68 usable questionnaires were returned. For the qualitative part individual interviews were conducted with a total of 16 women. Given the mixed nature of the data, the research applied two genres of analytical techniques, viz. thematic analysis and non-parametric relational analysis. The findings of the study indicate that most of the women managers in the study understand work-life conflict to mean work-to-life interference. The women managers conceptualise life-to-work interference as a normal phenomenon, which serves as a function of maintaining homeostasis in their social structure. The results further suggested that only the workplace has to be changed for them to attain work-life balance. The women managers in the study also appear to experience physical and psychological health problems due to not coping with work-life conflict. The research results deliver invaluable information that can be employed in strategies that attempt to alleviate the negative experiences of work-life conflict by women managers. This study has developed an integrative framework for understanding the work-life conflict of women managers in the public sector. None of the existing theories has propounded any integrative framework for understanding the work-life conflict of women managers in the public sector. The current findings add to the knowledge on addressing the work-life conflict of women managers by delivering context-specific recommendations of what organisations can do to attain work-life balance. Key words: work-life conflict; coping strategies; public sector; women managers; work-life balance; Integrated work-life conflict framework

MRDV / Instutute for Rural Development / Health and wellbeing of humans is affected by their eating habits, patterns and choice of meals. This research discusses food consumption patterns of selected households of Mbilwi and Matavhela villages in Thulamela Municipality, Limpopo Province of South Africa. The study identified types of food consumed and the nutritional knowledge of households living in the study area. In addition, the study assessed the knowledge of households on how food choices affect their health. Lastly an analysis of socio-economic factors that influence food consumption patterns in households living in Mbilwi and Matavhela villages was investigated. Using purposive sampling, qualitative and quantitative inquiry were used to explore the research objectives. A sample size of 50 and 47 households from each village were selected respectively and the heads of each household were interviewed. Thematic content analysis was used to categorise data into themes, to address and interpret qualitative data. Themes were generated as the units for analysis based on the objectives of the study to enable interpretation of qualitative information. The quantitative data was analysed using Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23.0. The findings indicated that there was no variety in foods consumed by households in both the weekly food consumption pattern and 24-hour food recall. There was also limited nutrition knowledge of the foods consumed in households of both villages. Households usually consumed energy giving foods such as carbohydrates and body building foods such as proteins. There was low consumption of milk and milk products, fruit and vegetable food groups. Various socio-economic factors such as income, living conditions, health, nutrition knowledge, culture, religion and lack of time to prepare food, affected eating habits. Some foods were recommended or condoned based on religious and cultural factors. Most households were unemployed and relied on government grants and remittances from family members working in the metropolitan centres. The findings in this study provide a better understanding of food access, availability and consumption in rural areas which can also assist in the formulation of policies that would improve quality of food consumption in rural areas. This study presented an opportunity that can be filled by institutions working in rural areas to support and strengthen their activities. Information sharing with households on the benefits of balanced diets can contribute to the health and the well-being of the society. The emphasis must be on strengthening backyard vegetable/fruit gardens and community food gardening programmes for household consumption v and sale, to generate income. These programmes can also offer fruit/vegetable preservation skills to households in order to help improve the shelf life of the produce. Policy makers must encourage provision of nutritional knowledge to households through different media and channels such as television, clinics, hospitals, schools, and newspapers.