Department of Nutrition / MSCPNT

Department of Advanced Nursing Science / MCur

MPH / Department of Public Health

MPH / Department of Public Health / See the attached abstract below

MPH / Department of Public Health / See the attached abstract below

MCur / Department of Advanced Nursing Science / See the attached abstract below

MCur / Department of Advanced Nursing Science / Each year, an estimated 3.6 million infants die worldwide in the first four weeks of life due to complications of premature birth. One-third of Low Birth Weight (LBW) babies die within the first 12 hours after delivery. The main reasons premature babies are at greater risk of illness and death is that they lack the ability to control their body temperature meaning that they get cold or hypothermic very quickly. Kangaroo Mother Care reduces mortality and if widely applied it could reduce deaths in premature newborn babies. The purpose of this study is to explore and describe the lived experiences of mothers when providing Kangaroo Mother Care at the hospitals in Vhembe District of Limpopo province. Qualitative approach with explorative descriptive, contextual and phenomenological designs were employed to explore the experiences of mothers when providing Kangaroo Mother Care. The study population consisted of all mothers who were providing Kangaroo Mother Care. A non-probability convenience sampling method was used to determine the sample of the study. The size of the sample was determined by data saturation. In-depth individual interviews were conducted using a central question. The Tesch’s eight steps of open-coding model guided the process to analyse data. Trustworthiness was ensured throughout by employing the principles of credibility, dependability, conformability, and transferability. Ethical considerations were followed to protect the participants. Recommendations were made based on the research findings. The findings of the study revealed that mothers who provide Kangaroo Mother Care experience challenges. They received inconsistent information about the practice of Kangaroo Mother Care from nurses. The relationship between mothers and nurses was good. Recomendations were made based on the findings and relevant structures in order to ensure that mothers challenges are addressed. The study revealed ineffective support provided to mothers by nurses and family members. / NRF

Workplace violence directed at student nurses in training in psychiatric institutions is a significant concern as it negatively affects the quality of learning and causes the students to have a negative perception of nursing as a profession. The absence of scientific data describing the perceptions of student nurses about workplace violence and their clinical learning outcome motivated the researcher to conduct the study. Quantitative, descriptive research was conducted to explore the influence that workplace violence will have on clinical learning outcomes of student nurses who are studying psychiatric nursing at psychiatric institutions in KwaZulu-Natal, in South Africa. Data was gathered using a 71 question questionnaire, which was adapted from the one used by Hewett (2010). With the necessary permission from the health authorities, the campus principals and the nursing students, a group of 4th year student nurses (n=163) from 6 campuses of the KwaZulu-Natal College of Nursing (KZNCN) who have worked in psychiatric units for at least 3 months and longer participated in the study. The study highlighted the types of workplace violence encountered by student nurses, the effects of workplace violence on students’ academic performance and the barriers to the reporting of workplace violence encountered by the student nurses. The study revealed that there is a large amount of non-physical, some physical and a few incidents of sexual violence directed towards the student nurses at the psychiatric institutions, and that it has a negative impact on student learning. The recommendations emanating from the study support the idea of a shared responsibility between healthcare and education institutions and the focus is on preparing and equipping the student psychiatric nurses to confront, withstand and break the cycle of workplace violence. / Health Studies / M.A. (Nursing Science)

A qualitative research design that is explorative, descriptive and contextual in nature was employed in order to understand and describe the professional nurses' perception of the implementation of a quality circles programme in a public hospital in the Eastern Cape Province and to develop guidelines for the implementation of a quality circles programme in public hospitals. The data-collection techniques were individual semi-structured interviews and field notes. The sample was drawn from a population of 425 Xhosa-speaking professional nurses employed in this institution. The sample comprised eight (8) professional nurses all of whom volunteered for in-depth individual semi-structured interviews. All the respondents answered one question "How do you perceive the implementation of the quality circles programme in your hospital?" During data collection and analysis only one theme emerged, namely the perception of quality circles as a forum for discussing patient care problems and future plans. There were four broad categories in this theme, namely  Staff empowerment  Teambuilding in the nursing discipline  Maintenance of standards by nurses  Challenges to the momentum of a quality circles programme It is recommended that all three tiers of nursing management be involved in the quality circles programme to improve interpersonal, interdepartmental and intradepartmental communication and concomitantly the nursing care. / Health Studies / M.A. (Health Studies)

A qualitative research design that is explorative, descriptive and contextual in nature was employed in order to understand and describe the professional nurses' perception of the implementation of a quality circles programme in a public hospital in the Eastern Cape Province and to develop guidelines for the implementation of a quality circles programme in public hospitals. The data-collection techniques were individual semi-structured interviews and field notes. The sample was drawn from a population of 425 Xhosa-speaking professional nurses employed in this institution. The sample comprised eight (8) professional nurses all of whom volunteered for in-depth individual semi-structured interviews. All the respondents answered one question "How do you perceive the implementation of the quality circles programme in your hospital?" During data collection and analysis only one theme emerged, namely the perception of quality circles as a forum for discussing patient care problems and future plans. There were four broad categories in this theme, namely  Staff empowerment  Teambuilding in the nursing discipline  Maintenance of standards by nurses  Challenges to the momentum of a quality circles programme It is recommended that all three tiers of nursing management be involved in the quality circles programme to improve interpersonal, interdepartmental and intradepartmental communication and concomitantly the nursing care. / Health Studies / M.A. (Health Studies)