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There is a significant amount of public health research conducted within provincial health facilities in South Africa, whose findings have a positive impact on the delivery of health services. This includes clinical, epidemiological, health systems and health services research, often initiated by post‐graduate students, independent academics researchers, as well as research institutions. Although researchers commonly commit to providing feedback to the provincial department and facilities, there is little evidence to confirm that research feedback is subsequently provided. Little contextualized empirical evidence is available to guide action, particularly for frontline health care providers, who often have the responsibility to host these research activities. The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of healthcare providers with research activities hosted in health facilitiesin the Western Cape province of South Africa. A mixed-method, cross-sectional study was conducted utilising an online survey (n= 19), and semi-structured interviews (n=3) with frontline health care providers (research gatekeepers). Descriptive analyses characterized respondents and their experience of research. Qualitative thematic analysis took on an inductive approach by identifying themes as they emerged from the data and cross comparing these with findings from the scoping literature review. Findings provided insight into how research conduct is experienced by those on the frontline in public health facilities on the provincial district platform. This is particular to the Western Cape province, which has a specific health department administration system. The following themes emerged: perception of research burden on services, understanding of the research approval process, autonomy to deny researchers access to the health facility due to overburden of research, the frequency or occurrence of research feedback after completion of a project, and interpersonal dynamics between researchers and gatekeepers as it relates to research conduct in facilities. This research reports on empirical evidence of perspectives from frontline health care providers on their experience with health research in a particular provincial context. The findings could form the basis of a study with a much larger sample size to inform how research feedback can be translated in a way that directly impacts on the uptake in the frontline.

Breast and cervical cancer are leading causes of female cancer morbidity and mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Despite the high burden of disease, women’s knowledge of evidence-based risk factors and symptoms remains low. To adequately address the apparent knowledge deficits, the underlying knowledge in communities needs to be measured, so as to identify important gaps and contextually address them. To date, cancer knowledge in SSA has been measured using either prompted or unprompted question formats, yielding varying knowledge scores. However, there has been little exploration on the impact of using either question format for assessing disease awareness. This study sought to measure the differences in breast and cervical cancer risk factors and symptoms knowledge reported through prompted and unprompted questions, in South Africa (SA) and Uganda (UG). This was a descriptive cross-sectional study drawing on data collected during validation of an interviewer administered questionnaire (African Woman’s Awareness of Cancer - AWACAN) measuring breast and cervical cancer awareness in SSA. The sample included 139 women recruited from public sector primary health care facilities in two urban districts, Gulu (UG) and Cape Town (SA). Descriptive statistics were used to summarize participant’s socio-demographic characteristics and knowledge about breast and cervical cancer. Composite knowledge scores were calculated by adding up the number of correct responses per individual. The Wilcoxon Singed Rank test was used to compare differences between unprompted and prompted knowledge scores. Regression analyses were used to measure the relationship between unprompted and prompted knowledge. The median age of study participants was 42 years. The majority of women had not completed secondary education (57%) and were unemployed (64%). Unprompted knowledge was considerably lower than prompted knowledge for all breast and cervical cancer risk factors and symptoms. Median scores for unprompted knowledge of breast cancer risk factors (0) and symptoms (1) were significantly lower than for prompted at 6 and 14 respectively. Similarly, the median scores for unprompted knowledge of cervical cancer risk factors (0) and symptoms (1) were lower than prompted knowledge at 6 and 9 respectively. The difference between prompted and unprompted knowledge was least for classical breast and cervical cancer symptoms. For instance, the well-known breast cancer symptom ‘lump in the breast’ was recalled by 57% and 96% with unprompted and prompted questioning respectively. Unprompted questioning identified additional risk lay beliefs such as, ‘itching of the breast’. Combined use of unprompted and prompted questions provides more insight on breast and cervical cancer knowledge patterns in SSA. The low unprompted knowledge scores reported here demonstrate the need for health education interventions to improve knowledge of established breast and cervical cancer risk factors and whilst addressing any predominant lay beliefs about the disease in SSA. This dissertation is divided into three parts. Part A consists of the study protocol outlining the rational for undertaking this study as well as the proposed research methodology. Part B is the literature review that gives a summary of existing literature on the use of prompted and unprompted questions in measuring cancer knowledge thereby providing context for this study. Part C is a journal ready manuscript presenting the results and discussion of study findings.

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Forensic social work is a new field in South Africa. Forensic social work is regarded as a speciality, but has not been registered as such by the South African Council for Social Service Professions. There is a growing need to utilize experts in South African courts. Social workers are not trained to provide in this need. Social workers in private practice have recognized this need and equipped themselves to render this service to courts. The South African Police Service employs forensic social workers to assist the Child Protection Units. Despite this there was no formal training available in forensic social work, until recently. This study aims at investigating the availability of forensic training for social workers in order to develop guidelines for forensic training programmes. Universities agree that statutory social work forms part of the duty of every social worker and that training in this regard is needed. They also indicate that existing training does not prepare the social worker for effective services to the courts. It is clear that universities regard forensic social work as a specialised field and do not believe that under-graduate training is realistic. All participating institutions agree that a need exists for post-graduate forensic training. / Thesis (M.A. (MW))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

Forensic social work is a new field in South Africa. Forensic social work is regarded as a speciality, but has not been registered as such by the South African Council for Social Service Professions. There is a growing need to utilize experts in South African courts. Social workers are not trained to provide in this need. Social workers in private practice have recognized this need and equipped themselves to render this service to courts. The South African Police Service employs forensic social workers to assist the Child Protection Units. Despite this there was no formal training available in forensic social work, until recently. This study aims at investigating the availability of forensic training for social workers in order to develop guidelines for forensic training programmes. Universities agree that statutory social work forms part of the duty of every social worker and that training in this regard is needed. They also indicate that existing training does not prepare the social worker for effective services to the courts. It is clear that universities regard forensic social work as a specialised field and do not believe that under-graduate training is realistic. All participating institutions agree that a need exists for post-graduate forensic training. / Thesis (M.A. (MW))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

The Thesis investigates the determinants and patterns of specialisation and international trade in the manufacturing sectors of countries that are similar in terms of their technology, relative factor endowments and preferences. Chapter 1 shows that differences in country size alone can be a basis for interindustry trade in manufactures. I present a general equilibrium model in which each country has two imperfectly competitive industries which can differ in three respects: relative factor intensities, level of transport costs and demand elasticities. With positive trade costs and increasing returns to scale, each firm prefers to locate in the larger country due to the 'market access' effect. But the increase in demand for factors in the large country induces a 'production cost' effect - a rise in the wage in the large country relative to the small country to offset the locational advantage of the large country. The tension between the market access effect and production cost effect determines which industry will concentrate in which country and the pattern of inter-industry trade. Chapter 2 investigates circumstance in which technological leapfrogging between regions will occur. Input-output linkages between firms in imperfectly competitive industries create forces for agglomeration of industries in particular locations. A new technology, incompatible with the old, will not benefit from these linkages, so will typically be established in locations with little existing industry and consequently lower factor prices. Chapters 3 studies specialisation patterns in the European Union between 1968 and 1990. It investigates whether specialisation has increased in the European Union countries and analyses whether these patterns are consistent with three different strands of trade theories: the classical Heckscher-Ohlin theory, the 'new' trade theories based on increasing returns to scale, and the 'economic geography' theories based on vertical linkages between industries. I find that there is evidence of increasing specialisation in the European Union countries and there is some support for all three strands of trade theories.

Yes / The choice of career and speciality can be a complex process. It is unclear what influences career decisions within undergraduate radiographers and whether the curriculum provides sufficient support. Methods: An online cross-sectional survey was undertaken. All undergraduate diagnostic radiography students within one UK higher education institution were invited to participate. Questions were related to anticipated career choice, motivational factors and influences. Results: The response rate was 67.6% (90/133). The most popular specialist area for career preference was general radiography. The top three motivational factors were work life balance, career development and job satisfaction. The most influential factors on career choice were clinical placements, radiographers on placements and formal teaching. Career guidance was predominantly sourced from the personal academic tutor and was informed by role models. Conclusion: Radiography academic teams and clinical placement providers must work together to ensure that students have access to high quality placements across specialities. The experiences received during undergraduate training are important in specialty choice. Implications for practice: Career guidance is essential and should begin as early as possible. Clinical and academic radiographers need to appreciate the influence they have on students future career plans. / The form of the authors names on the accepted manuscript are: Hackett, Kayleigh and Snaith, Beverly.

My research study aimed to explore the pedagogic shifts between working with concrete to more abstract conceptions of number. By using a case study approach focused on a grade 2 (G2) Foundation Phase (FP) teacher who retained her class into grade 3 (G3), I gathered data on her teaching over two years (2012-13) in the context of the ‘Lesson Starters Project’ (LSP). In addition, the teacher also participated in another project within the Wits Maths Connect Primary project (WMC-P) which was focused on developing content knowledge related to primary mathematics during 2013. Whilst content knowledge course assessment indicated gains through this year, the teacher’s results indicated gaps in mathematical content knowledge - a feature that literature has highlighted as quite common amongst primary teachers in South Africa and internationally. My focus in this study is on the extent to which this teacher in the LSP professional development project specialised content and modes of representation and showed connections between these aspects. The findings showed that there were varying degrees of specialisation of content and specialisation of representations. In other words, the teacher is seen to make the mathematics more sophisticated in conjunction with the use of a variety of representations or strategies. There was evidence that the degree of shifts towards more abstract strategies depended at least partially on the teacher’s beliefs about the abilities of different learners in her class.