Submitted in fulfillment of requirements for the Degree of Masters in Technology: Nursing, Durban University of Technology. 2013 / This study investigated the factors that impact on the utilisation of voluntary HIV counselling and testing (VCT) service at a wellness centre in a higher education institution. Purpose: The purpose of the study was to identify factors that impact on the utilisation of VCT service in a higher education institution. Methodology: A quantitative descriptive survey research design was used to describe the phenomenon and to establish relationships between variables. Participants were selected randomly in order to obtain a broad representative sample in three strata. A formal structured close-ended questionnaire was used to collect data. The questionnaire was designed to focus on variables such as demographic data, environmental factors, enabling factors, predisposing and behavioural factors. Findings: No significant relationship was identified between knowledge of HIV, AIDS and VCT and high school attended in rural, township and urban areas. There was no significant relationship between environmental factors and utilisation of VCT. There was no association between predisposing factors such as risk of VCT and perceived benefits of VCT utilisation. There was no relationship between knowledge and consistency of condom use and utilisation of VCT. The majority of respondents stated that the VCT service was not user friendly and the attitude of the staff toward students was poor. There was no significant relationship between accessibility of VCT service and utilisation of VCT. There was a lack of utilisation of campus VCT services and the majority of respondents utilised other services. Conclusion: The study showed that respondents who knew about availability of VCT were likely to have used the facility. Respondents who showed positive / Durban University of Technology

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Work

This study investigated the relationship between community college institutional expenditures and student success in reaching momentum points. The 3 years of student cohorts of a large community college district in Texas formed the population. Student characteristics and institutional context characteristics served as control variables. Institutional financial data functioned as the independent variables. Student success variables (milestones and momentum points) served as dependent variables. Because each of the three cohorts contained over 10,000 students and displayed equivalent characteristics, the random sample of 7,634 students was drawn from the combined cohorts. Institutional financial variables predicted the milestones of reading readiness (χ2 = 315.10, df = 17, n = 3,495, p < .001) and writing readiness (χ2 = 296.64, df = 17, n = 3,149, p < .001). Financial variables contributed to the completion of English-1301 (χ2 = 1004.14, df = 17, n = 7,634, p < .001), college-level math (χ2 = 615.24, df = 17, n = 7,634, p < .001), 30 college-level credit hours (χ2 = 833.85, df = 17, n = 7,634, p < .001), and reenrollment the second fall semester (χ2 = 375.41, df = 17, n = 7,634, p < .001). Student services expenditures provided high odds for completion of English-1301 (odds ratio = 4.85 x 1014), college-level math (odds ratio = 5.24 x 1018), 30 college-level credits (odds ratio = 1.60x1015), and for re-enrollment in the second fall semester (odds ratio = 7.32 x 1014). Instructional expenditures and operations & maintenance expenditures also predicted student enrollment in the second fall semester. Student services’ influence on student engagement and success should inform decisions about programs for improving student success. Institutional policymakers may utilized these expenditure results support momentum point attainment. Finally, the influence of full time enrollment on student completion of milestones and momentum points in every regression model suggested resources for encouraging full-time, uninterrupted college enrollment are needed. Additional implications and recommendations are provided.

The purpose of this study was to determine and compare the academic advising needs of students as perceived by students and faculty advisors through faculty advising functions in the six teachers' colleges in Bangkok, Thailand. Fifteen faculty advising functions were included in a questionnaire validated by a panel of three judges. The questionnaires were distributed to students and faculty advisors in the six teachers' colleges by two selected research assistants. A total of 180 faculty advisors and 540 junior and senior teacher training students at the six teachers' colleges in Bangkok, Thailand, were selected using stratified random sampling. The usable and complete questionnaires received included 109 from faculty advisors (60.56 per cent) and 350 from students (64.81 per cent). The t-test, the Kendall's Coefficient of Concordance W, and the Spearman's Coefficient of Rank Correlation were employed to determine and compare the differences, the agreements, and the relationships of academic advising needs of students as perceived by students and faculty advisors, respectively. Analyses of the data revealed that students and faculty advisors in the six teachers' colleges in Bangkok, Thailand, perceived a mismatch between student advising needs now being fulfilled and student advising needs that should be fulfilled. Apparently, the academic advising programs in the teachers' colleges were not meeting the student needs. However, for student advising needs which should be fulfilled, both students and faculty advisors ranked personal, vocational and career, and academic areas very high. Overall, students and faculty seemed to agree on the advising needs which should be fulfilled.

The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of foster alumni in community and technical colleges, with a focus on Washington State, using a qualitative research approach. Foster alumni may be considered a sub-set of first generation students, yet they have needs that extend beyond those of other first-generation students (e.g., housing). Examination of this issue is timely. Funding designated for foster alumni in higher education has increased in recent years, leading to a variety of support structures and levels of service at the colleges. Yet in the current budget climate, with state support diminishing, the two-year colleges face increasing challenges in providing support not only for foster alumni but for all students. Foster alumni moving into adulthood and through the state colleges represent the quintessential case of in loco parentis, yet their emerging status as adults needs to be supported with appropriate services, not forced dependency. This dissertation consists of three major manuscripts: a summary of the literature and two research reports, one focused on overall findings and the second focused on moving from the findings to considerations for practice. All three manuscripts utilized the critical social science or social justice perspective. The research manuscripts report the findings of a qualitative study using a collective case study design. Two colleges that serve foster alumni were identified and both staff and foster alumni students at the sites were interviewed, for a total of 10 students and 4 staff members. Participant selection utilized both purposive and convenience sampling methods. The study focused on three themes relevant to college participation which were identified based upon the review of the literature: Academic preparedness, psycho-social factors, and meeting basic needs. Interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim; staff interviews served as both triangulation of the student data as well as a source of additional information on college services to foster alumni. Responses were analyzed for direct responses to interview questions as well as for emerging themes. In addition, case records (e.g., transcripts) were reviewed as an additional method of data triangulation. Findings of the study were reported through individual case summaries in manuscript two as well as cross-case analysis in both manuscripts. While the participants in this study had high rates of high school completion and many had shown signs of "early promise" for academic achievement, all needed pre-college level course remediation in at least one area. A majority of participants indicated having felt depressed, yet only one participant had a diagnosis of depression; most seemed to consider some level of depression to be a natural outcome in their situation. Indications of resilience and internal locus of control were evident. Many continued to struggle to meet basic needs while in college, and eight of the ten student participants reported having experienced periods of homelessness since leaving foster care. Based upon the findings of this study, foster alumni share certain characteristics with other first-generation students, yet their needs in particular areas necessitate additional on-campus services and/or stronger connections with community partners. Considerations for enhancing support services in the community and technical colleges in seven different areas are given, including designating staff contacts, building community partnerships to support housing, arranging for priority registration and financial aid processing to avoid enrollment gaps, and providing optional (not mandatory) mentoring relationships. / Graduation date: 2012 / Access restricted to the OSU Community at author's request from Dec. 7, 2011 - Dec. 7, 2012

This study sought to evaluate the effectiveness of guidance and counselling services offered in Zimbabwean universities. A mixed-methods design consisting of quantitative and qualitative approaches was adopted for the study and data were collected through questionnaires and unstructured interviews. The population for this study comprised all the 18 universities in Zimbabwe with approximately 75 000 students and 200 counsellors. The participants in the study comprised eighty (80) students (40 males and 40 females) in their second year of study and upwards and nineteen (19) guidance counsellors (11 females and 8 males). The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences Version 20 was used to analyse quantitative data derived from closed-ended questionnaire items. Frequencies and percentages were then derived from the quantitative data. Thematic analysis was used to analyse qualitative data from open-ended questionnaire items and interviews. The study revealed that although both students and guidance counsellors expressed positive perceptions of guidance and counselling services offered in their universities, in terms of their potential benefits to students, the majority of students regarded personal-social, career, placement, consultation, assessment, referral and evaluation services ineffective. The majority of guidance counsellors also regarded assessment, follow-up and evaluation services offered in their universities ineffective. The study also showed that the majority of guidance counsellors (63.2%) were not professionally trained. It also emerged from the study that internal evaluation of guidance and counselling services offered in the universities was never taken seriously. The study also showed that Zimbabwean universities were not adequately resourced in terms of guidance and counselling personnel and materials. The study revealed that generally guidance and counselling services offered in Zimbabwean universities were not effective. The study recommended that if Zimbabwean universities and their stakeholders collaborated and instituted a clear guidance and counselling policy which, among other important things, stipulates how guidance and counselling programmes would be run in universities, the effectiveness of guidance and counselling services offered in universities would most likely be enhanced. It was also recommended that if universities employed adequate fulltime professionally qualified guidance counsellors; periodically run training and in-service training workshops for the guidance counsellors and peer guidance counsellors; build proper infrastructure for all guidance and counselling activities; and secure proper assessment tests, the quality of guidance and counselling services offered in universities may be enhanced. The study also recommended that if guidance and counselling personnel were supervised regularly, and guidance and counselling services offered to students evaluated periodically and objectively, the guidance and counselling services offered in universities would be enhanced. This study may be significant to university counsellors, students, stakeholders and researchers in that it shares knowledge about the importance of effective guidance and counselling services offered to students and what constitutes effective guidance and counselling services. / Psychology of Education / Ph. D. (Psychology of Education)

My study documents the formation and impact of the student-led movement of Black Lives Matter in Higher Education (BLMHE) that is housed within Teachers College Higher and Postsecondary Education Program (HPSE). This group consists of HPSE students and faculty that have come together to analyze the effects of systemic societal forces on members of the HPSE community and their broader effects on higher education. BLMHE has since come together to show solidarity and support for students of color at TC through demonstrating their general commitment to social justice in the form of an educational seminar program. This study, which relies on oral history interviews with BLMHE’s three student co-founders, examines the formation and impact of BLMHE, how they analyze the effects of systemic societal forces on members of their community, and their broader effects on higher education. I am interested in learning to what extent BLMHE plays a role in increasing equitable spaces for Black students who identify as scholars on campus because I want to find out how this form of student activism empowers students as agents for change against systemic racism within higher education. This will permit me to understand how this form of student advocacy compares to other forms of advocacy that seeks to address such inequality in higher education. This exploratory oral history study centers on three themes: student advocacy within the realms of equitable epistemological spaces, how BLMHE is distinctive from the Black Studies and Black Lives Matter movements, and the role of Teachers College in supporting equitable epistemological spaces that can combat racism in higher education. BLMHE applies an alternative mode of viable activism beyond rallies and protests. I am interested in exploring the effect that involvement in student-led groups such as BLMHE have on increasing equitable spaces for these students as critical scholars within higher education scholarship, as well as their impact on TC as an institution. This student group is challenging not just the inequities within institutional infrastructures of higher education, but the thought processes behind what frames higher education scholarship itself, and which types of academic spaces for this scholarship need to be created for people of color. Further, their work demonstrates the degree to which marginalized Black and Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) students are not content to sit on the sidelines. This study also goes in-depth in discussing how inclusive archiving that accompanies this research can actively support and empower communities in the collective documentation of their own histories. Study findings will portray how these student members of BLMHE perceived social inequities in higher education, along with their experiences and reflections on microaggressions, diversity and inclusion, have informed their forays with activism. Study findings indicate that in order for higher education to better support these students, it is critical to center them in the process of knowledge creation via educational seminars; this, in turn, can inform change in scholarship. This study concludes that inclusive epistemological spaces created by BLMHE challenge dominant views of power in higher education, validating BIPOC-centered methods and theories while providing resources for scholars of color to thrive in the academy.

This study focuses on student support service quality with particular reference to an Open Distance Learning (ODL) environment. Taking student support services as anchors in mainstreaming ODL, the aims of the study are to develop an instrument that can accurately measure student support service quality in an Ethiopian ODL environment. Simultaneously, it is to investigate an alleged gap between students’ expectations and experiences of service quality in the Ethiopia-UNISA context. In doing so, an attempt is made to determine the students’ level of satisfaction with the student support services provided. The study relies on quantitative methods and a design-based research strategy, which involves iterative and step-by-step processes of investigation. The theoretical framework employed in this study is Gaps Model by Parasuraman, Ziethaml and Berry (1985). Using an instrument of which the possible level of external and internal validity has been ensured, data are collected and quantitatively analysed using a standard Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). The data suggest that there are five dimensions that play a cardinal role in the measurement of student support service quality in an ODL context, namely supervision support, infrastructure, administrative support, academic facilitation and corporate image. In the Ethiopian context, there appears to be a discrepancy between students’ expectations and their experiences of the quality of student support services. More than often their expectations exceed their actual experiences of quality service provision. Students’ satisfaction levels are negatively affected by the quality of four of the support services provided by UNISA as measured through expectations and experiences. In contrast, the students’ responses show that they are highly satisfied with the corporate image UNISA holds both in Ethiopia and internationally. From among the five dimensions, however, corporate image and supervision support stand out to be the most important dimensions in contributing to the students’ satisfaction and dissatisfaction, respectively. As a recommendation, this study highlights that these two dimensions must be focal areas by UNISA as more effort must be exerted to build the image of UNISA in Ethiopia and to improve the supervision support provided to students. / Educational Leadership and Management / D. Ed. (Education Management)

The study explored the factors influencing the use of voluntary counselling and testing by university students. This was done by undertaking an exploratory and descriptive qualitative study. Focus group discussions and field notes were used to collect data from the participants. Outcomes from the study revealed various factors to the uptake of Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) services by university students namely: the desire to know one‟s HIV status, illness, pregnancy, blood donation, to get a reward, the influence of significant others, the influence of media, awareness campaigns, compulsion, to get a job, curiosity, to be a positive role model and the positive attitude and professional conduct of the health care provider. The study also revealed various challenges to the uptake of VCT services by university students namely: the fear of being diagnosed HIV positive, HIV/AIDS-related stigma and discrimination, the low perception of risk to HIV infection, the lack of student friendly VCT services, the shortage of human and infrastructural resources, the inaccessibility of VCT services, the long waiting period for test results, negative perceptions about VCT, the problems with pre-test counselling and ignorance. Going by the participants‟ suggestions VCT services uptake by university students could be improved by increased resource allocation (incentives, human and infrastructural resources), increased awareness campaigns, and improved counselling and making VCT services more accessible / Information Science / MA (Public Health)

Thesis (MA (Afrikaans and Dutch))--University of Stellenbosch, 2004. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die geografiese ligging van enige bepaalde skryflaboratorium maak dit dikwels moeilik vir verafgeleë afstandonderrigstudente om ’n konsultasie te ontvang. ’n Veeleisende klasrooster kan dit vir residensiële studente enersyds problematiseer om ’n nabygeleë skryflaboratorium fisies te besoek vir hulp rakende ’n spesifieke skryfopdrag. Hierdie twee studentegroepe benodig gewoonlik addisionele skryfhulp om die tekskwaliteit van hulle geskrewe tekste te verbeter. In hierdie werkstuk het die navorser gevolglik ondersoek ingestel of ’n elektroniese skryflaboratorium, gegrond op die bestaande World Wide Writing (WWW)-model, ’n statisties beduidende effek gelewer het om studente se skryfvaardighede te verbeter. Die teoretiese raamwerk vir hierdie loodsprojek is verskaf deur Bereiter en Scardamalia (1987) se tweeledige skryfprosesmodel. Laasgenoemde model het ’n belangrike komponent van die ondersoek gevorm om die ontwikkeling van die hersieningsfase (waarmee ook herskrywing bedoel word) in die skryfproses te illustreer, nadat die proefpersone blootgestel is aan ’n skryfadvies oor paragrafering. Altesaam 67 tweedejaarproefpersone van die Universiteit van Stellenbosch het die opdrag ontvang om verbeterings aan die paragraafstruktuur van hulle oorspronklike teks aan te bring, ná verwysing van die elektroniese skryflaboratorium wat skryfhulp aangebied het in die vorm van web-advies. Hierna het die proefpersone ook ’n vraelys voltooi om hulle houding ten opsigte van die web-advies bloot te lê. ’n Geselekteerde ekspertpaneel het gevolglik die paragraafstruktuur van die tekste geëvalueer en sodoende aangedui of die tekskwaliteit verbeter het of nie. Hierdie resultate is uiteindelik gebruik om die effek te meet wat ’n elektroniese skryflaboratorium uitgeoefen het om die hersieningsfase van die skryfproses te beheer.