M.Cur. / The objectives of the research were to explore and describe the healthcare needs of long-term, home-based physically disabled persons and then to develop guidelines for the training of Ancillary Health Care Workers (AHCWs) to meet these needs. The guidelines were developed specifically from the patients‟ perspective and were derived from the two research questions: “What are your healthcare needs?” and “How can these be met?”. A contextual, qualitative, exploratory and descriptive research design was utilised. The population consisted of physically disabled people, aged 18 years or older, living in the northern suburbs of Johannesburg who employed an AHCW to assist with the longterm, home-based care. Purposive sampling was used with subsequent snowballing to identify further participants for the study. Interviews with open-ended questions were conducted with all the participants during which they could express their views freely. Tesch‟s method of data analysis was used to identify categories, sub-categories and themes. The model of Lincoln and Guba (1985:301f) was used to ensure trustworthiness and ethical considerations were maintained throughout the process. Informed consent was given by the patients. Three categories and sub-categories of healthcare needs were identified: physical healthcare needs, interpersonal relationship needs and social needs. Twelve themes were derived from these categories, notably i. Awareness of the unique physical environment needs of the physically disabled person, including injury prevention ii. Management of hygiene and elimination iii. Assistance with nutrition and hydration iv. Assistance with mobilisation v. Administration of medication vi. Required training of the AHCW iv vii. Personality traits of the AHCW viii. Cultural tolerance ix. Maintenance of privacy and dignity x. Communication skills xi. Companionship xii. Promotion of independence of the patient . From the themes twelve guidelines were developed for the training of AHCWs in home-based care looking after physically disabled patients. The research‟s limitations were described and recommendations relating to practice, nursing education and further research were made.

Student Number: 8402734 Master of Arts (Speech Pathology) Faculty of Humanities / Comprehension was assessed under various conditions in nine subjects with probable Alzheimer’s Disease. Four linguistic variables were selected, namely syntactic complexity, the use of pronouns, directness and literality. Each variable was assessed in sentences in a simple form and in a complex form. Discourse passages which included all of the variables were then constructed, and these tasks were also administered in simple and complex forms. All subjects performed qualitatively and quantitatively better under the simple conditions than under the complex for all four of the variables assessed. However, this effect was more marked in the sentence tasks than in the discourse tasks. Furthermore, individual subjects responded differently to the manipulation of the variables. Results of the study suggest that modifying the variables investigated can improve the comprehension of people with moderate to severe Alzheimer’s Disease. This has important implications for the training of caregivers and conversational partners, and suggests that this type of indirect intervention may be an effective way for speech therapists to provide clinical services to people with dementia in South Africa.