No abstract available. / Thesis (M.T.R.P.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2006.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between antenatal care (ANC) adequacy and preterm births. The researcher used the quantitative, descriptive, correlational, retrospective, case control design on a sample size of 40 cases and 80 controls. A checklist was used to collect data at one state hospital in Windhoek. When the Adequacy of Prenatal Care Use (APNCU) index was applied, premature birth was found to be less likely for women in the higher categories of care (OR 0.121; 95% CI 0.124–0.613) as compared to those in the lower categories. Similarly when the Content and Timing of care in Pregnancy (CTP) tool was used; women in the higher categories of care, were less likely (OR 0.114; 95% CI 0.012–1.056) to give birth prematurely as compared to those in the lower categories / Health Studies / M.A. (Health Studies)

The study was conducted to explore the relationship between active learning processes emerging from the use of O’Donoghue’s (2001) active learning framework and a series of education quality indicators proposed by Nikel and Lowe (2010). To achieve this aim a professional educational intervention was conducted encouraging the use of this active learning framework in the Namibian Environmental Studies Curriculum, in order to strengthen educational quality within the Environmental Studies Curriculum. The research was conducted in the Windhoek region at the school where I am currently teaching. Four teachers took part in this study, including myself in the role of a participantobserver. The active learning framework was used to guide us in the planning and presentations of environmental learning lessons. The study was conducted within the interpretive paradigm and was qualitative in nature as well as focusing on a quantitative aspect to analyse some of the data (learners’ written work). Qualitative data were generated through individual interviews, focus-group discussions, lesson observations and document analysis. The key findings of the study were that: a) prior to the intervention with the active learning framework the teachers who took part in the study did not ask learners to explore environmental issues in the environment or to respond to particular environmental issues; b) active learning processes have the potential to facilitate the exploration of environmental issues in the environment, and responses to particular environmental issues. Active learning also have the potential to strengthen all aspects of education quality indicated in Nikel and Lowe’s (2010) quality model, namely effectiveness, efficiency, equity, relevance, responsiveness, reflexivity and sustainability; c) the active learning framework encouraged teachers to use a variety of situated learning approaches, such as the collaborative method, the cooperative method, the problem-solving method and the enquiry method, in order to strengthen the educational quality in Environmental Studies classrooms; and d) teachers find the active learning framework useful as a tool for planning and presenting environmental learning lessons. The findings of the study have the potential to inform curriculum developers, materials developers and educators with an interest in improving education quality through environmental learning processes within the Environmental Studies Curriculum in Namibia. Furthermore, Nikel and Lowe’s education quality indicators provided an informative and comprehensive understanding of education quality and provided a useful tool in evaluating and reflecting on education quality as well as my own work as a teacher.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: There have been new infections of HIV despite campaigns aimed at arresting the further spread of the epidemic particularly the new infections. This study sought to investigate whether HIV positive individuals disclose their status to their sexual partners. The study looked at both longtime partners and casual partners. The overall aim was to find the factors that contribute to non-disclosure or to disclosure to sexual partners by HIV positive individuals. The specific objectives were to identify prevailing levels of HIV sero-status disclosure among people living with HIV who were attending the ARV clinic; to identify people living with HIV’s attitude towards HIV status disclosure; to establish factors contributing to disclosure or non-disclosure among people living with HIV; to establish if there is a difference between disclosure rates between ‘long time’ sex partners and casual/’once-off’ sex partners and to provide guidelines to counsellors on how to educate HIV positive people on disclosure. The objectives were achieved by using a quantitative research design through the use of questionnaires targeting 50 HIV positive individuals attending the ARV clinic at Katutura Hospital in Windhoek Namibia. The questionnaire was self-administered and consisted of close-ended questions and one open-ended question which helped collect the quantitative data. The quantitative data was then analyzed using statistical tools (graphs, tables and charts). Results showed that HIV positive individuals are aware of the importance of disclosure. The results showed that majority of the participants did not disclose for fear of abandonment. Some did not disclose because they thought that their partner was also already infected. As for casual sex partners, some did not disclose because they wanted ‘to infect someone since they were also infected by someone’. Some said that they were drunk and hence did not disclose. Participants disclosed because they wanted moral support, they did not want to infect their partners and that they wanted their partners to get tested as well. One of the recommendations was that there is a need to encourage couple counselling in cases of married couples or ‘live-in’ couples to reduce the need for disclosure. It was also recommended that HIV/AIDS health workers need special training to enhance their skills on how to educate HIV positive individuals about disclosure. The link between risky sexual behavior and alcohol abuse was highlighted and it was recommended that there is a need to educate people, particular teenagers, the link between the two. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doel van hierdie studie was die bepaling van die mate waartoe persone wat MIV-positief is en klinieke bywoon hulle MIV-status bekendmaak. Die studie is by die Katutura hospitaal in Windhoek, Namibië gedoen en 50 MIV-positiewe pasiënte is as steekproef gebruik. ‘n Vraelys wat die pasiënte self ingevul het is in die studie gebruik en data is op ‘n beskrywende wyse ontleed. Resultate het aangetoon dat MIV-positiewe pasiënte wel bewus is van die belangrikheid om hulle MIV-status bekend te maak. Laasgenoemde pasiënte doen dit egter nie, hoofsaaklik uit vrees vir stigma, diskriminasie en verwerping. Sommige pasiënte maak ook nie hulle status bekend nie omdat hulle bloot aanvaar dat die persoon met wie hulle saambly ook MIV-positief is en die bekendmaking van status dus onbelangrik is. Een van die belangrikste aanbevelings wat in die studie gemaak word is dat getroude paartjies aangemoedig moet word om MIV-voorligting by te woon, hulle te laat toets en hulle status bekend te maak. Dit word ook verder aanbeveel dat MIV/Vigs-gesondheidswerkers spesiale opleiding moet kry in hoe om persone wat MIV-positief is te oorreed om hulle MIV-status bekend te maak. Die studie sluit af deur te wys op die belangrike verwantskap tussen seksuele risikogedrag en die misbruik van alkohol. Daar word sterk gepleit dat die gemeenskap, en veral tienderjariges, bewus gemaak moet word van hierdie gevaar.

What are the school experiences of HIV-positive secondary school learners on ARV treatment? Although the provision of life-saving antiretroviral (ARV) treatment is central in the medical and policy response to the HIV pandemic, relatively little research (in the SADC region and in Namibia particularly) attends to people’s experiences and the social effects of taking ARV treatment. This study probed the experiences of high school learners on ARV treatment in Khomas Region, Namibia. As researcher I used a qualitative case study design based mainly on interviews with a purposive, select sample of eight learners at the school where I am a teacher-counsellor. Methods used also included: observations; focus group interviews with eight teachers at the site school; a questionnaire survey with Life Skills teachers from 25 schools in the Khomas Region; and document analysis. Using a theory of health-related stigma and discrimination as well as perspectives on resilience and agency as conceptual and analytical lenses, this study found that only a handful of these learners were living openly with HIV and AIDS. Being both HIV-positive and on ARV medication was a double bind for learners facing pervasive stigma and discrimination in and out of school. Discourses associated with HIV and AIDS, sex, and sexuality shaped people’s response to them and they feared being ‘caught out’. Here the study explores the complex reciprocal relationship between cause and effect in stigma, showing some consequences for these learners: isolation (both voluntary and imposed), mental anguish, depression and suicidal leanings; also (at school) absenteeism, grade repetition and dropout. Distinguishing stigma from discrimination in this study enabled insight into actual practices that constrain learner participation and inclusion in and out of school. Trust between learners on ARVs and teachers proved to be low. Teacher respondents not only felt unequipped to deal with the psychosocial needs of learners on ARVs but also indicated that confronting these needs animated their personal vulnerability (around HIV-related experiences in their own families). However, hopeful patterns also emerged. Some mediatory factors out of school shaped these learners’ experiences and identities positively, with implications for in-school experiences and participation. Some learner journeys reflected shifts from deep despair towards the emergence of voice, positive self-concepts and resilient dispositions. Here, also, this study enters a neglected area of research, showing how the complex interplay of learners’ own agency with social support brought these positive outcomes. Most learners had experienced rejection from immediate family, receiving support rather from community members who became ‘family’. The study thus also raises pressing questions on the nature of support structures (both in and out of school) in contexts shaped by HIV and AIDS, where stigma and discrimination are pervasive and where stable family structures, parental oversight and ‘normal’ progression through school cannot be assumed. It recommends that schools gain better insight into how learners’ circumstances shape their experiences, and develop internal policies, procedures and networks to reduce stigma and discrimination against HIV-positive learners on ARV treatment, as well as. ensuring material, medical, emotional, and psychological support for them.

Past research has shown that one of the most traumatic emotional experiences parents face is the diagnosis of having a child with barriers to learning. For various reasons they do not always receive the necessary follow-up professional support after diagnosis. This study was undertaken with the specific aims of identifying various coping skills that enable these parents to raise their children to their full potential, to determine the value of these coping skills for parents, to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in such households and to make recommendations on appropriate approaches and strategies. The study revealed that parents are able to make changes in their approach and behaviour to adapt to the new stressful environment. Restraining factors having a negative impact on the functioning of parents or families have been identified, together with identification of various opportunities and driving forces that serve as the foundation for mitigating, accepting and dealing with the problem. Based on these findings, recommendations are made to provide guidelines to advise and support parents in raising children with barriers to learning. / Educational Studies / M.Ed. (Guidance and Counselling)

Past research has shown that one of the most traumatic emotional experiences parents face is the diagnosis of having a child with barriers to learning. For various reasons they do not always receive the necessary follow-up professional support after diagnosis. This study was undertaken with the specific aims of identifying various coping skills that enable these parents to raise their children to their full potential, to determine the value of these coping skills for parents, to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in such households and to make recommendations on appropriate approaches and strategies. The study revealed that parents are able to make changes in their approach and behaviour to adapt to the new stressful environment. Restraining factors having a negative impact on the functioning of parents or families have been identified, together with identification of various opportunities and driving forces that serve as the foundation for mitigating, accepting and dealing with the problem. Based on these findings, recommendations are made to provide guidelines to advise and support parents in raising children with barriers to learning. / Educational Studies / M.Ed. (Guidance and Counselling)

Text in English / The study, which considers that the construction industry is a high risk one due to the physical work demand and nature of the working environment, was conducted to develop practical guidelines for workers and employers that promote occupational health and safety (OHS) in the construction industry in Namibia. The study, conducted at 13 study sites in Windhoek, Namibia, used a quantitative descriptive study method to gather data regarding the OHS status of the construction industry. Data was collected from the 13 study sites using a site interviewer-led questionnaire for 549 construction workers. In addition, both a site inspection checklist and document review checklist were used to collect the data from ten construction sites. A review of documents concerning occupational accidents, diseases and injuries encountered at construction sites that were held by the Ministry of Labour, Industrial relations and Employment creation for the five-year period from April 2011 to March 2016 was carried out. Data was analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software version 23. The study findings show that most of the workers at the study sites were young and male, with most participants lacking awareness of OHS issues, which may hinder accidents and injuries prevention. It also emerged that occupational hazards are prevalent at the study sites and yet there were poor mechanisms for hazard prevention or mitigation measures. The study notes that there was a high rate of occupational accidents and injuries, as well as a few incidences of health hazards, as indicated by few participants, although there was no documented occupational disease. It is also noted that most study sites do not comply with OHS legislations, such as having OHS policies that indicate the employer’s commitment towards OHS, which placed workers at risk of hazard exposure, occupational accidents, injuries and diseases. Practical guidelines to promote OHS in the construction industry of Windhoek, Namibia are developed as the primary output of this project. / Health Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (Health Studies)

Thesis (PhD) --Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The rapidly growing presence of old and new media in postcolonial Namibia, particularly from the decade after the turn of the Millennium, has significance for cultural and identity transformations in the country. Formerly entrenched social identities, shaped by restrictive colonialism and indigenous traditions, appear to be under pressure as shifts become apparent in the face of globalisation. This thesis examines the characteristics of change from the perspective of young adults’ mediated experiences in the city of Windhoek. The research constitutes a cultural study that addresses the current knowledge gap regarding how growing local and global media presences are increasingly situated in youth identity and cultural lifestyle spaces. Degrees of reflexive response to mediated information and entertainment are examined in an attempt to understand awareness of and reaction to local and global power narratives situated in actors’ relationships with media. It was found that participants responded positively to the novelty and opportunities that global media offered for identity and lifestyle negotiations, while also revealing ontological anxieties about erosion of ‘traditional’ culture, and concern about absence of recognition and representation of the ‘local’ in global media productions. This led to the research conceptually establishing three participant orientations to media: cultural expropriationist, cultural traditionalist and cultural representationalist. The study concluded that while media seemed to be instrumental in identity and cultural change, social tension over matters of culture appeared to be emerging. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die snelgroeiende teeenwoordigheid van ou en nuwe media in postkoloniale Namibië, veral sedert die dekade ná die millenniumwending, is beduidend vir kulturele en identiteitsverskuiwings in dié land. Voorheen verskanste sosiale identiteite, gevorm deur die beperkinge van kolonialisme en inheemse tradisies, skyn onder druk te wees soos verskuiwings duidelik begin te word in die lig van globalisering. Hierdie proefskrif ondersoek die eienskappe van hierdie veranderinge vanuit die perspektief van jong volwassenes se gemedieerde ondervindinge in die stad Windhoek. Hierdie navorsing behels ’n kulturele studie wat bydra tot die begrip van plaaslike en globale media-teenwoordigheid as toenemend gesitueer op die terrein van jeugidentiteit en kulturele lewenstyle. Daar word ondersoek ingestel na verskillende grade van refleksiewe reaksies op gemedieerde inligting en vermaak, in ’n poging om te verstaan hoe bewustheid van en reaksie op plaaslike en globale magsnarratiewe gesitueer is in rolspelers se verhoudings met media. Daar is bevind dat respondente positief gereageer het op die nuwighede en geleenthede wat globale media bied vir identiteits- en leefstylonderhandelinge, terwyl ontologiese onsekerhede oor die ondermyning van ‘tradisionele’ kultuur, en kommer oor die afwesigheid van erkenning en representasie van die ‘plaaslike’ in globale mediaproduksies, ook aan die lig gekom het. Hierdie bevinding het gelei daartoe dat die navorsing drie oriëntasies onder deelnemers vasgestel het: kultureel-onteienend, kultureel-tradisioneel, en kultureel-verteenwoordigend. Die studie het tot die gevolgtrekking gekom dat, terwyl die media instrumenteel in identiteits- en kultuurverandering blyk te wees, dit tegelykertyd sosiale spanning oor kulturele aangeleenthede aanwakker.

Thesis (MTech (Biomedical Sciences))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2015. / BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Group B Streptococci (GBS) can asymptomatically colonise the vagina and rectum of women. Studies have shown that this bacterium is the leading cause of septicemia, meningitis and pneumonia in neonates. In Namibia no known studies have investigated GBS colonisation and the antibiotic resistance profile of GBS isolates in pregnant women. This study accessed the GBS colonisation rate amongst the pregnant women who attended the Windhoek Central Hospital Antenatal Clinic (Khomas region), in Namibia for a period of 13 months. Furthermore, using the VITEK 2 system, the GBS isolates were tested against the following antimicrobial substances; benzylpenicillin, ampicillin, clindamycin, erythromycin, tetracycline, vancomycin, cefotaxime, ceftriaxone, linezolid and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole. Penicillin G is the drug of choice in the majority of studies, and seems to be the most effective drug for intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis (IAP). All the GBS isolates found in this study were also analysed for the presence of selected genes known to be associated with resistance to key antibiotics using specific primers within a polymerase chain reaction (PCR).