Medical records are being adjusted to match the practical way of understanding an illness as a disorder in the balanced state of the organism. This approach has also modified opinions regarding the form of medical documentation, the determination of necessary examinations and treatment. The progress in medicine along with the growing need for specific medical information made it necessary to look for new ways of making medical information available. One of these ways is to make the system of health care documentation electronic. The main tool of this system is an electronic health card. The objective of my work was to find out the following: the extent of utilization of electronic health cards; doctors´ opinions regarding the use of electronic medical documentation; the attitude of patients to medical documentation and the willingness of doctors to join the IZIP project of electronic health cards. Two hypotheses were checked for the purpose of the graduation work. Hypothesis no. 1 {--} Medical personnel expect that the project of electronic health cards will speed up the process of providing information about patients´ state of health. Hypothesis no. 2 {--} Health care facilities are willing to keep electronic documentation only if they receive compensation for increased administrative activities. To check the hypotheses, the author used the method of quantitative research. Data was collected by means of a questionnaire. The research was carried out between January and March 2009. The research was performed in health care facilities in South Bohemia represented by private doctors. 200 questionnaires were printed out. 152 of these could be fully used for the research. Hypothesis no. 1 was confirmed since 58% of the people who filled out the questionnaire agreed with the statement that the project of electronic health cards would accelerate the process of sharing information about patients´ state of health. Hypothesis no. 2 was not confirmed. There are two main problems preventing the use of IZIP; one of them is that patients are not interested and the other that doctors do not trust the system. That is why the necessary information is not always found in the IZIP since some health care facilities do not work with the system. Doctors would have to be forced or sufficiently motivated to transfer to the use of electronic medical documentation and they would have to change their negative attitude to modern technologies. This work could extend the information about medical documentation and electronic health cards among health care providers and the broader public and give feedback to people working in health care facilities.

Developed with the intention to make the patient data storage system in the clinical outpatient area more efficient, this system stores all pertinent and relevant patient data such as lab results, patient history and X-ray images. The system is accessible via the internet as well as operable over a local area network (LAN). The intended audience for this program is essentially the clinical staff (e.g., physicians, nursing staff, secretarial staff). The computer program was developed using Java Server Pages (JSP) and utilizes the Oracle 9i database.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Retrieving data from a patient in real-time is a challenging operation, especially when requiring information from the network to support the patient’s health. A real-time healthcare system process is conducted with a continual input, processing, and output of data. It needs to have the ability to provide different priorities to different applications, users, or data flows, or to guarantee a certain level of performance to a data flow. The current Internet does not allow applications to request any special treatment. Every packet, including delay-sensitive audio and video packets, is treated equally at the routers. This simplest type service of network is often referred to as best effort, a network service in which the network does not provide any guarantees that data is delivered or that a user is given a guaranteed QoS level or a certain priority. Providing guaranteed services requires routers to manage per-flow states and perform per-flow operations. Such network architecture requires each router to maintain and manage perflow state on the control path, and to perform per-flow classification, scheduling, and buffer management on the data path. This complicated and expensive network architecture is less scalable and robust than today’s modern stateless network architectures such as Random Early Dropping (RED) for congestion control, DiffServ for QoS, and the original IP network. This thesis introduces a new DiffServ-based scheme of IP bandwidth allocation during congestion, called Proportional Allocation of Bandwidth (PAB) which can be used in all networks. In PAB scheme, the bandwidth is allocated in proportion to Subscripted Information Rate (SIR) of the competing flows. PAB implementation uses multiple token buckets to label the packets at the edge of the network and multilevel threshold queue at the IP routers to discard packets during congestion.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / BACKGROUND: The pathophysiology of diabetes mellitus and the need for vigilant monitoring of serum glucose levels lends itself well to prompt medical intervention by healthcare providers that can significantly reduce morbidity and mortality and improve patient quality of life. The effect of intervention in diabetes can be assessed by following objective laboratory measurements such as hemoglobin A1C, which is abnormal with poorly controlled diabetes and returns to normal with proper management. There are mobile technologies now available that allow for self-monitoring and intervention in this patient population. Using a systematic approach this paper will assess the benefits of Short Message Services and mobile technology in managing patients with diabetes and improving adherence and other outcomes. OBJECTIVE: To assess the benefits and disadvantages the use of mobile technology could have in the management of diabetes. METHODOLOGY: A systematic review of articles on this topic was performed. A total of 759 articles were initially identified by searching various search engines, from which only 39 articles met all of the inclusion/exclusion criteria of this systematic review. FINDINGS: The initial review of literature indicated that the use of mobile technology in patients with diabetes resulted in improved disease outcomes as indicated by parameters such as a decrease in hemoglobin A1C, and an increase in sustainable blood glucose levels. CONCLUSION: Mobile technology is found to be a promising tool in the management of diabetes, but further research is needed because there is a lack of reliable studies, trials, and systematic reviews. Physicians and other healthcare professionals are rapidly adopting mobile technology for use in clinical practice because they understand the rising phenomenon of mobile technology.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:26:44Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2010-09-14Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:55:00Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 silva_jc_me_mar.pdf: 478207 bytes, checksum: e4df2a83f1e50aac162e977815658db0 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP) / A Ciência da Informação desenvolve metodologias para tratamento, acesso e transferência da informação e do conhecimento, tendo em vista as necessidades e demandas dos usuários e estabelece relações com a Terminologia, pois ao considerar a função de organização da informação e do conhecimento, ambas cumprem os papéis de recuperar e disseminar a informação e atender os usuários em suas necessidades informacionais. Ressalta-se ainda, que dentre as inúmeras possibilidades de estudos interdisciplinares no campo da Ciência da Informação, a informação em saúde é de grande importância. Pois embora a informação tenha um valor essencial na sociedade contemporânea, na área da saúde, a informação técnica-científica é vital. Neste trabalho a informação em saúde referese ao estudo da terminologia da área da saúde, destacando-se que os termos técnico-científicos desse campo do saber são utilizados principalmente para a comunicação de informações e transferência de conhecimentos entre os profissionais. Todavia, a variação na terminologia utilizada na área da saúde requer a harmonização dos termos técnico-científicos, visto que estes apresentam imprecisão e ambiguidade e podem dificultar a recuperação da informação pelos profissionais. Considerando-se ser necessário o emprego de uma terminologia mais harmoniosa para uma melhor comunicação entre os profissionais de saúde surgiu a proposta de se destacar a importância da Teoria Comunicativa da Terminologia através de uma análise da representação da informação em prontuários de pacientes de hospitais universitários, especificamente na especialidade Neurologia. Observou-se, na comparação feita entre os Hospitais Universitários, a saber, o Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina de Marília e o Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de... / Information Science develops methodologies for processing, accessing and transferring information and knowledge, in view of the needs and demands of users and establish relations with the Terminology, because when considering the function of organizing information and knowledge, both fulfill the role of retrieving and disseminating information and serve users in their informational needs. It is also noteworthy that, among the many possibilities of interdisciplinary studies in the field of Information Science, information in health care is of great importance. Although information has a core value in contemporary society, in health, scientific-technical information is vital. In this work, information in health care refers to the study of health care terminology, pointing out that the technical and scientific terms in this field are mainly used for reporting information and transferring of knowledge among professionals. However, the variation in the terminology of health care requires technical and scientific terms harmonized, since they show a lot of imprecision and ambiguity and can hinder the retrieval of information by health care professionals. Taking into consideration the need to use a more harmonious terminology, for better communication among health care professionals, emerged the proposal to highlight the importance of the Communicative Theory of Terminology through an analysis of the representation of information in medical records of patients from university hospitals, specifically in the Neurology field. It was observed in the comparison made among University Hospitals, namely, the Clinical Hospital at the Faculty of Medicine of Marília and the Clinical Hospital at the Faculty of Medicine of Ribeirao Preto, University of Sao Paulo that there are more similarities than differences at filling out patient records. As to the... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)

Orientador: João Batista Ernesto de Moraes / Banca: Mariângela Spotti Lopes Fujita / Banca: Maria de Fátima Gonçalves Moreira Tálamo / Resumo: A Ciência da Informação desenvolve metodologias para tratamento, acesso e transferência da informação e do conhecimento, tendo em vista as necessidades e demandas dos usuários e estabelece relações com a Terminologia, pois ao considerar a função de organização da informação e do conhecimento, ambas cumprem os papéis de recuperar e disseminar a informação e atender os usuários em suas necessidades informacionais. Ressalta-se ainda, que dentre as inúmeras possibilidades de estudos interdisciplinares no campo da Ciência da Informação, a informação em saúde é de grande importância. Pois embora a informação tenha um valor essencial na sociedade contemporânea, na área da saúde, a informação técnica-científica é vital. Neste trabalho a informação em saúde referese ao estudo da terminologia da área da saúde, destacando-se que os termos técnico-científicos desse campo do saber são utilizados principalmente para a comunicação de informações e transferência de conhecimentos entre os profissionais. Todavia, a variação na terminologia utilizada na área da saúde requer a harmonização dos termos técnico-científicos, visto que estes apresentam imprecisão e ambiguidade e podem dificultar a recuperação da informação pelos profissionais. Considerando-se ser necessário o emprego de uma terminologia mais harmoniosa para uma melhor comunicação entre os profissionais de saúde surgiu a proposta de se destacar a importância da Teoria Comunicativa da Terminologia através de uma análise da representação da informação em prontuários de pacientes de hospitais universitários, especificamente na especialidade Neurologia. Observou-se, na comparação feita entre os Hospitais Universitários, a saber, o Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina de Marília e o Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Information Science develops methodologies for processing, accessing and transferring information and knowledge, in view of the needs and demands of users and establish relations with the Terminology, because when considering the function of organizing information and knowledge, both fulfill the role of retrieving and disseminating information and serve users in their informational needs. It is also noteworthy that, among the many possibilities of interdisciplinary studies in the field of Information Science, information in health care is of great importance. Although information has a core value in contemporary society, in health, scientific-technical information is vital. In this work, information in health care refers to the study of health care terminology, pointing out that the technical and scientific terms in this field are mainly used for reporting information and transferring of knowledge among professionals. However, the variation in the terminology of health care requires technical and scientific terms harmonized, since they show a lot of imprecision and ambiguity and can hinder the retrieval of information by health care professionals. Taking into consideration the need to use a more harmonious terminology, for better communication among health care professionals, emerged the proposal to highlight the importance of the Communicative Theory of Terminology through an analysis of the representation of information in medical records of patients from university hospitals, specifically in the Neurology field. It was observed in the comparison made among University Hospitals, namely, the Clinical Hospital at the Faculty of Medicine of Marília and the Clinical Hospital at the Faculty of Medicine of Ribeirao Preto, University of Sao Paulo that there are more similarities than differences at filling out patient records. As to the... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Master of Technology (MTech) in Information Technology In the Faculty of Informatics and Design, at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT), 2013 / Healthcare services are vital to all human beings, as our daily lives depend on them. In South Africa approximately eighty per cent of the population uses the public healthcare services. In the current healthcare systems data corruption exists which threatens data quality in the systems. The aim of this study was to understand the existing information handling processes and factors that affect the accuracy and integrity of healthcare data. A qualitative research methodology, under the interpretive paradigm was used for this investigation. Activity theory is used to formulate an analytical framework, the “healthcare information system data quality activity theory framework”. This was very helpful for understanding the healthcare information handling process as an activity system that consists of actors with individual goals. Though the goals are varied, they are joined together by the common objective. The logic of the framework is that a realisation of goals in the activity system depends on a number of factors. At the beginning, there must be a synchronous inter-linkage between the goals of the actors, the mediating factors such as adequate tools, user skills, enabling policies, and the systematic procedures that are diligently enforced. It is assumed that any situation which prevents this inter-linkage will have a negative impact on the realisation of the sought objective. The framework therefore, was very helpful in informing questions, the data collection and ultimately, the analysis processes. The public healthcare sector is the main source of data; other sources were literature, the Internet and books. The analysis of data was done using content analysis to find what themes emerge and the relationship (s) between them in what is being analysed. The findings reveal a lack of adherence to information handling procedures and processes which lead to corrupt data in the systems. In addition, most users have limited skills, which is a hindrance to them in performing their duties as expected by the healthcare sector. In fact, the healthcare sector is also challenged by systems which are constantly slow or down, due to limited network capacity and human errors. The presence of these challenges suggests non-adherence to data handling procedures, which explains the existing corrupt data in the healthcare systems. Therefore the recommendation is that the public healthcare administration must enhance their training programs. The training must be re-designed to cater for the needs of all users, regardless of their background. It needs to improve user skills and boast their confidence in using electronic systems. Obviously, any changes and improvements need to be sustainable, and the sector is unlikely to succeed without enforcement of new procedures. Therefore, adherence to data handling procedures must be strictly enforced, with policies thoroughly communicated to the users. That way, the sector will not only have systems and related policies, but also ensure their full exploitation for improved service delivery in the public healthcare sector in South Africa.

Abstract The subject of the present study is the changes to the operation processes of organisations in the field of health care that are based on the application of information and communication technology (ICT). The purpose of this dissertation is to supplement the present discussion in information system study’ research forums with regard to the role of ICT as an enabler of change in the health care work processes. The starting point for the study was to inquire about the qualitative and, to some extent, financial impact of operational changes by means of a socio-technical-economic process study. Using qualitative as well as statistical indicators, changes were mainly investigated from the perspective of health care professionals, but in part from that of customers. The cases described were used as a basis for discovering a new operational model for performing organisational tasks. By comparing the cases, the intention was to synthesise those similarities and differences that can be used when constructing a new framework. The present study makes a contribution by broadening, deepening and synthesising the understanding of health care processes in the process of a reflective description of individual cases. Services are produced through interactions between the service production process and end user process, and in this, the end user plays an important role. The purpose of process descriptions and analyses in coordination with health service professionals is to proactively develop services and support rational decision-making. The models and methods created as a result of this process can be seen to have a potential financial impact by lowering health service costs as well as an enhancing the effect of on-the-job satisfaction among health care professionals as they are enabled to plan their own work processes. Due to the rapid changes in the infrastructure, societal structures and the age of the population in Finland, the future holds great challenges for decision-makers in the field of health care. From the perspective of securing the resources for adequate, balanced and high-quality health services, investments in information technology seem lucrative. However, in order to avoid a productivity paradox, it must be noted that, in addition to new information technology, a gradual change in working habits, attitudes and sometimes even organisational culture is needed. In addition, it must be remembered that new technology does not erase these aspects of health care work – unless we want it to do so – but rather provides new forms and tools. / Tiivistelmä Tutkimukseni aiheena oli tieto- ja viestintätekniikan (ICT) soveltamiseen perustuvat organisaatioiden toimintaprosessien uudistukset terveydenhuollossa. Väitöskirjassani halusin osaltani täydentää keskustelua, jota tietojärjestelmätieteiden tutkimusfoorumeilla on käyty ICT:n roolista terveydenhuollon työprosessien muutosten mahdollistajana. Tutkimukseni lähtökohtana oli sosioteknisen prosessitutkimuksen keinoin selvittää toimintauudistusten laadullista ja osin taloudellistakin vaikuttavuutta. Muutoksia arvioitiin pääasiassa henkilöstön, mutta myös osin asiakkaiden lähtökohdista, lähinnä laadullisten, mutta myös tilastollisten mittareiden avulla. Kuvaamieni tapausten lähtökohtana on ollut löytää uusi toimintamalli organisaation tehtävien suorittamiseksi. Vertaamalla tutkittavia tapauksia keskenään olen pyrkinyt syntetisoimaan ne yhteneväisyydet ja eroavaisuudet, joiden avulla on mahdollista rakentaa uusi viitekehys. Tutkimukseni kontribuoi sen ymmärryksen kautta, joka tapauskohtaisesti, reflektiivisesti muutoksia kuvaillen, tutkimuksen kuluessa avautuu, syventyy ja syntetisoituu. Palvelut tuotetaan palveluntuotantoprosessin ja käyttäjän prosessin vuorovaikutuksessa, ja siinä käyttäjän roolilla on merkittävä osuus. Prosessien kuvaamisella ja analysoinnilla yhdessä henkilökunnan kanssa on ollut tarkoituksena pyrkiä palveluiden proaktiiviseen kehittämiseen ja rationaalisten päätösten tukemiseen. Syntyneillä malleilla ja menetelmillä voidaankin katsoa olevan paitsi potentiaalinen taloudellinen merkitys terveydenhuollon palveluiden kustannusten alentamiseksi, myös vaikutusta henkilöstön työtyytyväisyyteen sen osallistuessaan oman työnsä suunniteluun. Infrastruktuurin, yhteiskuntarakenteiden samoin kuin väestömme ikärakenteen nopea muutos ja samalla kroonisten sairauksien lisääntyminen asettavat terveydenhuollon päättäjille tulevaisuudessa suuria haasteita. Riittävän, tasapuolisen ja laadukkaan hoidon resurssien turvaamiseksi investoinnit tietotekniikkaan kuulostavat houkuttelevilta. Jotta tuottavuusparadoksilta vältyttäisiin, on kuitenkin huomioitava, että uuden tietotekniikan lisäksi tarvitaan myös työtapojen, asenteiden, joskus jopa organisaatiokulttuurinkin asteittaista muutosta. On myös syytä muistaa, että uusi tekniikka antaessaan edellä mainituille ilmiöille uusia ilmenemismuotoja ja välineitä, ei kuitenkaan hävitä niitä, ellemme itse sitä halua.

I vården är det idag många anställda som kräver åtkomst till patientjournaler. Detta medför att informationen måste vara lättåtkomlig när behoven uppstår. Att skydda patienters integritet är samtidigt mycket viktigt och att inte riskera att några uppgifter läcker ut. Ett problem är att vårdpersonal kan läsa patientjournaler utan att ha behörighet för detta.Studien belyser ett dilemma mellan vårdpersonals etiska inställning till informationssystem i förhållande till hur systemen skyddas. Ena sidan av dilemmat fokuserar på hur benägen vårdpersonal i Sverige är till att medvetet otillåtet läsa elektroniska patientjournaler och på detta sätt agera oetiskt. Den andra sidan riktas till hur informationssystemen inom svensk vård hittar en balans mellan att vara lättillgängliga för användare och samtidigt tillräckligt skyddade mot interna intrång. Frågeställningen som studien behandlar är att identifiera vilka faktorer som ligger till grund för vårdanställdas etiska inställning till olovlig läsning i förhållande till hur systemen skyddas mot dessa intrång.Det är en kvalitativ studie som utförts eftersom fokus har varit att tolka resultatet och identifiera betydande faktorer. För att få en bra grund gjordes en förstudie i form av intervjuer. Detta för att samla information och bredda kunskaper gällande vårdsystem. Det har tagits hänsyn till lagar och regler samt riktlinjer och rutiner för vården inom Västra Götalands län i Sverige, som även är studiens avgränsning. För att få information om hur de vårdanställda ställer sig till interna intrång i vården skickades det ut enkäter. Eftersom ämnet som studien avser kan uppfattas som känsligt har författarna varit tydliga med valfriheten att delta. Detta med tanke på att det gäller brott på arbetsplatsen.Studien resulterar i att även om majoriteten av respondenterna håller sig inom ramarna för vårdens regler, gällande att läsa patientjournaler, visar ändå respondenterna tendenser till att delvis frångå reglerna. Utifrån genomförd studie är det få fall som uppdagas och för att detta ska minska, anser författarna, att loggranskning av vårdanställda borde öka och ske av opartisk granskare. Detta för att skydda patienterna och nå högre säkerhet. Studien riktar sig till vårdpersonal och dess chefer för att upplysa om beteendet och dess risker för patienters integritet och allmänhetens bristande förtroende. / There are many health professionals that require access to health records in today’s health care. This means that information must be easily accessible when needed. Meanwhile the patient´s integrity is a very important issue so no personal sensible information leaks. One problem is that health professionals can read journal of patients in health care information systems without permission.The study researches the tension between two aspects, how health professionals act in health care information systems compared to how the system is secure. One aspect is how nursing staff in Sweden is prone to read journals of patients consciously, thus acting unethical. The other aspect is how the information system within Swedish health care can find the balance between easily user accesses and adequately protected against internal intrusions. The research question is to identify underlying factors how health professionals ethical approach is to illicit reading of electronical health records, in relation to how the systems are protected against these internal intrusions.The conduct of study is through a flexible method approach because the focus is to looking for context and interprets the result. In order to get a good foundation made a pilot study by several interviews. The aim of the pilot study was to expand knowledge regarding health information systems. Laws and regulations, policies and procedures in health care information systems has been considered, focused in Västra Götaland County in Sweden. To find out the nursing staff attitudes to internal intrusion were questionnaires sent out. As the subject of the study can be perceived as sensitive, the authors have made clear to the respondents that it was completely anonymous, considering the case of illegal behavior in the workplace.The finding of the study shows even though the majority of the survey´s respondents remain within the regulations of health care relating to read electronical health records, some of the respondents still shows tendencies to partly abandon them. The authors considered to prevent these tendencies that controls of log history in health care systems should increase and be made by independent auditors. This also for the aim to protect patients and reach more security. The study aims to health professionals and their managers to provide information on the behavior and its risk for patient’s integrity and the public lack of confidence.

This study set out to explore and describe adolescent learners’ experiences of HIV/AIDS programmes presented at their schools. The rationale was that an understanding of how learners experience HIV/AIDS programmes might afford insight into the ways in which adolescents manage HIV/AIDS-related issues every day. Subsequent understanding could perhaps contribute to the body of knowledge on HIV/AIDS education, and possibly inform future HIV/AIDS education curriculum development. The conceptual framework constituted the impact of HIV/AIDS on society, education and adolescents; theories on experiences and adolescent development; relevant Department of Education policies and curriculum plans; as well as national and international research concerning HIV/AIDS education programmes. A qualitative research approach was followed from an interpretivist epistemology, with sensitivity given to criteria of credibility, transferability and dependability. An instrumental case study was conducted at three secondary schools (cases), using focus groups and written essays as the methods for data collection from 90 diverse participants, Grade 11 learners. Responses were audio-taped, transcribed and analysed from a constructivist grounded theory perspective. Results were interpreted by means of literature control. Six prominent themes emerged. Learners experienced that they were changed positively by knowledge on HIV/AIDS. In this regard they were more open and motivated to communicate, their views and perceptions altered and they were motivated to behave responsibly. However, learners also experienced HIV/AIDS knowledge negatively. They felt bombarded with HIV/AIDS information and they experienced some HIV/AIDS information as upsetting. Learners’ experiences still reflected some stereotyping and persisting misconceptions. Learners associated poverty and lack of education with higher HIV infection rates, as well as a lack of support from parents and/or family. Learners’ experiences reflected that they would appreciate their parents’ participation in HIV/AIDS programmes. Learners voiced a need for improved communication with their parents regarding HIV/AIDS, and experienced their parents as ignorant, shy, stubborn or scared in this regard. Learners’ accounts reflected that parents’ initial negativity towards the programme later changed into positive support. The learners also had positive and negative experiences regarding their friends and the HIV/AIDS programmes. They expressed that their peer-relationships improved in terms of ability to communicate and render support. In addition they expressed that their friends still had a great influence in their lives. Some issues, such as risk behaviour and the HIV-status of their peers, shocked learners. The learners indicated that they thought HIV/AIDS education was necessary, but recommended certain amendments for future HIV/AIDS programmes. Their experiences suggested smaller gender-specific groups; an outsider-presenter; parent/caregiver involvement; variety in programme format; long-term HIV/AIDS education; HIV/AIDS care, support and treatment information in addition to that of prevention; addressing values and life skills content in HIV/AIDS education; as well as fear-provoking real-life contexts. Several recommendations were made in terms of HIV/AIDS education and programme development. Integration between HIV/AIDS education, life skills education and values education in the formal curriculum is supported by findings and recommended for curriculum development and educational practice. Correspondingly, it is recommended that multiple views on poverty be incorporated into HIV/AIDS education to address persisting stereotypes and misconceptions. Furthermore, cognisance of learners’ suggestions in terms of format and content regarding future HIV/AIDS programme development is recommended. Findings queried existing premises regarding adolescents and (ir-)responsibility in developmental theory, establishing a foundation for further research. Existing silences in the data relating to gender, orphans, violence, non-governmental organisations, condom-use in the context of HIV/AIDS also requires further research. Establishing that the use of open-ended methods with adolescents resulted in access to rich and descriptive data signified a methodological contribution. Theoretically this study contributes to the existing body of knowledge related to HIV/AIDS education by giving voice to adolescent learners’ experiences of HIV/AIDS programmes. Contributions in the realm of HIV/AIDS educational practice and curriculum development include learners’ views of what they found beneficial and lacking in existing programmes, as well as their recommendations regarding format and content for future HIV/AIDS programmes directed at adolescents. / Thesis (PhD (Educational Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Educational Psychology / unrestricted