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Biomedical subjects

V J Ehlers

Publications and source records attributed to V J Ehlers.

17 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2002

Strategies for community participation in developing countries.

Community participation has been hailed as the panacea for most community programmes. Community participation at high levels empowers communities, increases self-reliance, self-awareness and confidence in self-examination of problems and seeking solutions for them. Behavioural changes are promoted and utilisation and support of services is facilitated, which are of great importance to all community health efforts, especially in areas where the incidence of HIV/AIDS is high or increasing. The purpose of this article is to explore community participation strategies adopted in different countries for providing community health care services. Recommendations are provided for enhancing community participation in developing countries.

Africa↗
PubMed2001

The well-being of gays, lesbians and bisexuals in Botswana.

AIMS: To investigate the level of well-being of gays, lesbians and bisexuals (GLBs) in Botswana, how this level of well-being could be promoted and whether their health care needs were met by health care professionals. RATIONALE: It is illegal to engage in same-sex activities in Botswana, punishable by imprisonment. Although Botswana's citizens have one of Africa's best health care systems, little is known about the health status, health care needs and general well-being of Botswana's GLBs. This survey attempted to uncover some of these potential health care needs, impacting on the GLBs' well-being. DESIGN/METHODS: The research framework adopted was the health and human rights approach, placing dignity before rights. A survey design, with structured questionnaires, was used. Snow-ball sampling techniques were used. RESULTS: Results indicated that varying degrees of distress were experienced by 64% of the GLBs in this study. The GLBs identified a need for human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) education and had concerns about their general health, discrimination against them and vulnerability to violence including sexual assaults. CONCLUSIONS: The well-being of the GLBs in Botswana was influenced by both positive internal acceptance of their sexual orientation and negative external acceptance by society. Health care professionals played insignificant roles in the promotion of GLBs' well-being, and could make greater inputs into health education efforts, and more significant contributions towards enhancing the GLBs' levels of well-being. Enhanced collaboration between health professionals and human rights activists are recommended to reduce violations of Botswana's GLBs' dignity and to improve their quality of life, including enhanced access to and utilization of health care services.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2001

Models of psychiatric nursing education in developing African countries: a comparative study of Botswana and Nigeria.

BACKGROUND: Against the perspectives of the mental health needs of the people of Africa, this study explored and compared the models of psychiatric-mental health nursing education (PMHNE) in two sub-Saharan African countries--Botswana and Nigeria. METHOD: Examination of the existing PMHNE programmes and responses to a self-reporting questionnaire administered to psychiatric nurse educators from Botswana and Nigeria provided the sources of data. FINDINGS: Findings from both countries revealed that participants used various terms to describe the same model for PMHNE programmes in the countries. Botswana adopted a more functional generalist basic diploma nursing education approach that encouraged an advanced postbasic diploma specialization and practice in community psychiatric-mental health nursing. Nigeria's model leaned towards a hospital-based basic specialization with no defined role for the generalist nurse within the psychiatric-mental health nursing care system. Although community theme occurred in both countries' curricula, PMHNE in Botswana appeared to be more geared towards the community than in Nigeria. While PMHNE and nursing education generally is affiliated to the University with a clear pathway within the formal higher education system in Botswana, basic and postbasic nursing programmes are mostly run independent of the country's formal higher education system in Nigeria. CONCLUSION: A model that streamlined PMHNE within the general system of education in both countries was proposed. It was stressed that one key concept that must underlie the development of PMHNE in the two countries, and Africa in general, was the need to create a psychiatric-mental health nursing education programme and role that would be appropriate for people's mental health needs and the provision of quality nursing care.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Student nurses' needs for developing basic study skills.

One of the key responsibilities of the nurse educator is to develop student nurses' abilities regarding self-directed study. Self-directed study requires inter alia, the ability to find information, synthesis and consequent application and integration of the information in practice. The development of the abovementioned skills does not only imply a multidimensional approach to the student in totality, but also requires the meticulous involvement of the student in her/his own learning. The latter also assumes that students possess certain essential skills relevant to learning and studying. From the literature it is evident that secondary schooling in general, does not prepare students adequately for tertiary education. This research intended to find answers to the questions whether student nurses require guidance regarding the development of specifically identified study skills, the guidance provided and whether the guidance provided was sufficient. A descriptive survey was done in order to address the above questions. The research instruments (questionnaires) were completed (during 1997) by nurse educators and student nurses in the Western Cape. On completion of the analysis and interpretation of the data, the researcher concluded that student nurses expressed a need for more guidance regarding the development of basic study skills ant that existing student support programs did not address all these needs adequately. Furthermore, it was concluded that the language medium of the prescribed study material had a profound effect on the learning and study processes of student nurses. Based on the conclusion, various recommendations were made concerning different facets of the teaching/learning event., in order to enhance students' learning and studying skills. Mastery of these skills can be regarded as being important prerequisites for effective, responsible, independent professional practice.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Novice nurse educators' lecture room instructional management competence.

The lecture room instructional management competence (LRIMC) of novice nurse educators (NNEs) in the Republic of South Africa (RSA) was investigated by means of a quantitative exploratory survey using questionnaires. The findings indicated that NNEs benefited from mentors' guidance, experienced reality shock on entering their first teaching situation, and lacked LRIMC--according to the perceptions of the NNEs themselves, their students and their mentors. NNEs could benefit from effective orientation programmes and from ongoing in-service education programmes as well as from the availability of mentors assigned to specific NNEs.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Nursing and politics: a South African perspective.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a general introduction to politics, and to describe some political changes which have affected the rendering of multidisciplinary health care services in the Republic of South Africa since 1994. Political issues which will be addressed include: changed provincial borders; opening up of the Republic of South Africa's international borders; increased emphasis on primary health care services; enhanced international involvement of the Republic of South Africa; changes in the statutory bodies governing the nursing profession; and changed legislation affecting health care workers. Political know-how is essential for professional survival. Unless nurses in the Republic of South Africa collaborate proactively as a united group representing the largest proportion of health care professionals in the country, the nursing profession and nursing education might become irrelevant to the political realities of the country and its people. Unless nurses can succeed in engaging in successful political debates and in negotiating their rights, they might become an increasingly voiceless, faceless and powerless female profession in the Republic of South Africa. However, politically knowledgeable nurses may help to ensure that the people will get the nurses and the nursing care they deserve, whilst the nurses will enjoy the benefits to which they are entitled, including market-related salaries.

Delivery of Health Care, Integrated↗
PubMed2000

Adolescent mothers' utilisation of reproductive health services in the Gauteng Province of the Republic of South Africa.

A financial grant was received from the World Health Organization (WHO) during 1998 to establish whether adolescent mothers (aged 19 or younger at the birth of their babies) utilized contraceptive, emergency contraceptive and termination of pregnancy (TOP) services in the Republic of South Africa (RSA). This report refers to data obtained from 111 questionnaires completed by dolescent mothers between January 2000 and May 2000 in the Gauteng Province; 61 in the Pretoria and 50 in the Garankuwa areas, and excluding the 12 completed questionnaires used for pretesting the research instrument. The biographic data of the 111 adolescent mothers indicated that the minority were married, employed or earned sufficient income to care for themselves and their babies. However, the minority used contraceptives prior to conception, none used emergency contraceptives or termination of pregnancy (TOP) services. The minority attended ante-natal clinics five or more times during their pregnancies, and a negligible number indicated that they had ever been treated for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). These findings indicate that the 111 adolescent mothers in Gauteng who participated in this survey did not make optimum use of the available reproductive health (RH) care services. Education about sex, pregnancy and contraceptives should commence at the age of 10, but no later than the age of 12 as the majority of respondents did not have the necessary knowledge to make informed decisions about their futures. The accessibility of contraceptive, emergency contraceptive and TOP services for adolescents should be investigated in specific areas and attempts made to enhance such accessibility. This might necessitate offering these services over weekends or during evenings when school girls could attend without fear of meeting their mothers, aunts or teachers at these clinics.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

The competencies of newly qualified nurses as viewed by senior professional nurses.

The information gathered from an in-depth literature study on the competencies of newly qualified nurses, was used to compile questionnaires for investigating newly qualified nurses' (NQNs') competencies as perceived by senior professional nurses (SPNs) in the former areas of Venda, Gazankulu and Lebowa (forming part of the Northern Province of the RSA since April 1994). The total number of 396 SPNs, employed by the health authorities in these three areas during 1994, comprised the population for this study. Questionnaires were distributed to the total 396 SPNs and responses were received from 259 SPNs (implying a response rate of 65.4%). Application of stages of the nursing process (problem solving and clinical judgment), research, management and administration of a clinical unit, nursing ethics and critical care were perceived by the SPNs to be the central focus of NQNs' incompetency in all four clinical nursing units, namely community, psychiatric, midwifery, and general units. The findings provide nurse educators and curriculum developers with realistic input about the SPNs' expectations from NQNs in the real working situation. This information could assist in the delineation and refinement of the professional competencies expected of nurses trained in the comprehensive (R425) course.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1996

A profile of students who followed a course in the didactics of psychiatric nursing at Unisa during 1994.

Students who followed the above course did so as part of the Nursing Education III course offered at UNISA. This research aims at establishing a profile of these students. Aspects covered include age, sex, marital status, professional and academic qualifications, professional posts held and current fields of occupation. Such knowledge will clarify who the psychiatric nurse educators of the future might be, and also what the target population for the above course could be. Students' personal perceptions of the above course are sought in the second part of the questionnaire. Such information should be valuable in improving future courses for educators of psychiatric nurses.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

A profile of non-practising registered nurses who attended a professional re-entry course in Pretoria & Johannesburg in 1992: their expectations and implications for employing bodies.

Twenty non-practising nurses who attended nurse re-entry courses in Pretoria and Johannesburg during 1992, agreed to complete questionnaires which were used to do this survey. Of the respondents 100% were female and 75% were married. The majority of these non-practising nurses had acquired at least six years professional experience before leaving the profession-mostly to be able to fulfil their family obligations. Surprisingly, 100% of the respondents considered re-entering the profession, even those who worked in fields outside nursing. As many as 90% of these non-practising nurses would re-enter the profession if they could find part-time positions enabling them to fulfil their family obligations as well. This implied that the majority would prefer from 08:00 till 13:00 on weekdays, but some would prefer to work night duty, during the afternoons or over weekends when their husbands could take care of their children. Eighteen factors were identified which could influence these non-practising nurses' decisions to re-enter the profession, but 85% indicated that the ability to work in the department of their choice would play a significant role in this regard. Of the respondents 80% regarded the re-entry course which they attended as being a successful update of nursing knowledge and skills. However, future re-entry courses could be more effective if the hospital's professional nurses were more knowledgeable about the educational needs of those candidates assigned to their units.

Adult↗