The overarching purpose of this study was to explore and describe the factors contributing to the changing of study courses among student nurses at Welwitchia University in Namibia. A qualitative explorative, descriptive and contextual research design was conducted, using individual in-depth interviews to gather information from 55 students, registered at Welwitchia University from 2013 to 2015, who had changed their course of study before joining the university. A purposeful sampling (convenience) technique was used. Interviews were conducted from October to November 2015 until the data were saturated. The results of this study established that after completing Grade 12, students enrol for any courses with no clear sense of understanding of the choice they have made just to keep themselves busy. This is mostly done when they have been rejected for their initial choice of course (nursing course) at the universities to which they have applied. The study also revealed that some students enrol for courses that are chosen for them by their families, which results in students later changing courses to one of their preference that is nursing. Others changed courses to nursing because they found the first course too difficult. The recommendations based on the findings of this study include the consideration of a gap year to take up voluntary jobs at places like old age homes, orphanage homes to practice caring activities while waiting to be admitted for the nursing course, and introducing or strengthening of career guidance at all secondary schools and institutions of higher learning.
Tuberculosis is a preventable and curable disease. In spite of this, it is the main cause of human suffering and death through infection. A better understanding of TB patients' knowledge, beliefs and practices regarding tuberculosis is important for the improvement of public health education on tuberculosis. Therefore, a study was conducted to explore and describe the knowledge, beliefs and practices of patients diagnosed with TB, in order to provide helpful data for the improvement of public health education regarding tuberculosis. An explorative, descriptive, contextual, and qualitative study design was conducted, using individual in-depth interviews to gather data from 60 tuberculosis patients in Katutura of the Khomas region. A quota sampling technique by age was used to select the participants. Data analysis was done using Tesch's method for content analysis. The results showed a significantly poor depth of knowledge among patients diagnosed with tuberculosis about the disease itself. Patients possess erroneous beliefs about modes of transmission, and they practice unhealthy lifestyles while on treatment. Ineffective health education had contributed to the poor knowledge of patients. Recommendations based on this study's findings include: the revision of the current national guidelines for the management of tuberculosis, to include some important facts overlooked by the guidelines developers; the design of culturally-appropriate messages to be integrated with the existing beliefs and misconceptions and provided to the community in the form of leaflets.
Interactive video technology (IVT) remains one of the common modes of teaching utilised by various higher education institutions (HEIs) across the globe with an aim of catering to ever-increasing educational demands. The objectives of this study were to explore and describe the experiences of nursing students on the use of IVT as a mode of teaching General Nursing Science with a view to describing the aspects that affect their learning. The study was conducted at one of the satellite campuses of an HEI located in north-eastern Namibia. In this study, a qualitative, exploratory and descriptive design was used. A total of fifteen nursing students from the Faculty of Health Sciences in the School of Nursing, purposively selected from the population of fourth-year nursing students who were taught via IVT, participated in the study. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews and analysed by means of content analysis. Three main themes subsequently emerged: nursing students experienced the IVT as a beneficial mode of teaching; the use of IVT as a mode of teaching resulted in certain negative experiences for nursing students; and the presence of certain strategies that strengthen IVT as a teaching mode. The study identified both positive and negative student experiences resulting from the use IVT as a mode of teaching. It was therefore concluded that the School of Nursing should continue to use IVT as a mode of teaching, but should put certain interventions in place to strengthen it and to make the learning environment more favourable for students.
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Voluntary Counselling and Testing is one of the strategies to respond to the increasing number of Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) new infections. The purpose of this study was to assess the current status of HIV Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) in Rundu urban and identify the barriers to fully effective service.The objectives of the study was to identify the barriers that prevents effective HIV Voluntary Counselling and testing services; asses its success and determine its status in urban, Namibia. A qualitative explorative and descriptive design was employed in this study where all health care and HIV/AIDS professionals including hospital nurses, employees and New Start VCT Centres, and representatives from relevant NGOs, Community-Based Organizations (CBOs), and the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MoHSS)providing Voluntary Counselling services in Rundu urban in Namibia were interviewed. In this study, in depth individual interview structured in accordance with interview guide was used. Content analysis method was employed to analyze the data. Themes that emerged from this study includes: Fear of a positive results (stigma that accompanies seropositivity) and lacks of perceived benefit to getting tested. In addition, financial barriers affecting the poorest populations in Rundu. To increase access and relevance of VCT services, it is recommended that the Ministry of Health and Social Services should develop more detailed counselling guidelines and increase the scope of counselling by addressing the inadequacies of current risk reduction. Despite these hopeful possibilities a number of barriers remains before VCT can be fully effective.
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