Over the years, physical activity and exercise have been used to positively impact the health and quality of life of persons infected with HIV and, more recently, has been associated with a spectrum of body composition changes. The aim of this review was to examine the effects of various exercise interventions on body composition in HIV positive adults, using a search strategy of randomized, controlled trials (RCTs). A systematic review was performed by five independent reviewers using a predetermined protocol adapted from previous research for assessing the articles for inclusion, the extracted data, and methodological quality. Eight RCTs involving 430 (26% female) HIV positive adults performing exercise a minimum of thrice weekly for at least six weeks were finally selected: Four were progressive resistance training (PRT) studies, three were aerobic training (AT) studies, and one involved yoga. In the PRT studies, there were significant increases in three anthropometric measures, namely, body mass, sum of skinfolds and sum of limb girths. In the AT studies, significant decreases were found in seven anthropometric measures, namely, body mass index, waist-hip ratio, body mass, triceps skinfold, waist circumference and sum of skinfolds. With yoga, the changes were non-significant. Exercise contributes to improved body composition and, when applied safely, appears to be beneficial for adults living with HIV/AIDS. However, these findings should be interpreted cautiously due to the relatively few RCTs published to date. Future studies would benefit from increased attention to sample size, female participants, participant follow-up, complete statistical analysis and intention-to-treat analysis.
ResearchThe World Health Organization [1] advocates the promotion of social accountability in professional education, with close collaboration with communities. This advocacy for social accountability is important and needs fostering during student training. In health professions education, social accountability means that students must have the ability to adjust to the needs of patients and communities. One of the vehicles identified to achieve this is the ability to address the needs of patients and communities in an interprofessional manner; this requires the training of health professional students in an interprofessional manner to gain skills in aspects such as collaborative practice. Health science faculties implement various interventions to facilitate the development of interprofessional core competencies, which include the identification of roles and responsibilities, patient-centred care, professional ethics and interprofessional communication.[2] One key competency and domain of interprofessional education (IPE) and practice is collaborative practice. Interventions used to promote collaborative education and practice include the integration of strategies into existing curricula [3] and the placement of interprofessional students at the same clinical sites. [4] The literature mentions a number of positive outcomes with regard to facilitation and/or implementation of IPE strategies. It has been suggested that interprofessional learning facilitates the ability to work together as qualified professionals, while positively affecting service delivery to communities.[5] The value of providing students with interprofessional clinical practice experience is also highlighted, as it enhances respect for other professionals and provides insight into the value of interprofessional care for effective healthcare delivery.[6] The concept of appreciating and valuing the role of other professions has also been expressed by doctors. [7] Primary care settings have been identified as providing opportunities for learning in an interprofessional manner. [4] It is, therefore, clear that IPE and collaborative practice interventions could facilitate the development of competencies of students, which they could apply as graduates to enhance the health of the population. The application of interprofessional activities in community settings thus may assist in improving the patient experience by providing holistic care and assisting in improving the health of the community. The objective of this article is to present the findings of a study that explored the experiences of health science students who engaged collaboratively when addressing the needs of communities. Methods Research settingThe Faculty of Community and Health Sciences at the University of the Western Cape (UWC), South Africa, comprises nine entities, including departments and schools. Undergraduate students from the Faculty rotate through a number of community-based settings as part of their clinical practice modules. One such setting is a rehabilitation project bas...
Background: Health risk behaviours can impair an individual's physical and/or mental health. University administrators experience a sedentary lifestyle such as smoking, drinking, unhealthy eating habits, and work-related stress. Objective: This study assessed the health risk behaviours of administrators at an institution of higher education in the Western Cape, South Africa. Methods: A quantitative, cross-sectional study was conducted among 67 participants using an online questionnaire, focusing on demographics, work-related stress and environment, lifestyle-related behavior, and physical activity levels. SPSS, version 26 (2020), was used to compute the data. Results: The results of this study report significant mean value for administrative staff. Participants reported that they preferred physical activity as a coping mechanism. Administrators admitted to being stressed in their work situation for two weeks or more consecutively and to feeling overwhelmed by the workload. They reported working standard office hours from 08:30 to 16:30. On most days of the week, administrators reported they ate breakfast with at least one drink of alcohol and tried smoking. They spend hours playing video or computer games, sitting at a desk, and have poor sleep quality. Conclusion: Health risk behaviors such as smoking, excessive drinking, and having a sedentary lifestyle can harm job productivity.
adequate, the quiz was stimulating and team members felt that the newsletter brought a sense of comradery, despite social distancing.Constructive feedback was given for future newsletters regarding its format to make it easier to read on mobile devices and suggestions were made of including notification of team-members' birthdays and junior staff to be involved in the newsletter's production, thus resulting in an even more inclusive construction of the newsletter.In the current COVID-19 pandemic, many areas of the department have changed including teaching; however, departmental learning and sense of team involvement has not diminished but is rather thriving with the addition of the weekly paediatric emergency department newsletter.
Introduction: This study aimed to determine the prevalence of selected risk factors for cardiometabolic disease among university staff at the University in the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa. The secondary objective was to examine the association between the indicators of obesity and CMD risk factors. Methods: A total of 73 (men = 20 (27.4%); women = 53 (72.6%)) healthy university staff members, which include academics, administrators, and support staff, with a mean age of 39.2 years partook in the study. Anthropometric and physiological variables were assessed and analysed. Results: The categorisation of body mass index showed that 35% and 45.3% of men and women were obese, respectively. The prevalence of central obesity and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) showed that 25% of men and 60.4% of women were at a high risk of developing a CMD, while 25% and 71.7% of men and women were at high risk for waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), respectively. The prevalence of hypertension revealed that 35% and 20.8%, 5% and 17%, and 15% and 9.4% of men and women had elevated hypertension (stage I) and hypertension (stage II) status, respectively. Furthermore, 25% and 35.8%, and 5% and 11.3% of men and women were pre-diabetic and diabetic, respectively, while for total cholesterol levels, 40% and 34%, and 15% and 15.1% of men and women were at borderline high and high risk, respectively. Conclusion: There was a high prevalence of selected cardiometabolic disease risk factors among university staff that requires urgent intervention. Lifestyle modification, weight management, and wellness programmes focusing on health education, regular physical activity participation, and a healthy diet should be prioritized.
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