Students enter university with huge variances in terms of research and mathematical background, resulting in difficulty in levels at which a research and statistics module can be taught. This is further compounded by the fact that most students registering for the psychology course in research design and analysis (RDA) at the University of the Witwatersrand have little or no mathematical background and quite often experience a high level of anxiety in relation to statistics. It is within this context that the RDA tutorial programme was conceptualised and developed. Since its inception in 1994, the programme has been used effectively to support students on the RDA course. This short report presents the rationale and structure of the programme as well as data evaluating its effectiveness.Due to increasing student diversity, particularly among the first-year students at the University of the Witwatersrand, a tutorial programme was initiated in four departments in 1992, of which Psychology was one. The programme focused on the training of postgraduate students as tutors as well as the development of methods for tutorial development (Taylor, 1998). In the same year, a module in research design and analysis (RDA IIA) was introduced. It was becoming clear that students were not managing to come to terms with research design, statistics, and psychometrics when they were presented as smaller portions in the second-and third-year psychology programmes. The decision was therefore to introduce a separate compulsory module for all students wanting to major in Psychology at the University of the Witwatersrand. The pass rate for the 1992 class was 65 per cent.
Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has exposed physiotherapists to unique work-related challenges. However, there is a lack of research regarding the mental health and lived experiences of South African physiotherapists during the COVID-19 pandemic.Objectives: To determine levels of mental and physical health, burnout, depression, anxiety and resilience and coping strategies used by a sample of South African physiotherapists with and without exposure to patients with COVID-19. Lived work experience, perceived health and sources of support were also explored.Method: A non-experimental, cross-sectional, mixed-method design was used. Physiotherapists completed an online survey comprising: a demographic questionnaire; scales assessing mental and physical health, burnout, depression, anxiety and coping strategies and six open-ended questions. A total of 171 physiotherapists participated in our study, 43.3% of whom were exposed to patients with COVID-19.Results: The exposure group scored significantly higher on self-reported mental health, anxiety, depression and burnout than the non-exposure group. No significant differences were reported for physical health and resilience. Significantly more maladaptive coping strategies were employed by the exposure group. Participants’ lived experiences highlighted similar experiences, as well as work-related challenges. Both groups reported that primary sources of support were significant others, but highlighted the lack of organisational support.Conclusion: Irrespective of the degree of exposure to COVID-19, the mental health and lived experiences of physiotherapists working in South Africa has been negatively impacted by COVID-19.Clinical implications: Understanding physiotherapists’ well-being and lived experiences during the pandemic may guide workplace interventions. Our findings suggest the need for psycho-educational intervention programmes to be implemented at an organisational level.
It is becoming increasingly important that university students, especially those intending to study at postgraduate level, develop the ability to engage critically with the material presented to them and to translate that material into real-world contexts (Candy, 2000; Spronken-Smith, 2005). It has been argued that providing the elements for facilitating deep learning through collaborative and problem-based techniques, as well as aligning course outcomes, teaching processes, and assessment, ensures a synthesis between the course design and lecturers' expectations of students (Barraket, 2004; Biggs, 1996). This short report will briefly examine our attempt to enact deep learning, problem-based learning, and constructive alignment principles in the project and tutorial tasks of an advanced psychology research design undergraduate module (RDA IIB). Both the practical steps taken to implement these principles and their evaluation will be discussed, as well as implications for future practice.
This study examined relationships between the Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices, the Similarities subtest of the South African Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scales and an adaptation of the Stanford Diagnostic Reading Test Reading Comprehension subtest. Comparisons between these relationships were drawn on the basis of home language and gender in a sample of 100 university students. Results indicated significant relationships between the Advanced Matrices and both verbal tests, with no significant differences between the correlations on the basis of either gender or home language. This suggests that convergent validity is supported across these groups, and provides impetus for future research about the suitability of the Advanced Matrices for use within cross-cultural, multi-lingual contexts such as South Africa.
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