Nurses play key roles in educating patients about ART adherence and side effects, but they should also educate patients about CD4 and viral-load test results and about the dangers of using traditional medicines and alcohol with ART. Shorter waiting times at clinics could make ART patients' lives more manageable.

IntroductionSupporting individuals as they disclose their HIV serostatus may lead to a variety of individual and public health benefits. However, many women living with HIV are hesitant to disclose their HIV status due to fear of negative outcomes such as violence, abandonment, relationship dissolution and stigma.MethodsWe conducted a systematic review of studies evaluating interventions to facilitate safer disclosure of HIV status for women living with HIV who experience or fear violence. Articles, conference abstracts and programme reports were included if they reported post-intervention evaluation results and were published before 1 April 2015. Searching was conducted through electronic databases for peer-reviewed articles and conference abstracts, reviewing websites of relevant organizations for grey literature, hand searching reference lists of included studies and contacting experts. Systematic methods were used for screening and data abstraction, which was conducted in duplicate. Study quality (rigor) was assessed with the Cochrane risk of bias tool.ResultsTwo interventions met the inclusion criteria: the Safe Homes and Respect for Everyone cluster-randomized trial of combination HIV and intimate partner violence (IPV) services in Rakai, Uganda, and the South Africa HIV/AIDS Antenatal Post-Test Support study individual randomized trial of an enhanced counselling intervention for pregnant women undergoing HIV testing and counselling. Both programmes integrated screening for IPV into HIV testing services and trained counsellors to facilitate discussions about disclosure based on a woman's risk of violence. However, both were implemented as part of multiple-component interventions, making it impossible to isolate the impact of the safer disclosure components.ConclusionsThe existing evidence base for interventions to facilitate safe HIV serostatus disclosure for women who experience or fear violence is limited. Development and implementation of new approaches and rigorous evaluation of safe disclosure outcomes is needed to guide programme planners and policy makers.

South Africa is experiencing a serious shortage of nurses, which has to be addressed to prevent crises in health care services. Previous studies (Fletcher 2001:324; Oosthuizen 2005:117) found that nurses change their work environment due to dissatisfaction with their job situations. This implies that creating a favourable environment in the workplace situation could help retain professional nurses in their posts, implying that retention strategies should be effective.An exploratory, descriptive, contextual and qualitative design was used to describe nurse managers’views on factors which could influence professional nurse retention, as well as their views regarding attributes that were required to enable them to contribute towards enhancing professional nurse retention. A purposive sample of nurse managers employed in public and private hospitals in the Gauteng province was selected. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 nurse managers.The results were analysed qualitatively and contextualised within Vogt, Cox, Velthouse and Thames’s Cork-Top (Bottleneck) Theory of Nurse Retention (1983) and Lewin’s Force-Field Analysis Theory (1952).Factors pertaining to individual nurses, the organisation and nurse managers could influence the retention of professional nurses. Poor working conditions, long and inconvenient working hours,uncompetitive salaries and professional development of nurses have to be addressed to enhance professional nurses’ retention. Unsafe working environments and a lack of resources threaten the safety and well-being of nurses and patients and contribute to high turnover rates. Nurse managers have to address shortcomings in their managerial and leadership skills and implement changes within a multigenerational nursing workforce and challenging working environments.OpsommingSuid-Afrika ervaar ’n ernstige tekort aan verpleegkundiges wat aangespreek moet word ten einde krisisse in gesondheidsorgdienste te voorkom. Vorige studies (Fletcher 2001:324; Oosthuizen 2005:117) het bevind dat verpleegkundiges hulle werksomgewing verander as gevolg van ontevredenheid met hulle werksituasies. Dit impliseer dat die daarstelling van ’n gunstige omgewing in die werkpleksituasie, kan help om professionele verpleegkundiges in hulle poste te behou, wat beteken dat retensiestrategieë doeltreffend moet wees.’n Verkennende, beskrywende, kontekstuele, kwalitatiewe ontwerp was gebruik om verpleegbestuurders se sienings te bekom, oor faktore wat professionele verpleegkundiges se retensie kan beïnvloed, asook hulle sienings omtrent vereiste hoedanighede wat hulle in staat sou stel om professionele verpleegkundiges se retensie te bevorder. ’n Doelgerigte steekproef van verpleegbestuurders in openbare en private hospitale in die Gauteng provinsie is gekies. Semigestruktureerde onderhoude is met 21 verpleegbestuurders gevoer. Die resultate is kwalitatief ontleed en gekontekstualiseer volgens Vogt, Cox, Velthouse en Thames se Kurkprop Bottelnek(Cork-Top Bottleneck) Teorie van Verpleegretensie (1983) en Lewin se Kragveld Analise Teorie(1952).Faktore met betrekking tot individuele verpleegkundiges, die organisasie en verpleegbestuurders kan die retensie van professionele verpleegkundiges beïnvloed. Swak werksomstandighede,lang en ongerieflike werksure, nie-mededingende salarisse en professionele ontwikkeling van verpleegkundiges moet aangespreek word om professionele verpleegkundiges se retensie te bevorder. Onveilige werksomgewings en ’n gebrek aan hulpbronne bedreig die veiligheid en die welsyn van verpleegkundiges en pasiënte en dra by tot hoë omsetsyfers. Verpleegbestuurders moet die tekortkominge in hulle bestuurs- en leierskapsvaardighede aanspreek en veranderinge implementeer binne ’n multigenerasie verpleegwerkkrag en uitdagende werksomgewings.

The significantly low levels of registered nurses’ CPR skills in Botswana should be addressed by instituting country-wide CPR training and regular refresher courses

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The quantitative descriptive survey used self-completion questionnaires to study factors influencing nurses’ job satisfaction in selected private hospitals in England. Herzberg’s Theory of Motivation was used to contextualise the results obtained from 85 completed questionnaires.

Our study attempted to identify personal (patient-related) factors influencing antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. A quantitative, descriptive design was used. Structured interviews were conducted with 355 HIV-infected patients on ART. The findings revealed that stigma, discrimination, depression, and alcohol use negatively affected patients' ART adherence levels. However, patients' knowledge levels had no influence on their ART adherence levels, contrary to other researchers' reports. Addressing stigma and discrimination at community levels might enhance patients' abilities to take their medications in the presence of others. Health care professionals should be educated to diagnose and treat depression in patients during the early stages of ART administration. Patients who are nonadherent to ART should be counseled about potential alcohol abuse. Stigma-related challenges also need to be addressed.

The Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act (no 92 of 1996) was implemented during 1997. This study attempted to investigate professional nurses’ attitudes towards rendering termination of pregnancy (TOP) services at a tertiary hospital in the North West Province of South Africa. A quantitative descriptive research design was used to study professional nurses’ attitudes towards providing TOP services. The research results, obtained from questionnaires completed by professional nurses, indicated that most professional nurses’ attitudes included that women should be at least 16 years of age to access these services; women should not be able to access repeated TOPs; nurses would prefer to administer pills rather than to use vacuum aspirations; nurses should work in TOP services by choice only. TOP centers should have better equipment, more resources and more staff members. Nurses working in TOP services would appreciate receiving more support from their families, friends, managers and communities. Some professional nurses experienced guilt, depression, anxiety and religious conflicts as a result of providing TOP services. Despite the legalisation of TOPs, these services remained stigmatised. Professional nurses did not want to work in these services and also did not want to be associated with them.