Background: Solid waste management is both an urban and rural problem because every person is considered a producer of wastes. It has been noted to be a global universal issue, which affects every individual, families, communities and governments and thus, needs to be addressed through sustainable strategies. This study aimed at characterizing solid wastes; assessing the levels of awareness of vendors on the sustainable solid waste management measures; and identifying techniques used to handle solid waste generated at the Majengo market in Dodoma City, Tanzania. Methods: The study adopted an exploratory descriptive case study, with a mixed research approaches with a minimum sample of 196 conviniently selected respondents. Semi-structured questionnaires developed by the researcher were the main data collection tools to characterize solid wastes, measure levels of awareness about sustainable solid waste management approaches (SWM) and identify solid waste handling techniques among vendors at the market. Quantitative and Qualitative data were analyzed by using the Statistical Product for Social Sciences version 23 and thematic analysis respectively. Results: Findings showed that 55% of vendors were males. Majority of the sampled vendors (56%) were not aware of SWM. On the other hand, crops/food and animal product remains were reported to be the most generated solid wastes (94.4%) with the rate of > 2 tons/day equivalent to 72.4% of the overall solid waste generation at the market. SWM services were reported to be provided by City council (85.7%) with the main equipment/tool used to store solid wastes (SW) being containers without lids (88.3%). The dumpsite was the main site for SW disposal (80.1%). Nevertheless, 92.9% of the sampled vendors reported that SWM strategies were there at the market though not adhered to accordingly. Conclusion: Vendors were not aware of sustainable solid waste management measures existing at the market. However, vendors' education levels and the duration of doing business at the market were related to their levels of awareness on SWM (p < 0.05). The SWM measures were found to exist at the market, however, they were not sustainable because it was reported that they were ineffectively and inefficiently used to control SW generation, collection, storage, and disposal. There is a need of regular awareness-raising activities about sustainable SWM measures among vendors. Moreover, city council and market authorities need to have sustainable and scheduled implementation, supervision, monitoring and evaluation of SWM measures to maintain the management of solid wastes at Majengo market premises.

Aim Currently, there has been a progressive shortage of not only the number of frontline healthcare providers but also a decline in the quality of nursing care. There is a growing concern to rethink the approaches on how nurses are prepared, explore and test novel approaches for delivering the nursing curricula. This study tested the effect of the problem‐based facilitatory teaching approach on metacognition among nursing students in Tanzania, higher learning institutions. Design A controlled pre‐/post‐test quasi‐experimental study design with a quantitative research approach was employed in this study. Methods The study was conducted between February–June 2019 including two purposively selected higher learning institutions in the Dodoma region, the central zone of Tanzania. The 401 randomly selected undergraduate nursing students (interventional = 134 and control = 267) were involved. The auditing inventory developed by the researcher measured the intervention, and the questionnaire titled Metacognition Strategies in Nursing was adopted to measure the metacognition, respectively. Statistical analysis was performed using the Statistical Package for the Social Solution (SPSS) software program version 23. Results Findings indicated that 65.8% of the study participants were males. The post‐test findings revealed a significant gain in metacognition scores among participants in an intervention group between (M = 23.27; SD = 1.716) at baseline and (M = 66.31; SD = 6.204) post‐intervention. 63.4% of the total sample in an intervention group demonstrated a high level of knowledge about the regulation of cognition compared to their counterpart control group. However, 69.1% ( N = 85) participants in the control group performed better for the knowledge about cognition. With the control of other factors, the intervention was found to be more times likely to influence metacognition among nurse students (AOR = 1.603, p < 0.05, 95% CI: 1.023, 2.513) . In conclusion, the intervention had the potential to positively effect the levels of metacognition among nurse students. Hence, it was closely linked to professional competency and it would change the spectrum of nursing competency and quality of care among nurse students.

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Background Self-directed learning is important in nursing as it is associated with improved clinical and moral competencies in providing quality and cost-effective care among people. However, unethical professional conduct demonstrated by some graduate nurses is linked with the way they are developed in schools alongside the content and pedagogies prescribed in nursing curricula. Pedagogical transformations appear to be inevitable to develop enthusiastic nursing students who can work independently in delivering quality and cost-effective nursing services to people. This study intended to examine the impact of facilitation in a problem-based pedagogy on self-directed learning readiness among undergraduate nursing students in Tanzania. Methods A controlled quasi-experimental design was conducted in Tanzanian higher training institutions from January to April 2019. A 40-item Self-directed learning Readiness scale for nursing education adopted from previous studies measured self-directed learning and the Student A descriptive analysis via a Statistical Package for Social Sciences software program (version 23) was performed to establish nursing students’ socio-demographic characteristics profiles. Independent samples t-test determined mean scores difference of self-directed learning readiness among nursing students between groups while regression analysis was performed to discriminate the effect of an intervention controlled with other co-related factors. Results The post-test results of self-directed learning readiness showed that nursing students scored significantly higher [(M = 33.01 ± 13.17; t (399) = 2.335; 95%CI: 0.486,5.668)] in the intervention group than their counterparts in the control. Findings of SDL readiness subscales were significantly higher among students in the intervention including self-management [(M = 10.11 ± 4.09; t (399) = 1.354; 95%CI: 0.173,4.026)], interest learning [(M = 9.21 ± 2.39; t (399) = 1.189; 95%CI: 0.166,4.323)] and self-control [(M = 13.63 ± 5.05; t (399) = 2.335; 95%CI: 0.486,5.668)]. The probability of nursing students to demonstrate self-directed learning readiness was 1.291 more times higher when exposed to the intervention (AOR = 1.291, p < 0.05, 95%CI: 0.767, 2.173) than in the control. Conclusion Facilitation in a problem-based pedagogy promises to change the spectrum of nursing learning habits potentially to their academic and professional achievements. Nurse tutors need to be empowered with it to prepare nursing students to meet their academic and professional potentials.

Background Unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) inclusive, have remained to be a significant public health challenges among young people, especially across middle and low-income countries. Self-efficacy on the right ways of using condoms appears to be effective against the aforementioned health-related problems. However, most women of reproductive age tend not to use them when they are using highly effective contraceptives such as implants, and/or injectable hormones. It is unknown whether the uptake of female condoms among young girls is significantly high or not. Examining female students’ perceived motivators, knowledge, attitudes, and self-reported and intentional female condom practice in training institutions seems to be a key precursor in addressing the challenge. Methods The institutional-based analytical cross-sectional survey in a quantitative research approach was adopted to study 384 randomly selected female students from higher training institutions, in Tanzania. Interviewer-administered structured questionnaires from previous studies were the main data collection tools. Data analysis was done using a statistical package for social science (SPSS) with the strength of statistical limits set at a 95% confidence interval and a 5% significance level. Results The response rate of the study was 100% with 24 ± 2.122 years respondents’ mean age while and 32.7% of them were in the third year of their studies. Only 6.2% of the respondents reported having used female condoms while 26.3% of them have not ever seen packages of female condoms. The minority of the respondents (21.7%, 23.3%, and 9.4%) demonstrated good knowledge, positive attitude, and intention to use female condoms respectively. Their age, accommodation, marital status, peer groups, previous training, knowledge, and attitude related significantly to their intentional practices of female condom use (p < 0.05). Conclusion Given the existing governmental and non-governmental efforts that advocate awareness creation and the uptake of various contraceptives, this study has found that knowledge, attitude, self-reported and intentional practices of female students admitted in higher training institutions within Dodoma region, Tanzania is low. Institutionalized educational programs on sexual and reproductive health matters may need to be prioritized to increase the availability, accessibility, and uptake of female condoms among female students in higher training institutions.