The University of Zambia Journals
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Pathways to Alcohol Abuse by School Going Adolescents: A Case Study of Chibombo District of Zambia
No full textThis article explores adolescents' experiences of alcohol use and abuse in two boarding High Schools of Chibombo District of Zambia. A cross- sectional study design with an emphasis on qualitative approach was done on school pupils in Chibombo district. The study group comprised of 162 pupils both males and females aged between 16 and 20 years and two teachers in charge of school guidance and counseling. The present study employed three data collection strategies: Focus group discussions with 48 pupils, in-depth interviews with two teachers and a survey questionnaire with 92 pupils. The results revealed that factors that induce pupils to engage in alcohol abuse include easy access to cheap alcohol and peer pressure. It was further found out that personal factors such as negative emotional state, pupil's expectations about the function of alcohol are the main causes of alcohol abuse among pupils. In addition to punitive measure against pupils who abuse alcohol, assessment and psychotherapy or counseling of pupils who engage the abuse can go a long in addressing the problem
Accuracy and Completeness of Medication Histories in Patients in Medical Admission Ward at the University Teaching Hospital
Get PDFBackground
Quality documentation of medication histories at the time of hospitaladmission with regard to accuracy and completeness is notdocumented at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH), in Zambia. The aim of our study was to assess the accuracy and completeness of medication historiesobtained in patients upon hospital admission.
Materials & Methods
We conducted a prospective cross-sectional study atmedical admission ward, University Teaching Hospital, over a period of 3months. Our study enrolled 322 patients admitted to this ward who were above 18 years of age and were able to communicate verbally, ifnot, were accompanied by a caregiver. Clinical records of these patients were screened to review allmedications the patient was taking and patients/caregivers were interviewed to obtain acomplete medication history. All informationobtained from patients through interviews was compared withmedications recorded in the patient’s clinical records at the time ofadmission to the hospital. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences(SPSS) version 22 was used for all statistical calculations.
Results
Of 287 clinical records, 175 (61%) incidents of inaccurate medication historiesat the time of admission were identified and that medication histories in clinical records of patients were incomplete or poorly documented.
Conclusion
Our study shows that 61% of medication histories in patients at the time of admission to hospitals are inaccurate. Quality documentation of medication histories in clinical records at the time of hospital admission is poor
Kitwe Black Mountain - Is Zambia Realizing The True Value From It?
Get PDFNkana slag dump (The Black Mountain) in Kitwe, Zambia, has existed since 1931 when the copper smelter was commissioned. This 20 million tonnes of smelter slag contains about 0.34 per cent - 4.5 per cent cobalt and average 1.2 per cent copper. When Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Limited was privatised, the slag dump was purchased by Anglo Vaal Mining (90% shareholding) who built a smelter in Chambishi in 2000 to recover the cobalt and copper in the slag. The smelter operations closed in 2006 and the slag dump was later sold to Nkana Alloy and Smelting Company Limited. Various small scale illegal miners (locally called Jerabos) started illegally reclaiming the slag and selling to Chinese buyers operating small scale mineral processing plants. In the recent past, the government surrendered its 10 per cent shareholding of the slag dump to Chapamo Minerals Processing Company owned by the small scale local community (Jerabos).The substandard technologies being used by these small scale plants yield very low recoveries of about 50-60 per cent for both cobalt and copper, thus discarding huge quantities of valuable cobalt and copper which could be recovered if appropriate technologies were applied. This potential revenue to the nation in taxes is being lost. These small scale plants have not invested in appropriate advanced technology which can yield above 90 per cent recoveries because of their quest to make quick and easy money. The serious safety shortcomings at the slag dump have resulted in unnecessary loss of lives. The recent incident on 21June, 2018 claimed 11 lives. There is need to study the physical structure of the slag dump to provide clear understanding of the safety precautions to be taken while reclaiming the material.There is, therefore, an opportunity to increase recoveries of the cobalt and copper by applying appropriate advanced technologies to process the slag. This will result in improved revenue, thus realizing the true value
A Critical Review of Unwanted Pregnancy and Secondary School Female Students' Education in Ilorin, Nigeria
Get PDFUnwanted pregnancy is observed to be a factor for setback in education
and a socio-economic challenge, likewise a serious health problem among
senior secondary school female students in Ilorin, Nigeria. It seems that
many teenagers experience sex at experimental level and that shows that
students may have been exposed to contraceptives while they are at school.
And for many female students, sexual intercourse results in unwanted
pregnancies. In respect of this statement, this study critically reviewed
unwanted pregnancy and secondary school female students' education in
Ilorin, Nigeria. The design used in this research work is a descriptive survey.
The population of the study consists of all teachers and female students
in all the seventy-seven senior secondary schools in Ilorin, Nigeria,while
the target sample comprised teachers and female students from the twentyeight (28) selected senior secondary schools in Ilorin. Meanwhile, five (5)
teachers and fifteen (15) female students were randomly selected from each
of the twenty-eight (28) selected senior secondary schools in Ilorin which
totaled one hundred and forty (140) teachers and four hundred and twenty
(420) female students. Simple random sampling techniques was adopted
to make the sample.A questionnaire was used to collect data from the
respondents.The descriptive statistics of mean was used to answer the three
(3) research questions generated in the study. The findings revealed that
incorrect information obtained from peers/friends and media ranked 1st,
while low socio-economic status (e.g. poverty and unemployment), lack of
knowledge about sexuality, peer pressure (e.g. engaging in sexual activities
to be accepted, examples portrayed by the media (e.g. sexual conduct of
movies stars on TV) and risk-taking behaviour (e.g. drug use promotes
irresponsible sex activities) ranked 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5thand 6th respectively.
Based on the findings of this study, it is recommended that parents and
teachers should make home and school environments protective enough to
save the children from exposure to negative societal influences. Also, the
government should provide enabling environment for the students who are
victims of unwanted pregnancy to further their studies through distance
learning. Based on the findings and recommendations,it is suggested that
further studies be carried out in other parts of the country, especially in
the rural areas as the locale of this study was a city. If this is done, it will
confirm or refute the findings
Making Distance Education Inclusive to Students with Disabilities through ICTs in Higher Education Institutions in Zambia – A Concept Paper
Get PDFIn a world where the provision of education for persons with disabilities has been a long time battle and still is, worsened by natural circumstances such as the
Covid 19 pandemic requiring social distancing, a new thinking of broadening the education opportunities for students with disabilities through distance education emerges. This paper provides a reflection on the possibilities of utilising distance education to broaden the education opportunities for students with disabilities in teacher education institutions that offer distance education. With the help of literature review, the paper discusses the opportunities of using distance education as an avenue for delivering inclusive education to
students with disabilities and finally makes recommendations
The Significance of Religious Practices in Sport: The Case of Religion and Football in Zambia
Get PDFSporting is an important activity in the lives of many youths in Zambia. It
is common that people rarely think of religion when talking about sports.
Without contradiction, Zambia is also a Christian nation, with the majority
of the citizens practising Christianity. The religiosity of youths involved in
sports is visible off and on the field as some of them may be seen engaging
in religious acts or devotions. Worship, prayer, fellowship, ceremonies and
rituals are practised during sporting events; all are expressions of religion.
At the same time, some pundits may argue that sports and religion are
contradictory. Ordinarily, sports as fun, competitive, intense, and in some
instances violent in nature, cannot be thought to have anything close to
religion, which in contrast is often viewed as sombre, reverent, and sacred
in nature. This study, therefore, sought to take a paradigm shift from
studying sport as a discipline in its own right to relating it to religion. Using
phenomenology design, the study adopted qualitative methods to establish
the reasons for youth involvement in sport. It also analysed the views of
stakeholders, among them youths, on whether religion had any effect on the
performance and behaviour of participants, especially in Zambia a country
declared a Christian nation. Finally, the study sought to examine how sport
could be used as a mitigation measure to curb the vices, including religious
intolerance, faced by the youths in Zambia and other countries in Africa
and beyond
Effect of Physical Activity on Pain and Functional Abilities in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis at an Autoimmune Clinic in Accra, Ghana
Get PDFBackground: Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic systemic disease that affects the joints, connective tissues, tendons, and fibrous tissues. Despite early interventions, there is significant activity limitation due to moderate and high pain intensities in majority of affected individuals.
The study set out to determine the effect of physical activity on pain and functional ability among rheumatoid arthritis patients. Methods: A pre-test, post-test quasi experimental study conducted among 60 rheumatoid arthritis patients (divided into intervention and control groups) were recruited from the Autoimmune clinic of Korle Bu Teaching Hospital for this quasi- experimental study. The international physical activity questionnaire, multidimensional health assessment questionnaire and numerical pain rating scale were used to obtain data. Pedometers and a stationary cycle were used for physical activity (intervention). Paired t-test was used to compare outcomes between the level of physical activity in relation to pain and functional ability and outcomes between pre and post functional abilities at a 0.05 level of significance.
Results: Majority 24 (80.0%) of participants from the intervention group reported low, while 6 (20.0%) reported moderate physical activity levels. Thirteen (43.4%) and 10 (33.3%) participants from the intervention and control groups reported moderate pain on NPRS before intervention, which reduced to 7 (23.3%) in the intervention group, as compared to 9 (30%) in the control group. There was a significant difference (p0.05) for most domains of functional ability except health concern (p = 0.034) among the control group.
Conclusion: Patients with RA have a relatively low physical activity level but benefit significantly from a moderate intensity aerobic exercises such as cycling and walking by improving pain levels, functional ability and general health. Clinicians should promote and encourage patients with RA to engage in physical and recreational activities
COMPETENCIES REQUIRED OF BUSINESS EDUCATION GRADUATES’ JOB PERFORMANCE IN EDO AND DELTA STATES OF NIGERIA
Get PDFThis study investigated business educators’ perception of competencies required of Business Education graduates’ job performance in Edo and Delta States. Three research questions guided the study and one hypothesis. The study adopted the descriptive survey design. A population of 127 business educators participated in the study. Cronbach alpha technique was used to get the reliability coefficients of 0.84 for Colleges of Education and 0.95 for Universities Business educators with an overall coefficient of 0.89. The instrument was validated by three experts. Descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation was used to analyse the research questions, the null hypothesis was tested using t-test at 0.05 level of significance. The study revealed that business educators’ perception is that business education graduates’ require technical, problem solving competencies to a very high extent (VHE), and require pedagogical competency to a high extent (HE) for job performance and that business educators’ perception was not influenced by gender. As such, the null hypothesis was rejected. It was therefore recommended that generic competencies of interview selection and internet networking contained in this study be embedded in Business Education curriculum as they are very critical for job performance in today digitalized and competitive business economy
INFLUENCE OF MODERN TECHNOLOGY ON THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF BUSINESS EDUCATION COURSES IN UNIVERSITIES IN EDO AND DELTA STATES OF NIGERIA
Get PDFThe main purpose of this study was to determine the influence of modern technology on the teaching and learning of business education courses in universities in Edo and Delta states of Nigeria. Specifically, the study aimed to find out the influence of interactive television and multimedia projector on the teaching and learning of business education courses. The study utilized a survey research design. The population of the study comprised all final year students of Delta State University and Ambrose Alli University studying business education and their business educators in Edo and Delta states. The major findings of the study based on the two research questions and the null hypotheses were that: interactive television has high extent influence on the teaching and learning of business education courses; multimedia projector has high extent influence on the teaching and learning of business education courses; there is no significant difference in the mean rating between male and female business educators on the influence of modern technology on the teaching of business education courses; and there is no significant difference in the mean rating between male and female students on the influence of modern technology in the learning of business education courses. On the basis of these findings, the following recommendations were made: institutions should encourage training and retraining of business educators on the use of these modern technologies; non-government organizations should provide both hardware and software of modern technology for adequate utilization; and government at all levels should increase budgetary spending on education, especially on procurement of modern ICT related facilities