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Men’s perceptions on factors contributing to the emergence of intimate partner femicide (IPF) in Limpopo Province, South Africa
No full textGenerally, men are associated with characteristics of masculinity such as showing leadership, being tough, hiding emotions, being virile, and likely being perpetrator of violence. In contrast, women are associated with femininity characteristics such as following orders, being sensitive, showing emotions, being fertile, and likely being victims of violence. Given these characteristics, women are mostly killed; mostly by men they are in a relationship with. The researcher is proposing to look into what men perceive as contributing factors to the emergence of Intimate Partner Femicide; focusing in Limpopo Province, South Africa. The phenomena of femicide and Gender-Based violence have recently turned to be a huge priority in the Republic of South Africa; particularly to Social Workers. While Limpopo Province may not be in the top 3 provinces on femicide cases, the recent resurgence in this rural dominant province triggered the researcher’s attention.
The goal of this qualitative study was therefore to develop an in-depth understanding of factors that contribute to the emergence of Intimate Partner Femicide in Limpopo Province. Semi-structured face-to-face interviews were conducted to explore and describe men’s perceptions on contributory factors to the emergence of femicide. Men aged 18 to 59 permanently living in Limpopo province were targeted to be participants for this study. Understanding of how men perceive intimate partner femicide was considered by the researcher to be of great help to Social Workers, and other related professionals in better preventing this conundrum through relevant legislative framework, policies and programmes from rising. Social workers should put more effort into creating programmes to control men's emotions, with emotional intelligence serving as the primary focus.M.A. (Social Work)Social Wor
Healthy lifestyle-behaviour of hypertensive patients at Primary Health Care (PHC) facilities of Greater Giyani Subdistrict, Mopani District, Limpopo Province
No full textBACKGROUND: Hypertension is a global health burden affecting developed and developing countries, including South Africa. Moreover, the high prevalence of hypertension worldwide contributes to the present and anticipated pandemic of CVD, which is of particular concern in developing countries.
PURPOSE: The purpose of the study was to determine healthy lifestyle-behavior of hypertensive patients at Primary Health Care facilities in Greater Giyani Subdistrict, Mopani District, Limpopo Province.
METHODOLOGY: Descriptive cross-sectional study was used with quantitative method. A total of 413 patients who were diagnosed of hypertension were randomly selected from the ten clinics of Greater Giyani Subdistrict in Limpopo Province. Data was collected using questionnaires and analysed using SPSS.
RESULTS: The overall participant rate in this study was satisfactory with 413 respondents being part of the study. Female respondents were at 77.88%, while male
respondents were at 22.14%. Most of the respondents in this study were Tsonga speaking people at 78.38%, followed by Sepedi speaking people at 9.58% and at 7.37% were Venda speaking people. The findings of this study revealed that most of the respondents (91.39%) did not smoke cigarettes. Only 16.2% of the respondents reported that they engaged in vigorous-intensity activities. Regarding physical activities, 33.69%
were overweight, followed by healthy weight at 32.35%, then 24.87% were obese and 9.09% were underweight. The findings also revealed that 52.65% of the respondents reported using bicycle or walking as part of exercising. It was revealed that 92.5% of the respondents eat breakfast every day, with 59% eating breakfast 4-7 times in a week, 31.8% eating breakfast 1-3 times a week, 9.2% never eat breakfast, and 69% of the respondents reported skipping meals. The patterns of these activities were discussed in relation to their implications to a healthy lifestyle among the hypertension patients.
CONCLUSION: Based on the findings of the study, the researcher has concluded that majority of respondents having hypertension did not consume alcohol and use tobacco.M.P.H.Health Studie
Traditional medicinal plants used by hypertensive patients in Belize: a qualitative evaluation of beliefs and practices
No full textAbstract
Background
Belize is rich in rainforest and vast medicinal plants that have the potential for drug discoveries. Few studies have examined the use of medicinal plants in the management of chronic diseases in Belize. The present study appraised indigenous Belizeans' opinions, beliefs, and practices of medicinal plants used for hypertension management. Twenty-four hypertensive patients were interviewed using a semi-structured interview guide from January to May 2019. Interview results were transcribed using Microsoft Excel and loaded into qualitative data analysis (QDA) Miner Lite version 2.0.6 online software for coding. The integrated themes and sub-themes generated were presented in narrative passages and used to summarize study findings on medicinal plants used in the management of hypertension in Belize.
Results
Fifteen medicinal plants belonging to 15 plant families were reported by the participants as medicinal plants used to manage hypertension. The plants include Annona muricata, Artocarpus altilis, Cecropia peltata, Ananas comosus, Cymbopogon andropogoneae, Uncaria tomentosa, Allium sativum, Bixa orellana, Moringa oleifera, Momordica charantia, and Cassia grandis. Leaves were the most commonly used plant part; decoction was the most common method of preparation, while ½ to 1 glass was the daily recommended dose. Mild side effects were reported, while antioxidant activity was the perceived efficacy.
Conclusion
Hypertensive patients in Belize opined that medicinal plants and herbs were efficacious in lowering blood pressure, as evidenced by home monitoring and regular checkups at the hospital. They also reported minimal side effects in the use of the medicinal plants. There is a need for a comprehensive evaluation of Belize’s medicinal plants to unravel their potential for drug discovery
Knowledge management for effective and ethical management of public schools
No full textIn this article, we consider the instituting of effective and ethical knowledge management in the arena of public schooling, with reference to a multiple case study involving three schools in Emalahleni Circuit 1,2 and 3 in South Africa. Teachers, HoDs, administrative clerks, and principals (20 participants altogether) were interviewed in depth
concerning their understandings of knowledge management. We explicate Nonaka and colleagues’ model of knowledge management, which they developed to apply to business and public organizations and which is considered seminal in the literature on knowledge management. It is tied to (Japanese) principles of ba – where people recognize their
occupation of a shared space with others. We relate this model to a discussion on the applicability of the African concept of Ubuntu to the knowledge management practices in the selected public schools. We use these cases to consider Ubuntu-directed knowledge management as a process of developing sharedness of purpose among the stakeholders
within the schools (internal stakeholders) and outside thereof (in the wider community and society). We indicate to what extent and in what ways the participants experienced knowledge management in this wayAdult Basic Education (ABET
Facets of Information Governance system at the South Africa Council for Social Service Professions
Get PDFIn many organisations, information governance (IG) is implemented in fragmented silos
and does not add value. After realising this, South African Council for Social Service
Professions (SACSSP), embarked on digital transformation process to modernise the
organisation by implementing an information governance system. The SACSSP was
experiencing challenges due to the lack of a cogent information technology (IT) system
design and the disparaged registration, finance and external verification systems inherited
that are not compatible with new system innovations to ensure effective and efficient
operations. This study utilised the Control Objective for Information and Related
Technology (COBIT) to develop an information governance system at SACSSP, with a
view for entrenching a culture of good corporate governance.
This critical emancipatory study used qualitative data collected through interviews, focus
groups, observation, system and document analysis in response to research questions.
The study was a participatory action research project that involved collaboration between
the researcher and study participants in defining and solving the problem through needs
assessment exercise. In order to address bias, the research findings were reviewed by
peers to identify things that might have been missed or gaps that were not addressed. All
three phases of participatory action research were followed, namely the ‘look phase’:
getting to know stakeholders so that the problem is defined on their terms and the problem
definition is reflective of the community context; the ‘think phase’: interpretation and
analysis of what was learned in the ‘look phase’; and the ‘act phase’: planning,
implementing, and evaluating, based on information collected and interpreted in the first
two phases. Data was analysed thematically with the use of Atlas Ti 9 and presented in
text, figures, pictures and diagrams. The key findings report on the processes taken by
the SACSSP in identifying and implementing the IG system implementation, that is records management, information technology, content management, data governance,
information security, data privacy, risk management, litigation readiness, regulatory
compliance, long-term digital preservation, and even business intelligence.
The results of the analysis suggest that integrated online system implementation,
including system architecture can be used to address issues associated with information
integrity in the present and near term, with proper IG policy and information &
communication technology (ICT) infrastructure in place. It does not, however, guarantee
reliability of information in the first place, and would have several limitations as a long term solution for maintaining digital records.
The study established that there were no underlying technologies for the implementation
of innovation technologies such as, artificial intelligence (AI). Core services of the
organisation for social service professionals is dealing with registration related services
such: as requirements for registrations; Foreign applications; Registrations fees;
Restoration, Banking details. However, the SACSSP was on the right track towards digital
transformation of the organisation.
The study suggests a framework for information governance to assist professional
organisations and board members to adopt a tailored governance system that would be
designed according to their needs. It can be concluded that a successful IG system can
be attained through adoption of principles and related accountabilities with a clear
strategic direction that is supported by organisational business units. The study
recommends that organisations need to make an emphasis of a holistic approach to IG
in order to empower a board to coordinate and integrate decision making across the
organisation.D. Litt. et Phil. (Information Science)Information Scienc
Affordances for the guitar : chordal structures for performance in the worship music of Chris Tomlin
Get PDFJust as a door handle invites a user to either push it or pull it, certain aspects of guitar chords invite the player to move from one chord more easily to one or another chord. This user-friendly aspect of certain guitar chord structures highlights the presence of affordances embedded in the structure that offer an easy path to executing a different chord. The theory of affordances stems from early work in cognitive studies and ecological psychology by James Gibson and is demonstrated by Don Norman’s architectural design work in door handle structures. Norman’s position is that as a person approaches a closed door, the design of the handle should suggest whether the individual should push the door handle or pull it to open the door.
More recently, cognitive scientists have considered the quality of embeddedness of certain affordances, much like the jigsaw puzzle piece that shows the puzzle worker where it belongs by certain traits that it carries. Similarly, affordances embedded in the chord structures of Chris Tomlin point the guitarist to an easy path for quick chord changes, allowing the beginning guitar student to learn quickly and the guitar-player-worship-leader to offload attention from the hand and chord shifts, freeing up attention for other worship-leading details.
The application of embedded affordances is useful in design principles like Thaniya Keereepart’s graphic user interfaces for handheld internet devices. Music composition
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practices such as Herbert Clarke’s trumpet compositions also rely on embedded idiomatics, and Joel Krueger, Marc Duby, and Rob Withagen are just three of many who have considered the sonic affordances inherent in certain types of music, leading to specific action possibilities. This research specifically studies the chord structures found in the music of CCM artist Chris Tomlin in relation to the science surrounding cognition, ecological psychology, and embedded affordances. The primary idea driving this research is that there are specific guitar chord fingering patterns and structures that allow for easy transitions from one chord to another more so than other patterns and structures, and those chords are represented in Tomlin’s music.Ph. D. (Musicology)Art and Musi
Enhancing ICT for female economic participation in SuB-Saharan Africa
Get PDFThis study investigates how enhancing information and communication technology (ICT) affects female economic participation in sub-Saharan African nations. Three female economic participation indicators are used, namely female labor force participation, female unemployment and female employment rates. The engaged ICT variables are: fixed broadband subscriptions, mobile phone penetration and internet penetration. The Generalized Method of Moments is used for the empirical analysis. The following main findings are established: First, there is a (i) negative net effect in the relevance of fixed broadband subscriptions in female labour force participation and female unemployment and; (ii) positive net effects from the importance of fixed broadband subscriptions on the female employment rate. Secondly, an extended analysis is used to establish thresholds at which the undesirable net negative effect on female labour force participation can be avoided. From the corresponding findings, a fixed broadband subscription rate of 9.187 per 100 people is necessary to completely dampen the established net negative effect. Hence, the established threshold is the critical mass necessary for the enhancement of fixed broadband subscriptions to induce an overall positive net effect on the female labour force participation rate.Colleges of Economic and Management Science
Exploring human settlements development in Africa: situating local economic development at the centre of sustainable human settlements
No full textPublic Administration and Managemen
Reflections upon our way of invoking an indigenous paradigm to co-explore community mobilisation against irresponsible practices of foreign-owned companies in Nwoya District, Uganda
No full textIn this article we discuss how we invoked an Indigenous paradigm to explore with certain communities in Uganda their mobilisation against irresponsible practices of foreign-owned companies in Nwoya District. We offer detail on how we activated focus groups in line with an Indigenised conception hereof and we show we engaged with the participants as co-researchers. We also point to the importance for these participants of advancing social and ecological justice in relational terms.This article offers our reflections upon how we invoked an Indigenous paradigm in undertaking/facilitating qualitative research in a setting in Northern Uganda (2020/2021). The research was aimed at co-exploring with participants how they mobilized as a community against social and environmental injustices attendant with the entry of certain foreign enterprises into their community. We set up four focus group sessions in three villages to generate discussion in regard to how they had built up a community protest (with some success) against the operations of two enterprises who had been operational in the community. In our article we do not concentrate so much on the content of the focus group sessions (or the ensuing dissemination/discussion workshop), but rather, on how we enacted our understanding of an Indigenous paradigm in this research initiative. In this way we share possibilities for activating an Indigenous paradigm in the doing of research. We do this in order to help strengthen and further credentialize this paradigm in academic paradigmatic discourses and help secure its respected place on the paradigmatic “dance floor” (to use a metaphor offered by Chilisa, 2020).Adult Basic Education (ABET
An exploration into the current records management practices of the Road Accident Fund in South Africa
No full textAbstracts in English, Afrikaans and Northern SothoRecords management best practice is essential in government bodies to facilitate accountability and to promote transparency. Records are indispensable for these organisations to conduct their official business effectively, as mandated by government, and to provide evidence of business transactions. However, research has shown that these organisations manage their records poorly. Very little attention is paid to the management of paper-based records – due to the popular belief of technology resolving all record-keeping problems. However, most technological solutions are not designed to manage records according to the standards of the National Archives and Records Service of South Africa (NARSSA). Additionally the required, substantial customisation to the unique requirements per organisation is not done. In this way, records management becomes an expensive exercise that often results in significant service delivery problems. The purpose of this research is to establish whether the Road Accident Fund (RAF) complies with the conditions involved in the Records Management Policy Manual of the National Archives and Records Service of South Africa (2007) and ISO 15489-1:2016 (International Organization for Standardization 2016) for managing paper-based records and to determine the organisation’s readiness for managing electronic records. The exploration follows a qualitative research approach and a case study design. Data is collected by means of document analysis, supplemented by interviews and observation. The findings reveal that the records management practices of the RAF are below par and do not fully comply with the records management legislative requirements of NARSSA and ISO 15489-1:2016. In order for the RAF to improve its records management practices, the study recommends the development and implementation of a records management programme to facilitate the implementation of the NARSSA Records Management Policy (National Archives and Records Service of South Africa 2007) and the development of standard processes and procedures.Rekordbestuur beste praktyk is noodsaaklik in regeringsliggamme om aanspreeklikheid te fasiliteer en deursitigheid te bevorder. Rekords is onontbeerlik in hierdie organisasies vir die effektiewe volvoering van amptelike besigheid, soos deur die regering opdrag gegee en as bewys van die saketrasaksies wat plaasgevind het. Rekords word egter swak bestuur in hierdie instellings. Min aandag word gegee aan die bestuur van papiergebaseerde rekords as gevolg van die algemene aanname dat die gebruik van tegnologie alle rekordbestuur-probleme sal oplos. Die meeste tegnologie oplossings is egter nie ontwerp om rekords te bestuur volgens die standaarde wat deur die Nasionale Argiewe en Rekorddiens van Suid-Afrika (NARSSA) onderskryf word, sonder om aansienlike aanpassings te ondergaan wat dit in lyn sal bring met die unieke vereistes van organisasies nie. Hierdie aanpassings is duur en lei dikwels tot groter diensleweringsprobleme. Die doel van hierdie ondersoek was om vas te stel of die Padongelukkefonds (RAF) voldoen aan die voorwaardes van NARSSA (2007) en ISO 15489-1:2016 vir die bestuur van papiergebaseerde rekords en om te bepaal of die organisasie se gereedheid vir elektroniese rekords. Die studie is kwalitatief en ‘n gevallestudie is gebruik as ontwerp vir die ondersoek. Data is hoofsaaklik versamel deur dokumentanalise en aangevul met onderhoude en waarneming. Die bevindinge het aan die lig gebring dat die rekordbestuurspraktyke van die RAF onder gelyke mate is en nie volledig voldoen aan die wetlike vereistes vir rekordbestuur in NARSSA (2007) en ISO 15489-1:2016 nie. Om sy rekordbestuurspraktyke te verbeter, het die studie aanbeveel dat ‘n rekordbestuursprogram ontwikkeli en geimplementeer word wat die implementering van rekordbestuursbeleid en die ontwikkeling van standardprosesse en prosedures binne die RAF sal vergemaklik.Ts’ebetso e ntle ea taolo ea lirekoto e bohlokoa ho mekhatlo ea mmuso ho tsamaisa boikarabello le ho khothaletsa ponaletso. Ho tsamaisa khoebo ea semmuso ka nepo joalo ka ha e laetsoe ke mmuso le ho fana ka bopaki ba litsebelisano tsa mmuso le ho fana ka bopaki ba litsebelisano tsa khoebo, litlaleho li bohlokoa haholo homekhatlo ena. Leha ho le joalo, lipatlisiso li bonts’itse hore mekhatlo ena e tsamaisa lirekoto tsa tsona hampe. Tlhokomelo e nyane haholo e fuoa batsamaisi ba lirekoto tse thehiloeng pampiring ka lebaka la tumelo e tloaelehileng ea hore ts’ebeliso ea mahlale e tla rarolla mathata a ho boloka rekoto. Le ha ho le jaolo, litharollo tse ngata tsa mahlale ha li etselitsoe ho tsamaisa lirekoto ho latela maemo a ananeloang ke National Archives and Records Service of South Africa (NARSSA) ntle le ho etsa litlhahiso tse kholo ho li hokahanya le litlhoko tse ikhethileng tsa mokhatlo ka mong. Boikoetliso bona bo theko e boima ‘me hangata bo baka mathata a bohlokoa a phano ea litsebeletso. Morero oa phuputso ena e ne e le ho netefatsa hore na Letlole la Kotsi ea Mebileng (RAF) le latela NARSSA le ISO 15489-1:2016 maemo a ho laola lirekoto tse thehiloeng pampiring le ho fumana hore na mokgatlo o ikemiselitse ho loka lirekoto tsa elektronike. Patlisiso e ne e le ea boleng, mme ho ile ha sebelisoa boithuto ba linyeoe e le moralo oa lipatlisiso. Boitsebiso bo ile ba bokelloa haholo-holo ka ho hlahloba litokomane le ho tlatsetsoa ka lipuisano le ho shebeloa. Liphuputso li senotse hore mekhoa ea tsamaiso ea taolo ea RAF e ka tlase ho maemo ‘me ha e lumellane ka botlalo le litlhoko tsa molao oa taolo ea lirekoto e fumanoe ho NARSSA (2007) le ISO 15489-1:2016. Ho ntlafatsa mekhoa ea eona ea taolo ea lirekoto, phuputso e khothalelitse ho nts’etsopele le ho kenya tsebetsong lenaneo la taolo ea lirekoto le tla thusa ho kenya tsebetsong Leano la Tsamaiso ea Lirekoto le nts’etsopele ea tse tloaelehileng ho RAF.M. Inf.Information Scienc