1,720,971 research outputs found
A study to explore the capacity of family and service providers to facilitate participation of disabled youth in accessing opportunities in skills development and employment in Cofimvaba, Eastern Cape
No full textIncludes abstract.Includes bibliographical references.The study aimed to explore the capacity of family and service providers to facilitate the participation of disabled youth in accessing skills development and employment opportunities in rural areas. The objectives were to describe the family and service providers' understanding of disability; identify visions and strategies for promoting inclusion of disabled youth in skills development and employment opportunities; analyse the provision of services related to the economic development of disabled youth; identify the gaps in skills in facilitating disabled youth's transition in the economic development; and identify the available material resources for economic development of disabled youth
‘Services were completely shut down’: access to rehabilitation in the rural Eastern Cape Province of South Africa during COVID-19
No full textIntroduction: Persons with disabilities living in rural areas were disproportionately affected during the COVID-19 pandemic. This population, with a higher propensity for poor health and higher need for health services, bore the brunt of adverse effects of emergency regulations that cancelled or restricted access to rehabilitation. South African legislative and policy frameworks support the availability and promotion of disability and rehabilitation services as priority healthcare programs for all. Rehabilitation services in the country were, however, underresourced prior to the pandemic, and halted during lockdowns because of their non-essential status in the healthcare system. Within this context, this study explored the experiences of rehabilitation practitioners in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods: Forming part of a mixed study on inclusiveness of pandemic responses to people with disabilities, we reviewed government responses across different African countries, analysed the South African government responses to the pandemic and conducted interviews with rehabilitation practitioners in the rural Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. This article reports on the qualitative interviews, while the reviews and survey findings were published elsewhere. Rehabilitation practitioners were recruited from a provincial rehabilitation forum for practitioners who work in the public health facilities in the province. A combination of online and telephone individual interviews were conducted with participants, as well as three asynchronous interviews using Google Forms and WhatsApp. Transcriptions of interviews were analysed inductively and thematically through coding and categorisation.
Results: Eight practitioners participated in the study (a response rate of 8.4%). This included six physiotherapists and two occupational therapists. Three themes developed from data reported by the participants: reconfiguring rehabilitation services, experienced impact on rehabilitation service delivery and exacerbation of pre-pandemic rehabilitation shortfalls.
Discussion: The low priority of rehabilitation services as part of health services exacerbated pre-pandemic barriers for persons with disabilities. The cessation of such services rendered rehabilitation wholly inaccessible to persons with disabilities in the province, with detrimental effects on their function, health and wellbeing. Practitioners suggested that integrated collaborative health and rehabilitation service delivery enabled the continuation of some service aspects to some persons with disabilities. Initiatives and adaptations to services were driven by practitioners, although often in the absence of clear directives from the Department of Health. Some alternative methods of delivery (eg telerehabilitation) that were deployed elsewhere, were not as accessible and viable for use in the rural Eastern Cape Province, which has poor technological infrastructure and connectivity.
Conclusion: The pandemic challenged rehabilitation services as it remained deprioritised. However, rehabilitation also adapted, with practitioners strategising on ways of reconfiguring these rehabilitation services. Health systems responses to emergent health events should include and capacitate rehabilitation services to support preventive and promotive approaches
Enhancing public sectors’ capacity for inclusive economic participation of disabled youth in rural communities
Get PDFBackground: The capacity of service providers in the public sector to deliver inclusive services is essential to implement strategies that will allow the full participation of disabled youth in development opportunities in the rural context.
Objective: The article sets to describe the capacity of service providers in facilitating participation of disabled youth in economic development opportunities.
Method: An instrumental, embedded single case study informed the research design. The sample consisted of five disabled youth, four family members as well as six service providers. Data was gathered through in-depth individual interviews and focus group discussions. Data analysis was done inductively and thematically. In the discussion, the interpretation used organisational capacity elements as a framework.
Findings: The theme on service providers indicates their understanding of disability as still a multifaceted and a challenging issue with different orientations to service delivery based on understanding of impairment and disability. There is a dominant focus on impairment and negative attitudes.
Discussion: An asset building approach could facilitate awareness of capacities of disabled youth and thus shift negative attitudes to an enabling attitude. The vague strategies for youth and women that are described as inclusive are a misrepresentation of the reality of experiences of disabled youth.
Conclusion: An appreciative process of facilitating a holistic understanding of the needs of disabled people is needed to assist service providers to reconceptualise disability within an expansive framework
So from Here Where Do We Go? A Focus on the Sexuality of Women with Disabilities in Africa: A Narrative Review
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The Social Organization of Quality of Life of Older People in Long-Term Care Facilities: An Institutional Ethnography Approach
No full textWith the growing population in South Africa, there is a need for long-term care facilities. Using institutional ethnography, this study investigates the quality of life for older adults in South African long-term care facilities. Twenty key informants and 10 staff members were purposively sampled across 5 long-term care facilities in Gauteng, South Africa, for participation in in-depth interviews and observations. An analysis of institutional texts was conducted, focusing on legislative frameworks and practices. The findings include three analytic threads, namely: (a) Healthcare Access and Physical Well-Being, (b) Institutional Constraints on Meaningful Engagement, and (c) Efficiency Overriding Privacy and Autonomy. A significant gap exists between legislative policies and actual practices, with older adults seeking more autonomy and decision-making involvement. This institutional ethnography, rooted in the perspectives of older residents and care workers, highlights how long-term care facilities are shaped by regulatory frameworks and institutional ideologies. These frameworks often restrict care workers in fully leveraging their intimate knowledge of residents to address individual needs, as their care work interventions are bound to compliance with the textual and accountability demands of the Older Persons Act 13 of 2006
Quality of life in long-term care facilities in Gauteng, South Africa: an institutional ethnographic study of older adults’ perspectives
No full textIntroduction The increasing demand for long-term care (LTC) services in resource-constrained settings has highlighted significant gaps in both the quality of care and the quality of life (QoL) for older adults. The objective of this study is to examine the lived experiences of QoL among older individuals in LTC facilities.Methods Using an institutional ethnographic approach, we conducted indepth interviews with 20 residents, aged 62–98 years, across five LTC facilities in Gauteng, South Africa. Indexing and mapping were used to identify emergent categories. The authors used reflexive methods, and member checking was conducted.Results Analysis revealed seven interconnected dimensions of QoL: health and physical well-being, social connectedness and companionship, spiritual fulfilment and faith, independence and autonomy, dignity and respect, emotional well-being and acceptance and adaptation. These aspects are closely linked to institutional factors such as staff capacity, resource allocation and care policies. Participants emphasised the importance of meaningful social interactions, spiritual practices, autonomy and dignity in enhancing their QoL.Conclusion The study underscores the complex relationship between institutional care practices and the QoL of older adults in resource-constrained environments. Findings advocate for culturally sensitive, person-centred care strategies to improve the multifaceted QoL of LTC residents, offering valuable insights for policy reforms and interventions in similar resource-constrained settings
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
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