1,720,955 research outputs found
Living with co-morbidities during the COVID-19 pandemic : a qualitative study of the heightened physical and psychosocial challenges emerging from the virus
No full textThesis submitted in compliance with the requirements for the Doctor in Health Sciences at the Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2024.The COVID-19 pandemic created unprecedented challenges for people with comorbidities. Those with co-morbidities faced mental and physical health consequences, and their family life, social life and healthcare were affected. The presence of co-morbidities was a compounding factor that led to deleterious consequences for this vulnerable group of people. This study sought to explore the various challenges from the experiences and perspectives of people living with comorbidities during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa. A qualitative research methodology was utilised in this study, with an exploratorydescriptive design, as well as non-probability and snowball sampling. Two samples were recruited namely, those affected by COVID-19 and those infected by COVID-19 post three months. Both samples had one or more co-morbidities. A total of 26 participants eventually participated. The study employed a semi-structured interview schedule to attain the required data, that allowed for a good conversational exploration into participants’ experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. The data was analysed using thematic analysis, which yielded eight themes, all of which had sub-themes. The key findings from the study were multifactorial, as there were considerable effects on participants’ physical health, whereby an intensity of COVID-19 symptoms occurred and long-term COVID symptoms persisted for long periods of time, which resulted in a difficult journey to recovery. The COVID-19 pandemic and the virus had a substantial impact on mental health, as participants endured intense bouts of fear and anxiety with persistent mental trauma post-COVID. Additionally, issues around isolation and concurrent loneliness from lockdown measures took a toll on their health. Empirical evidence shows a worsening of co-morbidities due to declining mental well-being. Family and social lives were vastly affected by the pandemic, causing a multitude of problems relating to finance, bonding, conflicts and bereavement. Obtaining adequate healthcare was difficult during the pandemic, as participants encountered staff shortages, extended wait times, a lack of medication, the sharing and borrowing of medication and a lack of care from medical staff. Participants who were hospitalised faced further challenges that affected their healthcare and overall sense of well-being. Despite the challenges that people with co-morbidities faced, they were hopeful as they began adopting healthier eating habits, exercising and sharing responsibilities iii within the home. Having supportive family and friends proved to be a significant benefit. The lockdown also gave people an opportunity to improve familial relationships. Community and religious organisations assisted those in need and people relied on faith and spirituality for a sense of peace and comfort. The data also indicated that many individuals embraced holistic health by incorporating complementary and alternative medicine into their practices. The use of these practices enabled a sense of good physical health among the participants. This study has provided a new insight into the lives of people with co-morbidities during a period of intense turmoil. The data obtained in this study can be used as a stepping stone to further explore the long-term effects of COVID-19 on people with comorbidities who are vulnerable to the effects of disasters such as the COVID-19 pandemic, thereby improving their quality of life and health.
A thematic group analysis of three indigenous Bitis spp remedies
No full textSubmitted in partial compliance with the requirements of the Master’s Degree in Technology: Homoeopathy, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2021.Introduction
This group analysis study was aimed at the intention to extend the materia medica
knowledge of the under-utilized homoeopathic remedies namely the three indigenous
Bitis spp. remedies which was inclusive of Bitis arietans arietans, Bitis gabonica
gabonica and Bitis atropos. Group analysis methodology was applied to the Bitis spp.
remedies to give a clearer understanding of the remedies within the international
context as well as the South African context.
Methodology
The three indigenous snake remedies which are Bitis arietans arietans, Bitis gabonica
gabonica and Bitis atropos were analysed in terms of a review, extraction of
information, organisation of data into tables, recording of materia medica, extraction
and comparison of common themes, extraction and comparison of common
sensations, comparison of all acquired data with the broader snake family themes and
determination of indigenous group themes.
Data extraction resulted using tables for categorisation and a subsequent comparative
analysis was conducted on the Bitis spp. remedies. A group of three similar remedies
to the Bitis spp. was derived and a subsequent miasmatic classification was derived
based on the extracted data. Common sensations were also extracted and thereafter
reactions to those sensations with the compensations were deduced.
Results
The emerged sensations derived from the symptoms were constriction, stiffness and
tension that were seen on many levels of the remedies. The symptoms from the mental sphere were converted to themes of spaced-out
feelings that seemed to be consistent throughout the Bitis spp. remedies.
Indigenous themes that emerged reflected situations and feelings peculiar to the South
African context. Some of these themes are freedom, fear/ panic, money problems,
drugs and alcohol and crimes. Sensations derived were mainly anger and depression
amongst others.
The researcher proposes that the predominant miasmatic influence seen from the
symptomatology was the Sycotic miasm.
Conclusion
This study has improved the information of lesser known homoeopathic remedies and
has given an understanding of under-utilized remedies. Group analysis is an
interesting and useful tool to expand the remedies of a group, to a more effective basis
of knowledge and will help practitoners improve their skills as homoeopaths for the
better.
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe 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
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
Author-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.
No full textAuthor-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.</p
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