Browsing by Author "Small, Louis F."
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Item Assessment of the needs of student nurses regarding critical thinking in nursing practice(2016) Pretorius, Louise; Van Dyk, Agnes; Small, Louis F.; Amukugo, Hans J.This study involved a quantitative, quasi-experimental and contextual design. The target population for this phase was senior student nurses registered at the University of Namibia, in their fourth year of nursing studies in the training hospitals of Windhoek and Oshakati. A total of 46 fourth-year nursing students, registered at the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences in the Department of Nursing, were included for phase 1 except for the two students who took part in the pilot study. The students were from both campuses, namely the Windhoek and Oshakati campuses, doing the four-year Diploma in Comprehensive Nursing curriculum, which incorporates the principles of critical thinking. An imaginary case scenario was developed for students to analyse and answer some relevant questions to enable the researcher to determine the level of understanding and integration of critical thinking. In this study each student’s answers were deductively analysed by calculating central values, more specifically the mean for each question, to determine their application of critical thinking skills in the management of a nursing problem The researcher has, with literature support, arrived at “umbrella” concepts, namely the most important concepts that nurses in Namibia need and without which they cannot practice. These umbrella concepts are to be included in the educational programme.Item Beyond routine care for children with heart diseases from the vulnerable context: A clinical practice perspective(2014) Amakali, Kristofina; Small, Louis F.The statistics of children with heart diseases are notable in Namibia many of whom are from the rural area. While waiting for surgical corrections or when the child is a case for palliative care, these children have to be cared for at home, a task that can be doubtful for a rural caregiver. A qualitative, exploratory, phenomenological and contextual study was conducted to describe the experiences of rural caregivers regarding provision of home care for children with heart disease. The children’s experiences of living with the disease at home were also assessed because the burden of the diseases intensifies the demands for care. The findings revealed that both the caregivers and the children experience challenged emotions, disruptive social functioning, lacking of support from the family, lack of support from societal organisations as well as experiences of low vitality among the children. These experiences together, signify the overall poor coping by the caregivers and the children. Therefore, caring for a child with a heart disease at home requires a plan of individualized care which considers the context and the socio-economic status of the caregivers as the determinants for coping with providing care at home. Based on the findings, key recommendations were made among others to the clinical practice setting as an entry point to the care provided to these children. This paper provides a detailed description of the proposed health care intervention in the clinical setting to facilitate effective home care to children with heart diseases from the rural context.Item An educational programme to facilitate critical thinking within the nursing perspective(2016) Pretorius, Louise; Van Dyk, Agnes; Small, Louis F.; Amukugo, Hans J.This article is focuses on an educational programme to facilitate critical thinking within the nursing perspective. For the purpose of developing an educational programme; the study was conducted in four phases, beginning with a needs assessment in Phase 1 through which the researcher determined the need of student nurses in terms of critical thinking. The deductive data analysis of phase 1 served as conceptual framework for the development of education programme in phase 2. Phase 2 consisted of the development of educational framework to facilitate critical thinking in student nurses. Specific educational approaches and a philosophical framework were employed during the development of the programme. An expert opinion on the programme was obtained before the implementation could be concluded in phase 3. Phase 3 and 3 of the study were conducted simultaneously. Phase 3 covered the implementation of the educational programme and Phase 4 the evaluation. The process itself includes, the purpose of the development of the programme, conducting a situational analysis; utilization of philosophical approaches, developing the educational programme; content of the programme; educational and curriculum approaches integrated into the development of an educational programme and strategies to overcome obstacles during the implementation of an educational programme.Item Empowerment of the rural parents/caregivers of children with heart diseases in Namibia to facilitate coping with the demands of caring at home(2013) Amakali, Kristofina; Small, Louis F.Aim: The purpose of this study was to describe how the parents/caregivers of children with heart diseases cope with the demands of caring for these children at home, with the purpose to develop a home-based health care programme to facilitate the parents/caregivers’ coping with the demands of care. Methods: A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive, and contextual study was conducted. Phenomenological data on the lived experiences of coping with the demands to care by the parents/caregivers and of living with the burden of the disease by the children were gathered and interpreted from a purposefully selected sample of 5 multiple cases of parents/caregivers and children with heart disease from the rural areas. Results: The findings have revealed poor coping with the demands of caring among the parents/caregivers, as characterized by the experiences of emotional challenges, disruptive social functioning and social relations, lack of support from the family and societal organizations, financial difficulties and of course the experiences of decreased vitality by the children. As a result, the need to empower the parents/caregivers for them to cope with providing a continuum care to their children who have heart disease was identified. The dynamics to mitigate the negative experiences were conceptualized. Therefore, the interventions of a home-based health care programme as an interface to facilitate the parents/caregivers to cope with the challenges caused by the demands to care were developed. Conclusions: The need for empowerment of these parents/caregivers can be met through the implementation of multi-component interventions, which draw together all the possible determinants factors and the coping methods to facilitate coping.Item Evaluation of an educational programme to facilitate critical thinking of student nurses(2016) Pretorius, Louise; Amukugo, Hans J.; Van Dyk, Agnes; Small, Louis F.This article deals with phase 4 of the study, namely the evaluation of the educational programme developed in phase 2. The development of the educational programme was aimed at the facilitation of the development of critical thinking in the student nurse. The purpose of phase four (4) was to evaluate whether the researcher had achieved the objective of the educational programme, namely to facilitate the development of critical thinking skills of the final year student nurse. Specific objectives were therefore set for phase 4. Further, hypotheses were formulated and tested during this phase of the study. The aim of formulating a hypothesis was to determine whether any development had taken place in the experimental group who participated in the educational programme. All fourth-year nursing students (47) who complied with the inclusion criteria participated in the educational programme. Each participant consented in writing to be part of the programme—including the pretest and posttest. A total of 53 students participated as the control group in the pretest and posttest. All the participants in the experimental and control groups of the study were registered for the Comprehensive Diploma in Nursing at the University of Namibia. Reasons were advanced in chapter 3 for the fact that the participants in the study were final-year students at the Windhoek and Oshakati campuses of the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences. It was concluded that the implementation and evaluation of a three-day educational programme on the facilitation of the development of critical thinking within a quasi-experimental design had desired results. Students from both the main campus (Windhoek) and the Northern Campus (Oshakati) of the Department of Nursing at the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences of the University of Namibia were included in the quasi-experiment. Internal validity of the design was ensured by eliminating the threats to an experimental designItem Implementation of an educational programme to facilitate critical thinking of student nurses(2016) Pretorius, Louise; Amukugo, Hans J.; Van Dyk, Agnes; Small, Louis F.The overall purpose of phase 3 was to implement the educational programme that was developed to facilitate the development of critical thinking in the student nurse. A quasi-experimental design within the quantitative approach for phase 3 was used. The purpose of a quasi-experimental design was to identify and demonstrate casual relationships, examine relationships and clarify why certain events happened. The educational programme was implemented over a period of three days, covering theoretical and practical content. The objectives for this phase were to select the two groups of final-year student nurses to fit the quasi experimental design as the experimental and control group; conduct a pre-test on both the experimental and the control group in Windhoek and Oshakati to determine their application of critical thinking skills to the management of a given case in an imaginary case scenario; implement and facilitate the educational programme over a predetermined period of three days during the second semester of training for the experimental group in Windhoek and ensure active participation by participants for the duration of the educational programme. The population for this study consisted of nursing students in their final year (fourth year) of study at the training hospitals of Windhoek and Oshakati. Both campuses are incorporated in the Faculty of Health Sciences. The full population of the fourth-year class at the Windhoek campus was selected to be part of the experimental group (47 students) and the students from Oshakati (53 students) formed the control group. The total number of students amounted to 100 students.Item Investigation into health care worker’s awareness and implementation of policies for the prevention and control of hepatitis B infections in Namibia(University of Namibia, 2017) Mhata, Petrus; Small, Louis F.; Hunter, Christian J.Hepatitis is a viral infection that causes severe infection and death. The purpose of this study was to assess the current health care worker awareness and the implementation of national guiding documents, for the prevention and control of hepatitis B in Namibia. The study was qualitative descriptive survey conducted to establish baseline information on health care workers’ awareness and practices in preventing further spread of HBV in Namibia. Although health care workers are generally aware of hepatitis B disease burden in the country, their practices, availability and use of national guiding documents for effective prevention and control are insufficient.Item Nursing and radiography students' perceptions of their learning climate at the School of Nursing, University of Namibia(2017) Small, Louis F.; Pretorius, Louise; Kuugongelwa, S.; Brinkman, C.; Bampton, Elizabeth L.; Anyolo, Epafras; Haoses-Gorases, Lischen; Amakali, KristofinaAn effective learning climate is described as being humanistic, authentic, supportive and caring. Both the nurse educators and the institution alike therefore have a key responsibility to provide a caring environment that offers optimal learning opportunities for their students. Nevertheless, in biannual student forums anecdotal comments from the students, sometimes emotion laden and without specific detail, challenges have been identified regarding the learning climate. It was thus evident that problems relating to the learning climate existed among students and that these problems needed to be investigated and documented. The aim of this study was to explore the perceptions of Nursing and Radiography students about their learning climate during the course of their studies at the School of Nursing on the Windhoek campus of the University of Namibia. A quantitative, descriptive and analytical study was conducted during October 2013. The population included all the Nursing and Radiography students enrolled for that academic year at the School of Nursing. A questionnaire that focused on various aspects of the learning climate and support was used after pilot test. Ethical considerations were adhered to. Six of the eleven items discussed obtained a median score of less than 2.5 out of a possible 5, which is regarded as less than average. Suitable recommendations were subsequently submittedItem Nursing and radiography students' perceptions on their wellbeing at the School of Nursing, university of Namibia(2016) Small, Louis F.; Pretorius, Louise; Walters, A.; Kuugongelwa, S.; De Villiers, E.; Amakali, Kristofina; Anyolo, Epafras; Bampton, Elizabeth L.; Brinkman, C.; Nelumbu, Lucia N.This paper discusses a report of perception of wellbeing among nursing and radiography students at the School of Nursing of the University of Namibia. A mixed method of descriptive, analytical quantitative and qualitative study was conducted to gather data on self-report perception of wellbeing among the study and target population of 440 Nursing students (both undergraduate and postgraduate) and Radiography students registered for the 2013 academic year at the School of Nursing, University of Namibia, Windhoek campus. Data were collected from a convenient sample of 403 students with a response rate of 95% (n = 383), through a self- administered questionnaire that focused on the six subcomponents of wellbeing. Descriptive and analytical analysis were applied to describe participants’ perceived wellbeing and to determine possible associations between the perceptions of wellbeing as a dependent variable and the independent variables. The findings indicated a significant overall low level of perceived wellbeing among all students irrespective of the study programme and levels of studies.Item The plight of parents/caregivers of children with heart disease in the rural areas of Namibia: A problem of coping(2013) Amakali, Kristofina; Small, Louis F.Providing care for a child with heart disease is a daunting task for any parent/caregiver, particularly for those living in poor conditions in rural Namibia. A qualitative, exploratory, phenomenological and contextual study was conducted to describe such parents’/caregivers’ experiences of providing care for a child with a heart disease. The study also examined the children’s experiences of living with the burden of disease at home. The findings revealed experiences of emotional turmoil, disruptive social functioning and social relations, lack of support from the family, lack of organised forms of support from societal organisations, as well as experiences of low vitality among the children. These experiences together signify the overall poor coping by the parents/caregivers and the children. This paper presents the findings of a situational analysis of the experiences of caring for a child with heart disease and of living with heart disease.Item A support programme for caregivers of children with heart disease in rural Namibia(2014) Amakali, Kristofina; Small, Louis F.The majority of children suffering from heart disease in Namibia receive treatment as outpatients, with their caregivers taking responsibility for their continuing care. To provide the care required by these children, the caregiver has to remain vigilant. Many of these children live in rural areas and their caregivers may have only a limited educational background, as well as limited financial resources, as they depend on subsistence agriculture for a living. The development of the support programme discussed in this article originated from the results of a qualitative, exploratory, phenomenological study that addressed the issue of how these caregivers managed this responsibility. The findings of this study revealed that the caregivers generally had poor coping experiences. Subsequently, these findings formed the basis for the proposal about a support programme for the rural caregivers of children with heart disease in Namibia. As part of the study, interventions for home-based health care were developed, implemented and evaluated in order to facilitate the caregiver’s coping with the demands of home care. The findings of an outcomes evaluation indicated that the caregivers’ knowledge of the child’s condition, as well as the skills for providing care at home and the information about community-based resources that could provide them with support to cope, increased. If the programme were to be extended to other families in similar contexts, the programme interventions could make a difference in terms of their coping with the demands of care. This paper describes the implementation process involved in a home-based health care programme intervention of the study, and the subsequent outcomes of the programme evaluation.