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The aim of this study was to explore and describe the psychosocial support for frontline nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Tshwane district, Gauteng Province, South Africa.The COVID-19 pandemic has brought a lot of psychosocial distress for frontline nurses taking care of COVID-19 patients. The frontline nurses were scared of being infected with COVID-19, or exposing their families and loved ones to the risk of infection. A high number of nurses were infected with COVID-19, and some died due to the virus.This study followed a qualitative, explorative, and descriptive research design. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews and individual interviews were conducted. Seventeen participants, who consisted of all categories of nurses taking care of COVID-19 patients, were interviewed until data saturation was reached. Non-probability sampling method was used as a technique to select the participants. Data were analysed using Tesch's method of open coding.The following five themes are identified: (1) acknowledgement, appreciation, and recognition of frontline nurses, (2) conducive managerial practices, (3) debriefing and training of frontline nurses, (4) human resources support, and (5) psychological and social support for frontline nurses and their families.The implementation of the psychosocial support for frontline nurses taking care of COVID-19 patients is critical in improving patient care.The findings of this study should alert nurse managers to plan the best way to support frontline nurses caring for COVID-19 patients.

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Conducting research in indigenous settings in rural villages, where traditional leaders are the custodians of communities remains a challenge. Traditional health practitioners have to adapt their protocols to the needs of the cultural setting. When gaining access to a setting, researchers have to follow a process that respects the autonomy of individuals, thus adhering to one of the ethical principles of research with human participants. In this paper, the researchers reflect on gaining access to conduct research with traditional health practitioners and traditional leaders in Vhembe district, South Africa. Researchers participated in sharing circles, and identified five reflective themes. The themes included initiating agreement and rapport, continuous negotiation and compromise, Them and Us, adhering to local dress code and ritual performance. Researchers planning to conduct research with traditional health practitioners and traditional leaders should consider these themes in the preparation phase.

Background: African Traditional Medicine continues to strive and contribute to health care for many indigenous people in Africa. Within this system, Traditional Health Practitioners are the custodians of traditional health, knowledge and practices and play various roles such as counselling and teaching. There are unique ways to name, diagnose, treat, and manage ill-health in African Traditional Medicine, which makes this system unique. However, most concepts are loosely used or translated literally by researchers and scholar without their proper application and contextualization. This study was undertaken to explore and describe how Traditional Health Practitioners define African Traditional Medicine, in their own accord and understanding.Methods: Qualitative, explorative and descriptive design was adopted. Data was collected from eighteen (18) Traditional Health Practitioners who were sampled using snowball technique. Individual semi-structured interviews were done and audio recorded with consent of participants. Data was analysed using qualitative content analysis. Trustworthiness was ensured through principles of credibility, dependability, confirmability and transferability.Findings: The findings revealed two themes: 1) The features of African Traditional Medicine and 2) Elements of practice in African Traditional Medicine. The findings revealed that African Traditional Medicine is intertwined with the everyday life for Africans and cannot be detached. It emerged that there are different and unique ways of naming and understanding concepts with African Traditional Medicine. Spirituality, ancestral calling and the language used plays an important role in qualifying as a Traditional Health Practitioner. However, participants raised concerns regarding the quality of training for Traditional Health Practitioners.Conclusion: Being a Traditional Health Practitioner is directly linked to ancestral calling. However, spirituality plays and important role in African Traditional Medicine where practitioners undergo rigorous training to learn the craft of traditional healing such as the use of language, connecting with ancestral spirits and harvesting of plants. Dialogue must be facilitated among Traditional Health Practitioners in different specialization, to reach common understanding on the names, concepts and processes in African Traditional Medicine. This will contribute immensely in the efforts to standardize the practice of African Traditional Medicine in line with global standards.

Background: Caregivers are offered health information on neonatal care before they are discharged from the healthcare facilities after giving birth. However, they continue to feed and bath neonates in ways that are informed by indigenous traditions. Notably, these ways include the provision of supplementary feeds before 6 months and bathing the neonate as early as possible, which are practices that contradict the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations of neonatal care. Objectives: This study aimed to explore and describe the indigenous neonatal feeding and bathing practices of caregivers in Vhembe District, Limpopo province. Setting: This study was conducted in Limpopo province at Vhembe District, Makhado Municipality. Methodology: A qualitative, explorative and descriptive enquiry was used to conduct 18 semi-structured individual interviews to explore and describe their indigenous neonatal feeding and bathing practices. Purposive and snowball sampling methods were used to select participants. Creswell’s method of data analysis was used to analyse data. Ethical principles were maintained. Results: Two themes with sub-themes resulted from data analysis presenting indigenous neonatal feeding practices and indigenous neonatal bathing practices. Conclusion: This study revealed that caregivers use indigenous neonatal feeding and bathing practices across age groups and social standing. Younger mothers receive guidance from older women in their families or community. Midwives should know the indigenous neonatal feeding and bathing practices of the communities they serve to offer relevant culture-sensitive health education. Contributions: This study contributes to the creation of knowledge about indigenous neonatal care practices amongst mothers and caregivers.

Household factors involved in the disease of diarrhea are multifaceted. This study aimed to explore and describe the household factors affecting foodborne diarrhea in children younger than 5 years old using structured questionnaire data based on quantitative tools. The sample size was calculated based on a binomial distribution. A total of 300 children, together with their caregivers, participated, and the data were descriptively and mathematically analyzed using Epi Info modelling. The caregivers were mostly female and included 93.3% rural and 84% urban dwellers of ages between 18 and 38, who were single but living with someone. Of the children who were under six months of age, 23.3% in rural areas and 16.6% in urban areas had diarrhea, while of the children between 12 and 23 months of age, 36.6% in urban areas and 30% in rural areas had diarrhea. The relatives had similar symptoms before the child became ill, with 12.6% of relatives in rural areas and 13.3% in urban areas reporting this. Before receiving medical assistance, 51.3% of children in rural areas and 16% of children in urban areas were treated with traditional medication. Water was not treated before drinking in 48% of rural cases and 45.3% of urban cases. A total of 24.6% of infants in urban areas and 12.6% of infants in rural areas used a bottle for feeding. The factors affecting foodborne diarrhea were the use of traditional medication in rural areas, bottle feeding in urban areas and untreated water used for drinking in both areas.

Introduction: Ubuntu is an African philosophy that reflects holistic and comprehensive care among people in the community. Holistic nursing is a philosophy of caring that focuses on holistic healing and humanism. The purpose of the study was to explore the views of the South African final-year student nurses on the ability of Ubuntu to foster holistic nursing. Methods: An exploratory descriptive qualitative method was used. Eight focus group interviews were conducted with final-year student nurses at selected universities. Colaizzi seven steps process of data analysis was utilized. Results: One of the themes that emerged was that Ubuntu can be an instrument to foster holistic nursing Ubuntu and holistic nursing share many common attributes, hence, the teaching and learning of Ubuntu could foster the type of caring embodied by holistic nursing. Discussion: Ubuntu represents an important care philosophy that can foster holistic nursing, especially when the inner driving force of the nurses is primarily to care for patients.

Aim In this paper, we critically discuss the ethics of nurses' choice to strike during the COVID-19 pandemic, considering legal and ethical arguments, overlaying the Ubuntu philosophy, an African ethic. Background The recent unprecedented coronavirus disease pandemic and the increased reports on the absence of personal protective equipment in South Africa places many health workers' lives at risk. Nurses spend most of their time with patients, which exposes them to fatal risks as they work in unsafe environments. Research methods Exploratory literature review was conducted using Pubmed, CINAHL, Google Scholar and Science Direct) and law cases repository. Findings Nurses thus may be justified in striking to protect their safety. State healthcare entities are obliged to ensure safety and protect the health of professionals during the pandemic. According to their Code of Practice and Pledge of Service, they are ethically obliged to put patients first, and as a result, they are legally barred from engaging in strike action. Conclusion We conclude that there may be constitutional human rights arguments to support strike action. We also find that ethical principles alone do not provide clear direction to guide nurses in making justified and ethical decisions regarding service provision in an environment threatening to compromise their safety.

Despite programmes developed to alleviate tuberculosis (TB) infection worldwide, South Africa is still reporting high rates of infection. Most South Africans believe in and consider using the medicine provided by African indigenous health practitioners (AIHPs) rather than consulting practitioners at modern health facilities. The isolated functioning of these two groups of practitioners motivated the government to establish the Traditional Health Practitioners Act (22 of 2007), to encourage AIHPs and biomedical health practitioners (BHPs) to collaborate on the healing of different diseases, including TB. The Mpumalanga province has been hit the hardest by TB and has a high infection rate. The study aimed at exploring and describing the perceptions of AIHPs and BHPs on collaboration concerning TB treatment in the Ehlanzeni district, Mpumalanga. A semi-structured interview guide was used to collect data from focus groups with 21 AIHPs and in-depth individual interviews with 10 BHPs. The findings of the study reveal differing perceptions, as some BHPs accept the Act and acknowledge collaboration, while others have concerns about standards of care, patient safety, and overdosing. They are reluctant to accept integration, as they see AIHPs as unscientific practitioners who use strong medicine that is detrimental to patients. The AIHPs welcomed the idea of working together and mutual teaching with the aim of empowering each other with knowledge regarding the treatment of TB, for the ultimate benefit of patients.

Background: South African maternity care guidelines stipulate that post-natal patients can be discharged within 6 h after delivery, provided that the condition of mothers and neonates do not require medical, surgical or obstetric attention. Hence in many instances post-natal care is rendered at home by traditional birth attendants (TBAs). Traditional birth attendants play a crucial role in the care of women during pregnancy, birth and puerperium within communities.Aim: To explore and describe the experiences of TBAs during the provision of post-natal care to mothers and their neonates in order to make recommendations to improve the quality of post-natal care delivered at home.Setting: The community hall of a selected rural traditional community was used as a setting for data collection.Methods: A qualitative, exploratory and descriptive design was used. Three focus groups were held with 26 TBAs whom were purposively selected. Data were analysed using qualitative content analysis.Results: The study confirmed two categories that included: lack of supportive working relationships between TBAs and midwives and lack of respect of TBAs, by post-natal women.Conclusion: It is evident that the TBAs experienced negative experiences. Therefore, initiation of teamwork, empowerment and confidence development are crucial to improve the working experiences of TBAs during the provision of post-natal care. Quality post-natal care might reduce maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality rates. Teamwork between TBAs and midwives might be initiated. Continuity of care for post-natal women might be improved.

Background Different approaches are available to facilitate employees’ motivation, involving them in decision making and participating in different activities. Due to changes and the widespread of dissatisfaction with the management of the current South African health system, various approaches to enhance quality improvement in management have emerged. However, their effects on the quality of care have been unsatisfactory. This article describes how an appreciative inquiry was used to facilitate motivation and promote organisational quality improvement in the management of patient care. Methods The AI approach which comprise of an appreciative topic and acting on this theme through the 5-D cycle: namely Definition of the affirmative topic, Discovery, Dream, Design and Destiny was used. Results An appreciative inquiry approach offered employees an opportunity to reflect on the existing strengths within their practice situation, leading them to discover what is important and enhance quality improvement in the management of patient care in South Africa. Furthermore, AI is reported to have significant transformational as it has shifted the focus form problems to be solved to discovering and building on what works well within an organisation and used that as the starting point for implementing change. Conclusions New approaches such as AI have the potential to improve patient care and enhance individual and group motivation by changing the way participants think about, approach, and imagine the future.

In 1997 South Africa legalised termination of pregnancy services for all women living within the country. It is now more than a decade since Choice on Termination of Pregnancy (CTOP) services have been implemented however, the state of the infrastructure of CTOP services in public health facilities is a cause for concern. The assessment of the quality of CTOP services in public health facilities has been seriously neglected. The objectives of the study were to assess, determine and evaluate the challenges related to the quality of the infrastructure of CTOP services in public health facilities. A quantitative, non- experimental cross-sectional survey design was used. The population comprised of facility/quality managers, registered professional nurses and midwives. A universal sampling method was used. Data was collected from healthcare professionals who were involved in procuring CTOP services. The public health facilities were assessed in terms of space adequacy, provision of privacy, availability of ablution facilities, rest room as well as human and material resources using the Donabedian model. It was found that insufficient provision was made to the infrastructure of public health facilities to accommodate the high demand for CTOP services. Structural challenges remain a barrier in meeting the objectives of the CTOP services. There is evidence of significant differences between the facility/quality managers versus the professional nurses regarding their response to space provided for rendering CTOP services. The study recommends the revitalisation of the structure of CTOP services to improve the quality rendered.

Background: South Africa was caught off guard by the student unrest in 2015 and 2016. This unrest was named the #fees must fall campaign. During this campaign, students raised the issue of decolonisation of the curriculum, challenging the higher education fraternity and the academic community. This was based on the fact that the existing curriculum has inadequate content on African traditional indigenous knowledge (ATIK), and continues to use the Western approach to address the needs of a multicultural, multiracial and multi-ethnic societies. Institutions responded by initiating dialogues regarding decolonisation of the curriculum in senates, scholars and between different health professional bodies. Aim: This article aimed to explore and describe the perspectives of nursing students regarding incorporating ATIK into the curriculum. Methods: Using a participatory transformative approach, researchers and participants worked collaboratively to inform social change. Participants comprised nursing students. The academics, traditional health practitioners, indigenous knowledge holders and primary health care nurses formed the panellists. Data were collected through one communal dialogue workshop, which lasted for 8 hours, tea and lunch included. Data were analysed thematically. Results: Students’ perspectives emerged strongly as four themes, namely, politics of identity, displacement and distortion, curriculum content and institutional resistance. Students expressed that the current education system results in an identity crisis. The existing curriculum does not adequately convey an understanding of ATIK; it is displaced and distorted. Conclusion: Nursing science has great potential to incorporate the wealth of ATIK into its curriculum. In spite of a vibrant and rich cultural heritage, the ATIK specific to nursing sciences still needs to be incorporated into the existing curriculum in a responsive and relevant manner.

The authors would like to acknowledge University-based Nursing Education South Africa (UNEDSA) for the study grant that enabled them to conduct this research study, the Faculty of Health Sciences of the relevant institution for supporting this project financially and the participants for taking part in the project.

The study's objective was to explore and describe the perceptions of midwives regarding the role of traditional birth attendants during postnatal care. The purpose of the study was to improve the standard of postnatal care, and to empower midwives with knowledge and skills regarding indigenous postnatal care practices, in order to meet the cultural care needs of postnatal patients from different cultural backgrounds. South Africa, as a developing country, has midwives who discharge postnatal patients after six hours post-delivery if the condition of both the mother and the baby is satisfactory; therefore, the traditional birth attendants render postnatal care at home. As a result, the midwives are not aware of the indigenous postnatal care practices used by the traditional birth attendants when taking care of postnatal women. Knowledge gained from this study may assist midwives to identify and address indigenous practices that are a threat to the health of women; to improve the standard of postnatal care. A qualitative approach using in-depth face-to-face interviews with midwives was followed. The findings revealed two themes, namely: (1) positive perceptions of midwives regarding the role of traditional birth attendants; and (2) negative perceptions of midwives regarding the role of traditional birth attendants. It is recommended that there should be teamwork between the midwives and the traditional birth attendants in order to strengthen the referral system of postnatal patients between the clinics or hospitals post-delivery and to enhance and maintain continuity of postnatal care.

Children of school-going age are faced with multiple challenges that need professional interventions from educators and healthcare providers. This study sought to explore and describe the challenges experienced by healthcare providers with regard to the provision of school healthcare in the Tshwane sub-district, Gauteng Province. A qualitative, descriptive phenomenological design was used because of its holistic and contextualised nature. The population consisted of healthcare providers who were working in collaboration with the school health nurses, as well as being members of the community. These participants were conveniently and purposefully selected. Twenty-two healthcare providers were selected. Data were collected through the use of individual interviews until data saturation was attained. The interviews were based on the question: "What are the challenges you health programmes, and the care provided to HIV positive children of schoolgoing age. It was evident that the challenges school health service providers faced included limited resources, inconsistency in existing school health service rendering, and poor collaboration between the stakeholders involved. These challenges create a major barrier for the delivery of school health services in South Africa. The participants recommended that partnerships and collaboration should be established in order to establish a healthy educational environment and promote frequent and sustained school visits.experience as healthcare provider regarding the provision of school health services in the Tshwane sub-district, Gauteng Province? Researchers followed the adapted Colaizzi's method (1978) of data analysis in Polit and Beck (2012). All transcripts were read repeatedly and the data was reviewed, coded and categorised into the sections applicable to the problem statement. From the challenges experienced three main themes evolved by health care providers and these included: the need for early and frequent school health visits, the lack of collaboration in school visits.

The paper aimed to explore and describe the perceptions of the Vhavenda people regarding the significance of indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) rituals and customs in promoting Women’s Heal...