Background: Mental illness is a serious condition affecting the diagnosed individual and all family members. Family members caring for a sibling with mental illness encounter severe challenges, which, if unresolved, becomes a burden they carry for the rest of their lives.
Objectives: The purpose of the study was to describe family members' experiences caring for a sibling with mental illness in Giyani.
Method: A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual research design was used. Eight family members caring for a sibling with mental illness were purposively sampled. Data were collected through in-depth phenomenological interviews, and data were analysed using thematic coding, and an external coder was consulted.
Results: The study's findings revealed that family members caring for a sibling with mental illness experienced significant challenges. The three themes that emerged after data analysis were the following: caring for a sibling with mental illness was an overwhelming experience; family members experience emotional instability as a result of caring for their sibling with mental illness and family members need support in caring for their sibling with mental illness.
Conclusion: The findings indicated that family members need support in caring for a sibling with mental illness. Family members would cope better with support from extended family, healthcare professionals in mental health and the community; this will reduce the burden of caring for a sibling with mental for family members. Furthermore, the availability of resources can assist in facilitating family members' mental health.Contribution: This study could make an impact in psychiatric nursing practice, nursing education in promotion of support for family members for a sibling with mental illness.
No abstract available.
children. Their needs are not met. There is lack of support for caregivers and no existing conceptual framework of support. There was therefore a need to develop a conceptual framework of support for caregivers.
Objectives: The purpose of this study was to develop a conceptual framework of support for caregivers of children diagnosed with intellectual disabilities in the Gauteng province.
Method: Three phases were followed: an empirical phase, a classification of concepts and a development phase. A conceptual framework was developed based on the results of the empirical phase, after concepts were classified.
Results: The conceptual framework of support for caregivers of children diagnosed with intellectual disabilities in the Gauteng province was developed, consisting of six components, namely agents, recipients, context, procedures, dynamics and terminus.
Conclusion: A framework will guide all stakeholders on how to support caregivers of children diagnosed with intellectual disabilities in the Gauteng province.Contribution: The framework serves as a guide for future studies aiming at developing support programmes and models for caregivers, and further provide guidance on how caregivers can effectively be supported when used in mental healthcare institutions.
Background: Mentally fit preceptors may be more capable and flexible in providing students with system, emotional and cognitive support in the clinical learning environment (CLE) in the face of any life-threatening outbreaks. Existing professional development programmes for preceptors emphasise the development of preceptor competence in a normal CLE with minimal focus on their ability to engage with adverse events that challenge their mental health.
Objective: The study sought insight from preceptors' experiences during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic to identify their professional development programme needs while providing support to students during accompaniment.
Method: A mixed methods convergent parallel design was used to collect data from 24 preceptors at a nursing education institution (NEI). Eleven preceptors responded to the survey that included the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) Stress Scale (CSS) and Burnout Assessment Tool (BAT) to collect quantitative data. Semistructured interviews were conducted with five purposively selected preceptors to collect qualitative data regarding their experiences while accompanying students during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Results: Subscales within the CSS and BAT instruments were mapped against an existing preceptor support framework. Overall CSS data for each subscale indicated an average score varying from no stress to moderate stress, while BAT data shows that respondents rarely experienced burnout. However, some respondents experienced very high levels of stress and burnout. Qualitative data supplemented results.
Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic influenced preceptors' role in supporting students and reflecting that they amended their functioning role. Existing preceptor professional development programmes should be reviewed to ensure that the necessary concepts that foster resilience are integrated to enhance the functional role of preceptors in adversity.Contribution: Existing preceptor professional development programmes should be reviewed to ensure that the necessary concepts that foster resilience are integrated to enhance the functional role of preceptors in adversity.
Background: It is critical for intensive care unit (ICU) nurses to develop resilient coping strategies to cope with workplace adversities. The coping strategies will mitigate the development of maladaptive psychological disorders prone to working in a stressful environment.
Objectives: The aim of this study is to analyse previous literature conducted on strategies that enhance resilience in ICU nurses to cope with workplace adversities beyond the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The study was conducted by examining all available global literature in the context of the aim of the study.
Method: An integrative literature review was chosen for the study. Purposive sampling method was used to select the relevant databases to answer the review question, namely Google Scholar, EBSCOhost, Medline and Nursing/Academic Edition. The search terms used were 'strategies', 'resilience', 'intensive care unit nurses', 'coping', 'workplace adversities', 'beyond COVID-19' and post 'COVID-19'.
Results: Three themes emerged from the study, namely promoting personal attributes, effective relational support and active psychological support.
Conclusion: Enhancing resilience among ICU nurses requires both intentional individualised care from the ICU nurses and a systematic approach by nursing management that will meet the psychological needs of ICU nurses when working in a stressful ICU environment.Contribution: The findings of the review have highlighted specific strategies of improving resilience in ICU nurses, which can ultimately create a safe working environment in the ICU.
Background: Progress has been made to increase access to antiretroviral therapy (ART) for adolescents living with HIV (ALHIV) to improve their survival, but ALHIV still have worse treatment adherence and viral suppression compared to adults and children.
Objective: To determine the prevalence of viral suppression and the associated factors among adolescents aged 10-19 years on ART at an urban public primary healthcare facility in the Sedibeng district, Gauteng.
Method: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 192 adolescents who were on ART for at least six months between 2015 and 2018. A self-developed data extraction tool was used to collect data from the Tier.Net electronic database and clinical folders. Data were captured on Microsoft Excel, and descriptive and inferential analyses were performed using SPSS 27 statistical software.
Results: The median age at ART initiation of adolescents was 9.0 years (interquartile range [IQR]: 5.0-12.0), and the median duration on ART was 70.5 (IQR: 30.25-105.5) months. The prevalence of viral suppression ( 1000 copies/mL) among adolescents on ART was 74%, with 41% achieving full suppression ( 50 copies/mL). Those adolescents who reported optimal ART adherence were more likely to be virally suppressed compared to those who reported poor adherence (98.1% vs 25.0%; p ≤ 0.001).
Conclusion: Adolescent viral suppression of 74% is higher than in comparable sites, but still way too short of the UNAIDS target of 90%. We recommend adherence support for adolescents to achieve viral suppression.Contribution: The study highlights the urgent need for targeted adherence support interventions for adolescents living with HIV on antiretroviral therapy to improve rates of viral suppression to meet UNAIDS target of 95%.
Background: The worldwide coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic compelled higher education institutions and postgraduate students (master's and PhD) to rethink their research designs, as alert level restrictions affected data collection.
Objectives: To identify and map out the breadth of evidence available on the challenges and opportunities for conducting postgraduate research during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Method: A scoping review was conducted in CINAHL, MEDLINE (EBSCO), SCOPUS and PubMed databases. The authors independently began by screening the titles, the abstracts and full texts. Duplications were removed during the title and abstract screening by exporting them into EndNote.
Results: The search identified 463 documents, and 12 were included in the final review. The documents were studies commentaries, letters (n = 1) from India and guidelines from countries across the globe. The common themes that were reported on the challenges of conducting postgraduate research were the inability to collect data, the digital divide and changes in study designs.
Conclusion: The review reports on the opportunities and challenges in conducting postgraduate research during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the limited evidence on the opportunities of conducting postgraduate research, most postgraduate research stalled because of COVID-19 restrictions. There is a need for more literature to explore further postgraduate research opportunities during COVID-19 and beyond.Contribution: The focus on the challenges and opportunities in conducting postgraduate research during the COVID-19 pandemic may assist in the development of strategies needed to mitigate the effects of this and future pandemics.