scholarly journals Conveying hypertension message: An investigation into the language and content used in primary health clinics in South Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nokuthula G. Nkosi-Mafutha ◽  
Hester C. De Swardt ◽  
Sophie Mogotlane
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Health Education ◽  
South African ◽  
Lifestyle Modifications ◽  
African Languages ◽  
Health Clinics ◽  
Quantitative Content ◽  
Quantitative Descriptive ◽  
Heath Education ◽  
Audio Recorder

Background: Hypertension is a global health burden affecting developed and developing countries, and South Africa is no exception.Aim: This article aims to highlight the language and content used in health education on hypertension in primary healthcare (PHC) by health promoters and in pamphlets.Methods: The study design was quantitative descriptive. The population comprised a purposive selected sample of 12 health promoters in 12 PHC clinics and 50 pamphlets relating to health education on hypertension. An audio recorder was used to record health education provided by health promoters. Quantitative content analysis and frequency distribution was used to analyse the data.Results: The health promoters used various South African languages mixed with English (code switching). Patients were taught about lifestyle modifications and encouraged to adhere to management therapy. The switching in language usage may affect the understanding of those who do not speak the local language and that may explain the reason for lack of hypertension-suited life modification required by health education.Conclusion: It is important that heath education on hypertension should be standardised so that the content of health education in clinic A is similar to that in clinic B. Information contained in pamphlets should be summarised and standardised to the content presented by health promoters.

YOUTH WELLBEING IN SOUTH AFRICA: WHAT DIMENSIONS SHOULD WE MEASURE?

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dabesaki Mac-Ikemenjima
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Health Education ◽  
Young People ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
South African ◽  
Time Use ◽  
Economic Relationships ◽  
African Cities ◽  
South African Cities ◽  
Selection Of

There is growing interest in the development of measures and indexes of youth wellbeing. However, there has been a limited discussion on indicators to measure and select them. This paper reports on the results of a qualitative study on the selection of indicators to measure the wellbeing of young people in South Africa, and reflects on the relevance of the content of their values in choosing indicators for measuring their wellbeing. The data used in this analysis is based on telephone (9) and email (6) interviews conducted with 15 young people (male=5, female=10) aged 22 to 32 from five South African cities during July 2010. In the interviews, participants were asked to identify five issues they considered important to their lives, after which they were asked to rank them in order of importance. The issues indicated by the participants are described and discussed in six dimensions: economic, relationships, spiritual and health, education, time use and material. The indicators developed from this study are discussed in terms of their relevance for use in a measure of youth wellbeing in South Africa.

scholarly journals Funksionele meertaligheid in Suid-Afrika: 'n onbereikbare ideaal?

Literator ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Verhoef
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Final Report ◽  
North West ◽  
African Languages ◽  
The North ◽  
Mother Tongue Instruction ◽  
Education Act ◽  
Regional Languages

Functional multilingualism in South Africa: an unattainable ideal? Although much has been done on an official level to establish true multilingualism in South Africa, a tendency towards English monolingualism seems to exist in the country. The aim of this article is to describe the official stipulations in pursuit of multilingualism, as they appear in the Constitution (Act 108 of 1996), the School Act (Act 84 of 1996) and the final report of Langtag. In addition to the present demands, the article also responds to previous demands for multilingualism in the South African context, particularly as stated in the Bantu Education Act of 1953. It is argued that, because of the negative connotations associated with mother-tongue instruction in the past, contemporary mother-tongue instruction will also be contaminated. Apart from the theoretical investigation into multilingualism, the article reports on empirical research that has been done in this regard in the North West Province where the attitudes and perceptions of the school population towards the regional languages were measured. Although the subjects reacted positively to the official status granted to several South African languages, they expressed a preference for English as working language because of the access it gives to personal, economic and social development and empowerment. The article concludes with brief recommendations regarding language planning opportunities that derive from this situation.

scholarly journals The Participation of Children with Intellectual Disabilities: Including the Voices of Children and Their Caregivers in India and South Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (18) ◽  
pp. 6706
Author(s):  
Shakila Dada ◽  
Kirsty Bastable ◽  
Liezl Schlebusch ◽  
Santoshi Halder
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Intellectual Disabilities ◽  
South African ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
African Languages ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Child Reports ◽  
Children’S Participation ◽  
Child Assessments ◽  
Children's Participation

There is a shortage of research on the participation of children with intellectual disabilities from middle-income countries. Also, most child assessments measure either the child’s or the caregiver’s perceptions of participation. Participation, however, is an amalgamation of both perspectives, as caregivers play a significant role in both accessing and facilitating opportunities for children’s participation. This paper reports on both perceptions—those of children with intellectual disabilities and those of their caregiver, in India and South Africa. A quantitative group comparison was conducted using the Children’s Assessment of Participation and Enjoyment (CAPE) that was translated into Bengali and four South African languages. One hundred child–caregiver dyads from India and 123 pairs from South Africa participated in the study. The results revealed interesting similarities and differences in participation patterns, both between countries and between children and their caregivers. Differences between countries were mostly related to the intensity of participation, with whom, and where participation occurred. Caregiver and child reports differed significantly regarding participation and the enjoyment of activities. This study emphasises the need for consideration of cultural differences when examining participation and suggests that a combined caregiver-and-child-reported approach may provide the broadest perspective on children’s participation.

scholarly journals Identifying phonological processing deficits in Northern Sotho-speaking children: The use of non-word repetition as a language assessment tool in the South African context

2016 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carien Wilsenach
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Phonological Processing ◽  
Language Assessment ◽  
South African Context ◽  
African Languages ◽  
Word Repetition ◽  
Northern Sotho ◽  
Language Tests ◽  
African Context

Diagnostic testing of speech/language skills in the African languages spoken in South Africa is a challenging task, as standardised language tests in the official languages of South Africa barely exist. Commercially available language tests are in English, and have been standardised in other parts of the world. Such tests are often translated into African languages, a practice that speech language therapists deem linguistically and culturally inappropriate. In response to the need for developing clinical language assessment instruments that could be used in South Africa, this article reports on data collected with a Northern Sotho non-word repetition task (NRT). Non-word repetition measures various aspects of phonological processing, including phonological working memory (PWM), and is used widely by speech language therapists, linguists, and educational psychologists in the Western world. The design of a novel Northern Sotho NRT is described, and it is argued that the task could be used successfully in the South African context to discriminate between children with weak and strong Northern Sotho phonological processing ability, regardless of the language of learning and teaching. The NRT was piloted with 120 third graders, and showed moderate to strong correlations with other measures of PWM, such as digit span and English non-word repetition. Furthermore, the task was positively associated with both word and fluent reading in Northern Sotho, and it reliably predicted reading outcomes in the tested population. Suggestions are made for improving the current version of the Northern Sotho NRT, whereafter it should be suitable to test learners from various age groups.

scholarly journals Beliefs of grade six learners’ regarding adolescent pregnancy and sex

Curationis ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Grobler ◽  
Y. Botma ◽  
A.C. Jacobs ◽  
M. Nel
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Adolescent Pregnancy ◽  
South African ◽  
Black Adolescents ◽  
Subjective Norm ◽  
Demographic Variables ◽  
Sexually Active ◽  
Descriptive Research ◽  
Quantitative Descriptive ◽  
The Individual

Escalating adolescent pregnancy and risky sexual behaviour is becoming more common amongst young adolescents and especially amongst black adolescents in South Africa. Statistics confirm that South African adolescents as young as fourteen are already sexually active and become pregnant. The decision to become sexually active with resulting adolescent pregnancy whether planned or not, are directly influenced by the teenager’s beliefs. A person’s beliefs consist of a person’ own individual beliefs or attitude as well as what the individual subjective norm which the individual perceive as other people’s beliefs regarding the same object of reason. The aim of the study was to describe the attitude of black grade six learners under the age of fourteen, towards adolescent pregnancy and sex. A quantitative descriptive research design was used. Results were clustered according to demographic variables as well as beliefs that consist of attitude and subjective norm.

scholarly journals The structure and features of the SMS language used in the written work of Communication English I students at a university in South Africa

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chaka Chaka ◽  
Mampa L. Mphahlele ◽  
Charles C. Mann
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Morphological Structure ◽  
Text Messages ◽  
African Languages ◽  
Black South African ◽  
University Of Technology ◽  
English I

Employing an explanatory design, this study set out to investigate the morphosyntactic structures of the SMS language of Communication English I students, and the types of SMS language features used in their written work at a university of technology in South Africa. The study randomly sampled 90 undergraduate students (M = 40; F = 50) enrolled for a national diploma programme during the first academic semester in 2013. Their ages ranged from 19–22 years; they all spoke English as a second language, whilst having one of the five black South African languages as their home language. The study had two types of data: participants’ mobile phone text messages (in two sets), and their writing samples. Two of the findings of the study are: the morphological structure of the textisms used in the participants’ text messages deviated from that applicable to formal, standard English, whereas much of their syntactic structure did not; and, the frequency and proportion of textisms in participants’ writing samples were lower than that reported in studies by Freudenberg (2009) and Rosen et al. (2010).

scholarly journals The African languages in South African education 2009–2011

2012 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 120-124
Author(s):  
Rosemary Wildsmith
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Language Education ◽  
National Language ◽  
African Education ◽  
African Languages ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Educational Domain ◽  
South African Education

South African National Language Education policy (South Africa, DoE 2002) enshrines multilingualism (ML) as one of its major goals. The implementation of such a policy is a slow process, however, particularly in the educational domain, where parents, teachers and students favour the dominant, ex-colonial language (English) for both historic and instrumental reasons (Dalvit & de Klerk 2005). However, results of the National Benchmarking Test (NBMT Report 2009) conducted at selected South African universities show that most non-English speaking students in higher education have underdeveloped language and numeracy skills for study at this level, one of the main barriers to access being that of language (Council on Higher Education 2007: 2). Efforts have thus intensified in South African institutions to introduce the home languages of learners into the educational domain, either as learning support alongside the main medium of instruction or as alternative languages of instruction, working towards the development of a bilingual education model. This report documents developments in research in the promotion and use of the African languages in education in South Africa in recent years, particularly since the publication of the previous report (Wildsmith-Cromarty 2009), which discussed various initiatives in the teaching, development and use of the African languages in South African education during the period 2005–2008. This report considers further developments in the use of the African languages for academic purposes in the following areas: the learning and teaching of these languages as additional languages and for professional purposes in selected disciplines for specialist programmes, and their intellectualization, which includes their use as languages of instruction, in the translation of materials and other learning resources, and development of terminology.

Towards an African-Centered Model of Learning

2021 ◽  
pp. 155-177
Author(s):  
Rendani Tshifhumulo ◽  
Faith F. Musvipwa ◽  
Tshimangadzo Justice Makhanikhe ◽  
Livhuwani Daphney Tshikukuvhe
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Education System ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
National Curriculum ◽  
School Curriculum ◽  
African Students ◽  
African Languages ◽  
Cultural Aspects

This chapter interrogates the current teaching and learning strategies in South African higher institutions of learning in relation to the negligence of cultural aspects. For many years now, the general population in South Africa agitated for the amendment or annulment of the current education system as a means of restoring the African norms and values. The suspension and/or expulsion of some African students from schools due to their adherence to African values is a vivid example of how the education system undermines African cultures and traditions. The chapter deliberated on story telling as one of the methods that is relevant for Indigenous Knowledge Systems. On the central argument of the chapter the authors conversed on colonialisation and its impact on education in South Africa. OBE and the revised national curriculum statement and the crises in South African education system are discussed. The chapter ends by interrogating the possibility of using African Languages in the school curriculum.

‘We are saving the township’: Pentecostalism, faith-based organisations, and development in South Africa

2013 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 627-651 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marian Burchardt
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Health Education ◽  
South African ◽  
Social Relationships ◽  
The Other ◽  
Development Work ◽  
African City ◽  
Faith Based ◽  
The One ◽  
Organisational Dynamics

ABSTRACTIn this article, I trace the emergence of Pentecostal FBOs in the South African city of Cape Town. By focusing on their involvements in HIV/AIDS programmes, including practices such as health education, counselling and material support, I analyse the organisational dynamics and consequences ensuing from their activities. Pentecostal involvements in development work engender complex connections between two distinct processes: On the one hand, they offer Pentecostal communities new social spaces for promoting their faith and moral agendas. On the other hand, development work urges Pentecostal communities to recast their activities in the logic of formal organisation and accountability (proposals–grants–projects). On the ground, these logics are constantly subverted as beneficiaries construe FBOs aspatronsand deploy Pentecostal identities for mediating access to FBOs and the resources they command. My argument is that Pentecostal faith works to mediate the entire set of social relationships, expectations, imageries and practices that structure FBO work on the ground. More than belief and ritual, it isPentecostal belongingthat links organisations, people, opportunities and resources.

Difference in Orientation towards Studying Mathematics of South African High School Students: Developing a Study Orientation Questionnaire in Mathematics

1999 ◽  
Vol 84 (2) ◽  
pp. 467-476 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacobus G. Maree
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
High School ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Locus Of Control ◽  
South African ◽  
Study Habits ◽  
School Students ◽  
African Languages ◽  
Positive Study ◽  
Study Orientation

The Study Orientation Questionnaire in Mathematics was developed as a diagnostic measure for teachers and counsellors to help students improve their orientation towards the study of mathematics and consequently achieve at a higher level. During the standardisation 60 students from all children in secondary schools in South Africa were administered the provisional questionnaire. Analysis showed students whose mother tongues were African languages in Grades 10 and 11 in general score as external on a measure of Locus of control in mathematics classes in South Africa. They displayed more positive study habits than their English- and Afrikaans-speaking peers.

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