Papers by Hendry van der Heever
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
The Performance Management and Development System (PMDS) is an essential asset in aligning the st... more The Performance Management and Development System (PMDS) is an essential asset in aligning the strategic objectives of both the National and Provincial departments of health with the individual targets and Key Responsibility Areas (KRAs) of the individual employees working in these departments. The system is not without challenges. The sources of contention can be with the rewards mechanism of the system, bias in the application of the system and the incorrect use of the system for punitive measures. The objective of this study was to determine the perceived knowledge, understanding and satisfaction levels of employees at Brits District Hospital regarding the PMDS. Another objective was to provide an intervention targeting the knowledge and understanding of the key concepts of the system. A quantitative cross-sectional and longitudinal action research method was applied by tracking the responses of 64 healthcare workers three times, firstly in a questionnaire and then in an interven...
Addiction Research & Theory, 2007
Despite the increasing popularity of screening and brief intervention (SBI) for hazardous drinkin... more Despite the increasing popularity of screening and brief intervention (SBI) for hazardous drinking within the wider population, there is a paucity of SBI research directed at Indigenous populations. In Canada, Aboriginal drinkers are less than half as likely to drink on a weekly/daily basis but more than twice as likely to binge drink compared to the general drinking population. As a result, there is a high rate of alcohol related deaths and hospitalisations compared to the non-Aboriginal population. Modification of these patterns and levels of hazardous drinking – especially binge drinking – among Aboriginal drinkers should markedly improve health outcomes. Although the efficacy of SBI has been demonstrated across a range of health care settings and sociocultural groups, there are potential systemic and cultural barriers to implementation of SBI for Aboriginal hazardous drinkers including the historic impact of alcohol on Aboriginal communities. Implementation of SBI must address these barriers and be sensitive to the historic relationship between Aboriginals and alcohol.
Journal of Physical Activity and Health, 2017
In South Africa, there is high mortality rate and an increasing number of disabilities resulting ... more In South Africa, there is high mortality rate and an increasing number of disabilities resulting from non-communicable diseases, diseases of lifestyle and related complications. The study explored the effectiveness of the community based rehabilitation programme on behavioural change by people with non-communicable ciseases such as hypertension and diabetes mellitus in Hammanskraal. The research design was explorative with a qualitative approach. Data were collected from five focus groups with an average of six people in each who were 29 in total. An interview guide using open-ended questions and some probing was used for data collection from the respondents until the data was saturated. This study showed that the rehabilitation programme made a difference in the prevention and management of non-communicable diseases in communities of Hammanskraal where it is being implemented. Giving knowledge and skills to the people motivated them to take charge of their medical condition, psycho-social circumstances and take responsibility in changing their behaviours and improving their well-being. The participants experienced the challenges of adhering to the strategies that they were advised on in the management of their diseases and promoting healthy lifestyle. The healthy diet prescribed was found by some to be expensive and untasteful making it unsustainable, hence the noncompliances sometimes. In conclusion, interventions aimed at acting against Non-Communicable Diseases should comprehensively cover education, prevention and management strategies with the full participation of all members of the Primary Health Care Team. Keywords: Community, non-communicable disease, hypertension, iabetes mellitus, changes
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
The Performance Management and Development System (PMDS) is an essential asset in aligning the st... more The Performance Management and Development System (PMDS) is an essential asset in aligning the strategic objectives of both the National and Provincial departments of health with the individual targets and Key Responsibility Areas (KRAs) of the individual employees working in these departments. The system is not without challenges. The sources of contention can be with the rewards mechanism of the system, bias in the application of the system and the incorrect use of the system for punitive measures. The objective of this study was to determine the perceived knowledge, understanding and satisfaction levels of employees at Brits District Hospital regarding the PMDS. Another objective was to provide an intervention targeting the knowledge and understanding of the key concepts of the system. A quantitative cross-sectional and longitudinal action research method was applied by tracking the responses of 64 healthcare workers three times, firstly in a questionnaire and then in an interven...
African Journal for Physical, Health Education, Recreation and Dance, 2014
Alcohol use is highly prevalent among university students and is a major health concern for unive... more Alcohol use is highly prevalent among university students and is a major health concern for universities in many countries. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and patterns of alcohol use as well as the motives for alcohol use among health care science students at the Medunsa campus of the University of Limpopo, South Africa. Data was gathered by the use of self-administered questionnaire. The stratified cluster and probability sampling technique was used to obtain a sample of n=142 respondents (female, 60%; n=85) and male 40% (n=57)), with a mean age of 21.7 years. The mean age of the group was 21.3 years. The prevalence of alcohol use among the participants was relatively low, where 23% (n=32) of the sample consumed alcohol. Only 15% (n=22) of the respondents were categorized as light drinkers, 3.5% (n=5) moderate drinkers and 3.5% (n=5) heavy drinkers. Respondents scored the lowest on the peer pressure motive for alcohol use (35.6%) and equal on the personal enj...
Journal of Drug and Alcohol Research, 2021
Abstract: The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of alcohol use and associated factor... more Abstract: The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of alcohol use and associated factors among outpatients in an urban hospital in South Africa. The sample included 1,532 (56.4 % men and women 43.6%) consecutively selected patients from different hospital outpatient departments. Results indicate that 41.2 % of men and 18.3 % of women were found to be hazardous drinkers, and 3.6 % of men and 1.4 % of women meet criteria for probable alcohol dependence or harmful drinking as defined by the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT). Two in five patients (40.5%) were hazardous or harmful drinkers and/or had anxiety or depression. Logistic multiple regression found that for men tobacco use and not having been diagnosed with diabetes and for women tobacco use and having been diagnosed with migraine headache was associated with hazardous and harmful drinking. Although the study is cross-sectional, it does identify groups that may be at high risk of alcohol misuse and for w...
Southern African Journal of Epidemiology and Infection, 2012
STUDIES ON ETHNO-MEDICINE
Socio-demographic factors, ethnicity, beliefs, practices, attitude of students, friends, parents ... more Socio-demographic factors, ethnicity, beliefs, practices, attitude of students, friends, parents and villagers were the potential explanatory variables in univariate and multivariate analyses. Out of a sample of 98 medical students, only 15% indicated willingness to refer parents and friends to traditional healers. Gender, age, religion, province and district did not influence the referral intention. Positive attitude of friends (p=0.031), of villagers (p=0.047), of students (p=0.004), on consulting traditional healers (p<0.001) and beliefs of students in Traditional Medicine (TM) (p=0.002) were the significant correlates of referral intention. However, after adjusting for confounding factors, only positive attitude of medical students to TM was found to be the significant and independent determinant of referral intention to traditional healers. The data lead to the conclusion that referral intention to TH and TM was very low among medical students. Therefore, intervention for integrative medicine should begin with medical students to develop a positive attitude towards TM, the important and significant determinant of referral intention to TH/TM. If doctors recognize the effectiveness of CAM in the management of some illnesses, the current gap between both medical approaches will get narrowed.
African Journal of Biomedical Research, Apr 15, 2011
BMC Public Health, 2012
Background: For alcohol drinkers in South Africa it has been found that annual consumption per dr... more Background: For alcohol drinkers in South Africa it has been found that annual consumption per drinker is among the highest in the world. High prevalence rates of hazardous and harmful alcohol use have also been found in a hospital outpatient setting in South Africa. Hospital settings are a particularly valuable point of contact for the delivery of brief interventions because of the large access to patient populations each year. With this in mind, the primary purpose of this randomized controlled trial is to provide screening for alcohol misuse and to test the efficacy of brief interventions in reducing alcohol intake among hospital outpatients in South Africa. Methods/Design: The study design for this efficacy study is a randomised controlled trial with 6-and 12-month follow-ups to examine the effects of a brief alcohol intervention to reduce alcohol use by problem drinkers in a hospital setting. The unit of randomisation is the individual outpatient identified as a medium risk drinker attending Dr George Mukhari Hospital. Outpatients will be screened for alcohol problems, and those identified as medium risk drinkers will be randomized into an experimental or control group. The experimental group will receive one brief counselling session on alcohol risk reduction, while the control group will receive a health education leaflet. Discussion: The trial will evaluate the impact of alcohol screening and brief interventions for patients with alcohol problems in a hospital outpatient setting in South Africa. The findings will impact public health and will enable the health ministry to formulate policy related to brief alcohol interventions, which will result in reduction in alcohol use.
Abstract: The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of Screening and Brief Interventi... more Abstract: The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of Screening and Brief Intervention (SBI) for alcohol problems among university students in South Africa. The study design for this efficacy study is a randomized controlled trial with 6- and 12-month follow-ups to examine the effects of a brief alcohol intervention to reduce alcohol use by hazardous and harmful drinkers in a university setting. The unit of randomization is the individual university student identified as a hazardous or harmful drinker attending public recruitment venues in a university campus. University students were screened for alcohol problems, and those identified as hazardous or harmful drinkers were randomized into an experimental or control group. The experimental group received one brief counseling session on alcohol risk reduction, while the control group received a health education leaflet. Results indicate that of the 722 screened for alcohol and who agreed to participate in the trial 152 (2...
The study investigated and described public hospitals in terms of management processes with refer... more The study investigated and described public hospitals in terms of management processes with reference to financial planning, organizing, leading and control in order to identify deficiencies in the financial management of public hospitals. The aim was to identify gaps in the management of financial processes and to provide guidelines and strategies to improve these. The purpose of the research was addressed within a quantitative approach applying exploratory and descriptive designs. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect the data that fit the objectives of the research. The study population compassed all 27 public hospitals as study units in a specific geographic area, namely Mpumalanga Province with the following inclusion criteria: active patient capacity of 100 beds and more, which employ personnel such as (1) medical, (2) paramedical and (3) administrative and a working application of the BAS as financial accounting system since its interception in the year 2000. Nine public hospitals were randomly selected as the sample hospitals. Within the nine hospitals, four groups of staff were selected by means of stratified random sampling, namely management, health professionals, and financial and administrative staff. The number of staff selected within each hospital differed, from 15 to 50, amounting to a sample size of three hundred (n=300). A response rate of 66.66% v (n=182) was achieved. The sample consisted of 4 (2.27%) chief executive officers, 3 (1.70%) financial managers, 84 (47.72%) unit managers and 91 (50.00%) subordinates. The response rate of 66.66% in this study was an indication of the unavailability of the health care professionals (which include management, health professionals and financial and administrative staff) within the nine public hospitals. The major inferences drawn from this study are that the different health care professions have a poor perception of the scope of financial management in terms of financial needs, utilization of resources, the scope and function of leading and delegation, and applying appropriate financial control methods.
Background: The increasing prevalence of substance abuse among at-school youth calls for the cons... more Background: The increasing prevalence of substance abuse among at-school youth calls for the consistent use of available policies that guide interventions to combat the scourge, and so enable policy reviews and amendments to improve interventions. The National Policy of Drug Abuse Management in Schools in South Africa was published in 2002, but the extent to which it is implemented in schools has not been determined. Purpose: the purpose of the study was to determine the implementation of the National Policy of Drug Abuse Management in Schools in South Africa. Methodology: a qualitative design was used to collect data through in-depth interviews from 21 members of School management teams in a school district in North West Province, South Africa. Results: The National Policy of Drug Abuse Management in Schools is not known by any of the school management team members, and thus not implemented. The schools also lack written policies of their own that they deal with drug abuse matters ...
Journal of Human Ecology, 2013
The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to determine the utilization of oral hygiene expand... more The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to determine the utilization of oral hygiene expanded functions among all 20 oral hygienists who completed a self-administered questionnaire. More than a tenth (11%) of the oral hygienists were not employing the oral hygiene expanded functions. The administration of local anesthesia was the most practiced expanded function (70%). One-fifth (20%) of the public health facility never use oral health expanded functions and 30% mentioned that lack of equipment was the reason for the functions not being fully utilized at their work place. The majority of oral hygienists (85%) agreed that the oral hygiene expanded functions are important and valuable to the oral health profession. Almost half (45%) of the hygienist indicated that their own preferences and lack of confidence were the barriers to utilization of the extended functions. It was recognized that barriers and problems experienced by oral hygienists towards full implementation of the or...
South African Journal of Childhood Education
This study investigated factors impacting on ECD practitioners' ability to facilitate EAL, determ... more This study investigated factors impacting on ECD practitioners' ability to facilitate EAL, determine the professional development needs of ECD practitioners at historically disadvantaged ECD centres in facilitating the acquisition of EAL and used the results to make recommendations to be considered when developing support initiatives to ECD practitioners in this context. Setting: Ga-Rankuwa, a township north of Pretoria. Methods: A descriptive survey design was employed to collect mainly quantitative data and a limited amount of qualitative data. The data were descriptively analysed. Results: Prevalent factors that could impact ECD practitioners' abilities to facilitate EAL included their English proficiency, qualifications and the language of learning and teaching used in the classroom. The participants communicated a need for assistance with (1) enhancing their knowledge on the acquisition of EAL, (2) materials to use in language lessons and (3) lesson planning. Conclusion: There is an urgent need to develop support structures to assist historically disadvantaged ECD practitioners in facilitating the acquisition of EAL. The results of the study can serve as a starting point for planning workshops where ECD practitioners can be trained to develop suitable lesson plans and resources as well as appropriate techniques to enhance preschool learners' acquisition of EAL.
South African Family Practice
Background: Tuberculosis (TB) remains a serious public health concern because it continues devast... more Background: Tuberculosis (TB) remains a serious public health concern because it continues devastating communities. This survey was conducted in the sub-district 2 of the Tshwane health district, South Africa. It aimed at determining the influence of patients’ living conditions on TB treatment outcomes. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) status, food security and exposure to cigarette smoke were considered as living conditions; and cure, death, default, failure and relapse were considered TB treatment outcomes.Methods: Record review using the Aitahealth database, clinic registers as well as a piloted, structured and administered questionnaire.Results: Convenience sampling applied; 180 respondents were obtained. Tuberculosis respondents with negative HIV status had a cure rate of 67.3% whilst those with positive HIV status had 37%. Tuberculosis respondents with good food security had 45.9% of cure rate. Tuberculosis respondents exposed to cigarette smoke had a death rate of 65.2%, wh...
Southern African Journal of Epidemiology and Infection
Journal of Psychology in Africa
The study investigated and described public hospitals in terms of management processes with refer... more The study investigated and described public hospitals in terms of management processes with reference to financial planning, organizing, leading and control in order to identify deficiencies in the financial management of public hospitals. The aim was to identify gaps in the management of financial processes and to provide guidelines and strategies to improve these. The purpose of the research was addressed within a quantitative approach applying exploratory and descriptive designs. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect the data that fit the objectives of the research. The study population compassed all 27 public hospitals as study units in a specific geographic area, namely Mpumalanga Province with the following inclusion criteria: active patient capacity of 100 beds and more, which employ personnel such as (1) medical, (2) paramedical and (3) administrative and a working application of the BAS as financial accounting system since its interception in the year 2000. Nine public hospitals were randomly selected as the sample hospitals. Within the nine hospitals, four groups of staff were selected by means of stratified random sampling, namely management, health professionals, and financial and administrative staff. The number of staff selected within each hospital differed, from 15 to 50, amounting to a sample size of three hundred (n=300). A response rate of 66.66% v (n=182) was achieved. The sample consisted of 4 (2.27%) chief executive officers, 3 (1.70%) financial managers, 84 (47.72%) unit managers and 91 (50.00%) subordinates. The response rate of 66.66% in this study was an indication of the unavailability of the health care professionals (which include management, health professionals and financial and administrative staff) within the nine public hospitals. The major inferences drawn from this study are that the different health care professions have a poor perception of the scope of financial management in terms of financial needs, utilization of resources, the scope and function of leading and delegation, and applying appropriate financial control methods.
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Papers by Hendry van der Heever