The purpose of this study was to create a profile of the sentenced older adult male offender inca... more The purpose of this study was to create a profile of the sentenced older adult male offender incarcerated in South African prisons. The findings of this investigation are based on face-to-face surveys with 88 older adult male inmates. In order to develop a comprehensive profile, the study explored offenders’ backgrounds, previous and current offenses, lifestyle patterns, physical and mental health, institutional living conditions, release, reintegration, and mortality in prison. These domains are discussed in detail, and recommendations are offered for the treatment and care of this offender group. The recommendations may be applicable to other developing countries in the Global South.
Vocational research using the psychology of working theory (PWT) is increasing. Still, empirical ... more Vocational research using the psychology of working theory (PWT) is increasing. Still, empirical studies testing the hypothesized relationships among this theory’s intended target group (e.g., working class or blue-collar workers) are scant. Given the context of South Africa, and drawing on the PWT, this study adds to career literature by illustrating the indirect effect of job satisfaction on the relationship between decent work and two work-related outcomes (i.e., subjective career success and turnover intention) among a sample of South African blue-collar workers. Our results confirmed the bifactor five-factor structure for decent work among a sample of blue-collar workers in South Africa. Specifically, we contribute to existing knowledge about the outcome portion of the PWT model within non-western contexts, by illustrating the direct relationship of decent work with two outcomes i.e., subjective career success and turnover intention and provide evidence for the indirect effect ...
Download link: https://doi.org/10.56285/jltVol56iss2a5169 Co-authored with Andries Masenge, Unive... more Download link: https://doi.org/10.56285/jltVol56iss2a5169 Co-authored with Andries Masenge, University of Pretoria Narrative methodologies are valuable to language and literacy research. Oral narratives told in situations of face-to-face interaction are used in research methodologies and in scaffolding pedagogic activities. Nevertheless oral narratives often present limiting cases in which narrative accounts are less easily distinguishable from other genres such as interrogative, expository, descriptive or argumentative accounts. The resulting confusion around genre has an impact on data selection and weighing and thereby on how narrative is mobilised in research and in pedagogic situations. This paper presents the results of a corpus-based statistical investigation into the interactional features of oral narrative accounts collected during academic literacy interviews. Common claims made about narratives, such as that they are structurally differentiated, that they rely on more turns at talk or that they are a unique manner of presenting discrete experiences are not supported in a straightforward way in the corpus data. Narratives do promote more involvement, self-reference, complex embeddings and constructed dialogue. Conversely they are less frequent, less on task and are more consistently aligned with their context. In language and literacy research these findings suggest a need to reflect on the relationship between types of participant response, types of solicitation and allocated response times. The study contributes to differentiating discourse types more accurately and emphasises the particularities of oral narrative interaction.
The purpose of this study was to create a profile of the sentenced older adult male offender inca... more The purpose of this study was to create a profile of the sentenced older adult male offender incarcerated in South African prisons. The findings of this investigation are based on face-to-face surveys with 88 older adult male inmates. In order to develop a comprehensive profile, the study explored offenders’ backgrounds, previous and current offenses, lifestyle patterns, physical and mental health, institutional living conditions, release, reintegration, and mortality in prison. These domains are discussed in detail, and recommendations are offered for the treatment and care of this offender group. The recommendations may be applicable to other developing countries in the Global South.
The aim of the study was to determine if the Eagala model, an equine-assisted intervention, would... more The aim of the study was to determine if the Eagala model, an equine-assisted intervention, would enhance the psychological wellbeing of adolescents living in a township in South Africa. An embedded mixed-methods research design with convenience sampling was used. Participants were randomly assigned to an experimental or control group. The experimental group participated in the Eagala intervention. The Ryff Scale of Psychological Wellbeing (RSPWB) was used to collect quantitative data while letters to the horses were used as qualitative data. Independent t-tests indicated significant differences between the two groups on the overall score of the RSPWB and five of its dimensions. Using thematic analysis, qualitative themes that enhanced understanding of the quantitative findings were identified. The results confirmed the effectiveness of the Eagala intervention. A Kruskal-Wallis test, however, indicated that between four to eight sessions need to be attended in order for the interven...
Background : Triage is applied in emergency centres (ECs) to assign degrees of urgency to illness... more Background : Triage is applied in emergency centres (ECs) to assign degrees of urgency to illnesses or injuries to decide in which order to treat patients, especially when there are many patients or casualties, facilitating the allocation of scarce medical resources. A triage nurse determines triage priority by assessing patients using an established triage tool with specific criteria. The South African Triage Scale is widely used in South African ECs. Although the South African Triage Scale has been adopted and implemented in both private and public healthcare ECs in South Africa, few studies have assessed the accuracy of nurse-led triage in private ECs. Aim : To determine the accuracy of nurse-led triage in ECs in urban, private hospitals. Methods : A quantitative, descriptive, retrospective study was done. Three private hospitals with similar average patient volumes were purposively selected. We sampled the nursing notes as follows: 1) we stratified nursing notes by nurse qualification and then 2) for each category of nurse we stratified nursing notes according to triage priority level and 3) then systematically randomly selected the recommended number of notes from each triage priority level for each nurse category. We retrospectively audited 389 EC nursing notes to determine the accuracy of nurse-led triage. For each note, we independently applied the South African Triage Scale, and then determined agreement between our score and the score determined by the triage nurse. Results : We recorded 342 triage errors, consisting of triage early warning scores (TEWS) errors (n = 168), discriminator errors (n = 97) and additional investigation errors (n = 77). Overall agreement between the triage nurses and our scores was 71.7% (n = 279). Triage errors (n = 110) consisted of 3.9% (n = 15) over-triage errors and 24.4% (n = 95) under-triage errors. The highest level of agreement was between our scores and the scores of the emergency trained registered nurses (85%) and enrolled nursing assistants (78%). Conclusion : In South African ECs, the South African Triage Scale is not always correctly applied, which can lead to almost a quarter (24.4%) of cases being under-triaged and not receiving timeous care. Our results suggest that emergency trained registered nurses are well equipped to be triage nurses, and that this skill should be developed in South African nursing curricula.
Lymphoma is the third most common paediatric cancer. Early detection of high-risk patients is nec... more Lymphoma is the third most common paediatric cancer. Early detection of high-risk patients is necessary to anticipate those who require intensive therapy and follow-up. Current literature shows that residual tumor avidity on PET (Positron Emission Tomography) following chemotherapy corresponds with decreased survival. However, the value of metabolic parameters has not been adequately investigated. In this retrospective study, we aimed to evaluate the prognostic value of metabolic and other parameters in paediatric and adolescent Hodgkin lymphoma. We recorded tMTV (total Metabolic Tumor Volume), TLG (Total Lesion Glycolysis), and SUVmax (maximum Standard Uptake Value) on baseline PET, as well the presence of bone marrow or visceral involvement. HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) status and baseline biochemistry from clinical records were noted. All patients received stage-specific standard of care therapy. Response assessment on end-of-treatment PET was evaluated according to the Dea...
A few items of existing schizophrenia scales measure avolition, but no research has been reported... more A few items of existing schizophrenia scales measure avolition, but no research has been reported on vigour in schizophrenia, including whether avolition would be more or less the inverse of vigour. Such research requires a valid and reliable measure of vigour. In the absence of this, this study developed and examined the validity and the reliability of the Vigour Assessment Scale (VAS) among 242 avolitional schizophrenia outpatients in relation to measures of workplace vigour, behavioral inhibition and activation, procrastination, fatigue, anxiety, depressive features, and active involvement in personal growth. Convergent validity was found in moderate to strong correlations (r = 0.5 to 0.714) between the VAS and measures approximate to vigour. Discriminant validity was found in lower and/or inverse correlations with depression (r = -0.423), anxiety (r = -0.279), behaviour inhibition (r = -0.045), procrastination (r = -0.656), and fatigue (r = -0.684). Internal consistency was good...
Staff retention has become a complex issue facing many contemporary organisations. The study exam... more Staff retention has become a complex issue facing many contemporary organisations. The study examined the relationship dynamics between employees’ psychological career meta-capacities (measured by the Psychological Career Resources Inventory) and their retention-related dispositions (measured by the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale and the Organisation-related Commitment Scale). A quantitative survey was conducted involving a non-probability purposive sample of predominantly black females in the early life career stage, employed at managerial and staff levels (N = 318) in the field of industrial and organisational psychology. A canonical correlation analysis indicated a significant overall relationship between the psychological career meta-capacities and the retention- related dispositions. Structural equation modelling indicated a good fit of the data with the canonical correlation-derived measurement model. In the employment equity context, the findings provide valuable pointers for ...
Objective To identify and describe predictors of daily hearing technology (HT) use in children. D... more Objective To identify and describe predictors of daily hearing technology (HT) use in children. Design Retrospective review of clinical records. Multiple regression analyses were performed to identify predictors. Study sample The sample included 505 children (<11 years of age) using hearing aids (HAs), cochlear implants (CIs), and bone conduction hearing devices (BCHDs). Results Average HT use was 9.4 h a day. Bivariate analyses yielded 31 potential predictors from the 42 variables included. The general linear model (p < 0.01, R 2 = 0.605) identified 10 interacting factors that significantly associated with increased HT use. Intrinsic predictors of increased HT use included older chronological age, more severe degrees of hearing loss and older ages at diagnosis and initial HA fitting. Extrinsic predictors included the child’s ability to independently use HT, at least one CI as part of the HT fitting, coordinated onsite audiological management, self-procured batteries, auditory...
In response to the burgeoning building integrated agriculture (BIA) discourse and industry, and a... more In response to the burgeoning building integrated agriculture (BIA) discourse and industry, and assumptions of this land use form as a climate change adaptation strategy, this study considers the impact of rooftop greenhouses (RTGs) on the thermal performance of the built environment in current and future climate conditions. Based on empirical evidence, the study simulates the thermal impact of completely retrofitting an existing building in a Southern African urban context with passively controlled, non-integrated RTGs under current and future climate change affected climatic conditions. The study concludes that the current greenhouse technologies used in South African rooftop farms provide limited thermal modulation capacity for farmers, as well as generally negatively affecting the thermal performance of the associated buildings. Simulating both highly and poorly insulated buildings reveal contrasting impacts on the indoor thermal environment, with a 0.73 °C decrease and 0.55 °C ...
The purpose of this study was to create a profile of the sentenced older adult male offender inca... more The purpose of this study was to create a profile of the sentenced older adult male offender incarcerated in South African prisons. The findings of this investigation are based on face-to-face surveys with 88 older adult male inmates. In order to develop a comprehensive profile, the study explored offenders’ backgrounds, previous and current offenses, lifestyle patterns, physical and mental health, institutional living conditions, release, reintegration, and mortality in prison. These domains are discussed in detail, and recommendations are offered for the treatment and care of this offender group. The recommendations may be applicable to other developing countries in the Global South.
Vocational research using the psychology of working theory (PWT) is increasing. Still, empirical ... more Vocational research using the psychology of working theory (PWT) is increasing. Still, empirical studies testing the hypothesized relationships among this theory’s intended target group (e.g., working class or blue-collar workers) are scant. Given the context of South Africa, and drawing on the PWT, this study adds to career literature by illustrating the indirect effect of job satisfaction on the relationship between decent work and two work-related outcomes (i.e., subjective career success and turnover intention) among a sample of South African blue-collar workers. Our results confirmed the bifactor five-factor structure for decent work among a sample of blue-collar workers in South Africa. Specifically, we contribute to existing knowledge about the outcome portion of the PWT model within non-western contexts, by illustrating the direct relationship of decent work with two outcomes i.e., subjective career success and turnover intention and provide evidence for the indirect effect ...
Download link: https://doi.org/10.56285/jltVol56iss2a5169 Co-authored with Andries Masenge, Unive... more Download link: https://doi.org/10.56285/jltVol56iss2a5169 Co-authored with Andries Masenge, University of Pretoria Narrative methodologies are valuable to language and literacy research. Oral narratives told in situations of face-to-face interaction are used in research methodologies and in scaffolding pedagogic activities. Nevertheless oral narratives often present limiting cases in which narrative accounts are less easily distinguishable from other genres such as interrogative, expository, descriptive or argumentative accounts. The resulting confusion around genre has an impact on data selection and weighing and thereby on how narrative is mobilised in research and in pedagogic situations. This paper presents the results of a corpus-based statistical investigation into the interactional features of oral narrative accounts collected during academic literacy interviews. Common claims made about narratives, such as that they are structurally differentiated, that they rely on more turns at talk or that they are a unique manner of presenting discrete experiences are not supported in a straightforward way in the corpus data. Narratives do promote more involvement, self-reference, complex embeddings and constructed dialogue. Conversely they are less frequent, less on task and are more consistently aligned with their context. In language and literacy research these findings suggest a need to reflect on the relationship between types of participant response, types of solicitation and allocated response times. The study contributes to differentiating discourse types more accurately and emphasises the particularities of oral narrative interaction.
The purpose of this study was to create a profile of the sentenced older adult male offender inca... more The purpose of this study was to create a profile of the sentenced older adult male offender incarcerated in South African prisons. The findings of this investigation are based on face-to-face surveys with 88 older adult male inmates. In order to develop a comprehensive profile, the study explored offenders’ backgrounds, previous and current offenses, lifestyle patterns, physical and mental health, institutional living conditions, release, reintegration, and mortality in prison. These domains are discussed in detail, and recommendations are offered for the treatment and care of this offender group. The recommendations may be applicable to other developing countries in the Global South.
The aim of the study was to determine if the Eagala model, an equine-assisted intervention, would... more The aim of the study was to determine if the Eagala model, an equine-assisted intervention, would enhance the psychological wellbeing of adolescents living in a township in South Africa. An embedded mixed-methods research design with convenience sampling was used. Participants were randomly assigned to an experimental or control group. The experimental group participated in the Eagala intervention. The Ryff Scale of Psychological Wellbeing (RSPWB) was used to collect quantitative data while letters to the horses were used as qualitative data. Independent t-tests indicated significant differences between the two groups on the overall score of the RSPWB and five of its dimensions. Using thematic analysis, qualitative themes that enhanced understanding of the quantitative findings were identified. The results confirmed the effectiveness of the Eagala intervention. A Kruskal-Wallis test, however, indicated that between four to eight sessions need to be attended in order for the interven...
Background : Triage is applied in emergency centres (ECs) to assign degrees of urgency to illness... more Background : Triage is applied in emergency centres (ECs) to assign degrees of urgency to illnesses or injuries to decide in which order to treat patients, especially when there are many patients or casualties, facilitating the allocation of scarce medical resources. A triage nurse determines triage priority by assessing patients using an established triage tool with specific criteria. The South African Triage Scale is widely used in South African ECs. Although the South African Triage Scale has been adopted and implemented in both private and public healthcare ECs in South Africa, few studies have assessed the accuracy of nurse-led triage in private ECs. Aim : To determine the accuracy of nurse-led triage in ECs in urban, private hospitals. Methods : A quantitative, descriptive, retrospective study was done. Three private hospitals with similar average patient volumes were purposively selected. We sampled the nursing notes as follows: 1) we stratified nursing notes by nurse qualification and then 2) for each category of nurse we stratified nursing notes according to triage priority level and 3) then systematically randomly selected the recommended number of notes from each triage priority level for each nurse category. We retrospectively audited 389 EC nursing notes to determine the accuracy of nurse-led triage. For each note, we independently applied the South African Triage Scale, and then determined agreement between our score and the score determined by the triage nurse. Results : We recorded 342 triage errors, consisting of triage early warning scores (TEWS) errors (n = 168), discriminator errors (n = 97) and additional investigation errors (n = 77). Overall agreement between the triage nurses and our scores was 71.7% (n = 279). Triage errors (n = 110) consisted of 3.9% (n = 15) over-triage errors and 24.4% (n = 95) under-triage errors. The highest level of agreement was between our scores and the scores of the emergency trained registered nurses (85%) and enrolled nursing assistants (78%). Conclusion : In South African ECs, the South African Triage Scale is not always correctly applied, which can lead to almost a quarter (24.4%) of cases being under-triaged and not receiving timeous care. Our results suggest that emergency trained registered nurses are well equipped to be triage nurses, and that this skill should be developed in South African nursing curricula.
Lymphoma is the third most common paediatric cancer. Early detection of high-risk patients is nec... more Lymphoma is the third most common paediatric cancer. Early detection of high-risk patients is necessary to anticipate those who require intensive therapy and follow-up. Current literature shows that residual tumor avidity on PET (Positron Emission Tomography) following chemotherapy corresponds with decreased survival. However, the value of metabolic parameters has not been adequately investigated. In this retrospective study, we aimed to evaluate the prognostic value of metabolic and other parameters in paediatric and adolescent Hodgkin lymphoma. We recorded tMTV (total Metabolic Tumor Volume), TLG (Total Lesion Glycolysis), and SUVmax (maximum Standard Uptake Value) on baseline PET, as well the presence of bone marrow or visceral involvement. HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) status and baseline biochemistry from clinical records were noted. All patients received stage-specific standard of care therapy. Response assessment on end-of-treatment PET was evaluated according to the Dea...
A few items of existing schizophrenia scales measure avolition, but no research has been reported... more A few items of existing schizophrenia scales measure avolition, but no research has been reported on vigour in schizophrenia, including whether avolition would be more or less the inverse of vigour. Such research requires a valid and reliable measure of vigour. In the absence of this, this study developed and examined the validity and the reliability of the Vigour Assessment Scale (VAS) among 242 avolitional schizophrenia outpatients in relation to measures of workplace vigour, behavioral inhibition and activation, procrastination, fatigue, anxiety, depressive features, and active involvement in personal growth. Convergent validity was found in moderate to strong correlations (r = 0.5 to 0.714) between the VAS and measures approximate to vigour. Discriminant validity was found in lower and/or inverse correlations with depression (r = -0.423), anxiety (r = -0.279), behaviour inhibition (r = -0.045), procrastination (r = -0.656), and fatigue (r = -0.684). Internal consistency was good...
Staff retention has become a complex issue facing many contemporary organisations. The study exam... more Staff retention has become a complex issue facing many contemporary organisations. The study examined the relationship dynamics between employees’ psychological career meta-capacities (measured by the Psychological Career Resources Inventory) and their retention-related dispositions (measured by the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale and the Organisation-related Commitment Scale). A quantitative survey was conducted involving a non-probability purposive sample of predominantly black females in the early life career stage, employed at managerial and staff levels (N = 318) in the field of industrial and organisational psychology. A canonical correlation analysis indicated a significant overall relationship between the psychological career meta-capacities and the retention- related dispositions. Structural equation modelling indicated a good fit of the data with the canonical correlation-derived measurement model. In the employment equity context, the findings provide valuable pointers for ...
Objective To identify and describe predictors of daily hearing technology (HT) use in children. D... more Objective To identify and describe predictors of daily hearing technology (HT) use in children. Design Retrospective review of clinical records. Multiple regression analyses were performed to identify predictors. Study sample The sample included 505 children (<11 years of age) using hearing aids (HAs), cochlear implants (CIs), and bone conduction hearing devices (BCHDs). Results Average HT use was 9.4 h a day. Bivariate analyses yielded 31 potential predictors from the 42 variables included. The general linear model (p < 0.01, R 2 = 0.605) identified 10 interacting factors that significantly associated with increased HT use. Intrinsic predictors of increased HT use included older chronological age, more severe degrees of hearing loss and older ages at diagnosis and initial HA fitting. Extrinsic predictors included the child’s ability to independently use HT, at least one CI as part of the HT fitting, coordinated onsite audiological management, self-procured batteries, auditory...
In response to the burgeoning building integrated agriculture (BIA) discourse and industry, and a... more In response to the burgeoning building integrated agriculture (BIA) discourse and industry, and assumptions of this land use form as a climate change adaptation strategy, this study considers the impact of rooftop greenhouses (RTGs) on the thermal performance of the built environment in current and future climate conditions. Based on empirical evidence, the study simulates the thermal impact of completely retrofitting an existing building in a Southern African urban context with passively controlled, non-integrated RTGs under current and future climate change affected climatic conditions. The study concludes that the current greenhouse technologies used in South African rooftop farms provide limited thermal modulation capacity for farmers, as well as generally negatively affecting the thermal performance of the associated buildings. Simulating both highly and poorly insulated buildings reveal contrasting impacts on the indoor thermal environment, with a 0.73 °C decrease and 0.55 °C ...
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