Jennifer Chipps
University of the Western Cape, Medicine, Faculty Member
- Telehealth, Mobile Technology, Mobile Learning, Social Media, Medicine, Suicide, and 18 moreKnowledge Management, Epidemiology, Evidence Based Practice, Dissemination of Evidence Based Treatments, E-learning, Information Technology, Technology, Information Systems, Public Health, Mental Health, Suicide prevention, Screening, Dementia, Research, Medical Education, Evidence Based Nursing, Nursing Education, and Cultural Competenceedit
Research Interests: Epidemiology, Asthma, Adolescent, Applied Economics, Humans, and 17 moreChild, Hospitalization, Female, Male, Infant, New South Wales, Prevalence, Parents, Questionnaires, Public Administration and Policy, Public health systems and services research, Emergencies, Urban Population, Logistic Models, Predictive value of tests, Severity of Illness Index, and Child preschool
Global increases in life expectancy are expected to continue, with accompanying physical and mental well-being challenges specifically for older people living in residential care settings. The aim of the study was to investigate the... more
Global increases in life expectancy are expected to continue, with accompanying physical and mental well-being challenges specifically for older people living in residential care settings. The aim of the study was to investigate the association between mental well-being and social capital of older residents (60+ years) in an urban residential care facility in South Africa. A descriptive survey was conducted with 103 residents living in a residential care facility in an urban environment in South Africa. The social capital framework from the Canadian Policy Research Initiative, the WHO-5 well-being index, the Kessler-6 measure of psychosocial distress, the OSLO-3 Social Support Scale and the Australian Bureau of Statistics Indigenous Health Questionnaire were used to develop the questionnaire. The WHO-5 showed moderate ratings of mental well-being for the standard scoring (>13) (62, 82.7%), but lower levels when using 'no negative ratings' (36; 50.6%). Significant differences in the primary network size, average closeness, self-efficacy and social support as well as the ability to confide in primary network was shown between residents with mentally well and unwell ratings. Logistic regression showed that the strongest predictor for mental well-being was participation in activities outside of the residence and having a primary network. The study confirms the association between social capital and mental well-being.
Over the past 20 years, military forces worldwide have been engaged in a number of conflicts and humanitarian operations and the impact of this on the field of military nursing research is unknown. The aim of this bibliometric review was... more
Over the past 20 years, military forces worldwide have been engaged in a number of conflicts and humanitarian operations and the impact of this on the field of military nursing research is unknown. The aim of this bibliometric review was to investigate the research field of military nursing in the main databases with the purpose to describe trends in military nursing research since 1990. To identify military nursing papers in the main databases and to describe the field of military nursing research for the period 1990-2013 in terms of research productivity, trends in topic focus, trends in authorship and country of publication. Bibliometric review of published military nursing research papers was undertaken in March 2014 and data was extracted and coded and trends were analyzed using SPSSv21. In total 237 articles were included in the review. The majority of publications emanating from America (n=175, 73.8%) and the quantity of papers has increased significantly since the commencement of the second Gulf War in Iraq from 2003 onwards (n=156, 65.8%). This has been accompanied by a shift in topic focus from professional (n=16, 20.3%) and occupational issues (n=17, 21.5%) pre 2003, to clinical (n=48, 30.4%) and an increase in multidisciplinary research from 4% in 1990-94 to 29% in 2010-13. The mean citations were 10.6 (sd 17.0) and the mean references per paper post 2003 showed a marked increase from 23.5 to 25.4. The military nursing research field appears stronger than it has been in the past twenty years and has demonstrated increased transferability to other fields. To maintain this momentum and further develop the field of military nursing research, military forces worldwide need to devise focused nursing research strategies that involve international and multidisciplinary collaboration.
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Background/rationale Many mhealth and mlearning interventions fail, because they adopt atechno-centric view and ignore the local context. To address this, the present study investigated the'organic' adoption and educational usage of... more
Background/rationale
Many mhealth and mlearning interventions fail, because they adopt atechno-centric view and ignore the local context. To address this, the present study investigated the'organic' adoption and educational usage of mobile phones by health workers in rural health settings.
Methods:
A
qualitative study was conducted interviewing nursing/advanced midwifery students,facilitators and nursing managers from rural, resource-constrained regions in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Content analysis used the concepts of Community of Inquiry theory as'a priori-constructs'.
Results:
The research revealed a number of unexpected learning and teaching practices - based onthe grass-root adoption of mobile phone functions and in particular social apps. These practicesinvolved cognitive, teaching and social presence as well as reflective practice and enabled richeducational experiences -
according to the Community of Inquiry Theory.”
Theoretical discussion
: 'Traditional' communities of inquiry are based on pre-determined onlineenvironments. By contrast, learners used bundles of phone-based functions/apps to embed mobileand blended communities and other resources that were fragmented across social, temporal, topical,geographical, digital and 'real' spaces in the inquiry process in very dynamic ways.
Conclusion:
In view of future mHealth and mobile learning efforts, mobile phones appear to beparticularly suitable to facilitate competence development in the following ways: (a) problem solvingand situated co-construction of local knowledge (b) socio-cultural participation - to alleviateprofessional isolation; (c) connecting learning in workplaces with formal education systems; and (d)addressing unpredictable opportunities and challenges that are typical for the changing andprovisional (health) contexts observed. Instead of ignoring the revealed practices, health andeducation institutions are well advised to support learners in media literacy - enabling them to moreeffectively and critically use existing (mobile) technologies"
Many mhealth and mlearning interventions fail, because they adopt atechno-centric view and ignore the local context. To address this, the present study investigated the'organic' adoption and educational usage of mobile phones by health workers in rural health settings.
Methods:
A
qualitative study was conducted interviewing nursing/advanced midwifery students,facilitators and nursing managers from rural, resource-constrained regions in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Content analysis used the concepts of Community of Inquiry theory as'a priori-constructs'.
Results:
The research revealed a number of unexpected learning and teaching practices - based onthe grass-root adoption of mobile phone functions and in particular social apps. These practicesinvolved cognitive, teaching and social presence as well as reflective practice and enabled richeducational experiences -
according to the Community of Inquiry Theory.”
Theoretical discussion
: 'Traditional' communities of inquiry are based on pre-determined onlineenvironments. By contrast, learners used bundles of phone-based functions/apps to embed mobileand blended communities and other resources that were fragmented across social, temporal, topical,geographical, digital and 'real' spaces in the inquiry process in very dynamic ways.
Conclusion:
In view of future mHealth and mobile learning efforts, mobile phones appear to beparticularly suitable to facilitate competence development in the following ways: (a) problem solvingand situated co-construction of local knowledge (b) socio-cultural participation - to alleviateprofessional isolation; (c) connecting learning in workplaces with formal education systems; and (d)addressing unpredictable opportunities and challenges that are typical for the changing andprovisional (health) contexts observed. Instead of ignoring the revealed practices, health andeducation institutions are well advised to support learners in media literacy - enabling them to moreeffectively and critically use existing (mobile) technologies"
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Research findings have reported lack of reliable health data and poor management for district health information systems in low and middle-income countries (LMIC). This paper aims to review the literature on problems with health data... more
Research findings have reported lack of reliable health data and poor management for district health information systems in low and middle-income countries (LMIC). This paper aims to review the literature on problems with health data quality management and health information evidences and evidences of best practices and use at community and district levels in LMIC, with a view to making recommendations for future research. Research citations, conference proceedings and diseases surveillance reports from 2000–2011 were accessed in PubMed, Medline, LISTA (EBSCO), CINAHL, Cochrane, and Google. Relevant studies were selected, the methodologies critiqued and synthesized. The researchers accessed 1383, and 38 were reviewed by three reviewers. Poor quality health data, low level of health information use, and poor management of health information systems were found. These findings hinder evidence-based decisions based and planning at community and district levels in LMIC. Though poor practices were found, improved health care services delivery with improved health data efficiency was found to be possible.
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The effectiveness of dementia screening depends on the availability of suitable screening tools with good sensitivity and specificity to confidently distinguish normal age-related cognitive decline from dementia. The aim of this study was... more
The effectiveness of dementia screening depends on the availability of suitable screening tools with good sensitivity and specificity to confidently distinguish normal age-related cognitive decline from dementia. The aim of this study was to evaluate the discriminant validity of 7 screening measures for dementia. A sample of 140 participants aged ≥60 years living in a residential facility for the aged were assessed clinically and assigned caseness for dementia using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition, text revised diagnostic criteria. Sensitivity and specificity of a selection of the following screening measures were tested using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis for individual and combined tests: the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Six-Item Screener (SIS), Subjective Memory Complaint, Subjective Memory Complaint Clinical (SMCC), Subjective Memory Rating Scale (SMRS), Deterioration Cognitive Observee (DECO) and the Clock Drawing Test (CDT). Using ROC analyses, the SMCC, MMSE and CDT were found to be 'moderately accurate' in screening for dementia with an area under the curve (AUC) >0.70. The AUCs for the SIS (0.526), SMRS (0.661) and DECO (0.687) classified these measures as being 'less accurate'. At recommended cutoff scores, the SMCC had a sensitivity of 90.9% and specificity of 45.7%; the MMSE had a sensitivity of 63.6% and a specificity of 76.0%, and the CDT had a sensitivity of 44.4% and a specificity of 88.9%. Combining the SMCC and MMSE did not improve their predictive power except for a modest increase when using the sequential rule. The SMCC is composed of valid screening questions that have high sensitivity, are simple to administer and ideal for administration at the community or primary health care level as a first level of 'rule-out' screening. The MMSE can be included at a second stage of screening at the general hospital level and the CDT in specialist clinical settings. Sequential use of the SMCC and MMSE will improve the specificity of the former and the sensitivity of the latter.
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AimTo describe the tasks and the roles of nurses and midwives in Sub-Saharan African health services.To describe the tasks and the roles of nurses and midwives in Sub-Saharan African health services.BackgroundThe current roles of nurses... more
AimTo describe the tasks and the roles of nurses and midwives in Sub-Saharan African health services.To describe the tasks and the roles of nurses and midwives in Sub-Saharan African health services.BackgroundThe current roles of nurses and midwives in the African region of the World Health Organization have not been empirically established, with only studies from two countries found (South Africa and Mozambique). This makes it difficult to establish whether current nursing/midwifery education programmes and regulations adequately address the needs in the health services.The current roles of nurses and midwives in the African region of the World Health Organization have not been empirically established, with only studies from two countries found (South Africa and Mozambique). This makes it difficult to establish whether current nursing/midwifery education programmes and regulations adequately address the needs in the health services.DesignA descriptive quantitative study.A descriptive quantitative study.MethodsA survey questionnaire was administered to ambulatory and hospital services. Data were collected between June–December 2010, with completed responses from 734 nurses from nine African countries (five Anglophone and four Francophone).A survey questionnaire was administered to ambulatory and hospital services. Data were collected between June–December 2010, with completed responses from 734 nurses from nine African countries (five Anglophone and four Francophone).ResultsThe highest reported role functioning in both settings was for ‘General Care and Treatment’. The lowest role functioning reported in both settings was in the role ‘Maternal and Child Health’ and in ‘The Provision of Mental Health Care’. The reported role performance in Anglophone countries was significantly greater than in Francophone countries.The highest reported role functioning in both settings was for ‘General Care and Treatment’. The lowest role functioning reported in both settings was in the role ‘Maternal and Child Health’ and in ‘The Provision of Mental Health Care’. The reported role performance in Anglophone countries was significantly greater than in Francophone countries.ConclusionThe development of competency in nursing/midwifery roles other than medical surgical roles (general assessment and care) should receive more attention in curricula. Special attention needs to be given to Francophone countries, where the professions of nursing and midwifery are poorly developed.The development of competency in nursing/midwifery roles other than medical surgical roles (general assessment and care) should receive more attention in curricula. Special attention needs to be given to Francophone countries, where the professions of nursing and midwifery are poorly developed.
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The access of rural Mental Health Care Users in South Africa to specialist psychiatrists and quality mental health care is currently sub-optimal. Health professionals and planners working in psychiatry lack a well-defined and feasible... more
The access of rural Mental Health Care Users in South Africa to specialist psychiatrists and quality mental health care is currently sub-optimal. Health professionals and planners working in psychiatry lack a well-defined and feasible outreach model to facilitate the delivery of services to remote and rural areas. In response to this challenge, a three-year action research telepsychiatry study was undertaken by the Departments of Psychiatry and TeleHealth at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, to develop a telepsychiatry outreach model based on local research and international evidence. The Model draws on needs and infrastructure assessments of the designated psychiatric hospitals in the province, a review of the published international evidence on telepsychiatry and videoconference-based education, and an evaluation of local clinical and educational telepsychiatry implementations in KwaZulu-Natal. The Model proposed is "virtual", i.e. not bound to provincial or district referral patterns, aims not to add to the burden on the current workforce and is intended to be integrated into psychiatry outreach services and policy. The Model should be subjected to in situ testing for validation and implementation. It is hoped that an implementation of this Model will improve the access of Mental Health Care Users to specialist psychiatry care.
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Psychiatry registrars form the backbone of specialized psychiatric service provision in South Africa. Medical schools are centralized while clinical services need to be widespread and accessible. Video-conferencing has the potential to... more
Psychiatry registrars form the backbone of specialized psychiatric service provision in South Africa. Medical schools are centralized while clinical services need to be widespread and accessible. Video-conferencing has the potential to link registrars at satellite hospitals with academic centers. The study thus evaluated of the use of videoconferencing in a Psychiatry Education Program delivered via videoconferencing.
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In 2009, the Departments of Psychiatry and Telehealth of the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) initiated a three year project to develop telepsychiatry services in KwaZulu-Natal. This paper describes the challenges and opportunities of... more
In 2009, the Departments of Psychiatry and Telehealth of the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) initiated a three year project to develop telepsychiatry services in KwaZulu-Natal. This paper describes the challenges and opportunities of this project.
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We assessed the preparedness of health districts and designated hospitals in the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) province for proposed telepsychiatry services. An e-health readiness questionnaire for developing countries was administered to managers... more
We assessed the preparedness of health districts and designated hospitals in the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) province for proposed telepsychiatry services. An e-health readiness questionnaire for developing countries was administered to managers of health districts and managers of designated psychiatric hospitals by telephone interview. Ten of the 11 district managers and managers/medical officers of 45 of 58 designated hospitals were interviewed. Notwithstanding some concerns regarding the tool, low levels of e-health readiness were found. District managers recorded e-health readiness scores of 137-217 out of 300. This was similar to the hospital managers, who recorded readiness scores of 121-260 out of 300. For telepsychiatry to succeed in KZN, an awareness programme will be required to facilitate the necessary change management.
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The NSW Mental Health Outcomes and Assessment Tools Training Project (MH-OAT) is a collaborative and consumer-centred project that aims to strengthen the assessment skills of the mental health care workforce. MH-OAT does this through... more
The NSW Mental Health Outcomes and Assessment Tools Training Project (MH-OAT) is a collaborative and consumer-centred project that aims to strengthen the assessment skills of the mental health care workforce. MH-OAT does this through training that supports the introduction of a ...
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• support the development of an R&D workforce, with emphasis on career opportunities in the biomedical sciences and training in health economics, public health and applied epidemiology, clinical epidemiology and health... more
• support the development of an R&D workforce, with emphasis on career opportunities in the biomedical sciences and training in health economics, public health and applied epidemiology, clinical epidemiology and health informatics; and • propose approaches to ...
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Being clinically competent is an essential component of any nursing curricula to ensure that on completion the nursing graduates are able to practice safely and effectively as a nurse. Clinical Self-Study Laboratories have become... more
Being clinically competent is an essential component of any nursing curricula to ensure that on completion the nursing graduates are able to practice safely and effectively as a nurse. Clinical Self-Study Laboratories have become increasingly popular in nursing education in recent years as a way of ensuring a variety of skills are taught to the nursing students. These clinical skills laboratories are used to teach communication and interpersonal skills, psychomotor skills, promote the development of collaborative skills required in nursing as well as being able to help integrate theory and practice [Morgan, R., 2006. Using clinical skills laboratories to promote theory-practice integration during first practice placement: an Irish perspective. Journal of Clinical Nursing 15, 155-161]. However, it is essential that these programs be subject to routine quality assurance and effectiveness evaluation. The purpose of the study was to conduct a process evaluation of the implementation of the Clinical Self-Study Laboratory (CSSL) in the School of Nursing, University of KwaZulu-Natal. The process evaluation included a descriptive quantitative satisfaction survey of first and third year Bachelor of Nursing students, a checklist to assess the quality of the CSSL equipment and a retrospective record review of utilisation of the CSSL by students. The CSSL appears to be well implemented and utilized by students. Students reported that it was accessible and that the equipment in the laboratory was of a reasonable quality. A few students reported dissatisfaction with some of the equipment and requested that more equipment and trained personnel be made available.
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This is the fourth of a series of articles on the epidemiology of suicide in NSW by the Mental Health Epidemiology Group (MHIEG). Our first report presented Standardised Mortality Ratios (SMRs) for Area and District Health Services by... more
This is the fourth of a series of articles on the epidemiology of suicide in NSW by the Mental Health Epidemiology Group (MHIEG). Our first report presented Standardised Mortality Ratios (SMRs) for Area and District Health Services by pooling data across the 14-year period ...
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The South African Mental Health Care Act (the Act) No. 17 of 2002 stipulated that regional and district hospitals be designated to admit, observe and treat mental health care users (MHCUs) for 72 hours before they are transferred to a... more
The South African Mental Health Care Act (the Act) No. 17 of 2002 stipulated that regional and district hospitals be designated to admit, observe and treat mental health care users (MHCUs) for 72 hours before they are transferred to a psychiatric hospital. Medical managers in 49 'designated' hospitals in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) were surveyed on infrastructure, staffing, administrative requirements and mental health care user case load pertaining to the Act for the month of July 2009. Thirty-six (73.4%) hospitals responded to the survey; 30 (83.3%) stated that the Act improved mental health care for MHCUs through the protection of their rights, provision of least restrictive care, and reduction of discrimination; 10 (27.8%) had a psychiatric unit and, of the remaining 26 hospitals, 11 (30.6%) had general ward beds dedicated for psychiatric admissions; 16 (44.4%) had some form of seclusion facility; and 24 (66.7%) provided an outpatient psychiatric service. Seventy-six per cent of admissions were involuntary or assisted. Thirteen of the 32 (40.6%) state psychiatrists in KZN were employed at 8 of these hospitals. Designated hospitals expressed dissatisfaction with the substantial administrative load required by the Act. The Review Board had not visited 29 (80.6 %) hospitals in the preceding 6 months. Although 'designated' hospitals admit and treat assisted and involuntary MHCUs, they do so against a backdrop of inadequate infrastructure and staff, a high administrative load, and a low level of contact with Review Boards.
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To find and review studies in which investigators evaluated cultural-competence training in community-based rehabilitation settings; critique study methods, describe clinical outcomes, and make recommendations for future research. A... more
To find and review studies in which investigators evaluated cultural-competence training in community-based rehabilitation settings; critique study methods, describe clinical outcomes, and make recommendations for future research. A review of the effectiveness of cultural-competence training for health professionals in community-based rehabilitation settings was conducted. Research citations from 1991-2006 in CINAHL, Medline, Pubmed, PsycInfo, SABINET, Cochrane, Google, NEXUS, and unpublished abstracts were searched. Searching, sifting, abstracting, and assessing quality of relevant studies by three reviewers. Studies were evaluated for sample, design, intervention, threats to validity, and outcomes. A meta-analysis was not conducted because the studies did not address the same research question. Five studies and one systematic review were evaluated. Positive outcomes were reported for most training programs. Reviewed studies generally had small samples and poor design. The paucity of studies and lack of empirical precision in evaluating effectiveness necessitate future studies that are methodologically rigorous to allow confident recommendations for practice.
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... this journal. Early Alert. Subscribe to our email Early Alert or RSS feeds for the latest journal papers. Suicide mortality in NSW: Clients of mental health services Jennifer Chipps, Gavin Stewart and Geoffrey Sayer Abstract This ...