WIReDSpace

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For queries relating to content and technical issues, please contact IR specialists via this email address : openscholarship.library@wits.ac.za, Tel: 011 717 4652 or 011 717 1954

 

Communities in WIReDSpace

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Now showing 1 - 5 of 18

Recent Submissions

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Exploring the relationship between orphanhood status, living arrangements and sexual and reproductive health outcomes among female adolescents in Southern Africa
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Shoko, Mercy; Kahn, Kathleen; Ginsburg, Carren
Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health (ASRH) is high on the global development agenda. Among the respective research conducted is the various social contexts that may contribute to adverse SRH outcomes, including the overlapping issues of orphanhood and living arrangements. These are crucial given that the presence or absence of parents emerges as critical for the sexual and reproductive well-being of adolescents. While orphanhood, particularly in the context of the HIV epidemic in Southern Africa, receives considerable attention, this study highlights a noteworthy gap in the literature – the limited focus on living arrangements and its influence on ASRH, often overshadowed by orphanhood. This research is important given the evidence suggesting that the African traditional kinship care systems offer support for orphans. However, recent research also highlights the crucial role of biological parents in providing effective care and support for adolescents. The study aims to contribute by exploring the relationship between orphanhood status, living arrangements, and ASRH in Southern Africa. Utilising cross-sectional Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data, the analysis delves into key dimensions of SRH, including sexual debut, HIV knowledge, and adolescent fertility, which are all critical links to HIV risk. The findings underscore a significant association between non-coresidency with parents, whether due to orphanhood or separate living arrangements, and a heightened risk of adverse SRH outcomes. This suggests that interventions aimed at addressing adolescent SRH in Southern Africa should encompass a holistic understanding of parental presence or absence. The study emphasises the complex interplay between orphanhood, parental absence, and various individual, household, and geographic factors that collectively contribute to the vulnerability of female adolescents in the context of ASRH. Despite that the results suggest that the data on orphanhood and living arrangements may be of acceptable quality, the study recognises the potential for detailed insights through future research employing longitudinal data. Such an approach could offer a more nuanced and comprehensive understanding of ASRH over time, subsequently informing targeted policies and interventions in the unique socio-cultural context of Southern Africa
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An ethico-legal analysis of broad consent for biobank research in South Africa: Towards an enabling framework
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Maseme, Mantombi Rebecca
Biobanks preserve collections of human biological material and data for the benefit of medical research. Using and transferring human biological data and materials both inside and outside of South Africa is often a requirement of biobank research. Broad consent is allowed by the South African National Department of Health Ethics Guidelines but appears to be prohibited by section 13(1) of the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013. Additionally, the Act mandates that all personal data (including biobank sample data) be collected for legitimate, definite, and clearly stated purposes. There is room for several interpretations of the Act because of this discord between the two instruments. Given the connection between the transfer of samples and data, the long-term nature of biobanking, which makes it impractical to provide too much or adequate information because it is simply not available at the time of sample collection, and the various ways that the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 have been interpreted, I aim to respond to the following question: How should South Africa’s current regulatory framework appropriately permit broad consent use for biobank research where the transfer of samples and their associated data are contemplated? The research question is addressed by applying ethical principles and theories, as well as analysing and evaluating relevant ethico-legal frameworks and literature. The study involves no research participants and no collection or analysis of any new data. Arguments for and against using broad consent for biobank research are discussed by demonstrating the potential for biobank research to do a great deal of good for humanity; the ambiguity in the current regulatory framework regarding whether broad consent is permissible for personal information/data; and the ethical justifiability of broad consent. In summary, the proposed regulatory framework amendments are those that would be required to allow for ethically justifiable biobank research broad consent use. These include removing regulatory ambiguity regarding broad consent use, ensuring adequate safeguards for research participants by specifying rules for data access and personal information processing, and incorporating consent form information requirements into the national Consent Template as specified in the National Department of Health Ethics Guidelines
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Medical students’ professional identity formation during a social upheaval: a qualitative study
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023) Mokhachane, Mantoa
This phenomenological qualitative study, with an autoethnographic aspect, explored the University of the Witwatersrand’s medical students’ experiences of professionalism and professional identity formation amidst protests and social upheaval, namely, #FeesMustFall protests. The socio-historical autoethnographic sections emanate from my undergraduate journey in the same medical school 32 years before this study. I interviewed 13 participants. The participants’ stories echoed my own story during my undergraduate years in medical training, hence the inclusion of autoethnography. In this study, I question the under- representation of previously marginalised groups in the discourse of professionalism and professional identity formation. I also question the lack of an African influence on professionalism and professional identity formation. This study was conducted at the University of the Witwatersrand after obtaining Human Research Ethics Committee approval. I used an interpretive qualitative phenomenological enquiry in order to understand the meaning of students’ experiences. I also did not want to bracket myself, as my experiences resonated with those of the contemporary students, hence the choice of an interpretive instead of a descriptive phenomenological approach. A purposive sample was drawn from medical students. Thirteen semi-structured interviews were conducted in 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic. Interviews were conducted with 13 participants, eight final-year medical students and five recent graduates who were in the first- or second-year internship (residency) training. The participants were five women (four Black and one White) and eight men (five Black and three White). An interview guide was used to probe the students’ journeys towards becoming doctors, their experiences during the #FeesMustall protests, experiences of professionalism and how #FeesMustFall impacted their professional identity development. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed in MAXQDA 2020. I used an inductive approach, where each transcript was analysed as an individual case for the essence of its meaning and how participants’ experiences influenced their being and becoming doctors. When analysing the data through an African lens, Ubuntu, I used metaphors to allow the reorientation of professional identity formation, what professionalism means to contemporary students and how professionalism is weaponised against those who do not fit the western ideals of a medical professional. Racism was the foundation of many ills in medical education, particularly in the clinical spaces at the hospitals affiliated with the University of the Witwatersrand. This study highlights the contribution of Ubuntu-based values on professional identity formation and the influence of Ubuntu on the meaning of professionalism to contemporary medical students and recent graduates. It adds an African voice to the global western professional identity theories. This study encourages other researchers to explore their contexts to define professionalism and how professional identity is attained. I recommend reconstructing professionalism using Ubuntu as professionalism in medical education through letsema, Ubuntu, advocacy, and the acceptance of the intersectionality with which trainees enter medical education
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Hydropolitical Textualities
(TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD) Grace Musila