A scoping review protocol of the lived experiences of doing a PhD in Africa.

OBJECTIVE: This scoping review aims to investigate the available literature on the lived experiences of doing a PhD in African Universities. INTRODUCTION: The continent of Africa still contributes a minimal amount of research towards global research outputs. The need for increased research capacity and outputs have been identified as priority for growth and development. There is a substantial need for evidence-based solutions that can alleviate some of these complexities. For example, challenges still exist in the disease burden faced, economic poverty and lack of infrastructure in various contexts. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: Multiple databases will be searched, including the EBSCO Host, Scopus, EMBASE, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Medline (Ovid), and Google Scholar. The scoping review will be conducted using the Arksey & O'Malley (2005)'s six-step approach in conjunction with the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) methodology for scoping reviews. Studies that examined the perspective of PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) candidates, supervisors from Africa, and research studies focusing on the common barriers and facilitators concerning research in Africa will be included. Studies that explore the perspectives of other postgraduate cohorts will be excluded. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethics application will not be required but findings will be disseminated through publications, conference presentation, policy, and relevant stakeholders. REVIEW REGISTRATION NUMBER: This study has been registered with the Open Science Forum (OSF).

A systematic review of physical activity: benefits and needs for maintenance of quality of life among adults with intellectual disability.

The inactivity of people with intellectual disabilities (PwID) is a major contributor to ill health. Probably because people with intellectual disabilities are not adequately informed about physical activity and intervention programs required to enhance their fitness. This study critically reviewed physical activity: benefits and needs for maintenance of quality of life among adults with intellectual disability. An extensive search of bibliographic databases such as PubMed, PsycINFO, BioMed Central and Medline identified 735 academic papers. The research rigour was evaluated, and the validity of the findings was established. Based on the inclusion criteria, 15 studies were included in the review. Various forms of physical activity were studied as interventions. The results of a critical review indicate that physical activity has a moderate to strong positive impact on weight loss, sedentary behaviour, and disability-related quality of life. Adults with ID may benefit from physical activity as a non-pharmaceutical method of improving their health needs. However, this study's results may only apply to some adults with intellectual disabilities. The sample size needs to be increased in future studies in order to draw generalizable conclusions.

Barriers to employment of people with intellectual disability.

BACKGROUND: People with intellectual disability are likely to face long-standing employment barriers in finding and keeping jobs, for a variety of reasons. This study, therefore, investigated barriers to employment of people with intellectual disability. The participants in this study were made up of sixty-five stakeholders who were recruited from six different categories. OBJECTIVE: The objective of the study was to determine barriers to employment of people with intellectual disability. METHODS: A qualitative and quantitative research design was used in the study. The qualitative method was used to systematically identify barriers to employment for people with intellectual disability while the quantitative method was used to rank the barriers. RESULTS: Findings indicate that barriers to employment for people with developmental disabilities are discrimination, stigma, employers' attitude, and management style, feeling unappreciated, and working environment such as culture to accommodation, understanding and strengths. Moreover, results shows that discrimination was ranked the highest while feeling unappreciated was ranked the least of the barriers to employment of people with intellectual disability. CONCLUSION: The paper provides information about barriers to employment of people with intellectual disability in Nigeria that is required to initiate change in policy development.

Strategies for enhancing social skills of individuals with intellectual disability: A systematic review.

Individuals with intellectual disability who suffer from comorbid mental health problems are likely to experience difficulties in socialising. Deficits in social skills are also associated with challenging behaviours and self-injury. This paper presents global evidence from a systematic review of literature on such issues as 'interventions'; 'social skills development', and 'individuals with intellectual disability'. A thorough search of various bibliographic databases identified 1 124 academic papers. Ten papers met the inclusion criteria for in-depth analysis concerning the use of interventions to develop social skills among individuals with intellectual disability. The study revealed that the social skills of individuals with intellectual disability had been fostered using different strategies, such as classroom-based intervention, emotional intelligence training, use of a peer network intervention, computer games of emotion regulation, and puppet play therapy. Furthermore, the findings suggest that various aspects like communication, bridging the gap in social skills deficits, emotional recognition and regulation, and adaptive behaviour were fostered using the identified intervention strategy. This review revealed that social skills interventions appeared modestly effective but may not be generalisable to school settings or self-reported social behaviour for individuals with intellectual disability. It is also necessary to increase the sample size in future studies to draw generalisable conclusions.

Attention Span of Children With Mild Intellectual Disability: Does Music Therapy and Pictorial Illustration Play Any Significant Role?

This study investigated the effects of music therapy and pictorial illustration on the attention span of children with mild intellectual difficulties. A pre-test, post-test and control group quasi-experimental research design was used with a sample of children diagnosed with mild intellectual disability from three special schools in Ibadan, Nigeria. Fifty children were randomly selected and assigned to one of three groups: music therapy, pictorial illustration, or control (N = 50, male = 25, female = 25, mean age = 11.6 years). Twenty-four sessions of music therapy and pictorial illustration classes were held with the experimental group only. The Moss Attention Rating Scale was used before and after the intervention to collect data on participants' attention span. Analysis of Covariance indicated that there was a significant statistical difference between pre-test and post-test results of the two groups. The estimated marginal means of post-attention span by treatment indicated that pictorial illustration had the highest post-attention span score, followed by music therapy, while post-attention span score for the control group was the least. Based on the findings, it is recommended that teachers, caregivers, and parents of children with mild intellectual disability adopt pictorial illustration and music therapy as teaching strategies to enhance their attention span.