Influences of COVID-19 vaccination policy on students' vaccine acceptance.

Background: Higher education institutions (HEIs) developed and implemented a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy to facilitate vaccine acceptance and vaccination among universities' staff and students. However, little is known about influences of the mandatory vaccination policy on health science students at a university and they tend to result in vaccine hesitancy. Aim: To explore the influences of the mandatory COVID-19 vaccine policy on health sciences students' vaccine acceptance at HEIs in South Africa. Setting: The study was conducted in one of the universities in the Western Cape Province, South Africa. Methods: An interpretive qualitative exploratory-descriptive research was conducted with 10 participants who were selected using the purposive sampling method to participate in semi-structured interviews. Data were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and thematically analysed. Results: Two themes and 12 sub-themes were identified during the data analysis, namely individual and group influencing factors, as well as contextual influencing factors. Conclusion: This study revealed that the COVID-19 vaccination mandatory policy influenced the students' quality of life, academic performance and well-being. The findings from this study indicate that there were perceived barriers related to personal and contextual influencing factors than benefits of COVID-19 vaccination. Contribution: The understanding of and insight into the influences of the mandatory vaccination policy provided a basis for further strategies that may be developed to address COVID-19 vaccine infodemic, vaccine hesitancy and its risk effects. This can be done through collaboration with different stakeholders to educate health science students about the perceived benefits of COVID-19 vaccination.

Spiritual care - 'A deeper immunity' - A response to Covid-19 pandemic.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has presented unprecedented health challenges across all strata in society throughout the world. The COVID experience has caused us to reflect on quality of life, health and well-being and, just as important, end of life. During this time, spiritual care forms a vital component of holistic health management, especially in terms of coping, coming to terms with illness, suffering and ultimately death. The relationship with the transcendent or sacred has a strong influence on a people's beliefs, attitudes, emotions and behaviour. Populations, communities, families and individuals have always found solace through their religious or philosophical beliefs during times of personal adversity and widespread anxiety or disaster. Although spiritual care has always been a part of the domain of religious beliefs, a more contemporary perspective is that spiritual care forms part of the human psyche and thus forms part of human care, health and well-being for families, patients and healthcare workers. Spiritual care deals with the provision of compassion and empathy during periods of heightened stress, distress and anxiety within care. This article provides insights into the necessity of providing spiritual care as a means of coping and well-being for families, patients and healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Influences of social network sites on the occupational performance of adolescents in a secondary school in Cape Town, South Africa: a phenomenological study.

BACKGROUND/AIM: The habit of using social networking sites among adolescents has grown exponentially; there is little accompanying research to understand the influences on adolescents' occupational performance with this technology. The majority of adolescents are engaging in social network as part of their daily routines. Occupational performance is the act of doing and accomplishing a selected occupation that results from the dynamic transaction among the person, the environment and the occupation components. This study aimed to explore the influences of social networking on occupational performance of adolescents in a high school in Western Cape Province, South Africa. METHODS: A phenomenological approach was used. Adolescents aged 13-17 years in a high school were purposively recruited for the study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with four participants (two adolescents and two teachers) and two focus groups were undertaken with adolescents, analysed using thematic analysis. RESULTS: Four major themes emerged: 'It's a good way to keep in touch', 'It's part of me and it's not a bad thing', 'There is a time and place for it' and 'There's an urgency to be on the phone'. CONCLUSIONS: This study highlighted that social networking sites play a major role in the social life of adolescents, though it can result in occupational imbalance on their occupational performance. Furthermore, this study contributes to the knowledge of occupational therapists who work with adolescents in communities and health promoting school settings. Thus, collaboration between teachers, parents and occupational therapists can help to develop adolescents' time management and learning skills.

Patients' Knowledge and Beliefs about Antiretroviral Treatment and Factors Associated with Adherence in Mpumalanga Province; South Africa

Background: Antiretroviral treatment (ART) improves the prognosis and quality of life for HIV patients by reducing the rate of disease progression and mortality. Although ART has been available in public health centres in South Africa since 2003; adherence to treatment still remains a challenge. To date; no study has investigated adherence and the factors that influence adherence to ART in rural settings in Mpumalanga Province.Objective: This study described adherence to; knowledge and beliefs about ART and other factors associated with adherence amongst patients registered at Shongwe Hospital in Nkomazi Local Municipality. Method: A cross-sectional survey of 184 randomly selected patients on ART between ages of 15 and 65 years was conducted. Results: The respondents completed a questionnaire on self-reported adherence; knowledge and beliefs about ART and other factors associated with adherence. The majority of the respondents were female (71.2) and unemployed (83.7). Most respondents reported optimal ART adherence (taking 95 or more of their medication as prescribed) over the past two (92.4) and seven (84.2) days; respectively. The level of knowledge about ART was high and most reported positive beliefs about the effectiveness of ART. However; slightly more than half (53.3) believed that ART was harmful for the body. The most commonly-reported reasons for missing dosages were forgetfulness; business of the daily routine; having visitors; 'visiting a bar' and sleeping away from home.Conclusion: Although; the study found that most ART patients at Shongwe Hospital reported optimal adherence initially; the reasons for missing dosages; some incorrect knowledge and beliefs need to be addressed to ensure long-term adherence and persistence in care