Browsing by Author "Alperstein, Melanie"

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    Competencies needed to prepare intermediate life support (ils) paramedics in Gauteng to manage traumatic stress in the work environment
    (2019) Zana, Tonny; Alperstein, Melanie; Jansen, Marvin Jeffrey
    This qualitative study explored the effects of trauma as well as coping mechanisms used to deal with post-traumatic stress experienced by ILS paramedics providing emergency care services in the Gauteng Province, South Africa. It also looked at the competencies needed to cope with traumatic stress and promote biopsychosocial well-being. It is argued that it is important to look at this subject from a South African perspective since most of the published research on the sources and effects of trauma on paramedics and other frontline emergency services personnel experience comes from developed countries. It was discovered that there is minimal empirical research from South Africa on similar topics, except for a study in the Cape Town metropole. In addition to that, most published research relied on quantitative data collection methods. Through qualitative case study research this thesis draws on observations and relevant data gathered by way of semi-structured face to face interviews with eleven operational Intermediate Life Support (ILS) paramedics who work in the Gauteng province. Data is gathered on the sources of stress and coping mechanisms currently used by the paramedics. The gathered data was analysed using thematic analysis. The results show that the sources of stress for paramedics include attending gruesome scenes, extreme pressure to save lives and attending a scene where a child or a colleague is involved. It was also observed that the paramedics have a set of coping strategies to manage post-traumatic stress which are both positive and negative coping strategies. In addition to interviews with ILS paramedics from whom data is gathered on their education and training, the results in this thesis gathered insight from a panel of six experts who were engaged through a focus group discussion. These experts have demonstrable expertise in curriculum development, trauma counselling and training. The panel recommended that the training of the paramedics must be more realistic such that the paramedics are better equipped to deal with the challenges they may encounter in the work environment. It was also revealed that those who train paramedics are not well equipped to deliver the health and wellness module. It can be concluded that some paramedics are not well equipped to deal with traumatic events they encounter in the field. The researcher recommends that the health and wellness module be delivered by people who are specifically trained to deal with mental health issues. Insights gathered in this study will help the paramedics, those they help and their families.
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    An evaluation of a pilot community-based, interdisciplinary, primary health care teaching programme for health sciences students
    (2001) Alperstein, Melanie; Cooper, Linda
    The focus of this research is an evaluation of a pilot community-based interdisciplinary, primary health care teaching programme for health sciences students, at the University of Cape Town. The pilot programme was located in the Neighbourhood Old Age Homes project (NOAH) in Woodstock, Cape Town. The research took place in 1997, the year of implementation of the programme. The evaluation focused on the perceptions and experiences of the staff and students who participated in the programme. Dietetic, medical, occupational therapy and physiotherapy students participated in the programme. The staff who planned and implemented the programme were interdisciplinary, representing all the above professions, including nursing and social work. The research attempted to gain an understanding of the contextual, curriculum and organisational conditions necessary for effective interdisciplinary education, as experienced by students and staff. The study was contextualised within the changes taking place in higher education, the provision of health care services and health professional education in South Africa. The Woodstock Interdisciplinary Programme was contextualised within a review of interdisciplinary education internationally and locally. Discursive shifts within traditional and changing health professional education were analysed. This led to an exploration of discourse and role theory in relation to changing learner and educator roles and changing power relationships. The research was conducted within a qualitative research paradigm. The main methodology was case study research and the form of evaluation was illuminative evaluation. Four semi-structured focus group interviews with 15 students and semi-structured in-depth individual interviews with ail six participating staff were used to collect the core data. Since the researcher was a member of the planning and implementing staff, participant observation was also used as a method of gathering data. The data from the focus group interviews and individual interviews was coded, categorised and analysed. This constituted a rich core of information for the study. Course evaluation forms, comprising mostly closed-ended questions, completed by 38 of the 41 medical students, were used in the analysis phase as a form of triangulation to increase the reliability of the results. The research explored questions in relation to kinds of learnings gained; the students’ and staffs’ experiences of interdisciplinary learning; the conditions perceived as facilitating or hindering learning; the attitudes towards their own role and those of other health professionals and how students viewed the hierarchy within the health team. The findings supported the literature in that interdisciplinary education can be effective in a community-based setting using problem-based or orientated learning, but limitations may arise related to contextual, organisational and curricular factors. Students learnt about each other's roles and different approaches to health care. They all felt there was insufficient time to learn enough about each other and that they needed to learn and work together on a regular basis. The findings illuminated the need to pay more attention to the disjunction that results from shifting discourses and associated shifts in learner roles, new professional identities and changing power relationships. The thesis ends with recommendations for curriculum development and suggestions for further research.
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    An exploration of community partners' experiences of a 4th year medical students' community-based research and health promotion course
    (2007) Laattoe, Nariman; Alperstein, Melanie
    The shift to a primary health care (PHC) led curriculum, and the need for graduates to work in a transformed district health system, requires that students in the health professions acquire skills in community-based research and health promotion. Over the past nine years, the School of Public Health and its three divisions of Primary Health Care (PHC), Public Health (PH) and Family Medicine (FM) in the Health Sciences Faculty at the University of Cape Town (UCT) have placed medical students in communities for eight-week rotations. During this time they undertake a community-based epidemiology project, followed by a health promotion intervention, in collaboration with community partners. The purpose of the research project was, primarily, to explore the benefits, if any, of this model of teaching for community stakeholders.
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    Getting closer to the community voice in curriculum development: exploring the possibilities
    (Taylor & Francis, 2007) Alperstein, Melanie
    Policy in Higher Education in South Africa is urging tertiary institutions to become socially responsive in regard to community development, to produce new knowledge and to produce graduates who are critical and responsive citizens. One method of achieving this is through service-learning initiatives. Community-based service-learning values the principle of institutions of higher education working in partnership with communities to develop education programmes for students. Through collaborative engagement in developing the programmes, the assumption is that not only will academic, discipline or professional needs be met, but that community members will benefit and gain new knowledge. There is an assumption that there will be mutual benefit and learning. Most research on service-learning has focused on student learning, course outcomes and issues surrounding faculty or university. Very little research has been conducted regarding what communities or community services bring, or could bring to health sciences education. This paper will focus on health sciences community-based service-learning for medical students and will explore (a) to what extent, and through which mechanisms community members are able to express their knowledge and skills in the design of the community based courses and curriculum development. (b) Whether there is mutual learning and benefit and if so, what these are. The paper is based on piloting an in-depth interview with a community organisation that has hosted various students over a number of years. The paper illuminates the overt and tacit knowledge of the community organisation, which helps guide the university staff and students and could impact on curriculum development. The paper discusses the ways in which community knowledge and skills are acknowledged or disregarded in curricula and suggests ways in which this knowledge could enhance health professional education.
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    Post Graduate Diploma in Health Professional Education
    (2014-09-18) Alperstein, Melanie
    Course participants' knowledge and experience in health professional education will be strengthened in the areas of teaching and learning within a Primary Health Care system and curriculum. The interdisciplinary programme draws on selected theories of learning, teaching and assessment in higher education, health sciences education and approaches to health service delivery. The Faculty of Health Sciences offers a Post Graduate Diploma in Health Professional Education to enable working health professionals to reflect critically on the theory and practice of teaching in the classroom and clinical context and to assist in ensuring that health professionals are competently prepared to meet the health needs of the country.