Browsing by Author "Collins, Kathleen"

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    Battered women's perceptions of an intervention service
    (2004) Freed, Jeanne; Collins, Kathleen
    Bibliography: leaves 114-120.
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    Difference in quality of life of referred hospital patients after hospital palliative care team intervention
    (2004) Kirk, Judy Gail; Collins, Kathleen
    Since 1948, when the World Health Organization (WHO) defined health as being not only the absence of disease and infinity but also the presence of physical, mental, and social well-being (Constitution of the World Health Organization, 1952), quality of life issues became more apparent. The aim of the research undertaken was to establish whether the hospital palliative care team (HPCT) at the Johannesburg General Hospital was making a difference to referred hospital patients' quality of life. The HPCT was started at the Johannesburg General Hospital in 2001. The team functions as an advisory body on pain and symptom control. Palliative Care is an approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families facing the problems associated with life threatening illness, through the prevention and relief of suffering by means of early identification and impeccable assessment and treatment of pain and other problems, physical, psychosocial and spiritual. The method used was the FACT G questionnaire, which was completed by the patient group initially, and thereafter HPCT intervention. The questionnaire is used to measure quality of life (QOL). The study is a descriptive cohort design. The first 24 patients completed the informed consent prior to completing the questionnaire. The pre QOL questionnaire served as the baseline QOL scores prior to HPCT intervention. The initial QOL scores were then compared to the post QOL scores after HPCT intervention. Seven subjects were excluded from the research as six patients were discharged from hospital early due to a bed shortage and one patient died. The seven patients' results from the pre FACT G questionnaire were discarded and all subsequent calculations did not include their results. The increase in the total percentage scores (45.53 to 63.35) was statistically significant (p< 0.001) using the paired t-test. Thus the results show a significant difference between pre and post assessment QOL scores. The research demonstrates significant improvements in patients' quality of life (p<0.001) after HPCT intervention. It is hoped that future research would continue to show the value of HPCT and their effect of benefiting patients' quality of life.
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    Difference in quality of life of referred hospital patients after hospital palliative care team intervention
    (2006) Kirk, Judy; Collins, Kathleen
    In 2001 Selma Browde created an expanded definition of palliative medicine in South Africa that reads as follows: ‘Palliative Care supplies active comprehensive care for the physical, emotional, psychosocial and spiritual suffering of the patient and the family. It starts at the moment of first contact with the patient with any illness at any stage and continues for the duration of the illness. If and when the illness becomes incurable, Palliative Care then plays the major or total role.’1 In the same year, Browde established a hospital palliative care team (HPCT) at the Johannesburg General Hospital. There are now six such teams in South Africa, yet no systematic evaluation had been carried out before this research.
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    Difference in quality of life of referred hospital patients after hospital palliative care team intervention
    (2006) Kirk, Judy; Collins, Kathleen
    In 2001 Selma Browde created an expanded definition of palliative medicine in South Africa that reads as follows: ‘Palliative Care supplies active comprehensive care for the physical, emotional, psychosocial and spiritual suffering of the patient and the family. It starts at the moment of first contact with the patient with any illness at any stage and continues for the duration of the illness. If and when the illness becomes incurable, Palliative Care then plays the major or total role.’1 In the same year, Browde established a hospital palliative care team (HPCT) at the Johannesburg General Hospital. There are now six such teams in South Africa, yet no systematic evaluation had been carried out before this research.
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    The incidence of burnout in health care professionals working in Pretoria oncology centres
    (2004) De Klerk, Era; Collins, Kathleen; Gwyther, Liz
    Burnout is a syndrome of emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and reduced personal accomplishment that may occur amongst individuals who work primarily with people. Nurses and doctors working in oncology must care for many critically ill and dying patients. Pretoria is a city with a high concentration of oncology institutions. The aim of this research is to evaluate the incidence of burnout amongst health care professionals in Pretoria oncology centres, to assess whether certain variables have an influence on the levels of burnout and to compare the situation in Pretoria to the rest of the world. A questionnaire was distributed to all health care professionals working in oncology centres in Pretoria. The questionnaire consisted of an informed consent, demographic data and the Maslach Burnout Inventory. The participants included doctors, nursing staff, radiographers and social workers in both state and private health care institutes, involving radiotherapy, chemotherapy and palliative care units. 240 questionnaires were distributed and 156 were returned. Results show that 24.65% - 32 .87% of participants experienced a high degree of burnout, which is average compared to the rest of the world. Burnout in cancer care workers has been reported to be 22.1 - 53.3% in the rest of the world. Young, single participants appeared to experience a greater incidence of burnout, which is consistent with the literature. The incidence of burnout amongst healthcare professionals, in Pretoria oncology centres appear to be average when compared to the rest of the world. However, language problems, cultural differences and other limitations of the burnout scale may have played a role and warrants further research.
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    Trauma Counselling: Perceptions of Clients at the Trauma Centre for the Survivors of Violence and Torture
    (2004) Williams, Fatima; Collins, Kathleen
    A trauma can be defined as an event which attacks the defences and psychological well-being of the person (Mitchell & Everly 1997). Trauma has the capacity to significantly disrupt a trauma victim 's life and many authors describe the impact that a traumatic event can have on an individual. Trauma counselling is often required to assist the victim to return to their premorbid levels of functioning. This study provides the reader with relevant literature into the subjects of trauma and trauma counselling. There were two research questions which formed the basis of the study and these research questions focussed on how the respondents experienced the trauma counselling they had received and how they felt that the counselling assisted them with achieving post-traumatic growth.
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    Treatment for HIV/AIDS in the workplace: A Case Study of a Mine in Botswana
    (2004) Medupe, Fredah; Collins, Kathleen
    This research was conducted in mid-2003 on a cross-section of mine employees ranging from top management to the least skilled mineworkers in Debswana's Orapa mine in Botswana. The objectives of the study were to establish the perceived benefits that provision of anti-retroviral therapy has had on the mine at all levels and to identify reasons for slow enrolment in the newly established treatment programme.? The first researcher is from Botswana and worked for 7 years with AIDS affected patients in hospital.? It was this experience which alerted her to the importance of popular discourse regarding AIDS and antiretroviral treatment. Her subsequent research at the Orapa mine was designed to probe the nature of shop-floor discourse about AIDS.? Interviews and questionnaires with open-ended and closed questions were used with five management personnel and 20 mineworkers of both genders.? Findings reveal many discrepancies in the data surrounding HIV/AIDS and also indicate that formal research methods do not adequately capture the nature or importance of popular perceptions and discourses about AIDS.