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Factors influencing Western Cape community service doctors’ choice of whether to seek employment in public, rural practice
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2024-12) Baytopp, Tamryn; Motsohi, Ts'epo; Lomas, Vanessa; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. Dept. of Family and Emergency Medicine. Family Medicine and Primary Care.
ENGLISH SUMMARY: Background: Shortage of staff in rural areas has contributed to long-standing inequitable healthcare access between urban and rural populations. One of South Africa’s strategies to address this is the compulsory community service program.(1) To capitalize on this, doctors need to be encouraged to remain in their facilities beyond their community service periods. Identifying factors that positively or negatively influence their decisions to stay could help to develop more focused strategies to promote the retention of doctors in rural areas.(2)
Aim: To describe the important factors influencing Western Cape community service doctors’ choice of whether they will seek employment in public rural practice.
Design and setting: This was an observational cross-sectional study with correlational analysis of community service doctors working in the Western Cape in 2022.
Method: Western Cape community service doctors were invited to complete an internet-based questionnaire.
Results: A total of 86 community service doctors completed the questionnaire, of whom 8% intended to work in public rural practice in 2023 and 21% considered rural practice sometime in the future. Demographic factors associated with the intention to work in rural practice were a rural upbringing (6.5 times more likely to consider rural practice) and rural placement for internship (7.7 times more likely to consider rural practice) and community
service (3.5 times more likely to consider rural practice). The most important factors influencing their decision for or against rural practice were issues of personal safety and security (mean likert score of 4.7) followed by job
satisfaction (mean likert score of 4.6) and mental health (mean likert score of 4.6). Rural upbringing (mean likert score of 1.8) and exposure in internship (mean likert score of 2.4) were ranked low in importance.
Conclusion: This study found the proportion of community service doctors considering working in public rural practice has not significantly increased (20%) compared to previous findings in the literature. Suggestions based on the
results include revision of strategy on the part of policy makers, preferential enrolment of medical students with a rural upbringing, and prioritisation of placing community service doctors in rural areas. More focus should be placed upon promoting safe, satisfying work environments which are protective of staff mental and psychological wellbeing.
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Phenomenological engagement as pedagogical impetus in career counselling education
(Services Cristal, 2024-06-30) Conradie, Karlien
This article aims to present the author’s understanding of how a phenomenologically concerned pedagogy can offer an antidote to the influence that a post-industrial consumerist culture has on career counselling education. In the age of mediatisation, surges of endless commercialisation and consumption has evolved in a crisis of relationality, characterised by ecological fragmentation and disconnectedness. The present article explains how an overly utilitarian mindset reinforces an instrumentalist approach to career counselling, inhibiting student educational psychologists’ capacity for being conscious of the embodied lifeworld situation of a person engaging in career counselling. The embodied lifeworld situation refers to an ecologically integrated person reality, intricately anchored in time, space, and historicity. A pedagogical approach is needed that forefronts phenomenological engagement – relational being and knowing - as a way of conserving students’ ability for embodied consciousness.
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The vertex centroid of a Van Aubel result involving similar quadrilaterals and its further generalisation
(Taylor & Francis Group, 2024 ) De Villiers, Michael; Humenberger, Hans
This paper explores the position of the vertex centroid for a generalisation of Van Aubel’s theorem: specifically we look at what happens to the vertex centroid when directly similar quadrilaterals are placed on the sides of an arbitrary quadrilateral. After giving a simple proof that the position of the vertex centroid remains unchanged, the result is further generalised to directly similar triangles (or other directly similar shapes) on the sides of polygons using vectors. Not only are the results mathematically interesting, but can also provide an appropriate classroom opportunity for dynamic geometry exploration, and to build 2D models with clay and drinking straws (or thin wire) to illustrate and check the theoretical solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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Examining Attachment of Earnings Orders: Does the English Wage Garnishment Mechanism Offer Solutions to the Challenges Experienced by its Contemporary South African Counterpart?
(Thomson & Reutors, 2023) Van der Merwe, Stephan
The ability to garnish a debtor’s wages is a popular and important contemporary legal mechanism to facilitate civil debt collection in many jurisdictions, including South Africa. Despite recent amendments to the primary legislation regulating South African emolument attachment orders, the mechanism remains prone to a number of significant shortcomings which facilitate debtor abuse. Consequently, calls have been made for further legislative intervention. In order to guide this development, comparative wage garnishment mechanisms should be investigated. A detailed analysis of the ostensibly effective and historically relatable English attachment of earnings order mechanism could provide meaningful insights to improve the system and enhance debtor protection in South Africa. The article therefore conducts an examination and evaluation of the historical development and contemporary application of English attachment of earnings orders in order to determine whether the mechanism provides any solutions that could assist further legislative development.
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Perspectives of early career supervisors on navigating the Socio-emotional needs of their doctoral candidates
(Central University of Technology, 2024-06) Leshem, S.; Bitzer, E.M.
All supervisors of doctoral research aim at guiding their students towards success on their doctoral journeys. Desired characteristics of successfully guiding doctoral studies have been widely reported in relevant literature and gave rise to various models of exemplary supervisory practice. One area within the supervisory relationship that has received limited attention is the emotional aspect of supervisors' role, their dispositional qualities of mind and character which are key factors in establishing an intellectual and emotional working rapport with candidates. This exploratory qualitative study sought to gain a deepened understanding of how supervisors address the socio-emotional needs of their students. A combination of online and in-person semistructured interviews with ten doctoral study supervisors, and thematic analysis of data, revealed that supervisors fully acknowledge the notion that interpersonal and emotional issues are key factors in the supervisory process. However, the way they see, and experience emotional factors differ. While some regard the supervisory process as an intellectual academic relationship, others regard supervision more as mentoring, allowing more space for selfexpression and emotions. The study's findings carry implications for enhancing the training and support offered to doctoral supervisors and students enrolled in doctoral programmes, as well as identifying potential areas for improvement.