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Faculty of Health Sciences

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Author: search.filters.author.Chandramohan, SandhyaHas files: Yes

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    The development of an eco-justice model to guide community engagement in Health Sciences
    (2020-11-30) Chandramohan, Sandhya; Bhagwan, Raisuyah; Sibiya, Nokuthula
    Humanity is facing massive health problems, physical pathologies and ecological damage that cannot be ignored. This escalating destruction of all forms of life on earth is a consequence of human action. Such destruction is reinforced by a worldview that denies nonhuman nature any value, respect or justice. Although the South African Department of Education developed the White paper on the Transformation of Higher Education (Department of Education 1997: 10), which committed universities to policies and programmes for community development, as part of the universities mandate there is no educational model that guides community engagement with regard to eco-issues. This study focused on developing a model to guide community engagement in Health Sciences through a qualitative approach. A developmental research paradigm was used as the research design. This paradigm allowed for the use of a qualitative research approach to design the new model. Data was collected from academics and students from Health Sciences, and faith-based leaders; through interviews and focus group discussions. Qualitative data analysis using thematic data analysis was utilized to transform the data into findings. The findings of the study confirm the ongoing damage to the eco-systems and how such environmental damage contributes negatively on health. These finding recommend that higher education embrace community engagement as a tool to create community awareness on eco-justice issues. For this to be successful it is recommended that community engagement be incorporated into Health Science modules in order to transform the Health Science curriculum. The developed eco-justice model for Health Sciences can serve as a guide for academics and students as they work in collaboration with their communities on eco-justice issues to reduce the resultant negative impact on health.
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    Spirituality and spiritual care amongst professional nurses at public hospitals in KwaZulu-Natal
    (2014-07-24) Chandramohan, Sandhya; Bhagwan, Raisuyah
    Introduction : Empirical research pertaining to spirituality has grown in the Western context, with a myriad studies, that have documented the salience of spirituality to health and wellbeing in relation to a range of issues such as HIV/AIDS, cancer and heart disease (Koenig et al. 2001:1189). It is against this backdrop that nursing scholars have begun to research the role of spirituality and spiritual care in nursing practice, in the Euro-American context. In South Africa research in this field is sparse, hence prompting the need for the current study. Problem statement : There is a huge gap in the South African nursing literature on spirituality and spiritual care, grounding the need for research in this area. Internationally however studies have grown focussing on the views of practitioners and faculty with regard to spirituality and spiritual care in nursing practice. Objectives : To explore the views of nurses at public hospitals in KwaZulu-Natal regarding the role of spirituality and spiritual care in nursing practice. To investigate nursing practitioners’ views on the salience of spirituality to patients. To investigate whether nurses utilize spiritually based activities in nursing. To investigate whether current nursing education and training has prepared nurses for spiritual care. Methodology : The study utilized a descriptive survey utilizing a cross-sectional design. A quantitative research design was utilized to survey nursing practitioners at selected public hospitals through a process of multiphase random sampling. Data was collected using survey questionnaires. Findings : Findings of this study have shown that nurses do accept spirituality and spiritual care as being part of their role. Participants (n=385) acknowledged that spiritual care is a component of holistic patient care. This aspect of care, they agreed, lacks the attention it seriously needs. In addition, majority of nurses considered nursing to be part of their spiritual path. Results indicated that the more spiritual nurses viewed themselves, the more positive their perspectives were towards providing spiritual care.