Strategies employed in coping with physical disabilities acquired during adulthood in rural South Africa

Society places people with physical disabilities acquired during adulthood in disadvantaged positions, especially when they cannot participate in activities like their non-disabled counterparts. The situation can be worse for individuals who acquire disabilities during adulthood, where they have to learn to cope with the adulthood-acquired physical disabilities. Objectives: This study aimed to identify the types of physical disabilities acquired during adulthood and their causes and explore how participants defined their disabilities and the coping strategies they used. Methods: The study used a phenomenological research design. Five adults (three women, two men) with adulthood-acquired disabilities were purposefully selected from a rural area in Limpopo, South Africa. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis was used to generate themes about coping strategies study participants used. Results: The results show four types of adulthood-acquired disabilities amongst the participants: visual impairment, paraplegia, weakened muscles which led to bilateral amputation, loss of function on both hands and legs. Participants' meanings of their physical adulthood-acquired disabilities ranged from a punishment, pain, not a bother, black magic, to results of doing wrong things to someone. In coming to terms with their adulthood-acquired disabilities, participants used problem- and emotion-focused strategies. Four themes from the participants' responses were spiritual support, social support, substance dependency, access to health and rehabilitation services. Conclusion: The study contributes to understanding the experiences of individuals who acquired disabilities in adulthood, how they define their disabilities and the divergent coping strategies they use. This study established that participants used problem-focused, positive emotion-focused and negative emotion-focused coping strategies.

Psychological consequences of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on doctors

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the world. The pandemic has had several impacts on healthcare workers who are at the frontline of screening, triaging and caring for both suspected and confirmed cases, no matter if they are asymptomatic or symptomatic. This has therefore affected the mental health of doctors. Several studies have found that mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, post-traumatic distress syndrome, and insomnia just to mention a few are on a rise among healthcare workers including doctors. This is a review article on the psychological consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Strategies to enhance resilience to cope with workplace adversities post-COVID-19 among ICU nurses

Background: It is critical for intensive care unit (ICU) nurses to develop resilient coping strategies to cope with workplace adversities. The coping strategies will mitigate the development of maladaptive psychological disorders prone to working in a stressful environment. Objectives: The aim of this study is to analyse previous literature conducted on strategies that enhance resilience in ICU nurses to cope with workplace adversities beyond the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The study was conducted by examining all available global literature in the context of the aim of the study. Method: An integrative literature review was chosen for the study. Purposive sampling method was used to select the relevant databases to answer the review question, namely Google Scholar, EBSCOhost, Medline and Nursing/Academic Edition. The search terms used were 'strategies', 'resilience', 'intensive care unit nurses', 'coping', 'workplace adversities', 'beyond COVID-19' and post 'COVID-19'. Results: Three themes emerged from the study, namely promoting personal attributes, effective relational support and active psychological support. Conclusion: Enhancing resilience among ICU nurses requires both intentional individualised care from the ICU nurses and a systematic approach by nursing management that will meet the psychological needs of ICU nurses when working in a stressful ICU environment.Contribution: The findings of the review have highlighted specific strategies of improving resilience in ICU nurses, which can ultimately create a safe working environment in the ICU.

Importância dos Conselhos Consultivos Nacionais de Bioética em tempos de Covid-19: realidade e perspectivas de Angola / Importance of National Bioethics Advisory Councils in Covid-19 times: Angola's reality and perspectives

A Covid-19 trouxe ao mundo uma nova dinâmica de vida, obrigando que os Conselhos Consultivos Nacionais de Bioética de muitos países, principalmente os africanos (Togo, Argélia) e alguns europeus (França e Portugal), se reinventassem para se adequarem ao contexto. Dentro da sua linha de actuação os conselhos apenas opinam, sugerem, analisam e recomendam algumas medidas que poderiam ser tomadas diante de conflitos morais. O objectivodeste trabalho é apresentar o papel dos Conselhos Consultivos Nacionais de Bioética no enfrentamento dapandemia daCovid-19. O texto sustenta-se metodologicamente em um estudo documental e bibliográfico com abordagem qualitativa e de carácter exploratório. Nos resultados, foram encontradas informações sobre Conselhos Consultivo Nacionais de Bioética em África, bem como outros denominados por Comité Nacional de Bioética. Entretanto, constatou-se que de algum modo eles ajudam na manutenção dos conhecimentos sobre como lidar com a Covid-19, embora em alguns países africanos sejainexpressivo. É essencial ressaltar que um Conselho Consultivo Nacional de Bioética tem missão diferente de um Comité de Ética em Pesquisa, uma vez que o Conselho vela por questões de maior magnitude, como projectosque serão convertidos em políticas de Estado. Por fim,vale ressaltar que no caso africano, existe uma ausência de órgãos governamentais atinentes à bioética. E é de suma importância para os países africanos a implementação de órgão dessa dimensão (Conselho Nacional de Bioética) para permitir o diálogo de temas de bioética de complexa resolução como é o caso da Covid-19.

Covid-19 brought a new dynamic to the world, thus forcing the National Bioethics Advisory Councils of many countries, mainly African (Togo, Algeria) and some European (France and Portugal) to reinvent themselves to fit the context. Within their line of action, the councils only give opinions, suggest, analyse and recommend some measures that could be taken in the face of moral conflicts. The aim of this paper is to present the role of National Bioethics Advisory Councils in confronting the pandemic of Covid-19. The text is methodologically sustained in a documental and bibliographical study with a qualitative approach and of exploratory character. In the results, information was found on National Bioethics Advisory Councils in Africa, as well as others called National Bioethics Committee. However, it was found that some how they help in maintaining knowledge on how to deal with Covid-19, although in some African countries it is inexpressive. It is essential to emphasise that a National Bioethics Advisory Council has a different mission from a Research Ethics Committee, since the Council watches over issues of greater magnitude, such as projects that will be converted into State policies. Finally, it is worth noting that in the African case, there is an absence of governmental bodies pertaining to bioethics. And it is of utmost importance for African countries to implement such a body (National Bioethics Council) to enable dialogue on bioethical issues of complex resolution as is the case of Covid19.

Online teaching and learning: Experiences of students in a nursing college during the onset of COVID-19

Background: The world has entered the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Utilisation of technology is inevitable. For the past years, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has halted normal operations, including in the physical classroom for nursing students. Students and facilitators had to move to a remote way of teaching and learning, utilising online teaching and learning. However, students and facilitators were not ready to use online teaching and learning. This not only resulted in numerous challenges, but also became an eye-opener for best practices and intervening strategies. Objectives: To explore and describe experiences of students in a nursing college with regard to online teaching and learning during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual research design was adopted. A purposive, nonprobability sampling approach was used to select participants from second year, third year and fourth year. First-year student nurses were excluded because they did not commence with classrooms at that time. Results: Seven themes emerged, namely knowledge, confidence, training, equipment, clinical exposure, course extension and flexibility, and all themes had subthemes. Conclusion: It is evident that students had more negative experiences during online teaching and learning than positive experiences.

Socioeconomic status and health shocks; analysis of coping strategies in rural households of Enugu State, Nigeria

Background: Health burden in rural areas of developing countries is worsened by the limited coverage of health insurance. With constrained access to quality healthcare and constituting two thirds of Nigeria's poor, this study investigates how rural households cope with health shocks consequent on their socioeconomic status. Method: Data was collected from 600 households in Enugu using a questionnaire. Cross-tabulation, chi square and multiple regression statistical techniques were employed for data analysis. Findings: About 53% of the respondents were male household-heads while borrowing (47.65%), sales of assets (43.85%), diversion of funds (2.00%) and reduced expenditure (6.48%) were the main coping strategies. Education, occupation, and income statistically influenced the coping strategies (P < 0.005) and jointly accounted for 26.5% (R2 = 0.265, P < 0.001) of the variations in coping strategies. Conclusion: Having a rural healthcare policy and mainstreaming the informal sector into the national health insurance scheme will am

Religious beliefs, coping skills and responsibility to family as factors protecting against deliberate self-harm

Background. Deliberate self-harm (DSH) ranges from behaviours aiming to communicate distress or relieve tension; but where suicide is not intended, to suicide. Not all individuals are prone to DSH, which suggests that there are factors that protect against it. Identifying these could play an important role in the management and prevention of DSH. Objectives. This study examined whether religious beliefs, coping skills and responsibility to family serve as factors protecting against DSH in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. Method. A cross-sectional comparative study assessed DSH patients consecutively admitted or directly referred to Queen Elizabeth General Hospital and Hospital Mesra Bukit Padang during the period December 2006 - April 2007. DSH patients (N=42) were matched with controls (N=42) for gender, age, religion, race, occupation and marital status. The DSH and control groups were compared using psychosocial tests that assess coping skills, religious beliefs and responsibility to family. Results. There were significant differences in religious beliefs (p=0.01) and responsibility to family (p=0.03) between the DSH patients and the control group. There were also significant differences in coping skills, DSH patients tending to use emotion-orientated coping (p=0.01) as opposed to taskand avoidance-orientated coping. caution is required in generalising the results owing to limitations of the study. Further extensive research on religious and psychotherapeutic interventions and prospective studies on protective factors will be helpful