Exploring patient referral practices of traditional healthcare practitioners in Soshanguve, Gauteng Province, South Africa.

Introduction: It may be necessary for healthcare professionals to refer patients to other professionals and institutions that are able to provide the care needed by patients, depending on the severity each case presents, healthcare requirements, and resources available to offer care. In healthcare generally, patient referral is standard procedure; however, in South Africa, referral patterns between allopathic and traditional healthcare practitioners are unknown, and this is a problem yet to be addressed. Objectives: The study objective was to explore patient referral practices from the perspectives of traditional healthcare practitioners of South Africa. Methods: A qualitative, exploratory and descriptive design was employed to collect data from 11 traditional healthcare practitioners who were sampled using snowball sampling. An individual semi structured interview schedule was used to collect data. Content analysis was used to analyze the data. Results: Patient referral was common practice in traditional health practices, however not reciprocal between the traditional and allopathic healthcare. Several indications for patient referral to allopathic healthcare practitioners included management of chronic conditions amongst others. Discussion: Patient referral being an important part of healthcare practices should be promoted and regulation and traditional health practices improved to promote safe referral practices and curb unsafe self-referrals by patients.

Exploring the Dilemmas, Challenges, and Opportunities of Adolescent Fatherhood: An Exploratory Case Study.

Teenage pregnancy is a significant concern for society, and the effect on education is immense. In South Africa, policies were thus introduced allowing pregnant school-going children to continue attending class until the baby's birth. However, research on adolescent pregnancy generally ignores teenage fathers and focuses mostly on teenage mothers. Parents of teenage girls are also encouraged to offer support to their children, but the same cannot be said about adolescent fathers. They confront numerous barriers in fulfilling their parenting roles. A qualitative exploratory study was conducted to explore adolescent fathers' dilemmas, challenges, and opportunities. Interviews were conducted to collect data from 5 adolescent fathers in 1 township in South Africa. Findings indicate that adolescent fathers face various challenges and experience fatherhood differently. The phenomenon's effects on education are immense and unavoidable, yet some opportunities accompany the fathering role. Adolescent fathers are exposed to several complex situations that impact their lives. To understand these, further research studies into adolescent fatherhood still need to be conducted, and reproductive health education efforts should equally be directed toward empowering boys to the same extent as girls.