Jeanette Maritz

A Bourdieusian perspective on becoming and being a postgraduate supervisor: the role of capital

The objective of this paper is to map the role of capital in the process of learning to become a postgraduate supervisor. Economic, technological and geopolitical changes in higher education call into question previous assumptions about supervision. Supervision is no longer primarily seen as an intellectual and social enterprise but is increasingly seen as professional work, where ones capital (or lack of) shapes the process of being and becoming a supervisor. It is frequently assumed that the students are the only ones learning in a supervisory relationship. Novice supervisors are, however, often left to their own devices to discover or learn the inherent rules, epistemologies and ontologies in becoming and being supervisors through a process of compromise and negotiation. In this article, we specifically focus on the need for novice supervisors to understand and navigate the field, and plot their career trajectories, as a constant exchange of different aspects of capital. This article is conceptual, rather than empirical. We suggest that it may be helpful to understand the field of supervision in a Bourdieusian sense, with specific reference to the role of (academic) capital in the formative processes of becoming and being a supervisor. We discuss social capital, gender and race, age, values, beliefs and experiences, as well as linguistic abilities, as factors influencing the individual habitus of the supervisor in relation to the doxa of the field.

Student Nurses' Experiences of The Clinical Psychiatric Learning Environment in an Education Institution

This study investigated lived experiences of student nurses working in a clinical psychiatric learning environment in South Africa. Participants were 29 fourth-year student nurses in the clinical psychiatric learning environment at a nursing education institution (females = 27; males =2). They engaged in focus group discussion on their experiences of the clinical psychiatric learning environment. The data were thematically analyzed using Teschs method of open coding. The student nurses experienced the environment as growth enhancing on a professional and personal level.

Alcohol use: Views of people receiving in-patient care for mental health conditions

This study explored the perceptions of psychiatric in-patients concerning their use of alcohol in a context of community living. A total of 70 psychiatric in-patients at an Ethiopian hospital were the informants in this study (males = 73%; females = 27%, majority diagnosis schizophrenia = 63%). The patients completed a structured interview on possible reasons for and effects associated with alcohol use in psychiatric illness. These were thematically analysed. The patients cited positive features when using alcohol to include keeping one warm, acting as a digestive, controlling the side effects of psychotropic drugs, alleviating boredom or anxiety and improving one’s mood. They noted negative aspects of alcohol consumption as being the risk of bodily harm, absenteeism from work, familial neglect and a loss of control of one’s life. Some patients believed that the use of alcohol while they were under psychiatric care carried the risk of social exclusion and discrimination; yet they also believed that abstinence from alcohol would be difficult for them.

‘Queering’ and querying academic identities in postgraduate education

In the social imaginary of higher education, there are many mutually constitutive forces shaping academic identities, such as academics’ habitus, dispositions, race, gender and student expectations. Our queer academic identities are furthermore robustly intertwined with, and emerging within, cultural, political and economic histories and realities. In post-apartheid South Africa, our academic identities are constituted in the nexus of historical white privilege on the one hand, and on the other hand, the prevailing heteronormative and homophobic public sentiment on the African continent. In the intersection of race and gender as technologies of power, we perform our identities as academics as process amidst often incommensurable and multiple claims and counterclaims. In the context of being and becoming academics, our identities as nomads provide a particular coherence, continuity and stability, albeit a continually ‘changing core but the sense of a core nonetheless – that at any given moment is enunciated as the “I”’ (Brah, A. 1996. Cartographies of diaspora: Contesting identities. London, UK: Routledge, pp. 123–124). In this collaborative autoethnographic narrative, we explore becoming and being nomad as one particular lens among many others to describe our personal journeys and map a selection of issues of (dis)location and transitions that constitute our subjective and material experiences and our own trajectories of becoming. Three analytics constructs are explored: namely spaces of becoming, cycles of becoming and negotiating and performing becoming.

The (d)(t)oxic lifeworld of early career postgraduate supervisors

ABSTRACT In the context of higher education as social space or field in the Bourdieusian sense, exploring the lived experiences of early career postgraduate supervisors allow us to (re)consider the institutionalised rhythms, procedures and practices that shape graduate supervision. At the intersections of, inter alia, increasing numbers postgraduate students, the urgent need to transform SA higher education, and the need for appropriately qualified and experienced supervisors, many early career postgraduate supervisors are caught between understanding the doxa and orthodoxy shaping postgraduate supervision, and the necessary symbolic capital to formulate, engage with and practice heterodoxy. This article employs Bourdieu’s doxic schema (doxa, orthodoxy and heterodoxy) along with symbolic capital to make visible the doxic lifeworld experiences and journeys of early career supervisors. The research found that early career supervisors are often under-prepared, lacking symbolic capital and experiencing (toxic) shame.

Family caregivers for adult cancer patients: knowledge and self-efficacy for pain management in a resource-limited setting

Adult cancer patients (ACPs) in resource-limited settings disproportionately suffer from inadequate pain control despite advancements in pain management. Family caregivers (FCGs) can support optimal pain control for ACPs in these settings if they are knowledgeable and confident about the needed care. However, the status of FCGs’ knowledge and self-efficacy (SE) for pain management in developing countries is not well established.PurposeTo assess the FCGs’ knowledge and SE levels for pain management among ACPs while at home in a resource-limited setting.MethodsUsing a questionnaire that comprised a Family Pain Questionnaire and Chronic Pain Self-efficacy Scale, data were collected from 284 FCGs of ACPs receiving care from two cancer care centres.ResultsThe FCGs had moderate knowledge (mean = 41.70 ± 14.1) and SE (mean = 795.95 ± 301.3) levels for pain management at home for ACPs. Majority of the FCGs had low knowledge (52.1%), but expressed higher SE (52.5%). Poor self-rated health among FCGs was significantly associated with low knowledge levels (OR = 1.75; 95% CI 1.024–2.978, p = 0.041). SE was significantly associated with perceiving a low impact of caregiving on health (OR = 1.55; 95% CI 1.074–2.239, p = 0.019), hours of caregiving per week (OR = 0.52; 95% CI 0.315–0.854; p = 0.01) and receiving organisational support (OR = 0.388; 95% CI 0.222–0.679; p = 0.001).ConclusionThe results show a need for deliberate interventions to enhance FCG knowledge and SE for pain management at home as one of the ways of improving cancer pain management in resource-limited settings.

Recognition of prior learning candidates’ experiences in a nurse training programme

Recognition of prior learning (RPL) in South Africa is critical to the development of an equitable education and training system. Historically, nursing has been known as one of the professions that provides access to the training and education of marginalised groups who have minimal access to formal education. The advent of implementing RPL in nursing has, however, not been without challenges. The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the experiences of RPL nursing candidates related to a 4-year comprehensive nursing training programme at a nursing education institution in Gauteng. An exploratory, descriptive and contextual qualitative research design was undertaken. The research sample comprised 13 purposefully selected participants. Face-to-face individual interviews, using open-ended questions, were used to collect data, which were analysed using Tesch’s approach. Recognition of prior learning candidates experienced a number of realities as adult learners. On a positive note, their prior knowledge and experience supported them in their learning endeavours. Participants, however, experienced a number of challenges on personal, interpersonal and socialisation, and educational levels. It is important that opportunities are created to support and assist RPL candidates to complete their nursing training. This support structure, among others, should include the provision of RPL-related information, giving appropriate advice, coaching and mentoring, effective administration services, integrated curriculum design, and a variety of formative and summative assessment practices.

Facilitating the development of higher-order thinking skills (HOTS) of novice nursing postgraduates in Africa

BACKGROUND International research in nursing education has shown to be deficient regarding both the quality of research produced and the building of disciplinary capacity. The CHENMA (Collaboration for Higher Education of Nurses and Midwives in Africa) project aimed to strengthen nursing and midwifery expertise in Africa. Sixteen French-speaking students of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) enrolled for a masters degree in nursing midwifery at a South African university in 2008. Ten of the initial 16 students graduated with a masters degree in 2012. One student withdrew and five students completed a postgraduate diploma in midwifery. OBJECTIVES The objective of this paper is to explore the quality of the output of those masters degree students, namely their dissertation (with specific reference to the demonstration of HOTS). METHODS An exploratory, evaluative, single, descriptive case study was utilised. Realist, purposeful sampling was used. Six of the 10 completed final dissertations were evaluated as well as three reflective reports from the supervisor, translator and critical reader. RESULTS The findings indicated that most dissertations fell below the expected standard, with a paucity of higher-order thinking and application skills. Language, and possibly cultural dynamics, seemed to be the largest barrier to learning and communication. The dissertations lacked conceptual skills, scientific writing skills, logical order of thought and congruency. Analysis of the dissertations revealed a limited ability of novice scholars to explore the nature of information and to interpret and manipulate the data in a novel way.

HEALTH PLANNERS AND SERVICE PROVIDER PERSPECTIVES ON THE CHALLENGES OF IMPLEMENTING LEGISLATION ON COMMUNITY-BASED MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES

The purpose of this study was to explore and describe health planners and selected service provider perspectives on the challenges of implementing legislation on community-based mental health services (CBMS). A qualitative design was followed. The total number of participants was 15. Data were collected through individual face-to-face interviews and analysed inductively. The findings indicated that there were different views on the implementation of legislation on CBMS among the participants. The majority of participants agreed that there were challenges in the implementation of legislation. These challenges included poor political will and implementation, low prioritisation of mental health and CBMS, prevailing stigma and mental health issues, shortage of resources (human and funds) for mental health and the lack of intersectoral collaboration. Recommendations include a need to educate and inform the stakeholders about the legislation and policies to facilitate implementation. Mental health and CBMS need to be prioritised. For programmes to be implemented and provided, the position in the priority list plays an important role. Greater trust and enhanced cooperation between stakeholders are needed. Lastly, adequate resources are required for the implementation of CBMS.