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Indigenous knowledge and caregivers' use of data elements in home-based healthcare
Author(s)
Tswane, Siphokazi
Date Issued
2012
Type
Thesis
Publisher
Cape Peninsula University of Technology
Abstract
Home-Based Healthcare (HBHC) is an important aspect of South Africa's healthcare
system. HBHC is the provision of care services to patients by trained or semi-trained
caregivers at home. In South Africa HBHC was introduced in 2001 to address many
problems with traditional healthcare such as overcrowding in public health facilities.
South Africa has one of the highest HIV/AIDS infection rates in the world, which is
often accompanied by opportunistic infections such as tuberculosis. HBHC is
envisaged to address these challenges, thus relieving the burden on primary
healthcare. HBHC is itself faced with many problems which include poor information
or data management, unclear information flows, and insufficient information storage.
It is also not clear how caregivers use data elements and there is no coherent
indigenous knowledge base for the capturing, implementation and utilisation of data
elements in local HBHC providers. This is particularly important to caregivers who
rely on frameworks of indigenous knowledge in interpreting and making decisions on
how to provide a care service to patients. In reality, caregivers operate in indigenous
environments requiring the utilisation of local knowledge. This study explores the relationships between, and approaches to, data elements in
different HBHC providers and communities. Three interpretive case studies in the
Eastern and Western Cape Provinces of South Africa were conducted. Semistructured
interviews, focus groups, participant observation and document analysis
were used for data collection. The primary research question was: What happens
when caregivers from various communities interact with data elements when
providing a care service? Caregivers' indigenous knowledge and use of data
elements was then harnessed in a knowledge base. The results from this study can
be used by HBHC managers to develop their forms and training materials as the
initial set of data elements used in HBHC has been identified. Caregivers from
different communities can also learn how these data elements are used in other
communities.
system. HBHC is the provision of care services to patients by trained or semi-trained
caregivers at home. In South Africa HBHC was introduced in 2001 to address many
problems with traditional healthcare such as overcrowding in public health facilities.
South Africa has one of the highest HIV/AIDS infection rates in the world, which is
often accompanied by opportunistic infections such as tuberculosis. HBHC is
envisaged to address these challenges, thus relieving the burden on primary
healthcare. HBHC is itself faced with many problems which include poor information
or data management, unclear information flows, and insufficient information storage.
It is also not clear how caregivers use data elements and there is no coherent
indigenous knowledge base for the capturing, implementation and utilisation of data
elements in local HBHC providers. This is particularly important to caregivers who
rely on frameworks of indigenous knowledge in interpreting and making decisions on
how to provide a care service to patients. In reality, caregivers operate in indigenous
environments requiring the utilisation of local knowledge. This study explores the relationships between, and approaches to, data elements in
different HBHC providers and communities. Three interpretive case studies in the
Eastern and Western Cape Provinces of South Africa were conducted. Semistructured
interviews, focus groups, participant observation and document analysis
were used for data collection. The primary research question was: What happens
when caregivers from various communities interact with data elements when
providing a care service? Caregivers' indigenous knowledge and use of data
elements was then harnessed in a knowledge base. The results from this study can
be used by HBHC managers to develop their forms and training materials as the
initial set of data elements used in HBHC has been identified. Caregivers from
different communities can also learn how these data elements are used in other
communities.
Additional information
Thesis (MTech (Information Technology))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2012.
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