https://etd.cput.ac.za/handle/20.500.11838/217 Wed, 15 Apr 2026 13:11:39 GMT 2026-04-15T13:11:39Z https://etd.cput.ac.za/handle/20.500.11838/4316 Title: Data privacy management behaviour of social media users in South Africa Authors: Batchelor, Ierefaan Abstract: Privacy at its core is the right to be let alone and ascribes the breach thereof to constitute a crime with the potential award of damages to the victim. In South Africa, the Bill of Rights within the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, affords privacy protection to every person. The South African population, which amounted to 62,027,503 people in the census conducted in 2022, represents diverse groups and unique communities speaking a multitude of languages. Smartphone and telecommunications industries continually experience rampant growth, thereby lowering costs and removing barriers to entry. This extends the capability of accessing the internet beyond traditional personal computers. The convenience of access to mobile devices coupled with the social value aspect of social media platforms function as a significant driver in the popularity of the platforms for South African social media users. The South African social media user population is estimated at twenty-six (26) million users as of January 2024. The rapid proliferation of innovative technologies has further intensified privacy concerns due to new opportunities for surveillance, tracking, detection and watching people. The Cambridge Analytica privacy breach included the Facebook personal information of eighty seven (87) million users used to profile and tailor advertisements to solicit votes for the intended political candidate. Similarly, several social media platforms may be subject to similar risks and practices. Data breaches are an eventuality that must be pre-empted by both private and public organisations through the stringent implementation of information security measures and awareness programmes for staff and clients. Stolen personal information can be used for identity theft and fraudulent financial transactions, resulting in personal losses, reputational harm and bad credit ratings for many people. The data privacy behaviour of individuals exposes them as prime candidates for data theft and breach. Their level of exposure links to their data privacy decisions. The privacy paradox relates to disparate behaviour exhibited by users for their general privacy compared to their social media data privacy practice. Moreover, erratic privacy practice is the result of dissimilarities in demography, technical aptitude, general usage and the need for social recognition. Social media users’ attitudes toward data privacy may impact their data privacy practices. Al-Rabeeah and Saeed’s combined theory contends that Communication Privacy Management (CPM) and the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) pertain to privacy decisions influenced by the user’s cultural influences. The authors believe that embedded culture and beliefs have the potential to affect users' behaviour. The research problem relates to social computing and human-computer interaction (HCI) within the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector. Examining the human aspect of the data privacy management behaviour of social media users may provide critical insight into the potential for privacy breaches and vulnerability to malicious attacks. An improved understanding of data privacy behaviour has the potential to yield results that could aid data privacy education and prevention efforts. Research involving CPM and TPB in the social media context is sparse and deserves attention. Several studies have been conducted on this problem globally. However, very few studies were in the South African context. In light of these facts, the researcher believes that there is research value in understanding the data privacy management behaviour of adult social media users in South Africa. The study is a mono qualitative interpretivist study. The purpose of this study is to better understand the data privacy management behaviour of adult social media users residing in South Africa, specifically what factors inform the decisions that users make. The aim of the study was to determine the data privacy behaviour of adult social media users residing in South Africa. The researcher explored the reasons for the behaviour to contribute to the design of future data privacy awareness initiatives, identify potential data privacy threats and inform incremental information security improvement of social media platforms. The study recruited participants through social media platforms to participate in a survey and garnered responses from ninety-five (95) respondents. The data analysis employed in the study consisted of thematic analysis. The researcher used the collected data to reveal any themes or patterns that could be interpreted. Description: Thesis (Master of Information and Communication Technology)--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2025 Wed, 01 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT https://etd.cput.ac.za/handle/20.500.11838/4316 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z https://etd.cput.ac.za/handle/20.500.11838/4315 Title: Health informatics: an inter-disciplinary perspective of nursing and information technology practitioners' education Authors: Bhebe, Sophie Vonai Abstract: INTRODUCTION: The current educational programs for health informatics do not sufficiently develop the relevant competencies of health and informatics practitioners to provide a quality healthcare service enabled by digital health. In addition, the complexities of the diverse health and digital health domains due to environmental changes and technological advances place a burden on ever-changing relevant competency needs of the workforce within different contexts. In South Africa there seems to be limited research on the integration of relevant nursing informatics in nursing education aligned to relevant nursing practice as well as health domain knowledge for informatics practitioners. METHODOLOGY: A simple mixed methods design was employed to explore the competency needs of nurse and informatics practitioners. The study was divided into three sections: semi structured questionnaire was employed to explore the attitudes, competency needs and training of Post Basic nurses students; Unstructured interviews for the perspectives of the Nurse Educators and the Informatics Educators on the competency needs and training of the nurse and informatics students respectively; results from the INDEHELA project; and Unstructured questionnaire for the perspectives of Health Informatics Experts on the competency and training needs of Informatics Students. Thematic Analysis was conducted on the results RESULTS: The assessment of attitudes of the nurses indicated that there is a positive attitude towards informatics technology. Students assessed themselves and indicated seven themes of topics that they would like to gain skills. Educators concurred with the topics and indicated that the best form of training would be integrated learning within the core Nursing course. Health Informatics Experts indicated eleven themes of topics of competencies and stated that for the African Context it is best to use African examples or train within an African setting. CONCLUSION: Although nurse have a positive attitude towards informatics technology, there is a need for training of nurse in basic informatics technology. There is a need for training of the nurse educators for them to be able to lecture in Nursing Informatics. A collaborative approach from experts in both disciplines is necessary for the development of the competencies. It is important for informatics practitioners to have domain knowledge of health to effectively collaborate with health practitioners. The skilling of either practitioner results in three Health Informatician roles: A Nurse Informatician with health domain knowledge and some informatics knowledge; A Digital Health Informatician with informatics domain knowledge and some health knowledge and a Health Informatician an expert in both domains of knowledge. Description: Thesis (Doctor of Information and Communication Technology (ICT))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2025 Wed, 01 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT https://etd.cput.ac.za/handle/20.500.11838/4315 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z https://etd.cput.ac.za/handle/20.500.11838/4314 Title: Identification and prioritisation of requirements of a clinical decision support system for gait-related diseases in resource limited settings Authors: Burger, Radford Abstract: Gait-related disorders, such as multiple sclerosis (MS), Parkinson's disease (PD), cerebral palsy (CP), arthritis, symptoms of stroke, and injury, can drastically impact a person’s quality of life. Unfortunately, patients and medical practitioners in resource-limited settings often have limited access to costly specialised treatment and medical equipment required to effectively treat these conditions. Clinical decision support systems (CDSS) can overcome some of these challenges by providing healthcare workers with access to decision-making tools that facilitate diagnosis and treatment. The implementation and adoption of CDSS in resource-limited settings (RLS) have not been fully realised despite all its potential benefits. Failure to perform proper requirements analysis has been identified as a contributing factor. This study addresses some of these challenges through systematic reviews to identify and prioritise the requirements necessary for a CDSS tailored to the specific needs of RLS. The objectives formulated to achieve this are (1) Identify the requirements for a CDSS for gait related diseases in RLS; (2) perform a comparative analysis of requirements prioritisation (RP) techniques for CDSS for gait-related diseases in RLS; (3) apply a selected RP process for CDSS for gait-related diseases in RLS; (4) evaluate the quality attributes of the prioritised requirements for CDSS for gait-related diseases in RLS. Design science research methodology (DSR) was chosen as a research strategy to guide the execution of the study. The first phase involved analysis of existing literature and document reviews to identify requirements for the development of CDSS that focus on gait-related diseases in RLS. Literature analysis was used in phase 2 to select a preliminary set of RP techniques that suit the scope of requirements for CDSS for gait-related diseases in RLS. The third phase determined the criteria for a comparative analysis of the set of selected prioritisation techniques to help with selecting the best-suited one to the identified requirements. To ensure practical relevance and feasibility, researchers, practitioners, and academics in the fields of gait analysis, physiology, biomechanics, physiotherapy or neuro- mechanics were approached to review the requirements and apply the selected prioritisation technique. In phase four, software development experts evaluated the quality and accuracy of the prioritised requirements, based on criteria derived from the Wiegers’ Quality Model and Pohl’s Quality Model. In the final phase, the findings from the evaluation phase were analysed to derive conclusions and provide actionable insights. Individual requirements received average ratings of between 4 (good) and 5 (excellent). The average rating for the requirements set was 5 (excellent) on all the specified quality attributes. This study successfully identified and prioritised the requirements for a CDSS tailored to gait related diseases in RLS. User-centric, technical, and context-specific needs were effectively captured through a comprehensive literature review and engagement with experts. The MoSCoW prioritisation technique proved to be a practical and efficient method for requirement prioritisation in low-resource environments. The findings of this study can be a valuable guide for software developers and healthcare managers on aspects that require the most emphasis during the development of a CDSS in RLS. Description: Thesis (Master of Information and Communication Technology)--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2025 Wed, 01 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT https://etd.cput.ac.za/handle/20.500.11838/4314 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z https://etd.cput.ac.za/handle/20.500.11838/4311 Title: The feasibility of the todoist application to assist students with time management. Authors: Janda, Oko Abstract: The growing tendency for students to use mobile applications has significant educational implications. Different educational apps are now joining forces to improve communication while also enhancing organisation and educational learning activities. The combination of mobile applications enhances material availability for students while improving their time management skills and creating new collaborative pathways. The significant issue emerges because a high number of students dedicate long periods to social media usage, resulting in decreased academic achievement. The proposed solution to this issue adopts the Todoist application. The Todoist app supports users on Android phones and iPhone devices; therefore, it offers university students a choice for implementing better time organisation through their smartphones. The research aims to explore the contribution of the Todoist application to students' time management skills and identify the features of Todoist that are most beneficial for students in organising their academic tasks. A variety of research studies indicate that students allocate too many hours to social media activities rather than their schoolwork (Rohman, Marji, Sugandi, and Nurhadi,2020). Students verified through direct interviews that their poor time management skills represent a significant academic challenge. The analysis emphasises the importance of students managing their time effectively during their academic journey and recommends Todoist as a helpful tool to address this challenge. According to the interview participants, Todoist helps users manage their tasks effectively while also enabling them to set priorities and meet scheduled deadlines. The research explores how Todoist enables students to schedule their tasks, prioritise activities and follow deadline requirements in their academic schedule. Research data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with five participants, comprising three undergraduate and two postgraduate students, who were selected through a selective sampling process. All participants were enrolled at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology’s District 6 campus and had a smartphone capable of downloading the Todoist application. This research gathered critical feedback from students about Todoist's practical application as a time management tool, which helps developers understand how to enhance academic time management. Overall, data collected from students Todoist proves to be a convenient and effective time management tool for university students. Participants in the research expressed satisfaction with the app, highlighting its role in helping them manage their time more efficiently and organise tasks based on importance. However, students also suggested areas for improvement, noting that it took time to familiarise themselves with the app, and it could be more user-friendly for individuals with limited technical experience. Despite these challenges, the feedback suggests that Todoist meets students' expectations and has the potential to improve time management for students significantly. Description: Thesis (Master of Information and Communication Technology)--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2025 Wed, 01 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT https://etd.cput.ac.za/handle/20.500.11838/4311 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z