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Adolescents living with HIV and AIDS experience difficulties when they transition from pediatric clinics to adult clinics. People living with HIV and AIDS have been judged and stigmatized as promiscuous. Since adolescence is a challenging milestone with all the physical and emotional changes, adolescents become vulnerable to defaulting care and treatment at the clinic. In some health facilities, youth-friendly services are still not well implemented, despite the program being advocated for by the World Health Organization to reduce HIV. The study aimed to explore the barriers to the provision of youth-friendly services for adolescents living with HIV and AIDS in clinics in Gauteng Province, South Africa. An explorative descriptive and qualitative design was applied through in-depth interviews. Data were collected from 15 professional nurses in three clinics and analysed using the content analysis framework. The study's findings produced five themes: human resource challenges, inadequate space to provide the service, healthcare providers’ attitudes toward the provision of mixed services and an environment not conducive to the service. Healthcare providers displayed judgemental attitudes towards adolescents when they sought sexual and reproductive services at the clinics. The shortage of staff and resources hampered the provision of youth-friendly services to adolescents living with HIV and AIDS. Lack of privacy and confidentiality due to limited space in the clinics caused adolescents to default on their treatment as they are seen in the same space as adults. The study recommends a designated area for adolescents and youth separated from other clinic populations so that sexual and reproductive health topics can be discussed without fear of being identified by other people visiting the clinic. Moreover, more youth-inclusive environments in healthcare settings should be created.

The study sought to explore and describe the various policies regarding access to Maternity health care services in the North West Province, South Africa, through the lens of midwives.  Legal and ethical frameworks guide maternity healthcare services to ensure such a service's quality, safety, and standardization. A qualitative, descriptive, explorative research design was followed. Nine purposefully sampled midwives participated in a one-on-one in-depth interview. Data were analyzed using Collaizi's descriptive method based on the emerging themes and categories. One overarching theme with six categories emerged from the data. From the overarching perspective, it was evident that midwives were dissatisfied with the ambiguity of various policies guiding patients' access to Maternity healthcare services. To a certain extent, the admission policy was inconsistent with the patient's rights and constitution of the land on access to health. The ambiguity of admission position led to uncontrolled movements of self-referred patients to clinical facilities. The ambiguity of the transfer policy contributed to challenges during interfacility transfers of referred patients from lower levels of care facilities and vice versa. In addition, the policy on escorts of patients was unspecific about the healthcare personnel required to escort complicated patients in transit, which caused care interruptions. The study findings highlight the Midwives' concerns regarding various policies of access to maternity health services, and the marked ineffectiveness of controlling patients' movement into facilities could be the reason for overcrowding, inadvertently causing a decline in the quality of maternity healthcare services. The study findings may alert policymakers to be cautious and ensure that policies are succinct and consistent with other related laws.

This study focuses on understanding the reasons why the support programmes initiated to enhance the success of black-owned small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have not shown the successes that were envisaged. Some government agencies are in charge of these programmes. The sampling frame consisted of previously assisted SMEs by the support agencies. SMEs were represented by high-ranking officials as study participants. There were signs that the support programmes were not effective in improving the SMEs. The responses indicated that the programmes’ weakness can be attributed to the aid not being customized to the needs of the SMEs. There were training initiatives in some instances. According to the responses, the training was not based on the training needs of the SMEs. The SME practitioners, therefore, did not improve on their weaknesses. Finances that were given out as aid, according to the respondents, were dictated by the donor and did not allow flexibility according to the purchasing needs of the SMEs. Apparently, aid was in one form for all the SMEs. These supports ended up not helping to improve the SME. The paper recommended the customization of the aid to the needs of the SME.

This paper investigated the challenges that researchers in a health sciences university can experience, and ways to counterbalance the negative effects of these challenges. Focus was on the extent to which gatekeepers on higher education institutions (HEIs) can restrict research, and the way natural sciences researchers often experience gatekeeper biasness on denying them access as compared to the way health sciences researchers are treated. The method compared experiences of researchers for Master of Science (MSc) degrees in selected science subjects, and the projects undertaken by health sciences students. All the studies were based on students on campus as research subjects. The MSc ones were for students who were already academics teaching on campus. All the proposals received clearance certificates from the same ethics committee. Upon requiring the HEI registrar to grant permission to use the student as study participants, the health sciences were granted permission and the names of the students. For the science academics, they were denied permission to the student numbers, which were needed to request individual students to make on decisions whether they wanted to participate in the studies or not. Gatekeeping weaknesses were explored, and lawful interventions were used to collect research data. It was observed that in the science academic divisions of HEIs that are dominated by the health sciences, gatekeeper unfairness and power could offset creativities and innovations initiated by researchers. Recommendations have been made to limit this power.

The pricing of insurance premiums in the non-life insurance sector remains a challenging and complex task. It demands a delicate balance between accurately estimating risk exposure and ensuring profitability for insurers. Generalised Linear Regression Models (GLMs) have become the preferred methods for premium price modelling in the motor insurance sector. While the approach of using a single superior model on which predictions are based ignores the use of robust estimator models. This paper examines various methodologies and sheds light on superiority of twenty-two models compared to each other for pricing automobile insurance. These methods vary from traditional actuarial methods to the modern statistical models such as machine learning algorithms. By using archival technique, their inferiority and superiority are explored, considering the ever-changing landscape of risk factors and market dynamics. Furthermore, it highlights the potential benefits of leveraging these methods and the mechanism for pricing short-term insurance, particularly in motor vehicle insurance. It also develops a framework that can be used in pricing to cater to risk analysis constituents to mitigate uncertainties and provide good services to clients. Our findings show that ANN, NN, XGB, random forest (RF) are superior models, and we conclude that the modern statistical methods can accurately estimate the risk exposure as compared to traditional methods such as the GLMs.

This study employed a conceptual framework to elucidate the issue of incivility. The researcher created a cohesive conceptual framework to facilitate the construction of knowledge and to offer a rational elucidation of the knowledge acquired during this study. This will provide a framework for a deeper comprehension of incivility in professional nursing education in South Africa. A qualitative exploratory descriptive methodology was employed. The research was conducted in a nursing college in partnership with a university of technology and a university-affiliated nursing school. A selected sample of fifteen (15) students and ten (10) nurse educators was utilised for data collection. Semi-structured, in-person interviews were used to gather data until saturation was achieved with 23 participants. Participation was voluntary, and discussions were kept confidential. Distinct themes arose from the data analysis and were interpreted through interpersonal relations theory. The related notions were delineated as Part 1 – the leaves of the tree: manifestations of incivility, Part 2 – the trunk of the tree: incivility itself, and Part 3 – the roots of the tree: the origins of incivility within the framework of incivility.

Adolescents living with HIV and AIDS experience difficulties when they transition from pediatric clinics to adult clinics. People living with HIV and AIDS have been judged and stigmatized as promiscuous. Since adolescence is a challenging milestone with all the physical and emotional changes, adolescents become vulnerable to defaulting care and treatment at the clinic. In some health facilities, youth-friendly services are still not well implemented, despite the program being advocated for by the World Health Organization to reduce HIV. The study aimed to explore the barriers to the provision of youth-friendly services for adolescents living with HIV and AIDS in clinics in Gauteng Province, South Africa. An explorative descriptive and qualitative design was applied through in-depth interviews. Data were collected from 15 professional nurses in three clinics and analysed using the content analysis framework. The study's findings produced five themes: human resource challenges, inadequate space to provide the service, healthcare providers’ attitudes toward the provision of mixed services and an environment not conducive to the service. Healthcare providers displayed judgemental attitudes towards adolescents when they sought sexual and reproductive services at the clinics. The shortage of staff and resources hampered the provision of youth-friendly services to adolescents living with HIV and AIDS. Lack of privacy and confidentiality due to limited space in the clinics caused adolescents to default on their treatment as they are seen in the same space as adults. The study recommends a designated area for adolescents and youth separated from other clinic populations so that sexual and reproductive health topics can be discussed without fear of being identified by other people visiting the clinic. Moreover, more youth-inclusive environments in healthcare settings should be created.

Lately, there has been a rise in personal and commercial use of computer devices, be it mobile phones, laptops, or any other computing devices, not forgetting the network, networking peripherals, and software that these devices function with. That being said, it has led organisations and institutions of higher learning to establish and adhere to Information Technology governance frameworks set out by the government and the higher education sector. White and Greiner (2022) defined Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) as an Information Technology (IT) service management framework that outlines best practices for delivering IT services. Kidd (2019) defined Control Objectives for Information and Related Technologies (COBIT) as an IT management framework developed by the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA) to help businesses develop, organize, and implement strategies around information management and IT governance. The aim of this study was to investigate whether ITIL and COBIT, as IT governance frameworks recommended by the higher education sector in South Africa, were adopted by ICT departments in universities in Gauteng province, South Africa. Data collection was done using a questionnaire. The questionnaire was sent via email to 52 potential respondents from all the higher institutions in Gauteng. A total of 41 questionnaires were returned. The questionnaire for both ITIL and COBIT frameworks was designed using Google Forms. The study findings showed that universities in Gauteng have adopted ITIL and COBIT as ICT governance frameworks recommended by the Higher Education sector in South Africa. The study's results are crucial for university administrators as they might improve comprehension of the factors affecting the adoption, administration, and utilization of ICT resources to enhance the university's capacities

A journal publishing house grows by maintaining and increasing the level of production of journals over the years. As a result, a non-decreasing trend becomes worrisome, because it may mean some likelihood of decline in journal publications. A declining trend warrants an investigation into this aspect, and possible intervention methods for a turnaround to increase journal publications. A respected publishing house in South Africa showed declining trends in its annual yield of various of its journals. The aim of the study was to measure the journal productivity of various journals in a specified publishing house with specific objectives being to determine the level of production over the years; to compare the level of production for the various journals; and to identify the most produced and the least produced journals. A categorical multivariate time series analysis-based study design was conducted. A trend of published articles in a South African oral health-based journal publishing house was investigated for 11-years from 2008 to 2018 in which 197 journals were used. The journals were under the subfields of direct restorative dentistry (DRD), direct restorative materials (DRM), endodontics and paedodontics. Publications of the paedodontics and direct restorative dentistry and materials journals showed a decline over the years, to their extinction. There was no journal on indirect restorative materials, which is a field related to other restorative journals. Merging these could enhance the popularity of a new one. Then, the constantly low endodontics may be augmented by increasing the journal scope.

The study sought to explore and describe the various policies regarding access to Maternity health care services in the North West Province, South Africa, through the lens of midwives.  Legal and ethical frameworks guide maternity healthcare services to ensure such a service's quality, safety, and standardization. A qualitative, descriptive, explorative research design was followed. Nine purposefully sampled midwives participated in a one-on-one in-depth interview. Data were analyzed using Collaizi's descriptive method based on the emerging themes and categories. One overarching theme with six categories emerged from the data. From the overarching perspective, it was evident that midwives were dissatisfied with the ambiguity of various policies guiding patients' access to Maternity healthcare services. To a certain extent, the admission policy was inconsistent with the patient's rights and constitution of the land on access to health. The ambiguity of admission position led to uncontrolled movements of self-referred patients to clinical facilities. The ambiguity of the transfer policy contributed to challenges during interfacility transfers of referred patients from lower levels of care facilities and vice versa. In addition, the policy on escorts of patients was unspecific about the healthcare personnel required to escort complicated patients in transit, which caused care interruptions. The study findings highlight the Midwives' concerns regarding various policies of access to maternity health services, and the marked ineffectiveness of controlling patients' movement into facilities could be the reason for overcrowding, inadvertently causing a decline in the quality of maternity healthcare services. The study findings may alert policymakers to be cautious and ensure that policies are succinct and consistent with other related laws.