Rural-origin health professional students’ perceptions of a support programme offered by Umthombo Youth Development Foundation

African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Rural-origin health professional students’ perceptions of a support programme offered by Umthombo Youth Development Foundation
 
Creator Gumede, Dumisani M. Ross, Andrew J. Campbell, Laura M. MacGregor, Richard G.
 
Subject education; rural health Rural origin; healthcare professional; undergraduate training; student support; Umthombo Youth Development Foundation
Description Background: Staffing of rural healthcare facilities is a challenge, with literature supporting the selection and training of rural-origin students. The Umthombo Youth Development Foundation (UYDF) scholarship scheme supports rural students to train as healthcare professionals and offers a unique support programme. This programme has not been evaluated, and this study sought UYDF-supported students’ perceptions of the programme.Aim: The aim of the study was to assess students’ perceptions of the UYDF support programme.Methods: This was an observational descriptive study. Participants were students supported by UYDF and data were collected by a questionnaire with a Likert scale to assess perceptions of various aspects of the support programme.Results: Students’ perceptions about the UYDF support programme were generally positive, with initial orientation and information sharing perceived as useful. Some respondents did not perceive value in holding discussions around English proficiency. The support required appeared to diminish with increasing years of study.Conclusion: A comprehensive, proactive compulsory support system that provides both academic and social support was perceived as useful by the UYDF students. Further research is required around aspects such as encouraging English proficiency. In future, the support programme could prioritise students in the early years of their study.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor none
Date 2017-07-27
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — observational, descriptive
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/phcfm.v9i1.1212
 
Source African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine; Vol 9, No 1 (2017); 6 pages 2071-2936 2071-2928
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/1212/2142 https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/1212/2141 https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/1212/2143 https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/1212/2132
 
Coverage KwaZulu Natal 2014 University students
Rights Copyright (c) 2017 Dumisani M. Gumede, Andrew J. Ross, Laura M. Campbell, Richard G. MacGregor https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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