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10 October 2018 | Story UFS
UFS School of Nursing gets funding for mental health project
Ronelle Jansen received research funding to provide adolescents with improved access to mental health services and care.
Ronelle Jansen from the School of Nursing at the University of the Free State (UFS) received research funding as part of a multistakeholder capacity-building project to provide adolescents with improved access to mental health services and care in PHC (primary healthcare) settings. 

The research aims to develop and implement a mobile mental health (mHealth) application screening tool for primary healthcare workers (PHCW) to identify adolescent mental health problems and provide mental healthcare training. 

Under pressure 

Jansen (UFS team leader) says mental health screening is sometimes lacking at the clinic level, because the clinics are so busy. “PHCW are under huge pressure due to the number of people they have to see every day, and due to severe staff shortages.

“There is, amongst others, a huge amount of paperwork that needs to be completed for each patient. The nurses only get about 10 minutes to see each patient and mental health screening is seen as time consuming.”

Early identification 

Jansen says the mHealth tool will focus on adolescents and they hope that the mobile application will help nurses with early identification of mental health problems. The clinic staff will then be able to treat and refer the patient correctly. 

She says they hope an accessible and user-friendly mobile tool will also help to motivate PHCW to more regularly screen for mental health problems.

This research is a three-year project co-funded by the Erasmus + programme of the European Union. Nine universities will collaborate on the project. Other partner institutions include the Turku University of Applied Science in Finland (project coordinator); Hamburg University of Applied Sciences in Germany; Riga Technical University in Latvia; the universities of Stellenbosch; Cape Town; Pretoria; the University of Zambia and the Lusaka Apex Medical University.

Jansen says the benefit of the research may be that PHCW will be better empowered to screen for mental health problems, with the aim to improve adolescent mental healthcare and train competent PHCW.

News Archive

Former Kovsie named best teacher in the Western Cape
2011-11-14

 

Proud educators from left: Mrs Julia Ramabenyane, lecturer at the School of Social Sciences and Language Education; Prof. Dennis Francis; Roland Rudd; and Prof. Okkie Combrinck, Head of the School of Mathematics Natural Sciences and Technology Education.
Photo: Hannes Pieterse

Kovsie alumni are second to none. This was proven by Roland Rudd who was recently named Best Secondary School Educator in the Western Cape. Roland, a teacher at Wineberg Boys’ High School, completed his education studies at the University of the Free State (UFS) in 2005.

Visiting the university's Bloemfontein Campus last week Roland was full of praise about the education he received at Kovsies. “I have made it known that my success is through the input and solid grounding the UFS offered me. I feel really indebted to the Faculty of Education and the university. I believe that this is the best education faculty and university in South Africa.”
 
Roland, who teaches Engineering Graphics and Design to Grade 10 -12 learners, met with former Faculty of Education lecturers during his visit. They all remembered a bright student who won best student awards every year. In his final year Roland won the award for best student in practical teaching. Prof. Dennis Francis, Dean of the Faculty of Education, said he was pleased that one of his faculties’ graduates was doing so well.
 
Roland will compete in January 2012 in the national best school educator competition.

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