Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items

#YouthMonth: Celebrating youth empowerment (Annelize Kruger)

09 June 2023 | Story Annelize Kruger | Photo Supplied

The University of the Free State (UFS) is celebrating Youth Month by showcasing the positive influence of the institution on career development. As part of this initiative, we are sharing the stories of UFS alumni who are now working at the university.

Annelize Kruger, Lecturer at the Department of Occupational Therapy, shares her UFS journey:

Q: Year of graduation from the UFS:

A: 2015 and 2020.

Q: Qualification obtained from the UFS:

A: Bachelor of Science in Occupational Therapy and Master of Science in Occupational Therapy.

Q: Date of joining the UFS as a staff member:

A: 2022.

Q: Initial job title and current job title:

A: Lecturer.

Q: How did the UFS prepare you for the professional world?

A: The UFS gave me the foundation to be competent in my profession, and the ability to think critically and apply myself in different contexts.

Q: What are your thoughts on transitioning from a UFS alumnus to a staff member?

A: It is an honour to train the future generation of occupational therapists, and exciting to be involved in research that drives our profession forward. It has been an overall positive experience.

News Archive

Babies need time on their tummies

2009-08-07

Babies who spend more time on their tummies (in the prone position) when they are awake are more advanced in their motor development than children who are not allowed to lie on their tummies, or only for short periods, shows research published by Ms Dorothy Russell in the South African Journal of Occupational Therapy. Ms Russell is a senior occupational therapist in the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health in the Faculty of Heath Sciences at the University of the Free State (UFS). The study shows there were significant differences in the active movements of the arms and the pushing-up on the arms between prone and non-prone infants.

She says research and clinical evidence indicate that parents are not well educated regarding the value of placing their infants in the prone position during the early stages of infancy. The supine position where babies lie on the backs, leads to a decrease in the sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), and mothers steer away of putting their babies in the prone position because of that. However, lack of exposure to prone position can result in deceased opportunities to learn functions such as rolling over, sitting up, crawling and pulling to the standing position.
Photo: Leatitia Pienaar

Back

Economic and Management Sciences

Education

Health Sciences

The Humanities

Law

Natural and Agricultural Sciences

Theology and Religion

Open Distance Learning

Business School

We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept