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07 November 2024 | Story André Damons | Photo Supplied
Implementation Science Workshop 2024
Building capacity for the use of implementation science. The Principal Investigators of the project; Dr Phindile Shangase from UFS, left, and Dr Lebogang Mogongoa from the Central University of Technology, with Dr Shalini Ahuja from King’s College London, centre, who facilitated the workshops.

The Division of Public Health at the University of the Free State (UFS) together with the Central University of Technology (CUT), held a successful workshop (first phase) for their project: Capacity building for the use of implementation science in various typologies in low- and middle-income countries for the prevention and/or management of the quadruple burden of disease.

According to the National Institute for Health as well as the World Health Organisation, implementation science supports innovative approaches to identifying, understanding, and overcoming barriers to the adoption, adaptation, integration, scale-up and sustainability of evidence-based interventions, tools, policies, and guidelines. Implementation research therefore pertains to gathering and analysing implementation evidence of effectiveness that determines if the intervention works in real-world circumstances.

The Principal Investigator at UFS is Dr Phindile Shangase from the Division of Public Health, supported by colleagues in the Division, as well as the CUT team, led by Dr Lebogang Mogongoa. The first phase of the project took place from 14-17 October 2024 with the first two days held at UFS.

In this co-funded project, UFS and CUT engage in partnership capacity building for academics and postgraduate students. At the UFS, the project is funded by the Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research and Internationalisation and resulted from the CUT and UFS Joint Research Programme Research Grant 9th Call.

Contributing to evidence-based policies and practices

Dr Shangase says the workshops of this project were well attended by academics, researchers, postgraduate and postdoctoral students from different disciplines, and community organisations, including programme managers, as well as clinicians from the Department of Health. Other stakeholders and international students who could not travel for face-to-face interactions attended live on UFS YouTube.

Workshops were facilitated by Dr Shalini Ahuja from King’s College, London, who is an international expert and experienced in this field through engaging in research as well as field facilitation in various low- and middle-income countries.

Says Dr Shangase: “Implementation science is the study of methods and strategies to promote the systematic uptake of research findings. It contributes to evidence-based policies and practices and ensures that they are implemented effectively to achieve their intended outcomes, through the identification of barriers and facilitators to implementation. These strategies can therefore be integrated effectively into routine practice in healthcare, public health, and other fields.

“Reviewed studies indicate that the effectiveness of implementation research is noted in the identification and investigation of factors that address disparities in healthcare delivery and outcomes, including those within the health systems and in the population. In simple terms, the goal of implementation science is to understand how and why some interventions succeed while others fail, and to identify the best ways to integrate research-backed interventions into real-world settings for maximum impact and to ensure they continue to be used and remain effective over time,” says Dr Shangase.

Purpose of project

According to her, in the context of South Africa, implementation science has potential to assist in addressing the quadruple burden of disease which comprise of these colliding epidemics: maternal, newborn and child health; HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis (TB); non-communicable diseases (e.g. cardiovascular diseases, chronic respiratory diseases, cancers, and diabetes); and violence and injury.

The purpose of this project, explains Dr Shangase, is to capacitate academics and postgraduate students at the UFS and CUT as well as community stakeholders with knowledge and skills regarding the processes and factors involved in the successful integration of evidence-based public health improvement interventions into routine practice and policy.

“Implementation science offers a strategic, data-driven approach for South Africa, especially in addressing the country’s unique and complex healthcare challenges. These advantages stem from its focus on translating evidence-based interventions into real-world practice, addressing the quadruple burden of disease and helping overcome systemic obstacles to effective healthcare delivery.

“These advantages make implementation science a vital tool for improving health outcomes and achieving sustainable public health progress in South Africa.”

The next phase of this project is expected to be more innovative and takes place between February and March in 2025 with the inclusion of a multistakeholder team.

News Archive

UFS hosts colloquium on technological higher education
2016-10-27

Description: Technology colloquium Tags: Technology colloquium

Prof Lew Zipin, Prof Sechaba Mahlomaholo,
Prof Marie Brennan and Dr Milton Nkoane,
attended the Faculty of Education’s colloquium
on the field of technological higher education
and its contribution to the knowledge society,
at the UFS Bloemfontein Campus. 

The University of the Free State’s (UFS) Faculty of Education, in collaboration with the Research and Development Unit from the Central University of Technology (CUT), hosted a colloquium on the field of technological higher education and its contribution to the knowledge society. Prof Marie Brennan and Prof Lew Zipin, both from Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia, presented the keynote addresses of the colloquium.

The past, present and future
The current fees protests in South Africa have caused universities to rethink and strategise new ways of delivering knowledge. Prof Brennan cautioned that when moving towards technological solutions for teaching, a crucial balance between past knowledge and practices and present and future knowledge and practices needed to be maintained.
“Knowledge is always dynamic, always generated from live problems, and therefore always relies on social interactions. Face-to-face interaction is removed by intense interaction with technology. If knowledge is presently linked to technology, we as academics must be able to move it. However, we should not neglect the indigenous knowledge that was generated through face-to-face interaction,” said Prof Brennan.
She purported that a reconnection between social relations and technology was important but to achieve this, a clearer pedagogical understanding of knowledge production was needed.

Never simplify complex problems

Prof Zipin said academics were constantly seeking complex problems and therefore could not reduce the complexity of a problem to simplify it for students entering the higher education space.
“We need to become a knowledge society. Ideologies often sway us not to look at the complexities of knowledge otherwise these ideologies would not be persuasive,” said Prof Zipin.

Is the technological move counterproductive?
Prof Zipin also cautioned that the move towards technological means for transferring knowledge had its own drawbacks. Institutions are a knowledge economy and its product is human capital. However, producing graduates who catered only to a technological society created downward mobility.
“People’s jobs are replaced by technology. This causes wages to decrease significantly because of structural inequalities, the move towards tech-based schooling should be done cautiously,” said Prof Zipin.

Simplicity not the ultimate sophistication
Prof Zipin concluded by stating that higher education had a responsibility to give its students the best possible future, this could be done by creating hegemonic relationships between institutions of higher learning, government and the private sector. Academics needed to fill the gap and apply their knowledge by applying complexity to social issues and allowing the complexity of these issues to flourish, the professor said.

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