Background: Globally, mental disorders are common among nursing students; therefore, effective prevention and early detection are urgently needed. However, the prevalence rate of anxiety symptoms has not been investigated in South African nursing colleges. Aim: The study aimed to assess the prevalence of anxiety symptoms and their sociodemographic risk factors among nursing students in Gauteng province, South Africa. Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted at Chris Hani Baragwanath and SG Lourens nursing colleges in the first week of June 2022. A purposeful sampling technique selected the third- and fourth-year nursing students aged ≥ 18 years registered at the two nursing colleges. The seven-item Generalised Anxiety Disorder scale was used to assess anxiety symptoms. Results: The prevalence of anxiety symptoms was 74.7% (95% confidence interval: 69.9–78.9). Being a student at nursing college B, being in the fourth academic year of study and use of substances were identified as predictors of anxiety symptoms in these nursing students. Conclusions: The prevalence of anxiety symptoms in this study is relatively high, with predictors of developing anxiety being a student at nursing college B, in the fourth academic year and current use of psychoactive substances were predictors of anxiety symptoms. These findings highlight the need to develop interventions and strategies to promote mental health assessments and management to prevent and reduce the problem of mental disorders among nursing students.

Obstetric intensive care admissions at a tertiary hospital in Limpopo Province, South Africa

Geographical distribution and profile of medical doctors in public sector hospitals of the Limpopo Province, South Africa

Background: Cervical cancer remains the major public problem worldwide and the most common gynaecological malignancy in the developing world, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.Aim: To determine the prevalence of abnormal cervical cytology amongst women with and without human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and examine the association between HIV and histological grading.Setting: The study was conducted in Limpopo province, which is the northernmost province of South Africa. The province has five district municipalities with one tertiary, five regional and thirty four district hospitals.Methods: We retrospectively reviewed cervical cancer cases in Limpopo province (LP) of South Africa, using data collected routinely by the National Health Laboratory Services (NHLS). The data on smears submitted for cytology between 2013 and 2015 were extracted from the Central Data Warehouse (CDW) database.Results: A total of 84 466 women were screened for cervical cytology smears. Their mean age was 39.8 ± 13.6 years, with range from 15 to 113 years; 77.2% were in the age group 30 years and older and 19.6% had an abnormal cervical cytology result. Overall, 46.4% of the women screened for cervical cancer were HIV infected. A significantly higher proportion of HIV-positive women had abnormal cytology than HIV-negative women (31.8% vs. 9.2%).Conclusion: The prevalence of abnormal cytology amongst HIV-positive women is relatively high, and the risk appears to be significantly greater in all age groups. This finding highlights the need to ascertain HIV status of all women presenting with cervical cancer.

Background: Job satisfaction has become an area of relevance and debate in public health as it is directly linked to staff absenteeism, retention and turnover of the workforce and as such, influences the organisational commitment of the workers and the quality of health services provided. It is therefore essential to discern what drives healthcare professionals to remain working in the public health sector.Aim: This study aimed to determine job satisfaction and its associated factors among healthcare professionals.Setting: North-West province South Africa.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 244 healthcare professionals of different categories in three district hospitals. A self-administered structured questionnaire with 38 questions to measure job satisfaction was used to collect data. The chi-square test was used to compare groups, and a p-value 0.05 was considered statistically significant.Results: Overall, 62% of the participants were not satisfied with their job. The most common factors that participants were not satisfied with include job security (52%), standard of care (57%), opportunity to develop (59%), payment or wages (76%), workload (78%) and working environment (89%). Job satisfaction was significantly influenced by age, job category and years of service.Conclusions: The predictors of job satisfaction include age, category of employees and years of service. Interventions are required to improve the degree of job satisfaction among health care professionals.Contribution: Findings of this study will assist informing plans that are geared towards enhancing healthcare worker job satisfaction, retention and consequent health systems strengthening.

Background. Pregnancy-related depression is a common psychiatric disorder and a major public health concern in both developed and developing countries, but the disorder receives little attention and few resources, particularly in developing countries.Objectives. To assess the prevalence of antenatal depression and its sociodemographic risk factors among pregnant women in Limpopo Province, South Africa.Methods. This was a cross-sectional descriptive study conducted in a district hospital from 8 March to 12 April 2021. Consecutive women attending antenatal care services during the data collection period were included in the study. The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale was used to assess depression symptoms.Results. The prevalence of antenatal depression was 31% (95% confidence interval 26.1 - 36.3). Being unmarried, being a smoker, being without financial support from a partner, having a violent partner and having a less-educated partner were significant predictors of antenatal depression in these women.Conclusion. Nearly one-third of the pregnant women in our study had depressive symptoms. The important predictors of antenataldepression included being unmarried, smoking, lack of financial support from a partner, intimate partner violence and having a lesseducated partner. These findings may help healthcare workers to identify women at risk early, so that support can be offered during pregnancy and childbirth.