Environmental health community service: Confronting the human resource challenges

Orientation: The environmental health graduates are required to complete community service before they could be registered as independent practitioners by the Health Professions Council of South Africa. Community service programme serves as the mechanism to recruit healthcare professionals who will...

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Main Authors: Patience Mbola, Izanne S. Human, Paula E. Melariri
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: AOSIS 2019-11-01
Series:South African Journal of Human Resource Management
Subjects:
Online Access:https://sajhrm.co.za/index.php/sajhrm/article/view/1135
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spelling doaj-f8c05b65fd8e45ef939c2b270c09c5992020-11-25T01:47:59ZengAOSISSouth African Journal of Human Resource Management1683-75842071-078X2019-11-01170e1e1010.4102/sajhrm.v17i0.1135521Environmental health community service: Confronting the human resource challengesPatience Mbola0Izanne S. Human1Paula E. Melariri2Department of Environmental and Occupational Studies, Faculty of Applied Science, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Cape TownDepartment of Environmental and Occupational Studies, Faculty of Applied Science, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Cape TownDepartment of Environmental Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Nelson Mandela University, Port ElizabethOrientation: The environmental health graduates are required to complete community service before they could be registered as independent practitioners by the Health Professions Council of South Africa. Community service programme serves as the mechanism to recruit healthcare professionals who will improve the provision of equitable and quality healthcare. Research purpose: The study aimed to explore, identify and describe the factors that had an influence on the effective selection, placement and utilisation of environmental health graduates as well as an evaluation of the effectiveness of community service. Research approach/design and method: A quantitative, cross-sectional study was conducted using self-administered questionnaires. The study included 24 environmental health practitioners who completed their community service and 10 environmental health practitioners responsible for coordinating community service in the municipal, provincial and national spheres of government in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa during 2013–2016. Purposive sample was drawn from each population. T-test and chi-square test were used to determine the statistical significant differences. The open-ended question responses from the structured questionnaire were qualitatively analysed by an independent coder. Main findings: The findings revealed major problems regarding the effective implementation of community service that included decreasing number of community service posts, inadequate material resources, lack of induction, inconsistent supervision, and a lack of evaluation of the community service. Contribution: The study findings suggest important inequalities that should deserve urgent attention. Study concludes by presenting recommendations for the improvement of the community service in the environmental health.https://sajhrm.co.za/index.php/sajhrm/article/view/1135community serviceenvironmental healthenvironmental health practitionerselectionplacementutilisation
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Patience Mbola
Izanne S. Human
Paula E. Melariri
spellingShingle Patience Mbola
Izanne S. Human
Paula E. Melariri
Environmental health community service: Confronting the human resource challenges
South African Journal of Human Resource Management
community service
environmental health
environmental health practitioner
selection
placement
utilisation
author_facet Patience Mbola
Izanne S. Human
Paula E. Melariri
author_sort Patience Mbola
title Environmental health community service: Confronting the human resource challenges
title_short Environmental health community service: Confronting the human resource challenges
title_full Environmental health community service: Confronting the human resource challenges
title_fullStr Environmental health community service: Confronting the human resource challenges
title_full_unstemmed Environmental health community service: Confronting the human resource challenges
title_sort environmental health community service: confronting the human resource challenges
publisher AOSIS
series South African Journal of Human Resource Management
issn 1683-7584
2071-078X
publishDate 2019-11-01
description Orientation: The environmental health graduates are required to complete community service before they could be registered as independent practitioners by the Health Professions Council of South Africa. Community service programme serves as the mechanism to recruit healthcare professionals who will improve the provision of equitable and quality healthcare. Research purpose: The study aimed to explore, identify and describe the factors that had an influence on the effective selection, placement and utilisation of environmental health graduates as well as an evaluation of the effectiveness of community service. Research approach/design and method: A quantitative, cross-sectional study was conducted using self-administered questionnaires. The study included 24 environmental health practitioners who completed their community service and 10 environmental health practitioners responsible for coordinating community service in the municipal, provincial and national spheres of government in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa during 2013–2016. Purposive sample was drawn from each population. T-test and chi-square test were used to determine the statistical significant differences. The open-ended question responses from the structured questionnaire were qualitatively analysed by an independent coder. Main findings: The findings revealed major problems regarding the effective implementation of community service that included decreasing number of community service posts, inadequate material resources, lack of induction, inconsistent supervision, and a lack of evaluation of the community service. Contribution: The study findings suggest important inequalities that should deserve urgent attention. Study concludes by presenting recommendations for the improvement of the community service in the environmental health.
topic community service
environmental health
environmental health practitioner
selection
placement
utilisation
url https://sajhrm.co.za/index.php/sajhrm/article/view/1135
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