SA cohort study gets first university students

A group of 4th year nursing students from the University of Johannesburg (UJ) yesterday became the first university students to join the CREHS Cohort Study in South Africa. So far, baseline data collection has only been done in nursing colleges - 1 in North West Province and 2 in Gauteng Province (see the posts below).

Including the 20 UJ students, the South African cohort now has 253 members.

In South Africa, the CREHS Cohort Study is being implemeted in North West and Gauteng Provinces. UJ was the last data collection site in Gauteng. We hope to finish the fieldwork in North West by the end of September 2008.

Data collection in South Africa

In South Africa, the aim is to recruit at least 250 fourth-year nursing students from selected nursing colleges in North West and Gauteng Provinces into the cohort. After the first three baseline data collection sessions (see the previous post), the cohort already has 233 members.

The first 37 members of the cohort came from the Mmabatho College of Nursing in North West They joined the cohort on 25 July.


Three days later, on 28 July, baseline data collection at S.G. Lourens Nursing College in Pretoria, added another 71 members to the cohort.


This past Tuesday we had another very good turnout, with the 125 students from the Ann Latsky College of Nursing in Johannesburg taking us past the 200-mark.


Thus far, in each of the colleges the baseline data collection has involved about 4 quite intense hours of questionnaire completion and focus group discussions. However, as the photographs show, it wasn't all hard work and after it all the cohort members still had something to smile about!!

In South Africa, baseline data collection is being planned in three more nursing training institutions. More updates on that to follow... In the meantime, why not let us know what you think about this website and your experience of the research so far? You can either write a comment or give us a quick feedback through the survey on the right hand side of the page.

About the CREHS Cohort Study and this website

THE STUDY
The CREHS Cohort Study is an exciting, innovative research project that is being carried out in Thailand, South Africa and Kenya. The basic idea is to recruit final-year nursing students in these countries into a cohort/long-term research group and to collect information from them about their career choices and the things they value in their professional lives and working environments. This information will be useful in making recommendations about how to improve the work experiences and retention of health workers in the health systems where they are needed most.

Over the next year or so, the research will involve three key steps:

• Baseline data collection, which usually takes place in selected nursing training institutions before the students graduate. This entails the completion of several questionnaires, conducting focus group discussions and collecting participants' contact details so that they can be reached at a later stage. Baseline data collection was completed in Thailand in March 2008, is underway in South Africa and should start in Kenya at the end of the month.
  
• Cohort contact, in terms of which the researchers will contact members from time to time to verify contact details and get a very quick update on their professional situation.
• Follow up, which will involve further detailed data collection with the cohort members. This will take place approximately one year after the baseline data collection.
  

More information on the research can be obtained from any of the participating research organisations (see the list on the side of this internet page).

WHY THIS PAGE?
Over time, we hope to stay in touch with as many of the cohort members as possible. This internet page has been created to try and keep contact and to share pictures, findings from the research and general news, especially news about the lives and work experiences of the cohort members.

So, stay online and don't hesitate to send us your comments or suggestions about how this website can be improved and about what information you would like to see on it.

News that will appear on this page very soon include:

• updates about the baseline data collection in South Africa
• the first findings to emerge from the research in Thailand.