Number of participants in the focus grouphttp://www.phcfm.orgPage 4 ofOriginal ResearchTABLE 1: Categories of the participants in the focus groups interviews.Focus groups Tshilidzini Hospital Silloam Hospital Malamulele Hospital Tshilwavhusiku Health Enzastaurin site Centre Elim Hospital Donald Frazer Hospital Total (male)Source: Authors’ own workProfessional nurse n ( ) 7 6 7 6 4 8 38 fpsyg.2017.00209 (23)Doctor n ( ) 3 2 2 4 1 12 (8)Pharmacist n ( ) 1 1 1 2 1 6 (5)HIV co-ordinator manager n ( ) 1 1 1 1 1 1 6 (6)Clinical psychologist n ( ) 1 1 1 1 1 5 (2)Dietician n ( ) 1 1 1 ?1 1 5 (1)Social worker n ( ) 1 1 1 3 (2)Clinical manager n ( ) 1 1 2 (2)After the meeting, notes were compared and consolidated. Consolidated notes were further checked with views from the Head of Health Branch for trustworthiness ?this is the term used to describe the rigour and validity of qualitative research.Consultative meetings with managementTable 2 presents the characteristics of participants who attended the consultative meetings at the district and KF-89617MedChemExpress LY-2523355 provincial levels. Most of the positions at the provincial health management team were occupied by males. The average working experience was around 7 years. A total of 23 out of 36 members of the district management team attended the semi-structured interview meeting. The majority of the members were sub-district HIV and/ or AIDS co-ordinators (11), followed by hospital CEOs (7) and senior managers at the district level (3). Most participants had 4 years working experience in the public sector. Health managers at both the district and provincial levels seemed to be more welcoming and open to the idea of integrating THPs into their health system. The initial remark by Head of Health Branch, during the introduction to the senior health managers, summarised it all in the following statement:`… It is long overdue that we start to recognise that there are others [THPs] who renders quality health services to thousands if not millions of our people. It’s unfortunate that their sciences and knowledge of medicine, plants and animals has not been acknowledged or documented for us. The Traditional Act hasTABLE 2: Provincial health branch management team.Provincial health information Job title Senior general manager: Health General manager: HIV General manager: Strategic General manager: wcs.1183 PHC General manager: Hospital General manager: Vhembe General manager: Mopani General manager: Sekhukhune General manager: Capricorn General manager: Waterberg District health management team Sub-district HIV co-ordinators Hospital CEOs Senior managers ManagersSource: Authors’ own workData analysisA qualitative data analysis technique, Glaser’s approach of grounded theory was applied.34 Copies of the original audiotapes were transcribed by the research assistant. The focus group transcripts were then checked for accuracy and verified against the original audiotapes by the main researcher. Emerging themes, independent meaningful units and segment of text, which were relevant to the purpose of the study, were identified, labelled and organised by the main researcher, in a process referred to as coding.35,36 After the initial coding was completed, hand written notes from the two consultative meetings were brought in for the data to be jointly reviewed, reinterpreted, and reorganised into categories with a clinical psychologist and pharmacist. This iterative process was used to search for common patterns and themes, contrast and irregularities; and systematic relationships.Number of participants in the focus grouphttp://www.phcfm.orgPage 4 ofOriginal ResearchTABLE 1: Categories of the participants in the focus groups interviews.Focus groups Tshilidzini Hospital Silloam Hospital Malamulele Hospital Tshilwavhusiku Health Centre Elim Hospital Donald Frazer Hospital Total (male)Source: Authors’ own workProfessional nurse n ( ) 7 6 7 6 4 8 38 fpsyg.2017.00209 (23)Doctor n ( ) 3 2 2 4 1 12 (8)Pharmacist n ( ) 1 1 1 2 1 6 (5)HIV co-ordinator manager n ( ) 1 1 1 1 1 1 6 (6)Clinical psychologist n ( ) 1 1 1 1 1 5 (2)Dietician n ( ) 1 1 1 ?1 1 5 (1)Social worker n ( ) 1 1 1 3 (2)Clinical manager n ( ) 1 1 2 (2)After the meeting, notes were compared and consolidated. Consolidated notes were further checked with views from the Head of Health Branch for trustworthiness ?this is the term used to describe the rigour and validity of qualitative research.Consultative meetings with managementTable 2 presents the characteristics of participants who attended the consultative meetings at the district and provincial levels. Most of the positions at the provincial health management team were occupied by males. The average working experience was around 7 years. A total of 23 out of 36 members of the district management team attended the semi-structured interview meeting. The majority of the members were sub-district HIV and/ or AIDS co-ordinators (11), followed by hospital CEOs (7) and senior managers at the district level (3). Most participants had 4 years working experience in the public sector. Health managers at both the district and provincial levels seemed to be more welcoming and open to the idea of integrating THPs into their health system. The initial remark by Head of Health Branch, during the introduction to the senior health managers, summarised it all in the following statement:`… It is long overdue that we start to recognise that there are others [THPs] who renders quality health services to thousands if not millions of our people. It’s unfortunate that their sciences and knowledge of medicine, plants and animals has not been acknowledged or documented for us. The Traditional Act hasTABLE 2: Provincial health branch management team.Provincial health information Job title Senior general manager: Health General manager: HIV General manager: Strategic General manager: wcs.1183 PHC General manager: Hospital General manager: Vhembe General manager: Mopani General manager: Sekhukhune General manager: Capricorn General manager: Waterberg District health management team Sub-district HIV co-ordinators Hospital CEOs Senior managers ManagersSource: Authors’ own workData analysisA qualitative data analysis technique, Glaser’s approach of grounded theory was applied.34 Copies of the original audiotapes were transcribed by the research assistant. The focus group transcripts were then checked for accuracy and verified against the original audiotapes by the main researcher. Emerging themes, independent meaningful units and segment of text, which were relevant to the purpose of the study, were identified, labelled and organised by the main researcher, in a process referred to as coding.35,36 After the initial coding was completed, hand written notes from the two consultative meetings were brought in for the data to be jointly reviewed, reinterpreted, and reorganised into categories with a clinical psychologist and pharmacist. This iterative process was used to search for common patterns and themes, contrast and irregularities; and systematic relationships.
