South African research ethics committees (RECs) faced significant challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. Research ethics committees needed to find a balance between careful consideration of scientific validity and ethical merit of protocols, and review with the urgency normally associated with public health emergency research. We aimed to explore the views of South African RECs on their pandemic preparedness and response during COVID-19.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The Internship and Community Service Programme (ICSP) places newly graduated health professionals for a compulsory training period. Universities adopt multiple strategies to encourage students to select rural placements for ICSP.
Objectives: This study describes ICSP choices among final-year MBChB and Health and Rehabilitation Science students at a South African university and the factors influencing their decisions.
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic presents significant challenges to research ethics committees (RECs) in balancing urgency of review of COVID-19 research with careful consideration of risks and benefits. In the African context, RECs are further challenged by historical mistrust of research and potential impacts on COVID-19 related research participation, as well as the need to facilitate equitable access to effective treatments or vaccines for COVID-19. In South Africa, an absent National Health Research Ethics Council (NHREC) also left RECs without national guidance for a significant duration of the COVID-19 pandemic.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStudy Design And Setting: Returning rugby players to the sport following musculoskeletal injuries is a multi-factorial and challenging process. A cross-sectional observational study was conducted among health and sport practitioners involved with injured rugby players in South Africa.
Objectives And Outcome Measures: The views, current practices and barriers encountered by health and sport practitioners during return to rugby were investigated using a self-developed online survey.
Background: Adolescents are a unique population with significant unmet health needs. They are often excluded from research that may benefit them as they are perceived as vulnerable and needing protection from research participation. For Research Ethics Committees, conflicting positions in statutes, regulations and ethical guidelines about who provides informed consent for adolescent involvement in health research can be a significant barrier to approving adolescent research.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Professional rugby presents significant injury and illness risks to players, which need to be regularly assessed to monitor the effects of interventions and competition rules changes.
Hypothesis/purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the incidence and nature of time-loss injuries and illness during the pre-season and competition period of the 2017 Super Rugby tournament in a single South African team.
Study Design: Descriptive Epidemiology Study.
Musculoskeletal assessment and skill screening tests are regularly used in sports and exercise science to determine performance levels or injury risk in athletes. Many of these tests are used without having undergone clinimetric evaluation. The steps to develop these screening tests and assessment tools should include a structured process according to the clinimetric principles (conceptual and measurement model, reliability, validity, responsiveness, interpretability, burden, alternative forms, and cultural and language adaptation).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Cycling is a popular global sport and method of transportation and a significant contributor to admissions to hospital emergency units following an injury. Mountain biking events present additional challenges with remote venues and isolated courses, for which on-site medical care is often provided, for both injury and illness occurring during races. National health data may not represent these unique events, and specific data on incidence of injury and illness in mountain biking events are essential.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Environ Res Public Health
July 2021
Mass participation events are promoted in South Africa as a positive public health initiative. has grown to be one of the most popular. The present study identifies the motives of residents in the Western Cape Province to join and how their involvement influences future physical activity levels.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAthletes in tackle-collision teams are at high risk of musculoskeletal injuries resulting in absence from play due to the high impact nature of the sport. There is a paucity of research to guide the management and assessment methods needed to facilitate the return to play (RTP) process. This review aimed to describe, synthesise and evaluate RTP protocols implemented for musculoskeletal injuries in tackle-collision teams.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Soccer players incur injuries that typically affect their performance. Injuries are caused by intrinsic and extrinsic factors that call for multifactorial preventive interventions. The study examines the impact of the FIFA 11+ warm up programme on the incidence and severity of injuries in second division soccer players in Rwanda.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of 2 activity-based motor interventions among female adolescents who are overweight and obese.
Methods: This study was conducted in a low-income community of Cape Town, South Africa. The study involved 52 participants classified as overweight and obese.
Active parental consent is a requirement that may threaten the validity of including minors in research. This study investigated possible sources of bias between the responses of children whose parents actively consented to their participation in a school-based survey and those of children whose parents were nonresponders. Due to a serious administrative error in a study to examine health-related quality of life (HRQoL), all 514 eligible schoolchildren were tested, although only 177 parents signed consent.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) occurs after unaccustomed physical activity or competitive sport, resulting in stiff, painful muscles with impaired function. Acustat electro-membrane microcurrent therapy has been used to treat postoperative pain and soft tissue injury; however, its efficacy in reducing symptoms of muscle damage is not known.
Methods: Thirty healthy men were recruited for a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.