Browsing by Author "Nizeyimana, Eugene"

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    Designing a community reintegration programme for individuals with a traumatic spinal cord injury in the Cape Metropolitan area
    (University of the Western Cape, 2018) Nizeyimana, Eugene; Phillips, Julie
    Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a devastating condition often affecting young and healthy individuals around the world. This debilitating condition not only creates enormous physical and emotional suffering to individuals but also is a significant financial burden to families and society at large and it affects quality of life. Successful community reintegration following spinal cord injury is considered an important goal of rehabilitation as this has been positively associated with self-esteem, life satisfaction and quality of life. The overall aim of the study was to design a community reintegration programme for individuals who sustained a traumatic spinal cord injury (TSCI) in the Cape Metropolitan Area. The design of this study was a mixed method design including four phases. The first phase of the study was to determine the base line information regarding reintegration into communities after sustaining a TSCI and included 108 participants. Data was collected by use of self-administered/interview administered questionnaire. The results of this phase demonstrated that community reintegration of individuals who sustained a traumatic spinal cord injury was relatively low and employment was found to be a statistically significant variable influencing community reintegration following the injury. The second phase of the study aimed to gain a deeper understanding of how employment and other factors influence reintegration into communities after the injury.
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    Perceived constraints to physical activity among paramedical institution students in Uganda
    (University of the Western Cape, 2005) Nizeyimana, Eugene; Phillips, Julie; Dept. of Physiotherapy; Faculty of Community and Health Sciences
    Research has clearly shown that all individuals will benefit from regular physical activity. Unfortunately, young adults including college and university students are not physically active on a regular basis worldwide. In the developing world particularly in Sub- Saharan Africa, physical inactivity along with tobacco use, poor diet and nutrition are increasingly parts of today’s lifestyle. Physical activity declines with age and the most important decline appear to be during the transition period from high school to university and during university years. The aim of this study was to assess the level of physical activity, to investigate the perceived constraints to physical activity and to determine whether socio-demographic characteristic have an influence on participation in physical activity and perceived constraints to physical activity among paramedical institutions students in Uganda. A cross-sectional study with descriptive quantitative design was conducted. Four hundred (400) paramedical institution students were selected using a stratified random sampling technique. A self-administered questionnaire adopted from the literature was used to collect the data. A response rate of 90% was obtained. Descriptive and inferential statistics using the statistical package for social sciences were used to analyze the data. The relationships and associations between different variables were determined by carrying out significant tests using chi-square tests. Alpha level was set at 0.05. The mean age of the sample was 22.44 years (SD = 2.03). Males constituted 73.9% and females constituted 26.1% of the sample. Students from eight (8) health professional courses participated in the study. Over half (59%) of participants were classified as physically active and 41% were classified as inactive or sedentary. For male participants, lack of the right equipment to exercise and wanting to do other things in their free time were perceived as the major constraints to physical activity. For female participants, lack of motivation and tiredness after exercise were perceived as the major constraints to physical activity. The findings of this study demonstrate that there is an influence of socio-demographic characteristics such as gender, year of the study and different departments/schools on participation in physical activity and perceived constraints to physical activity. They also indicate the need of health promotion intervention aiming at promoting physical activity among paramedical institution students in Uganda.
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    Psychosocial reintegration following traumatic spinal cord injury in South Africa: The influence of employment, injury characteristics and living situation
    (The Journal of Spinal Cord Medicine,, 2022) Nizeyimana, Eugene; Phillips, Joliana; Joseph, Conran
    1Department of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Division of Physiotherapy, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa, 2Department of Physiotherapy, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa Objectives: To determine the influence of employment, injury characteristics and living situation on psychosocial reintegration in individuals who sustained a traumatic spinal cord injury (TSCI) in South Africa. Design: A cross-sectional exploratory survey. Settings: Communities of the Cape Metropolitan Area, South Africa. Participants: A total of 108 community- dwelling adults, between ages of 19 and 71 years, who have sustained a TSCI more than 1- year ago. Outcome measures: : The Sydney psychosocial reintegration scale (SPRS-2). Results: The SPRS-2 and domains mean (SD) scores were: (1) Overall SPRS-2 of 27.87(13.4); (2) Occupational activity of 8.62 (4.8); (3) Interpersonal relationships of 9.80 (5.1); and (4) Living skills of 9.45 (4.9). Multivariate regression analysis resulted in two significant independent variables, namely employment and living situation. Employment alone explained 24.3% of the variance in the overall psychosocial model, 25.6% in the occupational activity model, while employment together with living situation explained 24.2% of the variance in the living skills model, with those employed reporting better psychosocial reintegration and those living in informal dwellings reporting poorer psychosocial reintegration. Conclusion: Employment and living situation strongly influenced psychosocial reintegration following a TSCI, indicating the important role of socio-economic status for psychosocial adaptation after injury. As employment plays a significant mediating role, and living in informal dwellings negatively affect psychosocial reintegration following a TSCI, rehabilitation stakeholders and policy makers need to continue lobbying for social and political change that support employment opportunities and provide accessible housing for persons with TSCI.