Abstract:
Children of school-going age are faced with multiple challenges that need
professional interventions from educators and healthcare providers. This study
sought to explore and describe the challenges experienced by healthcare
providers with regard to the provision of school healthcare in the Tshwane
sub-district, Gauteng Province. A qualitative, descriptive phenomenological
design was used because of its holistic and contextualised nature. The
population consisted of healthcare providers who were working in collaboration
with the school health nurses, as well as being members of the community.
These participants were conveniently and purposefully selected. Twenty-two
healthcare providers were selected. Data were collected through the use of
individual interviews until data saturation was attained. The interviews were
based on the question: “What are the challenges you experience as healthcare
provider regarding the provision of school health services in the Tshwane
sub-district, Gauteng Province? Researchers followed the adapted Colaizzi’s
method (1978) of data analysis in Polit and Beck (2012). All transcripts were read
repeatedly and the data was reviewed, coded and categorised into the sections
applicable to the problem statement. From the challenges experienced three
main themes evolved by health care providers and these included: the need
for early and frequent school health visits, the lack of collaboration in school health programmes, and the care provided to HIV positive children of schoolgoing
age. It was evident that the challenges school health service providers
faced included limited resources, inconsistency in existing school health service
rendering, and poor collaboration between the stakeholders involved. These
challenges create a major barrier for the delivery of school health services in
South Africa. The participants recommended that partnerships and collaboration
should be established in order to establish a healthy educational environment
and promote frequent and sustained school visits.
