Exploring teaching, learning, assessment and practices of the acupuncture programme to improve children’s health

Abstract

Children are our future and must be protected and cared for by all sectors of society. In Africa, 52% of young children under the age of five contribute to the highest child mortality rate. To provide quality healthcare services to young children, higher education institutions must ensure that their students are competent and capable of implementing the knowledge and skills gained in their respective programmes. The focus of this study was to explore an acupuncture programme presented at a higher education institution to improve children’s health. Acupuncture is performed by inserting needles on specific points of the body to treat and prevent various childhood diseases. Acupuncture is widely used on children with confirmed efficacy and few adverse effects for various medical conditions. The Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge model was used as a lens to explore students’ experiences of the teaching, learning, assessment, and practices of the acupuncture programme to improve children’s health. The researcher believes that to ensure students’ competencies in improving children’s health using acupuncture, higher education institutions must provide high-quality acupuncture educational programmes through their teaching, learning, assessment, and practices. A descriptive qualitative single case study design was employed in this study to explore students’ experiences and perceptions of the delivery of the acupuncture programme at the identified institution. A purposive sampling technique was adopted. Participants were recruited from the students who were registered in the acupuncture programme. The research instrument included an online text-based questionnaire, observation, participants’ reflective journals, field notes, and document reviews. Data were analysed through thematic analysis. The qualitative validity criteria, which include credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability, were ensured in this study. The findings of this study will contribute to the improvement in the quality of teaching, learning, assessment, and practices of acupunctures programmes, which will further ensure students ‘competencies in promoting children’s health. This study will also ensure that future acupuncture programmes are aligned to international standards while maintaining the requirements as outlined in the South African higher education institution policies.