REGISTRATION
INFORMATION
World University Rankings - Top 600

Dr Madlala’s Thesis Develops Guidelines for Student Accoucheurs Training

Dr Madlala’s Thesis Develops Guidelines for Student Accoucheurs Training

Observing challenges faced by aspiring male maternal and child health care practitioners inspired Dr Themba Madlala to pursue his Doctor of Nursing from the Faculty of Health Sciences at the Durban University of Technology (DUT). The topic of his thesis is, “Guidelines to facilitate acceptance of student accoucheurs in clinical practice at the Free State maternal health care institutions.”

“When I was a lecturer at the Free State School of Nursing, I realised that male student nurses were having challenges in completing their required midwifery objectives on time as compared to their female student nurses’ counterparts. Among other reasons for the delay was mainly due to gender discrimination and rejection experienced by male students from women in maternity units as most of them refused to be assisted by males. As a result, male student nurses became stressed and frustrated. There are no available guidelines to be used in supporting these students while placed at maternity units. This motivated me to do the study for my PhD thesis,” said Dr Madlala who graduated today, 14 May 2018 with a Degree of Doctor of Nursing.

Dr Madlala’s academic journey was not easy, as he was raised by parents who were farm workers without sufficient income to maintain a family with 6 children. “Growing up in a very humble background with limited source of income was extremely difficult, but the love of books, tennis and music shifted my focus on our financial constraints,” he said.

He said full-time employment and residing outside KwaZulu-Natal also imposed its own challenges in his academic journey. “This was a very challenging, as residing outside KZN required extensive travelling for the use of library facility and consultations with my supervisor Prof NM Sibiya and co-supervisor Dr TSP Ngxongo. At times I would park at the garage and fall asleep due to exhaustion, but the support, courage, and belief my supervisors had in me kept me going. This Degree was achieved within one-year record time,” added Dr Madlala.

Dr Madlala is hopeful that his thesis will assist to improve the conditions for male midwives, which will entice more males to join this field thus address the shortage of these professionals within the maternal health care sector.
“Midwives in South Africa are the front line caregivers and back bone in maternal and child health care therefore, shortage of these caregivers is detrimental to the health care sector. The thesis developed guidelines and recommendations aimed at encouraging the Department of Health and the nurse training institutions within the Free State province and other provinces faced with similar challenges in South Africa at large to consider supporting male student nurses’ during their midwifery discipline training and place more registered accoucheurs in maternal health care,” explained Dr Madlala.

He said he is proud of his achievement and that it is a testimony that your background does not determine your future, but with discipline, responsibility, hard work and surrounding yourself with people with same vision you can achieve your goals.

“The journey of a thousand miles begin with a step. Invest one to two hours out of your eight hours sleep towards your education. Never stop learning, the world of academics is a fascinating place with an infinite amount to learn about, but only determination and hard work enhances academic success.” he said.
Dr Madlala said his future plans include post-doctoral research, nursing authorship and becoming a seasoned Professor in the near future.

Pictured: Dr Themba Madlala being conferred with his Degree of Doctor of Nursing by DUT Registrar Prof Thenjiwe Meyiwa.

Nduduzo Ndlovu

No comments