{"title":"Community service rehabilitation therapists' perspectives of cross-disciplinary supervision.","authors":"Zinzile N Sibiya, Andrew J Ross","doi":"10.4102/safp.v67i1.6077","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>In South Africa, graduate rehabilitation therapists undertake a compulsory community service (CS) year in public healthcare facilities, often entering this role without sufficient competency to work independently. They rely on supervision and support, which may come from senior therapists of different disciplines. This study, conducted in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) province, explores the experiences of rehabilitation therapists regarding cross-disciplinary supervision and support during their CS year.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A qualitative, descriptive, and exploratory design was employed. Virtual semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven purposively sampled participants from five KZN districts. Data were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analysed thematically.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The findings revealed four themes and ten sub-themes, highlighting the challenges and benefits of cross-disciplinary supervision, dissatisfaction with existing support structures, and recommendations for improvement. The CS therapists, as junior staff, often lacked the experience and authority to deliver optimal patient care within resource-constrained settings.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>While discipline-specific supervision remains the preferred approach, cross-disciplinary supervision contributed positively to professional development, broadening therapists' understanding of other rehabilitation disciplines. However, the limited availability of accessible, discipline-specific supervisors remains a significant concern. Given their frequent isolation and minimal experience, CS therapists require consistent, discipline-specific support to meet service demands.Contribution: This study emphasises need to address the experiences of CS therapists, who face high patient loads and limited support, in public health sector planning. Incorporating their insights can enhance their ability to deliver essential services, ensuring better outcomes for the populations served by the public health system.</p>","PeriodicalId":22040,"journal":{"name":"South African Family Practice","volume":"67 1","pages":"e1-e9"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2000,"publicationDate":"2025-02-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11886467/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"South African Family Practice","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.4102/safp.v67i1.6077","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"MEDICINE, GENERAL & INTERNAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: In South Africa, graduate rehabilitation therapists undertake a compulsory community service (CS) year in public healthcare facilities, often entering this role without sufficient competency to work independently. They rely on supervision and support, which may come from senior therapists of different disciplines. This study, conducted in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) province, explores the experiences of rehabilitation therapists regarding cross-disciplinary supervision and support during their CS year.
Methods: A qualitative, descriptive, and exploratory design was employed. Virtual semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven purposively sampled participants from five KZN districts. Data were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analysed thematically.
Results: The findings revealed four themes and ten sub-themes, highlighting the challenges and benefits of cross-disciplinary supervision, dissatisfaction with existing support structures, and recommendations for improvement. The CS therapists, as junior staff, often lacked the experience and authority to deliver optimal patient care within resource-constrained settings.
Conclusion: While discipline-specific supervision remains the preferred approach, cross-disciplinary supervision contributed positively to professional development, broadening therapists' understanding of other rehabilitation disciplines. However, the limited availability of accessible, discipline-specific supervisors remains a significant concern. Given their frequent isolation and minimal experience, CS therapists require consistent, discipline-specific support to meet service demands.Contribution: This study emphasises need to address the experiences of CS therapists, who face high patient loads and limited support, in public health sector planning. Incorporating their insights can enhance their ability to deliver essential services, ensuring better outcomes for the populations served by the public health system.
期刊介绍：
South African Family Practice (SAFP) is a peer-reviewed scientific journal, which strives to provide primary care physicians and researchers with a broad range of scholarly work in the disciplines of Family Medicine, Primary Health Care, Rural Medicine, District Health and other related fields. SAFP publishes original research, clinical reviews, and pertinent commentary that advance the knowledge base of these disciplines. The content of SAFP is designed to reflect and support further development of the broad basis of these disciplines through original research and critical review of evidence in important clinical areas; as well as to provide practitioners with continuing professional development material.
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