The year 2021 was full of exciting events. We are thankful to report that some projects were completed, and some new projects were tackled. We hope you enjoy this summary.
Thank you to each Caring presence team member and partner for your hard work and your hearts for presence and relational care. May you be blessed and may you see the fruit of your work.
Online book launch
During October 2021 we held an online book launch for our newly published edited collection on presence.
The host was Prof Jaco Hoffman and the launch was attended by more than 30 online guests. We celebrated the publication of our edited collection on Presence, with altogether 15 international and national contributors. The book was published in April 2021 by Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Prof Andries Baart was the main speaker during the online event, and Emmerentia gave an overview of the book. Prof Karin Minnie gave an opening word. The launched was closed on a cheerful note with a toast proposed by Mrs Kathleen Froneman. Thank you to the organising team, Dr Precious Chukwuere, Mrs Petro Benadé and Mrs Kathleen Froneman for your wonderful work in making this launch a reality. A recording of the launch is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUidM6tFvVg
Outline of the contents of the book:
Part I Presence in nursing
1: What is presence (Emmerentia du Plessis)
2: Learning about presence through an exposure (Emmerentia and Elly Beurskens)
3: Ways to learn about presence (Christelle Oukouomi Noutchie, Tiisetso Mofokeng, Kathleen Froneman, Rudo Ramalisa)
4: Compassionate maternity care (Karin Minnie)
5: Nursing care management through relational leadership (Jan den Bakker, Emmerentia and Babalwa Tau)
Part II Research on presence
6: Research methods for research on presence (Guus Timmerman and Andries Baart)
7: Research on presence and resilience in primary health care (Emmerentia du Plessis and Jennifer Villaflores)
8: Research on presence in preventing relapse in psychiatric patients (Emmerentia, Lillian Kalimashe and Roselyn Motaung)
9: Long-term care futures in South Africa: a different voice (Andries Baart and Jaco Hoffman)
Part III The way forward
10: Guidelines for presence practice (Emmerentia)
For more information on ordering our book, go to https://www.cambridgescholars.com/product/978-1-5275-6629-3.
Presence Foundation presents online short course
A group of presence team members attended an online short course on presence, presented by Dr Elly Beurskens of the Presence Foundation, the Netherlands.
An enriching experience
We gained a deeper insight into the concept presence, as well as the practice of presence. The online course consisted of a series of virtual contact sessions, followed by practical assignments and reading for the next session.
A new experience
The online presence training was a new experience. It is the first time that the group attended structured training on presence, and it is the first time that this course was presented in South Africa, and in an online format. Elly is experienced in presenting courses on presence and she was an excellent facilitator. The course material is very meaningful and we had in-depth discussions during the online sessions, learning much about presence and getting to know one another better.
Ongoing experiences
We as a group are applying the principles of presence in our interactions with one another, colleagues, students and patients. We are also integrating what we have learned about presence in our research. One of our team members, Christelle Oukouomi Noutchie, will continue working with Elly to present the course to nurses in South African contexts and exploring and describing its impact.
Inaugural address with a twist
Emmerentia had the opportunity to deliver her inaugural address as professor. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the option of delivering the address in virtual format, combined with a face-to-face event with a limited number of guests, was available.
She made use of this opportunity and with the production team, CFD productions, developed a documentary-type video. This video contains a series of conversations facilitated by Emmerentia about the questions: what is presence, and who is a professor? Prof Jeffrey Mphahlele (Vice-chancellor: Research and Innovation) was the presiding officer during the certificate handover. He delivered a short word on: ‘what motivates us’ and shared his view on presence. In the video, Prof Awie Kotzé (Dean: Faculty of Health Sciences), Prof Karin Minnie (Director: NuMIQ research focus area), and presence team members Dr Khumo Shopo and Mrs Kathleen Froneman joined in the conversations.
Link
The inaugural address is titled: Professing presence, and is available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-TKqHzXI7g
Updates and new initiatives
New short learning programme on Relational care and leadership
Separate from the online presence short course we attended, we also developed a short learning programme of our own. The short learning programme on Relational care and leadership was launched during October 2021, and feedback from the participants suggests that this is a success. The short learning programme is presented online, making use of our Caring presence YouTube conversations, PowerPoint presentations and extracts from our book on Presence, as study material. Participants are expected to complete a series of assignments, followed by virtual contact sessions. So far it looks like the short course has the potential to create awareness on presence, to change perspectives on what ‘good care’ is and to encourage participants to reflect on their communication style, interaction with patients and their leadership style. We are looking forward to continue presenting this course. The course is open to all categories of nurses. The next intakes are planned for 21 Feb 2022 to 4 May and 25 July to 21 Sept 2022.
For more info on the short learning programme, visit https://uce.ajourney.academy/student/#/enrol/catalogue
Research team members are progressing well
Our team members are working hard on their studies. Our PhD candidates, Kathleen, Petro and Rudo are well on their way with data collection and analysis, and we hope that we will be able to report on their valuable findings in our next newsletter.
Precious (post-doctoral fellow), Lilly, Babsy, Christelle and Beauty (PhD candidates) are developing their proposals, and Marcel (M-student) has obtained ethical clearance and permission to conduct his study. All this hard work would not be possible without the valuable support of co-leaders Prof Siedine Coetzee, Prof Leepile Sehularo, Prof Daleen Koen, Prof Miriam Moagi, Dr Anneke van Graan, Dr Suegnet Scholtz and Kathleen Froneman. Thank you!
Who graduated in 2021?
We are proud to announce that Avhatakali Mphephu obtained her M.Cur Psychiatric nursing degree during 2021. Not only did she graduate, but she also published an article on her study in record time, in a special edition on gender-based violence. To read more on her study, view this blog post.
To view her article, visit https://hsag.co.za/index.php/hsag/article/view/1658
Final thoughts
We are thankful for a fruitful year, and we are looking forward to continued work on presence.
A heartfelt thank you to all who are supporting our work and encouraging us to continue. We pray that our work on presence will impact practice, improving the well-being of nurses, caregivers and patients. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions, or if you are interested in becoming involved. We would love to hear from you!