Pharmacy students' attitudes and beliefs about spirituality and spiritual care in professional education in Zimbabwe

INTRODUCTION

A majority of Zimbabweans are religious and/or spiritual. Spirituality and spiritual care (SC) are important parts of patient care. The study's objective was to investigate pharmacy students' attitudes/beliefs about spirituality and SC in pharmacy education and practice in Zimbabwe.

METHODS

This cross-sectional descriptive nationwide study gathered data from pharmacy students at the University of Zimbabwe (UZ) and Harare Institute of Technology. The 38-item survey measured students' spirituality and SC perspectives and their religious and demographic characteristics.

RESULTS

Most respondents were Christian (89%), female (54%), and attended the UZ (63%). Slightly over half agreed/strongly agreed that they "would like to undertake coursework that will make them competent in providing SC to patients" (52%), SC education would improve their clinical performance (51%), and education that promotes spiritual well-being or integration will make them more empathetic and compassionate practitioners (63%). Pharmacy students also believed that more education on spirituality should be given to pharmacy students (48%), SC is an important part of pharmacy practice (74%), "discussing patients' spiritual or religious beliefs can improve the pharmacist-patient relationship" (74%), and anticipated to incorporate spirituality into professional practice upon graduation (50%).

CONCLUSIONS

Most pharmacy students in Zimbabwe considered themselves spiritual/religious and had positive perceptions about spirituality and SC in pharmacy education and practice. There was a positive association between students' personal religiosity and their beliefs about SC. Students anticipated that SC would be incorporated into their education and future professional practice and indicated they wanted more education and training to feel competent in SC.

Progress on the elimination of viral hepatitis in Zimbabwe: A review of the policies, strategies and challenges

Very few low-income countries have developed national plans to achieve the viral hepatitis elimination targets set in the World Health Organization (WHO) strategy. We reviewed the policy environment, strategies and challenges on the fight against viral hepatitis in Zimbabwe. The review focussed on the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC) policy documents, strategic plans and reports. We performed key informant interviews to enhance evidence generated from the document review. Twelve documents were reviewed and interviews with 10 key informants were completed. The MoHCC established a technical working group to work towards elimination of viral hepatitis. The technical working group drafted a strategic plan for elimination of viral hepatitis; however, it is still awaiting implementation. Key strategies that are working well include screening of donated blood for transfusion, safe injection practices and hepatitis B virus (HBV) three-dose vaccination. Current challenges in the drive towards elimination of viral hepatitis include poor to non-existent surveillance systems, lack of epidemiological data, absence of the HBV vaccine birth dose and lack of systematic screening and treatment services for viral hepatitis. In conclusion, despite political will demonstrated towards achieving viral hepatitis elimination, substantial investment and work are required to implement the strategic plan and realize significant success.

Risks to the community pharmacists and pharmacy personnel during COVID-19 pandemic: perspectives from a low-income country

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease that has become a global pandemic. COVID-19 is spreading in Africa, and Zimbabwe has not been spared. The cases in Zimbabwe are mainly from imported cases due to high volume of travellers from the COVID-19 hotspots. In Zimbabwe, local transmission is also anticipated due to inter- and intracity travelling. Frontline health workers are at risk of infection due to contact with infected people as they discharge their duties. In this setting, the risk to community pharmacists and pharmacy personnel is poorly understood and characterised. This paper looked at the risks of infection that are peculiar to community pharmacy personnel and suggested some recommendations to reduce the risk to COVID-19 infection.

Health-related quality of life in HIV/AIDS patients on antiretroviral therapy at a tertiary care facility in Zimbabwe

Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is a broad concept reflecting a patient's general subjective perception of the effect of an illness or intervention on physical, psychological and social aspects of their daily life. HRQoL among patients infected with HIV has become an important indicator of impact of disease and treatment outcomes. A cross-sectional survey was carried out at Chitungwiza Central Hospital, Zimbabwe, to assess HRQoL in patients with HIV/AIDS receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART), using two validated instruments. The HIV/AIDS-targeted quality of life (HAT-QoL) and EuroQoL Five-dimensions-Three-level (EQ-5D-3L) instruments were used to assess HRQoL. Internal consistency reliability and convergent validity of the two instruments were also evaluated. For construct validity, the relationships between HRQoL scores and socio-economic and HIV/AIDS-related characteristics were explored. The median scores for the HAT-QoL dimensions ranged from 33.3 (financial worries) to 100 (HIV mastery). A considerably low HAT-QoL dimension score of 50.0 was observed for sexual function. There were ceiling effects for all HAT-QoL dimension scores except for financial worries and disclosure worries. Floor effects were observed for financial worries and sexual function. The median of the EQ-5D-3L index and visual analogue scale (VAS) was 0.81 and 79.0, respectively. There were no floor or ceiling effects for both the EQ-5D-3L index and VAS. The overall scale Cronbach's alpha was 0.83 for HAT-Qol and 0.67 for EQ-5D-3L. HAT-QoL demonstrated good convergent validity with EQ-5D index (0.58) and VAS (0.40). A higher level of HRQoL was positively and significantly related to income, education and employment. The patients' self-reported HRQoL was generally satisfactory in all the HAT-QoL dimensions as well as the two components on the EQ-5D-3L instrument. The two instruments demonstrated good measurement properties in HIV/AIDS patients receiving ART and have potential for use, alongside biomarkers, in monitoring outcomes of interventions.