Abstract
Ph.D.
In 2008, the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) issued a mandate to have ethics, human rights and medical law integrated in the undergraduate programme for healthcare professionals registered under its ambit, including radiography. However, despite this mandate, the envisaged goals of enhanced professional conduct and ethical behaviour seem to be lacking in some clinical radiography environments. Transforming teaching and learning for healthcare professionals is thus essential to ensure that patients and the community at large are served by people who are ‘fit for purpose and fit for practice.’ The transformation that this study focused on was on ethics and human rights in the radiography undergraduate program. Ehrlich and Coakes (2013:61) outline the three practice or competency standards for radiographers as described by the American Society of Radiologic Technology (ASRT). These are technical, clinical and professional standards. Mitra and Saha (2016:95) describe the three focus areas in the education for healthcare professionals, namely, cognitive learning, affective learning and psychomotor learning. These areas reflect the radiographer practice standards because to practice or serve patients, radiographers must be able to use their ‘head, hands and their hearts.’
The aim of this study was thus to determine how teaching and learning of ethics and human rights in the undergraduate radiography programme can be improved so as to enhance professional conduct and ethical behaviour in the clinical environment. The following objectives were identified; a) to evaluate the current teaching and learning of ethics and human rights in the radiography undergraduate program in South Africa by conducting a situation analysis in order to understand the source of the gap between teaching and learning and actual practice; b) to identify ways in which teaching and learning ethics and human rights in the radiography undergraduate programme can be improved; and c) to develop and refine a teaching and learning strategy or model for ethics and human rights to be implemented in both the theoretical and clinical radiography environments.
A qualitative approach was found to be appropriate for this study as it would provide a description, understanding and interpretation of human interactions for a research problem that appeared to be complex (Lichtman, 2013:17). Multiple data gathering methods were used in this study to provide a wide perspective from different categories of participants (Saldana, 2011:76). This study was an action research design incorporating appreciative inquiry (AI), as...