National Health Insurance - knowledge, attitude and perceptions of speech-language therapists
Background: The South African government signed the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill into effect on 15th of May 2024 to ensure that all citizens have access to high-quality healthcare, regardless of their financial situation. While this initiative will impact all healthcare professionals, there...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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AOSIS
2025-05-01
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| Series: | African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine |
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| Online Access: | https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/4835 |
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| _version_ | 1850225147737276416 |
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| author | Nomfundo Njilo Andrew J. Ross |
| author_facet | Nomfundo Njilo Andrew J. Ross |
| author_sort | Nomfundo Njilo |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background: The South African government signed the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill into effect on 15th of May 2024 to ensure that all citizens have access to high-quality healthcare, regardless of their financial situation. While this initiative will impact all healthcare professionals, there is limited information on how speech-language therapists (SLTs) perceive its implementation in South Africa.
Aim: The study aimed to explore the knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of SLTs in the public and private healthcare sectors related to service provision regarding the implementation of the NHI.
Setting: This study was conducted virtually via Zoom (Zoom Video Communication, San Jose, California, United States) and Teams (Microsoft Teams, 2017) with SLTs in their respective settings in South Africa.
Methods: The descriptive, qualitative research design involved virtual semi-structured interviews with 10 SLTs. NVivo software (QSR International, Victoria, Australia) was used to analyse the data, as guided by Tesch’s content analysis method.
Results: Eleven sub-themes emerged related to the three themes of knowledge (4 sub-themes), attitudes (4 sub-themes) and perceived impact (3 sub-themes) of NHI implementation on SLT services.
Conclusion: The study highlights SLTs’ knowledge, gaps and concerns about the impact of NHI implementation on their profession, emphasising the personal and professional areas that need to be addressed for its successful rollout.
Contribution: Understanding SLTs’ opinions will help address their concerns during the planning stages of integrating them into the NHI. This will lead to an equitable distribution of sufficient practitioners and ensure that many people benefit from its implementation. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-cd60d7b7546e46038da06ce92b53d5d8 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2071-2928 2071-2936 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-05-01 |
| publisher | AOSIS |
| record_format | Article |
| series | African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine |
| spelling | doaj-art-cd60d7b7546e46038da06ce92b53d5d82025-08-20T02:05:27ZengAOSISAfrican Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine2071-29282071-29362025-05-01171e1e810.4102/phcfm.v17i1.48351259National Health Insurance - knowledge, attitude and perceptions of speech-language therapistsNomfundo Njilo0Andrew J. Ross1Department of Family Medicine, College of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, DurbanDepartment of Family Medicine, College of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, DurbanBackground: The South African government signed the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill into effect on 15th of May 2024 to ensure that all citizens have access to high-quality healthcare, regardless of their financial situation. While this initiative will impact all healthcare professionals, there is limited information on how speech-language therapists (SLTs) perceive its implementation in South Africa. Aim: The study aimed to explore the knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of SLTs in the public and private healthcare sectors related to service provision regarding the implementation of the NHI. Setting: This study was conducted virtually via Zoom (Zoom Video Communication, San Jose, California, United States) and Teams (Microsoft Teams, 2017) with SLTs in their respective settings in South Africa. Methods: The descriptive, qualitative research design involved virtual semi-structured interviews with 10 SLTs. NVivo software (QSR International, Victoria, Australia) was used to analyse the data, as guided by Tesch’s content analysis method. Results: Eleven sub-themes emerged related to the three themes of knowledge (4 sub-themes), attitudes (4 sub-themes) and perceived impact (3 sub-themes) of NHI implementation on SLT services. Conclusion: The study highlights SLTs’ knowledge, gaps and concerns about the impact of NHI implementation on their profession, emphasising the personal and professional areas that need to be addressed for its successful rollout. Contribution: Understanding SLTs’ opinions will help address their concerns during the planning stages of integrating them into the NHI. This will lead to an equitable distribution of sufficient practitioners and ensure that many people benefit from its implementation.https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/4835nhispeech-language therapykwazulu-natalhealthcare servicesdiscourse analysis |
| spellingShingle | Nomfundo Njilo Andrew J. Ross National Health Insurance - knowledge, attitude and perceptions of speech-language therapists African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine nhi speech-language therapy kwazulu-natal healthcare services discourse analysis |
| title | National Health Insurance - knowledge, attitude and perceptions of speech-language therapists |
| title_full | National Health Insurance - knowledge, attitude and perceptions of speech-language therapists |
| title_fullStr | National Health Insurance - knowledge, attitude and perceptions of speech-language therapists |
| title_full_unstemmed | National Health Insurance - knowledge, attitude and perceptions of speech-language therapists |
| title_short | National Health Insurance - knowledge, attitude and perceptions of speech-language therapists |
| title_sort | national health insurance knowledge attitude and perceptions of speech language therapists |
| topic | nhi speech-language therapy kwazulu-natal healthcare services discourse analysis |
| url | https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/4835 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT nomfundonjilo nationalhealthinsuranceknowledgeattitudeandperceptionsofspeechlanguagetherapists AT andrewjross nationalhealthinsuranceknowledgeattitudeandperceptionsofspeechlanguagetherapists |