Bronwyne J Coetzee
Biographic Data
| ID | 2449190 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Bronwyne J Coetzee |
| GIVEN NAMES | Bronwyne J |
| FAMILY NAME | Coetzee |
| SIGNATURE | COETZEE B J |
| AFFILIATIONS | Stellenbosch University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1545-418X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 32 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 21 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 32 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2011 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) in South African adolescents
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a chronic and impairing mental health condition that often begins in adolescence. OCD remains underdiagnosed and undertreated particularly in low-and middle-income countries where access to specialist mental health care is limited. Few qualitative studies have explored the lived experiences of adolescents with OCD, and none have incorporated both adolescent and parent perspectives, nor considered the additio…
Do mindsets really matter? A second look at how perceptions of social media experiences relate to well-being
Building on the idea that subjective evaluations of social media use (SMU) may shape well-being effects, this study investigated how two “social media mindsets”—agency (perceived control over SMU) and valence (perceived effects of SMU)—relate to self-reported and logged SMU, and four well-being indicators (depression, anxiety, stress, and life satisfaction) in a South African sample of young adults (N = 1,858; M age = 21.01). Agency mindsets were…
Challenges, coping strategies, and sources of support available to South African parents with children with autism spectrum disorder during the Covid-19 lockdown
Parenting a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is known to be complex and challenging and likely to be exacerbated under conditions of stress and uncertainty. We aimed to explore how parents experienced parenting their child with ASD during the initial COVID-19 lockdown in 2020. We also aimed to identify the coping strategies and sources of support available to them during this time. Using an exploratory qualitative design within an interp…
Adolescent girls’ experiences and health care workers’ perspectives on sexual and reproductive health services at urban public health care facilities in the Western Cape, South Africa
Adolescent pregnancy is a pressing public health concern. In South Africa (SA), rates of unplanned pregnancy among adolescent girls are high and exacerbate social and economic challenges. Adolescents’ experiences of sexual and reproductive health services (SRHSs) may provide significant insights into the factors that affect access to these services. In this study, we explored factors influencing access to SRHS at two public health care clinics in…
Coping in crisis
In the context of the formidable challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare professionals coped in various ways. This cross-sectional survey study sought to examine the protective role of satisfaction with life, sense of coherence, and resilience in the relationship between depression, social support, fear of COVID-19, and perceived vulnerability to disease among nurses in South Africa. Participants were a convenience sample of nurses …
A model of community youth mental health support services in the global South
Young people in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), including South Africa, are disproportionately affected by multiple risk factors for developing mental health problems and there are numerous barriers to accessing mental health care. In such contexts non-governmental organisations (NGOs) play a key role in providing support. We report on the mental health care services provided by NGO Community Keepers in South Africa. Community Keepers (…
Sense of coherence, social support, satisfaction with life, and resilience as mediators between fear of Covid-19, perceived vulnerability to disease and depression
We tested the role of sense of coherence, social support, satisfaction with life, and resilience, as resources in the association between fear of COVID-19, perceived vulnerability to disease, and depression. Data from 804 students were collected at three South African universities in 2022 and 2023 by means of an electronic survey and analysed using structural equation modelling. We found that higher levels of fear of COVID-19 and hopelessness wer…
Factors influencing the transition from paediatric to adult HIV care in the Western Cape, South Africa
Transitioning to adult care for HIV-infected adolescents is a critical process in determining long-term health outcomes. Poor transitioning to adult care can lead to several adverse HIV-related outcomes for adolescents living with HIV, including disruption of care, non-adherence to ART and virological failure. In this qualitative study, we explore the barriers to and facilitators of the transition to adult care among HIV-infected youth from the p…
Re-visiting the relevance and importance of health psychology in South Africa
Health psychology as a discipline has existed for more than four decades and is primarily concerned with research, theory, and practice at the nexus of psychology and health. The discipline is well established across Europe, the United States, and Australia with health psychology societies, postgraduate programmes, conferences, and academic journals dedicated to the discipline in the majority of these countries. However, in South Africa, health p…
Understanding the subjective experiences of South African women with recurrent breast cancer
This study explored the subjective experiences of 12 South African women diagnosed with recurrent breast cancer. Women were invited to take part in unstructured narrative interviews, and to complete a diary in which they could reflect on their breast cancer experiences. Most responded to their recurrence with an optimistic stance. Religious beliefs and support structures were important coping strategies. Women's perceptions of their changed bodie…
Instructive roles and supportive relationships
These findings highlight the important roles that CHWs can assume in providing both instructive and supportive care to clients; as deepening relationships may be key for encouraging behavior change, these findings pinpoint the need to bolster training and support for CHWs in similar programs. They also emphasize the importance of integrating more channels for client feedback into existing programs, to ensure that clients' voices are heard and acc…
Moving Beyond Text-and-Talk in Qualitative Health Research
Qualitative researchers are increasingly making use of multiple media to collect data within a single study. Such approaches may have the potential to generate rich insights; however, there are also potential methodological challenges in simultaneously analyzing data from multiple media. Using three case studies from our work with women who had recurrent breast cancer in South Africa, we explore four challenges of using multiple media to collect …
Structural barriers to adhering to health behaviours in the context of the Covid-19 crisis
In seeking to limit the number of new infections of COVID-19, governments around the world have implemented national lockdowns and guidelines about safe behaviours. Lockdown requires people to stay home and only leave when essential such as to purchase groceries and medication. In low- and middle-income countries, many of which have large proportions of the population living in precarity, lockdown forces millions of people to spend prolonged peri…
Representing school arson in Kenya
Arson is a recurrent problem in Kenyan secondary schools. Although school violence – notably gun violence – has received significant attention, there has been less academic attention paid to school arson, especially in Africa. This study explores how newspaper reports in Kenya framed school arson and links these framings to broader questions about the understanding and production of Kenyan identity. A thematic analysis of 334 newspaper reports re…
Balancing roles and blurring boundaries
As demand for health services grows, task-shifting to lay health workers has become an attractive solution to address shortages in human resources. Community health workers (CHWs), particularly in low-resource settings, play critical roles in promoting equitable healthcare among underserved populations. However, CHWs often shoulder additional burdens as members of the same communities in which they work. We examined the experiences of a group of …
Exploring breast cancer diagnosis and treatment experience among a sample of South African women who access primary health care
Despite the known impact of a cancer diagnosis and related treatments on quality of life, and the complexity of patient journeys in low-resource settings, there has been little published research into the relevant issues faced by South African women living with breast cancer. In this study, we aimed to understand the experiences of breast cancer diagnosis and treatment among a sample of South African women who access primary health care. A conven…
How do pregnant women and new mothers navigate and respond to challenges in accessing health care? Perspectives from rural South Africa
Correlates of Fatigue Among South African Adolescents Living with HIV and Receiving Antiretroviral Therapy
‘ … But i’m still tired’
In adults with HIV, fatigue is a common and disabling symptom associated with suboptimal adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART), poor health and well-being, reduced economic productivity, and increased health care resource use. Fatigue among adolescents with HIV is relatively unexplored. We recruited 14 adolescents with HIV receiving ART in South Africa whom we interviewed about fatigue. We used thematic analysis to analyse the data. Participa…
The Use of a Brief, Active Visualisation Intervention to Improve Adherence to Antiretroviral Therapy in Non-adherent Patients in South Africa
Psychosocial predictors of quality of life among South Africa adolescents receiving antiretroviral therapy
Fatigue among South African adolescents living with HIV
Evidence suggests that HIV-infected adolescents experience elevated levels of fatigue that impacts their functioning at school and other important aspects of their lives. Yet, fatigue has not been measured amongst this population group. In this cross-sectional, mixed-methods study we explored the psychometric properties of the 11-item Chalder Fatigue Questionnaire (CFQ) amongst 134 South African adolescents (11-18 years old) receiving antiretrovi…
Barriers to and Facilitators of Adherence to Exclusive Breastfeeding Practices Among HIV Infected and Non-Infected Women in Jos, Nigeria
Community health workers’ experiences of using video teaching tools during home visits—A pilot study
Innovations in health, such as the use of tablet computers, show promise in broadening the scope of work of community health workers (CHWs), and play an important role in keeping CHWs and their clients up to date with advancements in health. While the use of mobile phones and tablets is innovative, the applicability of these technologies in different contexts remains poorly understood. Furthermore, little is known about the acceptability and feas…
Shortcomings of adherence counselling provided to caregivers of children receiving antiretroviral therapy in rural South Africa
In order to achieve optimal benefits of antiretroviral therapy (ART), caregivers of children receiving ART are required to attend routine clinic visits monthly and administer medication to the child as prescribed. Yet, the level of adherence to these behaviours varies considerably in many settings. As a way to achieve optimal adherence in rural KwaZulu-Natal, caregivers are required to attend routine counselling sessions at HIV treatment clinics …
Moving Beyond Text-and-Talk in Qualitative Health Research
Qualitative researchers are increasingly making use of multiple media to collect data within a single study. Such approaches may have the potential to generate rich insights; however, there are also potential methodological challenges in simultaneously analyzing data from multiple media. Using three case studies from our work with women who had recurrent breast cancer in South Africa, we explore four challenges of using multiple media to collect …
Balancing roles and blurring boundaries
As demand for health services grows, task-shifting to lay health workers has become an attractive solution to address shortages in human resources. Community health workers (CHWs), particularly in low-resource settings, play critical roles in promoting equitable healthcare among underserved populations. However, CHWs often shoulder additional burdens as members of the same communities in which they work. We examined the experiences of a group of …
Community health workers’ experiences of using video teaching tools during home visits—A pilot study
Innovations in health, such as the use of tablet computers, show promise in broadening the scope of work of community health workers (CHWs), and play an important role in keeping CHWs and their clients up to date with advancements in health. While the use of mobile phones and tablets is innovative, the applicability of these technologies in different contexts remains poorly understood. Furthermore, little is known about the acceptability and feas…
Exploring breast cancer diagnosis and treatment experience among a sample of South African women who access primary health care
Despite the known impact of a cancer diagnosis and related treatments on quality of life, and the complexity of patient journeys in low-resource settings, there has been little published research into the relevant issues faced by South African women living with breast cancer. In this study, we aimed to understand the experiences of breast cancer diagnosis and treatment among a sample of South African women who access primary health care. A conven…
How do pregnant women and new mothers navigate and respond to challenges in accessing health care? Perspectives from rural South Africa
Do mindsets really matter? A second look at how perceptions of social media experiences relate to well-being
Building on the idea that subjective evaluations of social media use (SMU) may shape well-being effects, this study investigated how two “social media mindsets”—agency (perceived control over SMU) and valence (perceived effects of SMU)—relate to self-reported and logged SMU, and four well-being indicators (depression, anxiety, stress, and life satisfaction) in a South African sample of young adults (N = 1,858; M age = 21.01). Agency mindsets were…
Challenges, coping strategies, and sources of support available to South African parents with children with autism spectrum disorder during the Covid-19 lockdown
Parenting a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is known to be complex and challenging and likely to be exacerbated under conditions of stress and uncertainty. We aimed to explore how parents experienced parenting their child with ASD during the initial COVID-19 lockdown in 2020. We also aimed to identify the coping strategies and sources of support available to them during this time. Using an exploratory qualitative design within an interp…
Sense of coherence, social support, satisfaction with life, and resilience as mediators between fear of Covid-19, perceived vulnerability to disease and depression
We tested the role of sense of coherence, social support, satisfaction with life, and resilience, as resources in the association between fear of COVID-19, perceived vulnerability to disease, and depression. Data from 804 students were collected at three South African universities in 2022 and 2023 by means of an electronic survey and analysed using structural equation modelling. We found that higher levels of fear of COVID-19 and hopelessness wer…
Quality of life among South African patients receiving antiretroviral therapy in the Western Cape Province
Compared to patients not receiving treatment, antiretroviral therapy users may experience a lower viral load, an increased CD4 count, slower disease progression, fewer opportunistic infections, and more rapid recovery time from HIV-related illnesses. As such, health-related quality of life is likely to be considerably greater for antiretroviral therapy users than for patients not receiving treatment. The dearth of quality of life research in sub-…
Structural barriers to adherence to antiretroviral therapy in a resource-constrained setting
The present study examined the chief structural barriers to antiretroviral treatment (ART) adherence from the perspective of health care workers who provide treatment to patients living with HIV and AIDS in South Africa. The main barrier to adherence as identified by participants in the study was the stigma associated with living with HIV, and thus with receiving AIDS treatment. A second barrier was the fact that some patients willfully decide to…
The Development of an Inventory to Assess the Structural Barriers to Clinic Attendance and Pill-taking Amongst Users of Antiretroviral Therapy
The relationship between structural barriers to adherence to antiretroviral therapy, psychological distress, and health-related quality of life
We examined the relationship between structural barriers to antiretroviral therapy and quality of life among 291 antiretroviral therapy users in South Africa. We found significant relationships between structural barriers to clinical attendance and pill taking and various dimensions of quality of life. Psychological distress was not found to be a mediator between structural barriers to clinic attendance and indicators of health-related quality of…
Barriers and facilitators to paediatric adherence to antiretroviral therapy in rural South Africa
Poor adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) contributes to the development of drug resistance. HIV-infected children, especially those 5 years and under, are dependent on a caregiver to adhere to ART. However, characteristics of the caregiver, child, regimen, clinic and social context affect clinic attendance and medication-taking, both of which constitute adherent behaviour. We conducted nine interviews and three focus groups to determine how…
Using the Beck Anxiety Inventory Among South Africans Living With HIV
We administered the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) to 101 adults receiving HIV treatment. Exploratory factor analysis yielded a single anxiety factor that accounted for 68.7% of the variance in the data. A single score may be used to indicate the overall level of anxiety of individuals receiving HIV treatment in South Africa
Shortcomings of adherence counselling provided to caregivers of children receiving antiretroviral therapy in rural South Africa
In order to achieve optimal benefits of antiretroviral therapy (ART), caregivers of children receiving ART are required to attend routine clinic visits monthly and administer medication to the child as prescribed. Yet, the level of adherence to these behaviours varies considerably in many settings. As a way to achieve optimal adherence in rural KwaZulu-Natal, caregivers are required to attend routine counselling sessions at HIV treatment clinics …
Video observations of treatment administration to children on antiretroviral therapy in rural KwaZulu-Natal
For children younger than five years, caregivers are responsible for the measurement and administration of antiretroviral medication doses to children. Failure to adhere to the regimen as prescribed may lead to high viral loads (VLs), immune suppression and ultimately drug resistance. In the content of this study, adherence refers to adequate dosing of the medication by a caregiver. Acquired drug resistance to antiretroviral therapy (ART) is prev…
Quality of life among South African patients receiving antiretroviral therapy in the Western Cape Province
Compared to patients not receiving treatment, antiretroviral therapy users may experience a lower viral load, an increased CD4 count, slower disease progression, fewer opportunistic infections, and more rapid recovery time from HIV-related illnesses. As such, health-related quality of life is likely to be considerably greater for antiretroviral therapy users than for patients not receiving treatment. The dearth of quality of life research in sub-…
Barriers to and Facilitators of Adherence to Exclusive Breastfeeding Practices Among HIV Infected and Non-Infected Women in Jos, Nigeria
Community health workers’ experiences of using video teaching tools during home visits—A pilot study
Innovations in health, such as the use of tablet computers, show promise in broadening the scope of work of community health workers (CHWs), and play an important role in keeping CHWs and their clients up to date with advancements in health. While the use of mobile phones and tablets is innovative, the applicability of these technologies in different contexts remains poorly understood. Furthermore, little is known about the acceptability and feas…
‘ … But i’m still tired’
In adults with HIV, fatigue is a common and disabling symptom associated with suboptimal adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART), poor health and well-being, reduced economic productivity, and increased health care resource use. Fatigue among adolescents with HIV is relatively unexplored. We recruited 14 adolescents with HIV receiving ART in South Africa whom we interviewed about fatigue. We used thematic analysis to analyse the data. Participa…
The Use of a Brief, Active Visualisation Intervention to Improve Adherence to Antiretroviral Therapy in Non-adherent Patients in South Africa
Psychosocial predictors of quality of life among South Africa adolescents receiving antiretroviral therapy
Fatigue among South African adolescents living with HIV
Evidence suggests that HIV-infected adolescents experience elevated levels of fatigue that impacts their functioning at school and other important aspects of their lives. Yet, fatigue has not been measured amongst this population group. In this cross-sectional, mixed-methods study we explored the psychometric properties of the 11-item Chalder Fatigue Questionnaire (CFQ) amongst 134 South African adolescents (11-18 years old) receiving antiretrovi…
Correlates of Fatigue Among South African Adolescents Living with HIV and Receiving Antiretroviral Therapy
Structural barriers to adhering to health behaviours in the context of the Covid-19 crisis
In seeking to limit the number of new infections of COVID-19, governments around the world have implemented national lockdowns and guidelines about safe behaviours. Lockdown requires people to stay home and only leave when essential such as to purchase groceries and medication. In low- and middle-income countries, many of which have large proportions of the population living in precarity, lockdown forces millions of people to spend prolonged peri…
Representing school arson in Kenya
Arson is a recurrent problem in Kenyan secondary schools. Although school violence – notably gun violence – has received significant attention, there has been less academic attention paid to school arson, especially in Africa. This study explores how newspaper reports in Kenya framed school arson and links these framings to broader questions about the understanding and production of Kenyan identity. A thematic analysis of 334 newspaper reports re…
Balancing roles and blurring boundaries
As demand for health services grows, task-shifting to lay health workers has become an attractive solution to address shortages in human resources. Community health workers (CHWs), particularly in low-resource settings, play critical roles in promoting equitable healthcare among underserved populations. However, CHWs often shoulder additional burdens as members of the same communities in which they work. We examined the experiences of a group of …
Exploring breast cancer diagnosis and treatment experience among a sample of South African women who access primary health care
Despite the known impact of a cancer diagnosis and related treatments on quality of life, and the complexity of patient journeys in low-resource settings, there has been little published research into the relevant issues faced by South African women living with breast cancer. In this study, we aimed to understand the experiences of breast cancer diagnosis and treatment among a sample of South African women who access primary health care. A conven…
How do pregnant women and new mothers navigate and respond to challenges in accessing health care? Perspectives from rural South Africa
Instructive roles and supportive relationships
These findings highlight the important roles that CHWs can assume in providing both instructive and supportive care to clients; as deepening relationships may be key for encouraging behavior change, these findings pinpoint the need to bolster training and support for CHWs in similar programs. They also emphasize the importance of integrating more channels for client feedback into existing programs, to ensure that clients' voices are heard and acc…
Moving Beyond Text-and-Talk in Qualitative Health Research
Qualitative researchers are increasingly making use of multiple media to collect data within a single study. Such approaches may have the potential to generate rich insights; however, there are also potential methodological challenges in simultaneously analyzing data from multiple media. Using three case studies from our work with women who had recurrent breast cancer in South Africa, we explore four challenges of using multiple media to collect …
Understanding the subjective experiences of South African women with recurrent breast cancer
This study explored the subjective experiences of 12 South African women diagnosed with recurrent breast cancer. Women were invited to take part in unstructured narrative interviews, and to complete a diary in which they could reflect on their breast cancer experiences. Most responded to their recurrence with an optimistic stance. Religious beliefs and support structures were important coping strategies. Women's perceptions of their changed bodie…
Factors influencing the transition from paediatric to adult HIV care in the Western Cape, South Africa
Transitioning to adult care for HIV-infected adolescents is a critical process in determining long-term health outcomes. Poor transitioning to adult care can lead to several adverse HIV-related outcomes for adolescents living with HIV, including disruption of care, non-adherence to ART and virological failure. In this qualitative study, we explore the barriers to and facilitators of the transition to adult care among HIV-infected youth from the p…
Re-visiting the relevance and importance of health psychology in South Africa
Health psychology as a discipline has existed for more than four decades and is primarily concerned with research, theory, and practice at the nexus of psychology and health. The discipline is well established across Europe, the United States, and Australia with health psychology societies, postgraduate programmes, conferences, and academic journals dedicated to the discipline in the majority of these countries. However, in South Africa, health p…
Medicine (27 works) · Psychology (21 works) · Nursing (15 works) · Family medicine (13 works) · HIV/AIDS Research and Interventions (13 works) · Sociology (12 works) · Clinical Psychology (11 works) · Political science (10 works) · Psychiatry (10 works) · Antiretroviral therapy (9 works)