HEALTH COMMUNICATION RESEARCH UNIT

HEALTH COMMUNICATION RESEARCH UNIT

ANNUAL REPORT 2020

HEALTH COMMUNICATION RESEARCH UNIT | ANNUAL REPORT 2020

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HEALTH COMMUNICATION RESEARCH UNIT

Annual Report 2020

CONTENTSDirector’s Foreword

WHO WE ARE OUR VISION OUR MISSION OUR APPROACH OUR CORE VALUES OUR CORE GOALS

HCRU Staff for 2020 Collaborators Main Research Thrusts and Projects

Emergency Medical Calls Project: Audiology project: TB project: Speech Therapy Online project:

Research Outputs BOOK CHAPTERS – IN PRESS BOOK CHAPTERS – UNDER REVIEW JOURNAL ARTICLES – IN PRINT JOURNAL ARTICLES – IN PRESS JOURNAL ARTICLES - UNDER REVIEW Publications from visiting scholar Prof Tom Koole PRESENTATIONS: INVITED PRESENTATIONS: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL REVIEWS

HCRU Activities VISITING SCHOLARS

Postgraduate Students ONGOING HONOURS/4th YEAR PROJECTS COMPLETED HONOURS/4th YEAR PROJECTS ONGOING MASTERS PROJECTS ONGOING PHD PROJECTS COMPLETED PHD PROJECTS

Funding

2 55 5 5 6 6779 9 11 111414 15 1516161618181820212122222222232324


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DIRECTOR’S2020 was the year the world stood still in the face of coronavirus. It feels somewhat surreal to reflect back on what proved to be an incredibly challenging year for our unit, our country, and indeed the planet. The pandemic brought about unprecedented experiences particularly when it comes to communication: the loss of physical touch and connection, learning to communicate through barriers, adapting to meeting and teaching without seeing each other. It brought massive challenges for healthcare services and placed unimaginable pressure on healthcare workers. What also emerged was a flood of information – and significant issues related to trust, access, equity, ethics.

Despite the challenges in adapting to a ‘new normal’, it was also a year of tremendous growth for the HCRU as the pandemic required us to shift perspective, chase new project ideas and collaborations, embrace different methodologies, and familiarise ourselves with online platforms for collaborations and conferences.

Several new postgraduate students joined the Unit this year from across various disciplines, allowing us to continue our project thrusts in a number of areas. We established several new collaborations within the School, locally and on the African continent. Importantly, we initiated MOUs with Groningen University and with the HSRC, which will enable us to formalise our collaborations going forward. We submitted a nomination to renew Prof. Tom Koole’s term as visiting scholar.

We refreshed plans with local and international colleagues to start a health care communication interest group attached to the South African Association of Health Educationists (SAAHE). Our plans to pull together a panel of local experts in the field at the SAAHE conference scheduled for June 2020 were thwarted by COVID-19, but we hope to resume these plans in 2021. Together with colleagues at the HSRC, we submitted an application for funding to initiate a network of health communication scholars on the Southern African continent and hope to hear positive news about this application soon.

The HCRU continues to provide ad hoc mentoring and advice to colleagues particularly in the School on issues related to funding applications, NRF rating applications, and research ethics issues, and we enjoyed opportunities this year to provide methods training to postgraduate groups across the School.

FOREWORD


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This year also afforded us some exciting opportunities to participate in community engagement projects such as the SANTHE COVID-19 project, where scientists from a multitude of backgrounds engaged with artists from across the African continent. The artists then created pieces inspired by the pandemic. The winning piece, by South African artist Silas Motse, is featured on the front cover of our report.

I am very proud of what we have been able to achieve in 2020, despite the pandemic and despite significant funding restrictions. We maintained a high level of productivity measured in outputs in internationally accredited journals. Fortuitously, most of our current projects do not involve active data collection, which minimised the impact of the pandemic on on-going projects, although several postgraduate students were forced to revise their project plans because of the pandemic. While we were able to continue working remotely and conducted monthly staff meetings online, some of our regular activities such as the Journal Club and Shut Up ‘n Write group unfortunately had to be put on hold. We hope to be able to reinvigorate some of these activities in an online format in 2021.

The global decline in the availability of research funding as well as the heavy funding cuts by the NRF are very concerning. A considerable amount of time and effort was spent this year on fundraising attempts, with very little success, unfortunately. The Unit will need to consider alternative options for securing funds, such as an increased focus on RINC funding as a consistent source of income.

We have a number of exciting projects and collaborations lined up for 2021, as well as some new PhD students who will hopefully be joining the HCRU. We will also be preparing for a quinquennial review sometime during 2021.

I would like to extend my thanks to the many people who have contributed to the work of the Unit in 2020, including HCRU staff, postgraduate students, colleagues in the SHCD and collaborators.

Prof. Jennifer WatermeyerDirector: HCRU


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HCRU OVERVIEW OF THE


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WHO WE ARE The Health Communication Research Unit (HCRU), based in the School of Human and Community Development at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), is an interdisciplinary research group concerned with the unique challenges of multilingual and intercultural communication in South African health and community care contexts. The Unit is driven by an implementation research paradigm.

OUR VISION To improve care in health and community spaces through enhancing communication processes.

OUR MISSION To develop innovative ways of understanding and facilitating communication in care settings. To build research capacity and provide support to researchers and professionals.

OUR APPROACHWe use collaborative, disease-specific, evidence-based applied research to

address social, cultural, linguistic and ethical complexities of health, illness and

disability.


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OUR CORE VALUES

Innovative and excellent research which facilitates:

Equitable and quality healthcare

Teamwork and collaboration

Relationship centered care

Global and local links

Postgraduate degrees

Research support and mentoring

OUR CORE GOALS• To promote equality and an understanding of diversity in health, social and

community care through research

• To create an interdisciplinary space for researchers from various disciplines

across the university and beyond with a shared focus on diversity

research in care

• To apply methods from the social sciences to understand some of the

challenges brought about by diversity in our context and examine how these

impact on care

• To influence theory, formulating recommendations for policy and practice; and

• To develop and implement innovative site-specific and community-sensitive

interventions to facilitate improved care in the context of diversity.


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HRCU STAFFFOR 2020DIRECTOR: Associate Professor Jennifer Watermeyer, SHCD - Speech Pathology and Audiology

VISITING PROFESSORS:Professor Tom Koole, Groningen University

RESEARCH ASSISTANTS: Ms Johanna Beukes Ms Rhona Nattrass

NRF RESEARCH INTERN:Ms Sonto Madonsela FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATOR:Ms Lerato Moroeng, SHCD

COLLABORATORSWITS• Dr Harriet Etheredge, Wits Donald Gordon Medical Centre• Dr Sahba Besharati, SHCD – Psychology; Wits NeuRL Research Cluster• Prof. Sumaya Laher, SHCD – Psychology• Prof. Kate Cockcroft, SHCD – Psychology• Ms Nabeelah Bemath, Faculty of Health Sciences• Ms Enid Schutte, SHCD – Psychology• Dr Michael Pitman, SHCD – Psychology• Prof. Amisha Kanji, SHCD – Audiology


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LOCAL• Tara Hospital Neuropsychology – Dr Shona Fraser• Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital (Dept of Medicine) – Dr Bruno Pauly• HSRC (Science Communication) – Dr Konosoang Sobane, Dr Saahier Parker,

Dr Paul Plantinga, Dr Tholang Mokhele • MRC Centre of Excellence ACT4TB/HIV collaboration• University of Cape Town (Emergency Medicine) – Prof. Peter Hodkinson & Dr

Willem Stassen• University of Cape Town (Genetic Counselling) - Dr Tina-Marie Wessels• Western Cape Provincial Health Department - Emergency Medical Services• Sustainable Livelihoods Foundation – Dr Gill Black

INTERNATIONAL• Global Health Communication Initiative – led by Prof. Neil Prose, Duke

University, USA• SANTHE Africa (Sub-Saharan African Network for TB/HIV Research

Excellence)• UK’s Culture, Health and Wellness Alliance - Victoria Hume• University of Groningen, Netherlands (Communication and Information

Science) – Prof. Tom Koole• Prof. Gary Kreps, George Mason University, USA• Prof. Jay van Bavel, New York University, USA• Dr Dalene Swanson, University of Stirling, UK• Dr Kesiwe Phuthi, National University of Science and Technology, Zimbabwe• Dr Daniel Aideyan, University of Benin, Nigeria• Rena Lyons, NUI Galway• Emily Armstrong, Charles Darwin University• Marie Atherton, Australian Catholic University• Anne Lowell, Charles Darwin University• äwurrpa Maypilama, Charles Darwin University• Wiebke Scharff Rethfeldt, Hochschule Bremen

• Ms Kelly-Ann Kater, SHCD – Speech Pathology• Mr Gift Khumalo, SHCD – Speech Pathology• Ms Victoria Hume, Wits WISER Medical Humanities• Ms Tshegofatso Seabi, Wits MRC/Wits Population Health and Health Transition

Research Unit (Agincourt)


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Emergency Medical Calls Project The Emergency Medical Calls (EMC) project is a collaboration between the HCRU and the Western Cape Government Emergency Medical Services (EMS) in Cape Town. This project is funded by the National Research Foundation (NRF).

In 2020, we continued our collaboration with Prof. Peter Hodkinson at the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Cape Town. Visiting Prof. Tom Koole also continues to act as an advisor and collaborator for the EMC project.

We had planned a trip down to Cape Town to visit the call centre in March 2020, but this was unfortunately thwarted by COVID-19. However, we held several online collaborator meetings instead.

Johanni Beukes, a PhD student, is building on the EMC project’s findings with her PhD study entitled “Managing conflict in emergency settings”. She is studying the interactional characteristics of conflict in emergency calls, as well as the South African-specific sources of conflict in these calls. Prof. Tom Koole is also a co-supervisor on Johanni Beukes’ PhD project.

The HCRU is a collaborator on Dr Willem Stassen’s (UCT) funding application to the NRF for a project entitled “The development of telephonic acuity and disease recognition algorithms to guide dispatch of emergency care resources in the South African setting”. In March 2020, we met with several interested collaborators across a range of fields at UCT.

Chloe Buma, an MA student funded by this project in previous years, published an article based on her research in an ISI accredited journal.

We were invited to contribute a chapter to the upcoming Handbook of Intercultural Communication in Health Care, edited by Jonathan Crichton and Gillian Martin and published by Mouton deGruyter.

We submitted several funding applications for this project which were unfortunately not successful.

MAIN RESEARCH THRUSTS & PROJECTS


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Stroke Project The Unit continued its involvement in research related to stroke, aphasia, and head injury in the South African context, with a particular focus on rehabilitation experiences and patient narratives. In 2020, Angelica Iacovitti (4th year student) completed her research report on patient experiences of the multidisciplinary team in neurorehabilitation centres.

We continued our collaboration with Dr Sahba Besharati (Wits Psychology) and colleagues in the Wits NeuRL research cluster to strengthen our collaborative focus in this thrust, although the pandemic did thwart opportunities for joint seminars. However, the HCRU attended several Wits NeuRL meetings and we have discussed a number of potential collaborations going forward.

Prof. Watermeyer was asked to present a keynote address on her work in stroke and aphasia at the SASLHA/ASHA international conference held online during November 2020.

A potential PhD student from Zimbabwe, Esther Mafunda, has had her concept paper accepted by the School but has been unable to secure funding despite multiple attempts.

Genetic counselling Project This project focuses on communication processes in genetic counselling, using sociolinguistic methods to analyse interactional phenomena. Megan Scott, a PhD student, completed her PhD which explored risk communication and the notion of uncertainty in genetic counselling sessions. Findings from this study show the strong influence of contextual factors on how uncertainty is managed and co-constructed by genetic counsellors and patients in consultations, with significant implications for training. Dr Tina-Marie Wessels (UCT Genetic Counselling) was a co-supervisor on this project.

Excitingly, Megan was awarded NRF postdoctoral funding for 2021 which we hope she will be able to take up pending examination of her thesis. We anticipate further publications emanating from Megan’s project, as well as ongoing collaboration in this field with Dr Wessels.

A paper based on this work has been submitted and accepted at the 16th Annual International Conference on Clinical Ethics & Consultation, to be held during December 2021.


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Audiology Project This project involves examining communication practices in audiology consultations, with a view to improving the way in which patients are provided with information and equipping students and practitioners to be more effective in their communication skills. Kelly Hugill, a Masters student, completed data collection for her project exploring communication in consultations between caregivers and audiologists in cochlear implant centres. Unfortunately, the pandemic made data collection rather challenging and limited her study to one site only. She intends to submit her dissertation in 2021. In 2021, Carmen Kifouani (a 4th year student) will conduct a systematic review on patient centredness in audiological consultations.

Micaela Stonestreet’s proposal for a Masters level project on communication in tinnitus consultations was accepted by Faculty. She has received provisional HREC Med clearance and is awaiting NHRD permission. We anticipate she will be able to complete data collection in 2021.

Prof Watermeyer and Prof Kanji initiated a new project on student reflexivity and the impact of a brief online training session for students. Ethics clearance was obtained and data collection will take place in 2021. A paper from Liora Brom’s 4th year project several years ago was published in 2020, and also presented at the SASLHA/ASHA international conference during November 2020.

Several further publications emanating from this project are in progress.

Unfortunately, our funding application for this project in 2020 was unsuccessful, but we will pursue funding calls in 2021. We have a number of new projects lined up and a new 4th year student, Aakifah Hassim, will be working on the project.

TB Project This project focuses on communication issues and experiences of care in TB care contexts. Previous work on this project explored community experiences of TB care and communication challenges in decentralised care chains.

In 2019 we established a new collaboration with Dr Konosoang Sobane at the HSRC, and together we submitted a funding application to the MRC for a new


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project which will extend some of our preliminary work on communication in TB care contexts. We are still awaiting feedback on our funding application (MRC application reviews were delayed during 2020 due to COVID).

Healthcare Interpreting/Language in the Clinic Project: This project overlaps with a number of other projects. It focuses on interpreting practices and issues of language mismatch in clinical encounters and primarily makes use of Conversation Analysis principles. This project was one of the original projects that sparked the initiation of the HCRU, and continues to garner significant attention from international colleagues. There are a handful of people in South Africa who use similar methods to investigate interpreting practices, thus putting our work on the map.

Prof. Jennifer Watermeyer was invited to be the lead contributor for the section on access and equity issues for an upcoming edited handbook on intercultural communication, edited by Dr Jonathan Crichton (University of South Australia) and Prof. Gillian Martin (Trinity College Dublin). We have also been invited to contribute an additional chapter to the book, on language mismatches in emergency calls. This is a particularly prestigious project to be a part of, as it pulls together eminent scholars in the field who use sociolinguistic methods to study interactions in health care.

We were approached by Dr Gill Black from Sustainable Livelihoods Foundation, and together with Dr Dalene Swanson (University of Stirling) and colleagues at the University of the Western Cape, we applied for a project which would focus on public health information during the COVID-19 crisis. Unfortunately, this application was not successful.

We were approached by Prof. Gary Kreps (George Mason University) to work on a project with a large network of international collaborators which focuses on information seeking practices during COVID-19. Together with colleagues at the HSRC, particularly Dr Konosoang Sobane and Dr Saahier Parker, we set up this project and hope to start data collection countrywide in early 2021. This project has enabled significant capacity building in survey methods as well as exploration of novel data collection methods to reach marginalised populations who may not have data access to facilitate online data collection. Unfortunately, funding applications for this project have not been successful, which has hampered progress somewhat.


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We initiated a project with Dr Kesiwe Phuthi (NUST, Zimbabwe) to work on a systematic review related to communication issues for adolescents in HIV care. Disappointingly, we were unable to secure postdoctoral funding for Dr Phuthi despite multiple attempts, but we will continue to work with her.

We published a paper on interpreting practices related to medical terminology, using South African and Italian data. In 2021, a 4th year student, Tahseen Shaik Ahmed, will explore the phenomenon of code switching in existing HCRU data, particularly as it relates to understanding of medical terminology.

Mental Health Project This project focuses on issues related to mental healthcare for both patients and healthcare workers.

Two Psychology Masters students, Tarique Variava and Lisa Mills, are finalising data extraction for their systematic reviews. Tarique’s project focuses on psychosocial variables and mental health issues that affect HIV adolescent care, and Lisa’s project focuses on the experiences of health care workers involved in termination of pregnancy care.

Together with colleagues in Psychology (Prof. Sumaya Laher, Dr Sahba Besharati, Prof. Kate Cockcroft, Ms Enid Schutte, Dr Shona Fraser, and several students), we initiated a project focusing on mental health amongst healthcare workers during COVID-19. This project involves several rounds of data collection via survey, both online and at targeted clinical sites in several provinces. The project has enabled opportunities for capacity building in terms of including students, training students in qualitative methods, and exploring ways of analysing large-scale qualitative survey data sets. Preliminary results were presented at the SASLHA/ASHA international conference in November 2020. Several publications are in progress and a poster submission has been accepted for presentation at the upcoming ICCH conference online in April 2021.

We were invited to collaborate on another project focusing on social and moral psychological aspects of the public’s response to COVID-19 and issues of national identity, together with colleagues in Psychology (Dr Sahba Besharati, Ms Enid Schutte, Dr Michael Pitman). This large-scale project led by Prof. Jay van Bavel (New York University) involved collecting data from 40 000 participants across the globe. Excitingly, a publication is under review with Nature Communications. We collected two rounds of survey data in South Africa and will analyse these in 2021.


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Speech Therapy Online ProjectUsing online platforms to conduct therapy as part of a telerehabilitation approach opens up significant opportunities for addressing resource shortages particularly in our context, but it also comes with a number of challenges. This project explores communication facilitators and barriers in online speech therapy sessions during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the aim of providing support.

We initiated a project which will study communication facilitators and barriers in video recorded online tele therapy sessions conducted by University of the Witwatersrand third- and fourth- year student speech therapists. We will also conduct a qualitative survey with students and supervisors regarding their teletherapy experiences. Ethics clearance was received in 2020, and we hope to collect this data early in 2021 together with colleagues in SPPA (Kelly-Ann Kater and Gift Khumalo).

A new 4th year student, Agnetha Gallant, will conduct a qualitative survey in 2021 to explore practitioners’ experiences of providing online therapy.

BOOK CHAPTERS (2)1 in press1 under review sented

JOURNAL ARTICLES (13)6 in print3 in press4 under review

12 ISI1 Scopus

VISITING SCHOLAR OUTPUTS (7) 7 in print 5 ISI

1 Scopus

PRESENTATIONS (9)1 invited3 international5 other

RESEARCH OUTPUTS


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BOOK CHAPTERS – IN PRESS

1. Watermeyer, J. (in press). Multilingualism and interpreting practices in South Africa: Pragmatic challenges and solutions. Invited chapter for Multilingual healthcare: a global view on communicative challenges (Eds: C Hohenstein, University of Zurich / M Lévy-Tödter, University of Hamburg).

BOOK CHAPTERS – UNDER REVIEW

1. Nattrass, R., Watermeyer, J., Beukes, J., & Madonsela, S. (under review). Language barriers in emergency calls: Issues of access and accommodation. Invited chapter for J Crichton and G Martin (Eds.), The Handbook of Intercultural Communication in Health Care. Mouton deGruyter.

JOURNAL ARTICLES – IN PRINT

1. Buma, C., Saunders C., Watermeyer, J., & Stassen, W. (2020). An analysis of the descriptors of Acute Myocardial Infarction used by South Africans when calling for an ambulance from a national emergency call centre. African Journal of Emergency Medicine. [Scopus]

2. Rafaely, D., & Whitehead, K. A. (2020). Extraordinary emergencies: Reproducing moral discourses of the child in institutional interaction. Pragmatics and Society, 11(1), 45-69. [ISI] [based on HCRU data]

3. Scott, M., Watermeyer, J., & Wessels, T-M. (2020). Video-recording complex health interactions in a diverse setting: Ethical dilemmas, reflections and recommendations. Developing World Bioethics, 20, 16-26. [ISI]

4. Watermeyer, J., Kanji, A., & Brom, L. (2020). “What’s going on with my ears?”: Some reflections on managing uncertainty in the audiology consultation. American Journal of Audiology, 29, 504-512. [ISI]

5. Watermeyer, J. (2020). Towards a community of care for people with aphasia: Some lessons on working in multicultural settings. Invited contribution for a special issue of Aphasiology, 34(11), 1432-1450. [ISI]

6. Watermeyer, J., Hume, V., Seabi, T., & Pauly, B. (2020). ‘It’s got it’s own life, and you can’t contain it’: A qualitative study of patient and health professional experiences of diabetes care. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 29, 240-250. [ISI]


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JOURNAL ARTICLES – IN PRESS

1. Hume, V. J. (in press). Delirium in intensive care: violence, loss and humanity. Medical Humanities. [ISI]

2. Watermeyer, J., Hume, V., Seabi, T., & Nattrass, R. (in press). Complexities in interdisciplinary community engagement projects: Some reflections and lessons from an applied drama and theatre project in diabetes care. Medical Humanities. [ISI]

3. Watermeyer, J., Thwala, Z., Beukes, J. (in press). Medical terminology in intercultural health interactions. Invited contribution for a special issue of Health Communication on Effective and non-effective practices in mediated and non-mediated health interactions with migrants. [ISI]

JOURNAL ARTICLES - UNDER REVIEW

1. Etheredge, H., Watermeyer, J., Fabian, J., Tager, S. Managing uncertainty for hospitalised patients - The role of epistemic medical authority, communication and organisational routine: A single-centre qualitative study. Journal of Clinical Nursing. [ISI]

2. Beukes, J., Watermeyer, J., & Koole, T. Entitlement in emergency calls - An occasioned stance. Journal of Pragmatics. [ISI]

3. Nattrass, R., & Watermeyer, J. Missed Trust: Compounding factors leading to interactional trouble in the case of an axe murder emergency call. Pragmatics and Society. [ISI]

4. Van Bavel, J., Aleksandra Cichocka, Valerio Capraro, Hallgeir Sjåstad, John B. Nezlek, Tomislav Pavlović, Mark Alfano, Michele J. Gelfand, Flavio Azevedo, Michèle D. Birtel, Aleksandra Cislak, Claus Lamm, Robert M. Ross, Koenraad Abts, John Jamir B. Aruta, Brock Bastian, Sahba Besharati, Alexander Bor, Becky L. Choma, Charles Crabtree, Koustav De, Waqas Ejaz, Andrej Findor, Daniel Flichtentrei, Renata Franc, Biljana Gjoneska, Estrella Gualda, Eran Halperin, Yusaku Horiuchi, Agustin Ibanez, Katarzyna Jasko, Jaroslaw Kantorowicz, Elena Kantorowicz-Reznichenko, André Krouwel, Caroline Leygue, Ming-Jen Lin, Patricia L. Lockwood, Mohammad S. Mansoor, Antoine Marie, Lewend Mayiwar, Honorata Mazepus, Cillian McHugh, Julián Riaño-Moreno, Andreas Olsson, Tobias Otterbring, Dominic J. Packer, César Payán-Gómez, Anat Perry, Michael B. Petersen, Arathy Puthillam, Tobias Rothmund, Petra C. Schmid, Bojan Todosijević, Manos Tsakiris, Hans H. Tung, Radu Umbres, Edmunds Vanags, Paul Van Lange, Madalina Vlasceanu, Andrew J. Vonasch, Meltem Yucel, Yucheng Zhang, Mohcine Abad, Eli Adler, Elena Agadullina, Narin Akrawi, David M. Amodio, Benedict G. Antazo, Matthew A. J. Apps, Fehime C. Ay, Naciye B. Badur, Xuechunzi Bai, Marshaley J. Baquiano, Sergio Barbosa, Delia E. Belleza, Anton Berg, Michael J. Bernstein, Michał Białek, Ennio Bilancini, Natalia Bogatyreva, Arvin Boller, Leonardo Boncinelli, Jonathan E. Booth, Sylvie Borau, Alelie Briones-Diato, Ondrej Buchel, Tatiana Celadin,


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Chiara Cerami, Hom N. Chalise, Xiaojun Cheng, Luca Cian, Kate Cockcroft, Jane Conway, Chiara Crespi, Marie Crouzevialle, William A. Cunningham, Jo Cutler, Justyna Dabrowska, Apsara K. Dangol, Michael A. Daniels, Victoria H. Davis, Pamala N. Dayley, Victoria O. de Mello, Mateo A. C. Delgado, Sylvain Delouvée, Ognjan Denkovski, Guillaume Dezecache, Nathan A. Dhaliwal, Roberto Di Paolo, Marianna Drosinou, Uwe Dulleck, Anita Eerland, Jānis Ekmanis, Christian T. Elbaek, Arhan S. Ertan, Tom W. Etienne, Fahima Farkhari, Harry Farmer, Moussa A. Fenwick, Austin P. Ferolino, Kristijan Fidanovski, Terry Flew, Shona Fraser, Raymond B. Frempong, Jonathan A. Fugelsang, Jessica Gale, Hernando S. Garcia, E. Begoña Garcia-Navarro, Oussama Ghajjou, Octavio Salvador Ginez, Theofilos Gkinopoulos, César E.P. Gómez, Kurt Gray, Siobhan M. Griffin, Bjarki Gronfeldt, June Gruber, Mert Gümren, Ranju Gurung, Rishad Habib, Mouhamadou El Hady Ba, Volo Herzon, Matej Hruska, Guanxiong Huang, Matthias F.C. Hudecek, Toan L.D. Huynh, Ozan Isler, Jacob Israelashvili, Simon Jangard, Frederik Jørgensen, Frank Kachanoff, John Kahn, Oleksandra Keudel, Lina Koppel, Mika Koverola, Emily Kubin, Anton Kunnari, Dianti E. Kusumawardhani, Yordan Kutiyski, Michael Laakasuo, Paul D.P. Labor, Josh Leota, Eva Lermer, Jonathan Levy, Chunyun Li, Elizabeth U. Long, Chiara Longoni, Marina Maglic, Darragh McCashin, Igor Miklousic, John P. Minda, Panagiotis Mitkidis, Asako Miura, Joanna Pyrkosz-Pacyna, Juliana Molina-Paredes, Cesar Monroy-Fonseca, David Moreau, Oscar Moreda Laguna, Rafał Muda, Annalisa Myer, Kyle Nash, Tarik Nesh-Nash, Jonas P. Nitschke, Matthew S. Nurse, Cathal O’Madagain, Elena Morales-Marente, Danielle P. Ochoa, Yohsuke Ohtsubo, Michal Onderco, M.S. Palacios-Galvez, Jussi Palomäki, Yafeng Pan, Zsófia Papp, Philip Pärnamets, Mariola Paruzel-Czachura, Zoran Pavlović, Silva Perander, Michael M. Pitman, RAJIB Prasad, Khael T. Quinain, Diwa M.A. Quiñones, Ali Raza, Kasey Rhee, Teemu Saikkonen, Waldir M. Sampaio, Gaia Santi, David A. Savage, Philipp Schönegger, David T. Schultner, Enid M. Schutte, Andy Scott, Madhavi Sharma, Ahmed Skali, David Stadelmann, Dragan Stanojević, Clara A. Stafford, Anna Stefaniak, Cătălin Stoica, Brent Strickland, Jukka Sundvall, Shruti Tewari, Jeffrey P. Thomas, Gustav Tinghög, Benno Torgler, Natalia Santiago Tovar, Iris J. Traast, Raffaele Tucciarelli, Michael Tyrala, Nick D’Angelo Ungson, Mete S. Uysal, Jan-Willem van Prooijen, Dirk Van Rooy, Daniel Västfjäll, Peter Verkoeijen, Joana B. Vieira, Christian von Sikorski, Alexander C. Walker, Jennifer Watermeyer, Erik Wetter, Ashley Whillans, Katherine White, Robin Willardt, Michael J. A. Wohl, Adrian D. Wójcik, Kaidi Wu, Yuki Yamada, Onurcan Yilmaz, Kumar Yogeeswaran, Sarah Zaccagni, Maria Paula Bernal-Zárate, Carolin-Theresa Ziemer, Rolf A. Zwaan, & Paulo S. Boggio (2020). National identity and public health intentions during a pandemic. Nature Communications. [ISI]


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1. Herder, A., Berenst, J., de Glopper, K., & Koole, T. (2020). Conversational functions of ‘I know’, ‘you know’ and ‘we know’ in collaborative writing of primary school children. Classroom Discourse, 1-31. [Scopus]

2. Herder, A., Berenst, J., de Glopper, K., & Koole, T. (2020). Sharing knowledge with peers: Epistemic displays in collaborative writing of primary school children. Learning, Culture and Social Interaction, 24, 100378. [ISI]

3. Knol, A. S. L., Koole, T., Desmet, M., Vanheule, S., & Huiskes, M. (2020). How Speakers Orient to the Notable Absence of Talk: A Conversation Analytic Perspective on Silence in Psychodynamic Therapy. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 3177. [ISI]

4. Knol, A. S. L., Huiskes, M., Koole, T., Meganck, R., Loeys, T., & Desmet, M. (2020). Reformulating and Mirroring in Psychotherapy: A Conversation Analytic Perspective. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 318. [ISI]

5. Koole, T., Jaarsm, A. D. C., & Brand, P. L. (2020). Exploratory study of language paediatricians use to promote adherence to long-term controller medication in children with asthma. Allergologia et Immunopathologia, 48(2), 116-123. [ISI]

6. Pulles, M., Berenst, J., de Glopper, K., & Koole, T. (2020). Text selection proposals in dialogic reading in primary school. Pragmatics & Society, 11(4). [ISI]

7. Willemsen, A., Gosen, M., Koole, T., & de Glopper, K. (2020). Gesture, gaze and laughter. Social Interaction. Video-Based Studies of Human Sociality, 2(2).

PRESENTATIONS: INVITED

1. Watermeyer, J. (2020). Towards a community of care for people with aphasia: Some lessons on working in multicultural settings. Invited speaker contribution at the South African Speech-Language-Hearing Association/Joint American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Conference, 6-7 November, online.

PRESENTATIONS: INTERNATIONAL

1. Watermeyer, J., Madonsela, S., Bemath, N. (2020). Mental health of South African Speech Therapists and Audiologists during the COVID-19 pandemic. Paper presented at the South African Speech-Language-Hearing Association/Joint American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Conference, 6-7 November, online.

Publications from visiting scholar Prof. Tom Koole


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2. Watermeyer, J., Kanji, A., Brom, L. (2020). “What’s Going on With My Ears? ”: Some Reflections on Managing Uncertainty in the Audiology Consultation. Paper presented at the South African Speech-Language-Hearing Association/Joint American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Conference, 6-7 November, online.

3. Nattrass, R., & Watermeyer, J. (2020). “Unmuted” – Some reflections on communication facilitators and barriers in online speech therapy consultations during COVID-19. Paper presented at the South African Speech-Language-Hearing Association/Joint American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Conference, 6-7 November, online.


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OTHER PRESENTATIONS AND OUTPUTS Hume, V. (2020). Guest lecture on ‘Delirium’ and ‘Blood Sugars’ for applied drama students, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, London, 9 March.

Scott, M. Communicating Genetic Risk & Uncertainty in a South African Healthcare Context. Paper presented at the Division of Human Genetics, Wits University/National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS), 11 March 2020.

Watermeyer, J. (2020). The language of informed consent. Presentation as part of the Wits Global Ethics Day symposium, 21 October 2020, online.

Watermeyer, J. (2020). Ethics in dysphagia practice. Presentation as part of the Swallowing and Dysphagia Webinar, 3 December 2020, online.

Prof Jennifer Watermeyer was interviewed recently by Deborah Minors for a story on communication during COVID, for the Wits Curios.ty Magazine. The COVID-19 social and moral psychology project with Psychology colleagues is also to be featured in an upcoming Curios.ty Magazine article.

JOURNAL REVIEWS

Prof Jennifer Watermeyer completed reviews for African Health Sciences, Applied Linguistics, BMJ Open, Communicatio, Health Expectations, International Journal of STDs and AIDS, Social Science and Medicine.


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HCRU ACTIVITIESThe COVID-19 pandemic unfortunately put a halt to many of our regular activities, including the monthly Journal Club and the weekly Shut up ‘n Write sessions.

We hosted a thematic analysis methods and data analysis session with postgraduate students working on the mental health project during July. This was a fruitful experience and empowered the students to proceed with data analysis using this approach. Prof. Watermeyer subsequently provided guidance and gave input on the students’ analytic attempts.

VISITING SCHOLARS

Prof. Tom Koole (Department of Communication Studies, University of Groningen) was hosted by the Unit again in 2020. Prof. Koole specialises in communication studies and linguistics with a particular interest in conversation analysis, classroom interactions, emergency calls, and health communication. Prof. Koole was scheduled to visit South Africa in March 2020, but this trip was cancelled due to COVID-19. However, Prof. Koole provided opportunities for post-graduate student engagement during the year and he continues to co-supervise a PhD student in the Unit.

POSTGRADUATE STUDENTS

Completed Ongoing

PhD Megan Scott (557955) Johanni Beukes (1698816)

Masters

Kelly Hugill (446805) - MA AudioTarique Variava (1383707) – MA PsychLisa Mills (2134804) – MA PsychKatlego Mogapi (1126360) – MA Sp PathMicaela Stonestreet (707851) – MA Audio


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Honours/4th year research reports

Angelica Iacovitti (1627582)Nicole Templeton (728555)

Carmen Kifouani (895611)Tahseen Shaik Ahmed (182748)Agnetha Gallant (1891283)

Totals 3 3

ONGOING HONOURS/4th YEAR PROJECTS

Carmen Kifouani: Student reflections on video recorded interactions of initial audiological consultations.Supervisor: J Watermeyer

COMPLETED HONOURS/4th YEAR PROJECTS

Angelica Iacovitti: A scoping review of the factors that influence the experiences and perceptions of adults with acquired neurological impairments and their caregivers towards the MDT within rehabilitation (*runner up: best Speech Pathology poster)Supervisor: J Watermeyer

Nicole Templeton: A scoping review of caregivers’ experiences when talking about complex medical diagnoses and treatment procedures with their childrenSupervisor: J Watermeyer

ONGOING MASTERS PROJECTS

Kelly Hugill: An Interactional Analysis of Communication between Caregivers and Audiologists in Paediatric Cochlear Implant Appointments in South AfricaSupervisors: Jennifer Watermeyer and Amisha Kanji (SPPA)

Lisa Mills: A systematic review of the experiences of TOP provision: healthcare providers’ perspectivesSupervisor: Jennifer Watermeyer

Tarique Variava: A systematic review exploring the psychosocial vulnerabilities which affect HIV treatment outcomes amongst adolescents living with HIV in South AfricaSupervisor: Jennifer Watermeyer

Katlego Mogapi: Care seeking experiences of African immigrant family caregivers of children with disabilities, residing in South AfricaSupervisors: Khetsiwe Masuku (SPPA) and Jennifer Watermeyer


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Micaela Stonestreet: An exploration of audiologists’ communication behaviours and patient perceived effectiveness in South African adult tinnitus management sessions.Supervisors: Amisha Kanji (SPPA) and Jennifer Watermeyer

ONGOING PHD PROJECTS Johanna Beukes: ‘Managing conflict in emergency settings’. Johanni’s project aims to explore conflict between callers and call-takers in emergency calls. Supervisors: Jennifer Watermeyer and Tom Koole (Groningen)

COMPLETED PHD PROJECTS Megan Scott: Communicating Genetic Risk & Uncertainty in a South African Healthcare Context. Supervisors: Jennifer Watermeyer and Tina-Marie Wessels (UCT).


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FUNDINGFunding remains a concern in the current and future global climate. There is a very real threat to the sustainability of the Unit, particularly in terms of research assistant salaries. A significant portion of time was dedicated towards fundraising in 2020, with very disappointing results despite strategic attempts to link up with collaborators and research teams and partner with others who have had successful funding bids in the past. The only reliable funding source at this stage seems to be RINC.

FUNDING AWARDED FOR 2020:1. URC incentive funding - R20 000 2. NRF rating funding – R50 000 3. J Watermeyer: Faculty teaching buyout grant – R20 000 4. J Beukes: NIHSS doctoral funding

FUNDING AWARDED FOR 2021:1. M Scott: NRF postdoctoral funding2. J Beukes: NIHSS doctoral funding

APPLICATIONS PENDING OUTCOME:1. NIHSS Working Group grant 2. MRC SIR grant application (submitted in 2019; outcome delayed due to COVID-19

pandemic)

UNSUCCESSFUL APPLICATIONS:1. NRF CPRR 2019 funding (re-reviewed in 2020; fundable, but no NRF funds available) 2. NRF Africa COVID-19 fund – with HSRC colleagues3. NRF Africa COVID-19 fund – with Psychology colleagues4. Wellcome-MRC-DFID funding 5. UKRI GCRF/Newton Fund COVID-19 6. CoE COVID-19 funding – with Psychology colleagues7. CoE COVID-19 funding – with HSRC colleagues8. Ida Institute funding 9. J Beukes: PV Tobias doctoral funding 10. J Beukes: Faculty of Humanities PhD funding11. J Beukes: NRF doctoral funding12. E Mafunda: IBRO doctoral funding13. K Phuthi: NRF postdoctoral funding 14. K Phuthi: Wits postdoctoral funding 15. D Aideyan: Wits postdoctoral funding


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PICTURE REFERENCESCOVER PICTURE: Afrikan Geometry reborn contaminated (Artwork by Silas Motse, winner of the SANTHE COVID-19: where art and science meet competition)PICTURE ON PAGE 2: Chris MontgomeryPICTURE ON PAGE 19: Engin Akyurt PICTURE ON PAGE 23: Tracey Philbey

www.wits.ac.za/hcru

HEALTH COMMUNICATION RESEARCH UNIT

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