Perceptions of health and wellness programme coordinators on the implementation of the programme in Gauteng government departments between 2012 and 2014

• Main Author: Mashiane, Margaret Dimakatso
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: Employee health promotion > South Africa; Civil service > South Africa > Personnel management; Public administration > South Africa > Personnel management
• Online Access: Mashiane, Margaret Dimakatso (2017) Perceptions of health and wellness programme coordinators on the implementation of the programme in Gauteng government departments between 2012 and 2014, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, <https://hdl.handle.net/10539/24425>; https://hdl.handle.net/10539/24425

A report on a research study presented to the Department of Social Work School of Human and Community Development, Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts in Social Work by coursework and research report in Occupational Social Work , August 2017 === In 2004 the Gauteng Provincial Government (GPG) introduced a health and wellness Programme to manage human risks that negatively influence work performance and the wellness of employees. A qualitative research study was conducted using phenomenology design to explore in-depth experiences of 13 EHWP Coordinators on the implementation of wellness management as one of the four pillars of the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) integrated Employee Health and Wellness Strategic Framework (EHWSF), (2008). The EHWSF was created to rapidly transform the nature of holistic support to employees so as to mitigate individual and organisational risks within the public sector. The method of data collection utilised was face to face interviews, with the use of a semi-structured interview schedule as a tool to gather data. Purposive sampling was utilised and the sample selected from a population of twenty nine (29) GPG EHWP Coordinators based on an inclusion criteria. The collected data was analysed utilising thematic analysis to identify themes and patterns in the data, to contextualise and describe the findings. The main findings were the inconsistent understanding in terms of the implementation of the DPSA EHWSF wellness management among participants, which suggest that the programme is not fully implemented in GPG. The lack of capacity, dedicated budge, inconsistent structure and positioning of the programme as well as management support were some of the deterrents in implementing the full scope of the wellness management pillar. Although DPSA EHWSF promotes the integration of four pillars, the study found gaps with the practical implementation of the framework in particular the wellness management pillar which was the focus of the study, there was less emphasis on organisational wellness. The study concludes that the findings will contribute towards review of policy, framework and programme development. === XL2018