Prof Doris Bohman, a registered nurse, nurse tutor and associate professor at the Department of Health, Blekinge Institute of Technology, in Sweden, was recently appointed as an extraordinary professor at the North-West University's (NWU’s) Optentia research unit.
Dr Bohman holds a PhD in medical science and has extensive experience working with ethnographic methods focusing on gerontological care.
Her studies have an ethnographic approach, focusing on caring aspects of older individuals in a South African context, including daily life experiences, intergenerational relations, and beliefs about health illnesses.
As part of the appointment, she delivered a prestige lecture where she offered insights from her current research, which focuses on different aspects of cultural competency within health care and education, as well as technology in health care and education.
Drawing from her work with aged people from South Africa and Sweden, Dr Bohman gave a professional and personal account of her experiences.
Sharing her current research findings, she explained how information and communication technology (ICT) change the context aged people live in and provide for their social and health care needs.
"There is an increase in the number of aged people globally, and there is a need for a contextual approach to gerontological care. We called on Swedish and South African researchers to gather broad and enhanced ageing knowledge,” she explained.
During the study at Majenang in Hammaskraal, she spent an extensive period doing fieldwork and a lot of focus interviews. She had to speak through an interpreter, which was her biggest challenge, she said. “We also worked with Sangomas to understand their approaches to health issues. Many articles came out of these studies,” she explained.
According to Prof Ian Rothmann, director of Optentia, the research unit has relationships with various extraordinary professors like Prof Bohman to build relationships with national and international experts.
"We want to create a space where we can share experiences, strengthen individual relationships and collaborate to solve societal challenges. Thereby we can advance science, and empower our researchers and students to further develop their research capabilities,” he says.
Optentia spokesperson Anjonet Jordaan says the unit is honoured to be associated with such an outstanding scholar as Prof Bohman. “Prof Bohman has been a long-standing associate and valuable resource to us."
Prof Bohman delivers her prestige lecture.
