BLOCK 4 REFLECTION (EXPERIENCE AND KNOWLEDGE)

Using Gibbs' Reflective Cycle to help me to analyse my block 4 experience.

The beginning of block 4 was different to how I felt about the previous blocks. Although I was tired, I had a silver of excitement waiting for the results for the block 3 essay. The first week and a half of this block was slow, but then the assignments started to pile on top of each other and work needed to be done. At the time I felt like I had not had enough time to rest and destress from the previous block. Since then, I have tried to stay motivated to work and to do whatever was necessary to reach the goals that I have set for myself.

I have been extremely demotivated, and the only positive aspect of this block was that I did the work. What was not effective was trying to compartmentalise the demotivation, frustration and hurt that I was feeling because once it was locked away, it unlocked and demanded to be felt.

I could have accepted the situation for what it was, but I took it personally because it felt personal… it still does. However, I know that thinking about how others think about me or view me does not benefit me. How others perceive me has absolutely nothing to do with me, but during this block my rose-coloured glasses genuinely shattered and the question “what is the point?” became a central theme of this block. I could and should have shaken the feeling of betrayal off, but I could not. Everything that I tried to move past the situation did not work and that is something that I will have to work on.

During this block I learnt that you cannot trust everyone to give you guidance, even those who are supposed to guide and support you. This was the most difficult block of the year for me. In the future, I will ask people who genuinely want to help me for their help.

Topics covered during this block: Violence and Injury in SA

In the beginning of the year when we were given the course booklet and I saw the fourth quadruple burden of disease to be violence and injury I was so eager to learn about it. I had no idea it would be this serious and through our presentation on state violence I began to realize that South Africa has ignored all signs of violence even the government perpetuates it. Violence seems like a negative word to everyone except those who uses it for good as in self-defense (this is the only acceptable reason for violence I now know after going through the course work). That is what I thought until I learnt the term violent belief. As defined in week spark. Together with the tutorial I have done on violent beliefs, I have learnt that sometimes a belief is not the kind of thing that can be violent. Violence can be perpetuated in different forms of beliefs such as a cultural belief, a religious belief, a political belief as well as a false belief.

I believe that this violence that affects men is a result of poverty which leads to alcoholism, which can further lead to GBV and child abuse. Alcoholism negatively affects communities where it is prevalent and increases crime and violence in that community (Coulthard, et al., 2020). Decreasing the levels of poverty in communities by increasing employment and education opportunities in the community may be a strategy that may decrease the violence and alcoholism in a community. Health education will also greatly benefit communities affected by violence.

Road traffic accidents in South Africa are associated with environmental and human factors such as substance abuse (alcohol and drugs), cell phone use while driving and attention-seeking behaviour (Deme, 2019). I think that a health systems scientist would fit in Emergency Medicine by tracking the types of cases that occur in the emergency room (ER) and when, to create interventions and strategies that would stop those cases from happening through developing policies.