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The well-being of nursing students has become crucial because of the multidimensional challenges that nursing professionals have to deal with. A community psychology framework was adopted in this study. The aim of the research was to explore the different dimensions of well-being as described by nursing students. A purposive and availability sample was used to gather qualitative data (interviews, focus groups and visual presentations) during 2008 and 2010 from first-year nursing students, which were thematically analysed. The emergent themes were grouped according to personal, relational and collective well-being. The findings indicated that nursing students’ personal well-being was undermined by a lack of autonomy, feelings of uncertainty, and feelings of pressure and disillusionment with the nursing profession and their training. Personal well-being was also described in terms of dispositional optimism and the need for a sense of purpose and deeper meaning. Relational well-being was expressed by the nursing students in relation to their friends, family and lecturers. The different relationships were important sources of comfort and encouragement. Their collective well-being was threatened by a challenging work environment, lack of role models in clinical settings as well as incongruence between theoretical training and practical application. Recommendations for improving the different dimensions of well-being are suggested.OpsommingDie welsyn van verpleegkundestudente het deurslaggewend geword as gevolg van die uiteenlopende uitdagings wat verpleegkundiges moet hanteer. ‘n Gemeenskapsielkunde raamwerk is in hierdie studie gebruik. Die doel van die navorsing was om die verskillende dimensies van welsyn van verpleegkundestudente te ondersoek. ‘n Doelgerigte en beskikbaarheidsteekproef is gebruik om kwalitatiewe data (onderhoude, fokusgroepe en visuele voorstellings) wat gedurende 2008 en 2010 van eerstejaar-verpleegkundestudente bekom is, deur middel van tematiese inhoudsontleding te analiseer. Die temas wat na vore gekom het, is gegroepeer volgens persoonlike, verhoudings- en gemeenskaplike welsyn. Die bevindinge het aangedui dat die verpleegkundestudente se persoonlike welsyn ondermyn word deur ‘n gebrek aan outonomie, gevoelens van onsekerheid en om onder druk te verkeer, asook ‘n ontnugtering met die verpleegkunde professie en opleiding. Persoonlike welyn is ook beskryf in terme van ‘n optimistiese ingesteldheid en die behoefte aan sinvolheid en ‘n dieper betekenis. Verhoudingswelsyn is deur die verpleegkundestudente uitgedruk in terme van hulle verhouding met hul vriende, familie en dosente. Die verskillende verhoudings word as belangrike bronne van ondersteuning en aanmoediging geag. Gemeenskaplike welsyn word bedreig deur ‘n uitdagende werksomgewing, die afwesigheid van rolmodelle in die kliniese omgewings asook die teenstrydigheid van die teoretiese opleiding met die praktiese toepassing daarvan. Aanbevelings vir die bevordering van welsyn in die verskillende dimensies word voorgestel.

Children contract HIV infection largely through vertical transmission and are vulnerable to AIDS illness due to an immature immune system. In South Africa, hospitals are often overburdened and thus children with HIV may be directed to the community for care. As a result, non-professional caregivers are a predominant source of care for children living with HIV. Various authors, including the Department of Health, have stipulated the importance of establishing the knowledge and needs of non-professional caregivers of children with HIV. Our research has investigated the extent of non-professional caregivers' knowledge and needs, specifically those within the Potchefstroom district of the North-West Province. The objectives included formulating guidelines for a training programme that can enhance relevant knowledge and skills among these caregivers. Quantitative data were gathered using a questionnaire, which was developed following a literature study. The 109 non-professional caregivers who responded to the questionnaire displayed some knowledge and skills concerning specifically the care of children with HIV or AIDS, although gaps existed concerning their knowledge of community-based referral, caring needs specific to children, and precautionary measures to prevent HIV transmission. Recommendations are made with specific reference to a training programme. We surmise that non-professional caregivers play a pivotal role in the care of children with HIV in the Potchefstroom district - a service that is sometimes rendered in perilous conditions. This study improves our understanding of the support and training needed for non-professional caregivers in their pursuit to care for children with HIV in resource-limited communities, and thus it contributes to the field of nursing science. The findings may generate ideas for future research on this important topic.

INTERVIEWS WITH COMMUNITY MEMBERSPROBLEM STATEMENTThis research is part of a more extensive research project in which the Departments of Social Work, Nursing and Communication collaborated to investigate the experiences of senior students' health care service delivery to a disadvantaged community, and to make recommendations to enhance quality multi-disciplinary health care service delivery to a disadvantaged community by the students of the University as part of their experiential learning.This article will focus on the experience of the fourth-year social work students only. As part of their practical training in Social Work at the North-West University (Potchefstroom Campus), fourth-year students are required to render services to a disadvantaged community during a three-month internship at a service delivery organisation. For several years now the Department of Social Work has been offering services in various forms to a disadvantaged community through the students as part of their experiential learning. Experiential learning is an integral part of social work education. It is a collaborative effort between public and service delivery organisations and universities. Since student social workers work with individuals, families, groups and communities in real-life settings, they need to be intensively supervised by a supervisor from a delivery organisation and a lecturer from the University. This teaching and learning model in social work has evolved over many years and is internationally recognized as the most successful way of training a social worker over the course of a period of study (Association for South African Social Work Education Institutions (ASASWEI), 2006:4).According to Wondmiku, Feleke and Tafete (2005:179), service learning is a valuable learning method. "Balancing the service and teaching objectives and maintaining the quality of both can be attained through careful twining of the objectives of both components". The service rendered by the students during experiential learning is especially directed at the disadvantaged community, and is in line with the focus specified in the White Paper for the Transformation of the Health System of South Africa (1997:13). The services rendered by the students included work at government and non-governmental organisations, home-based services to people living with HIV and AIDS, community projects such as planting eco-circle gardens, doing group work, assisting with parent guidance (Botswadi), empowering children, working with alcoholrelated problems, investigating child neglect and abuse, planning foster care, helping to obtain grants and handing out food parcels.The arrangements to provide these services were made by the lecturers with people in the community whom they had identified as key people for the purposes of fulfilling the educational requirements, taking into consideration the areas where they thought the needs of the community were greatest. The Department of Social Work was virtually offering services based mainly on the requirements for exper...

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