Academic Leader: Teaching and Learning

Person Dr Verusia Chetty  
Telephone +27 (0)31 260 7974
Email chettyve@ukzn.ac.za
Campus Westville
Research Interests Rehabilitation for people living with HIV and disability, physiotherapy education
Designation Academic Leader Teaching and learning
Senior lecturer
 Biosketch Dr  Verusia Chetty is a qualified physiotherapist who currently the academic leader for the School of Health Sciences at the university of KwaZulu-Natal. She also holds a post as a senior lecturer in the Department of Physiotherapy.  Dr Chetty was a part of the pioneer group of community physiotherapists who served the community of Mseleni in the Sibaya district, KwaZulu-Natal. She found her passion in facilitating activities in the children’s home which housed orphaned and vulnerable children due to the effects of HIV on their carers. Following community service Verusia went onto work in a public hospital in KwaZulu-Natal and shortly after embarked on clinical and life experience in the United Kingdom. A year later Verusia returned to South Africa and practiced privately shortly after she joined the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Physiotherapy department. She taught various fields of physiotherapy including neurology, kinesiology, community and orthopedics. She also facilitated clinical education and coordinated the exit level year for graduating physiotherapists at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

Verusia completed her Master’s degree in the year 2011. She emphasized that life is about balance and maintaining equilibrium even in the face of great challenge. Verusia then completed her PhD in Health Sciences where she developed a model of care for the rehabilitation of people living with HIV in a semi-rural setting. Her passion lies in clinical education within tertiary institutions and HIV and disability. She works in close collaboration with the SAMRC, South Africa. Verusia was one of the first scholars awarded the scholarship for the Medical Research Council (National Health Scholarship Award) completing her PhD timeously. She has recently received the Health System Trust Emerging Health Practitioner Award and her PhD has been published in the 2015 South African Health Review Journal.
List of Publications Peer-Reviewed Publications

1.COBBING S, CHETTY V, HANASS-HANCOCK J, MYEZWA H. “KNOWING I CAN BE HELPFUL MAKES ME FEEL GOOD INSIDE, IT MAKES ME FEEL ESSENTIAL”: COMMUNITY HEALTH CARE WORKERS’ EXPERIENCE OF CONDUCTING A HOME BASED REHABILITATION INTERVENTION FOR PEOPLE LIVING WITH HIV IN KWAZULU-NATAL, SOUTH AFRICA. AIDS CARE. 2017; 1-5.

2. HANASS-HANCOCK J, CHAPPELL P, MYEZWA H. CHETTY V: COMMITTING TO DISABILITY INCLUSION TO END AIDS BY 2030.  LANCET. 2016; 3(12); e549-e600.

3. NGUBANE M, CHETTY V. CAREGIVER SATISFACTION TO A MULTIDISCIPLINARY COMMUNITY BASED REHABILITATION PROGRAMME FOR CHILDREN WITH CEREBRAL PALSY IN SOUTH AFRICA. SAFPJ. In press 2016.

4. CHETTY V, HANASS-HANCOCK J. A REHABILITATION MODEL AS KEY TO COMPREHENSIVE CARE IN THE ERA OF HIV AS A CHRONIC DISEASE IN SOUTH AFRICA.  AIDS CARE. 2016; 28 (1); 132-139.

5. SIMPSON M, CHETTY V. THE INFLUENCE OF AN ABDUCTOR POLLICIS LONGUS STRENGTHENING PROGRAMME ON SYMPTOMS EXPERIENCED BY ELDERLY FEMALES WITH OSTEOARTHRITIS OF THE 1ST CARPO-METACARPAL JOINT. AFRICAN JOURNAL FOR PHYSICAL HEALTH EDUCATION, RECREATION AND DANCE. 2016; 22 (1); 118-131.

6. DUNPATH T, CHETTY V, VAN DER REYDEN. ACUTE BURNS OF THE HANDS – PHYSIOTHERAPIST PERSPECTIVE. AFRICAN HEALTH SCIENCES. 2016; 16 (1): 266-275.

7. CHETTY V, HANASS-HANCOCK J, MYEZWA H. EXPERT CONSENSUS ON THE REHABILITATION FRAMEWORK GUIDING A MODEL OF CARE FOR PEOPLE LIVING WITH HIV IN A SOUTH AFRICAN SETTING. JOURNAL OF THE ASSOCIATION OF NURSES IN AIDS CARE. 2016; 27(1):77-88.

8. CHETTY V. A MODEL OF CARE FOR THE REHABILITATION OF PEOPLE LIVING WITH HIV IN A SEMI-RURAL SOUTH AFRICAN SETTING. SAHR, 2015. 183-194.

9. CHETTY V, HANASS-HANCOCK J. THE NEED FOR A REHABILITATION MODEL TO ADDRESS THE DISPARITIES OF PUBLIC HEALTHCARE FOR PEOPLE LIVING WITH HIV IN SOUTH AFRICA: OPINION PAPERS. AJOD. 2015; 4(1): 1-6.

10. CHETTY V, DUNPATH T, MEGHNATH S, MOTHALAL S, SEWMUNGAL V, KUNENE U, NTSHAKALA T. SATISFACTION AND ADHERENCE OF PATIENTS WITH AMPUTATIONS TO PHYSIOTHERAPY SERVICE AT PUBLIC HOSPITALS IN KWAZULU-NATAL, SOUTH AFRICA. AFRICAN HEALTH SCIENCES. 2015; 15(2):450-456.

11. DUNPATH T, CHETTY V, VAN DER REYDEN D. THE EXPERIENCE OF ACUTE BURNS OF THE HAND–PATIENTS PERSPECTIVES. DISABILITY AND REHABILITATION. 2015; 37(10):892-898.

12. CHETTY V, HANASS-HANCOCK J. DEVELOPMENT OF A MODEL OF CARE FOR REHABILITATION OF PEOPLE LIVING WITH HIV IN A SEMIRURAL SETTING IN SOUTH AFRICA. JMIR RESEARCH PROTOCOLS. 2014; 3(4).

13. CHETTY V, DUNPATH T, BHAGWANDIN R, DLAMINI N, HAWKE A, NAIDOO K, VILANA Z. COLLABORATION BETWEEN PHYSIOTHERAPISTS AND BIOKINETICISTS IN MANAGING LOW BACK PAIN IN AN URBAN SETTING IN SOUTH AFRICA. AFRICAN JOURNAL FOR PHYSICAL HEALTH EDUCATION, RECREATION AND DANCE. 2014; 20(4):1587-97.

14. CHETTY V, COBBING SE, GOVENDER K, JAGOT S, NAIPAL S, NAKOODA MZ, SEVERAJ N. BALANCE IN THE ELDERLY LIVING AT OLD PEOPLES’ HOMES IN ETHEKWENI, SOUTH AFRICA. AFRICAN JOURNAL FOR PHYSICAL HEALTH EDUCATION, RECREATION AND DANCE. 2013; 19(3):587-95.

15. COBBING S, CHETTY V, HANASS-HANCOCK J, JELSMA J, MYEZWA H, NIXON S. POSITION PAPER: THE ESSENTIAL ROLE OF PHYSIOTHERAPISTS IN PROVIDING REHABILITATION SERVICES TO PEOPLE LIVING WITH HIV IN SOUTH AFRICA. SA JOURNAL OF PHYSIOTHERAPY. 2013; 69(1): 22-25.

16. CHETTY V, MAHARAJ SS. COLLABORATION BETWEEN HEALTH PROFESSIONALS IN THE ERA OF ANTIRETROVIRAL THERAPY. JOURNAL OF THE ASSOCIATION OF NURSES IN AIDS CARE. 2013; 24(2):166-75.

17. MAHARAJ SS, CHETTY V. REHABILITATION PROGRAM FOR THE QUALITY OF LIFE FOR INDIVIDUALS ON HIGHLY ACTIVE ANTIRETROVIRAL THERAPY IN KWAZULU-NATAL, SOUTH AFRICA: A SHORT REPORT. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF REHABILITATION RESEARCH. 2011; 34(4):360-5.

18. PUCKREE T, CHETTY BJ, GOVENDER V, RAMPARSAD S, LIN J. ARE PHYSIOTHERAPY GRADUATES ADEQUATELY PREPARED TO MANAGE HIV/AIDS PATIENTS. SOUTH AFRICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSIOTHERAPY. 2004; 60(2):7-10.

 List of Conference

International

 1.             Oral presentation:  “”How qualitative research demystified our health science postgraduate

Journey: Two South African women’s perspective” The Qualitative Report, Florida, USA (January 2016)

2.             Oral presentation:  “Fortunate or Fallible? The Flight of a Novice Qualitative Researcher” The Qualitative Report, Florida, USA (January 2016)

3.             Oral presentation: “Reflecting on models of Care for accessible Rehabilitation for People Living with HIV in South Africa” – The Qualitative Report, Florida, USA (January 2015)

4.             Poster Presentation: “A rehabilitation model as a key to comprehensive care in the era of HIV as a chronic disease in South Africa” – Aids Impact, Amsterdam (July 2015)

5.             Poster Presentation: “Exploration of the Rehabilitation Framework for People Living with HIV in a semi-rural setting, South Africa” – Aids Impact, Barcelona, Spain (September 2013)

National

6.             Oral presentation: “Model of care for rehabilitation of PLHIV and the way forward” The DNZ affiliated to the AIDS conference, Durban (July 2016)

7.             Poster Presentation: “The need for a Rehabilitation Model to address the disparities of public healthcare for People Living with HIV in South Africa”- SA AIDS, Durban (June 2015)

8.             Oral Presentation: “A model of care for the rehabilitation of people living with HIV in a semi-rural South African setting” – PHASA, Durban (October 2015)Online Modules

Developed a chapter for the online e-module in collaboration with   Canadian Working Group on HIV and Rehabilitation. 2014: http://ssa.hivandrehab.ca/about/about-5.php