Text in English / In South Africa, retention of newly qualified professional nurses in public health institutions upon completion of their year of compulsory remunerated community service remains a challenge that exacerbates the shortage of professional nurses in these institutions. The literature indicates that many newly qualified professional nurses leave the public health institutions due to lack of professional development support and heavy workloads while they are still finding their feet. A mixed-methods design of concurrent triangulation approach was used to answer the question: How are the newly qualified professional nurses supported in terms of induction and professional development during community service in South Africa? Triangulation was achieved by using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Induction/orientation documents from public health institutions were analysed using a checklist. A survey questionnaire with mixed quantitative closed items (1–43) and qualitative open-ended questions (43–46) was sent to newly qualified professional nurses who had recently completed community service. Focus groups held with operational nurse managers and individual interviews with coordinators of community service for nurses yielded rich qualitative data. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to describe and synthesise data. The qualitative findings confirmed the quantitative findings. Findings were lack of professional development support in some public health institutions, informal, non-comprehensive support where given, shortage of experienced professional nurses, reluctance by some professional nurses and operational nurse managers to supervise newly qualified nurses, and increased workload due to the shortage of experienced professional nurses in the public health institutions. Inadequate clinical skills, poor discipline and lack of professionalism in the newly qualified professional nurses also played a part. Respondents suggested constructive recommendations for the induction and professional development support of the newly qualified professional nurses, and these were incorporated in the recommended guidelines for the induction and professional development support of newly qualified professional nurses during community service. / Health Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (Health Studies)

The purpose of the study was to determine professional nurses’ knowledge of culture- competent care at selected medical and oncology wards and outpatient departments in Mopani District, Limpopo Province. A quantitative descriptive design was used and data collected from one hundred and five professional nurses by means of a structured questionnaire. The study found that cultural knowledge needs to be nurtured through continuing education and mentoring and that culture-competent care should be included in the curriculum. Furthermore, cultural knowledge is not effective if there is no correlation of theory and practice and early clinical placement of student nurses during their basic training / Health Studies / M. A. (Health Studies)

The aim of this study was to determine the ability and proficiency of the newly qualified professional nurses in utilising psychiatric nursing skills at Chris Hani District Psychiatric Health Care Services in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. The research method was a qualitative, phenomenological approach. A purposive sample of newly qualified professional nurses and supervisors participated in the study. The data were collected through interviews and focus group discussions, using semi – structured interview guides. Interviews responses were recorded on the interview guide. Data were analysed using the computer software Atlas ti and manually. Positive and negative themes were identified. Ethical considerations were ensured by means of privacy, anonymity and confidentiality. Ethical clearance was obtained from the University of Fort Hare and permission from the Provincial Department of Health and Chris Hani District Health and Mental Health Institution at Queenstown was sought. The findings revealed that newly qualified professional nurses performed well, according to the perception of their supervisors. Newly qualified professional nurses were faced with challenges such as shortage of resources, mental illness not considered as a priority and lack of skills development. The study also revealed that newly qualified professional nurses focussed on the curative aspect of ailments, rather than preventive care. However community health workers (CHW) focussed on the preventive aspect of care. Limitations and recommendations based on the findings of the study are presented.

MCur / Department of Advanced Nursing Science

Public demands have forced countries to explore new ways of rendering primary health care to reach the poor who are not within reach of the modern health care systems. New categories of health care personnel, like lay health workers emerged. There are vast differences in the roles of these lay health workers as was revealed with an extensive literature search. The phenomenology qualitative research method was used to investigate perceptions of farm lay health workers regarding their roles in rural areas. A convenience, non-random sample (N=5) was used for focus group discussions and in-depth interviews to collect data. The latter revealed five main themes associated with the role of farm lay health workers: (1) community link; (2) carer; (3) community developer; (4) counsellor and (5) role model. Guidelines were formulated to enhance the role of lay health workers in the rural Western Cape Province and to improve the quality of care to rural communities / Health Studies / M.A. (Health Studies)

The study sought to explore professional nurses' perceptions of the roles of home and community-based carers in the Capricorn district of the Limpopo province as well as the problems they experienced and make recommendations to improve the quality of home and community-based care. A qualitative approach with non-probability, purposeful sampling was used in this study. The sample consisted of professional nurses serving as focal points for home-based care in the area of the study. The findings indicated that professional nurses believe that carers have a role in providing care to the community and serve as the extended hands of their services. However, challenges exist, which impact on the quality of service delivery. Recommendations included the strengthening of existing elements, such as improving relationships, communication, and the care of carer's programme, carer training, reporting, and monitoring and carer distribution. / Health Studies / M.A. (Health Studies)

Text in English / The aim of this study was to gain understanding of community service nurses’ experiences of health care services at Tshwane district public hospital. This qualitative study followed an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) approach to explore the community services nurses’ experiences of health care services at Tshwane district public hospital. Data were collected from 11 purposively selected community service nurses using a semi-structured interview format. Data was analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis framework for data analysis. Four super-ordinates emerged from data analysis: (1) Resources, (2) Work environmental relations, (3) Supervision and support and, (4) Impact of community service experiences. The study revealed that the health care services rendered at the hospital studied are substandard. Community service nurses reported several challenges experienced during their placement in the hospital under study. Lack of human and material resources, supervision and support contributed to hindrance of smooth acquisition of their clinical skills and experience. These challenges resulted in the psychological and emotional drain of the participants. There is a need for development of guidelines to ensure constant and adequate support to all the community service nurses placed at Ratanang Hospital. / Health Studies / M.A. (Nursing Science)

The study sought to explore professional nurses' perceptions of the roles of home and community-based carers in the Capricorn district of the Limpopo province as well as the problems they experienced and make recommendations to improve the quality of home and community-based care. A qualitative approach with non-probability, purposeful sampling was used in this study. The sample consisted of professional nurses serving as focal points for home-based care in the area of the study. The findings indicated that professional nurses believe that carers have a role in providing care to the community and serve as the extended hands of their services. However, challenges exist, which impact on the quality of service delivery. Recommendations included the strengthening of existing elements, such as improving relationships, communication, and the care of carer's programme, carer training, reporting, and monitoring and carer distribution. / Health Studies / M.A. (Health Studies)

PURPOSE: The purpose of the study was to explore the perception of the R48 trained professional nurses with regard to implementation of the EPI in Tshwane District Gauteng Province. METHODOLOGY: A qualitative research design was followed. Data were collected through in-depth qualitative interviews from a purposive sample of eight (8) R48 trained professional nurses. Eight steps of Tech’s inductive, descriptive open coding technique was followed. FINDINGS: The study established that EPI programme is important in R48 training. The implementation of integrated approach was viewed as beneficial leading to the reduction of diseases. The successful implementation would be more beneficial if it is consistently coupled with support from programme managers and regular in-service on up-dates of new vaccines and technologies are introduced within the programme / Health Studies / M.A. (Nursing Science)

Text in English / With the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), first recognised in 1981 as a new disease that subsequently took on pandemic proportions, home-based caregivers became instrumental to ensure that, notwithstanding the encumbered health care systems, people living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA) receive care, support and treatment within their households to live prolonged dignified lives. Despite their pivotal role in the field of HIV and AIDS care, there seems to be a dearth of literature, and research locally and internationally, from the ambit of Social Work on the topic of how HBCGs manage and cope with the work-related challenges they experience when caring for PLWHA and their need for Social Work support. Through this exploratory, descriptive, contextual and phenomenological qualitative study, I scrutinised the HBCGs’ experiences and associated challenges and the coping strategies they employ to address these challenges as well as their views on how social workers could support them in overcoming these challenges in the specific case on home-based care to PLWHA. Twenty-five HBCGs were identified and recruited through purposive and snowball sampling techniques from twelve home-based care organisations in South African provinces, namely, North West, Limpopo and Gauteng. Data was collected through individual face-to-face semi-structured interviews using an interview-guide. Data analysis was conducted through Tesch’s eight steps (in Creswell 2014:189) while Guba’s model (in Shenton, 2004) was adopted for data verification. Cast against Loretta Williams’ (2014) middle range theory of caregiving dynamics (Williams 2014), the coping theory of Lazarus and Folkman (1984) and the strength-based perspective (Saleebey, 2013) adopted as theoretical frameworks for this study, the following findings were revealed. The HBCGs were motivated by, among other factors, their mere desire to care for PLWHA; their personal experiences of caring for an ill relative; and future career aspirations to become involved in this care work. HBCGs were found to face various work-related challenges in connection with reactions from community members, the patients and their relatives; their unsafe working conditions; as well as from their colleagues, other role players and their own organisations. It was found that for most of the HBCGs their care work saddened, pained and discouraged them. In the midst of feeling sorry for their patients, they feared getting infected themselves, in addition to their work-related challenges that caused them to experience feelings of failure. The strategies adopted to cope with their work-related challenges included getting support from employers, receiving counselling and becoming involved in support groups. Finally, several suggestions were directed to the management structures of HBC organisations, the HBCGs themselves and social workers on how they could address the work-related challenges. Based on the research findings, some recommendations are forwarded concerning guidelines for Social Work support directed at work practice, policies and programmes; associated education and training endeavours; and continuous professional development initiatives, as well as avenues for further research. / Social Work / D. Phil. (Social Work)