This thesis surveyed preferences for various continuing education program characteristics of nurses. One hundred fifty registered and licensed practical nurses were surveyed. These nurses were employed by hospitals and extended care facilities located within a six county area of north central Indiana. Each participant was given a 15 item questionnaire to complete anonymously and on a voluntary basis.The majority of participants were between the ages of 20 and 29, were diploma educated and had been out of school one to three years. The responses indicated a Preference for continuing education programs which are a one day workshop held on Monday with a registration fee of five to ten dollars, conducted at their local employing institutions and with a topic of pharmacology update or care of the patient with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

The globalisation of the world has facilitated the international movement of the nursing workforce. Along with other immigration destination countries, Australia is now accepting nurses from more diverse national and educational backgrounds than ever before, in order to secure adequate staffing for its nursing workforce. This thesis reports on a research project which investigated the lived experiences of overseas-qualified nurses (OQNs) from non-English-speaking backgrounds (NESB) in coming to, and working in, Australia. The study used a qualitative design informed by the philosophy of Hermeneutic Phenomenology of Heidegger and Gadamer. The researcher individually interviewed a total of 24 OQNs of NESB from all over the world using a semi-structured interview method. The data were analysed by the case studies and thematic analysis method. From the analysis, a total of four important themes emerged that structured the lived experiences of the OQNs from NESB. 1) From the Past to the Future is concerned with Heidegger's notion of temporality (lived time). The two sub-themes are: the Past which describes the cultural, social and linguistic backgrounds of the OQNs which brought them to their present experiences in Australia, and the Future, which refers to future possibilities which have been opened up by their experiences in Australia. The past and the future co-exist within the OQNs' understanding of their present moment. 2) New Environment is concerned with Spatiality (lived space). The OQNs’ felt working environment in Australia is described. 3) Living in the English Language considers the notion of ‘lived body’ in relation to English-learning when working as nurses in Australia. 4) Shared World is concerned with Heidegger's notion of Shared World; the OQNs from NESB’s needs for a supportive inter-subjective environment is described and discussed. By using Parse’s phenomenological synthesis method, these four themes were then conceptualised into a core structure of phenomena that describes the core nature of the participants: “The lived experience of OQNs from NESB working in Australia is the process of obtaining a new identity in the English language, while actively formulating reality through interplay with new surroundings”. In conclusion, recommendations for improved support for OQNs from NESB derived from the study are presented. / Thesis(Ph.D.)-- School of Population Health and Clinical Practice, 2008

This study explored the lived experience of re/ehtering mothers who were entering baccalaureate nursing education for their first registered nursing credential. These re/entering women were either reentering higher education or entering for the first time. The participants in this study were mothers of 1 to 3 children. In-depth personal interviews and a focus group session were conducted with 5 re/entering mothers aged 28 - 45 years who were enrolled in the second year of nursing education in a community college setting. Analysis revealed five major themes that were incorporated into a narrative that reflected their lived experience as a multiple role learner in nursing education: time as a scarce resource, a personal need to achieve, feelings of guilt related to not "being there" for their children, re/entering women as the family organizer and their positive perception of their multiple role status. The voices of these women are heard in their stories that are interwoven throughout the narrative. The findings from this study suggest ways in which institutions of higher education might assist and support re/entering mothers and recommend this group of women as a target population for recruitment into nursing.

The purposes of this study were to describe and analyze the participation of nurses in continuing learning activities, their reasons for engaging in continuous learning, their attitudes toward continuing nursing education, and their socio-economic characteristics. The study was designed to investigate not only nurses' involvement in conventional forms of planned systematic educational programs such as courses, workshops, and conferences (dependent learning activities), but also their active participation in individual, self-directed learning situations such as reading, and learning packages (independent learning activities). A questionnaire was administered in group sessions and by mail to 220 randomly selected female registered nurses who were employed full or part-time by five general hospitals in the Greater Vancouver area of the province of British Columbia. The hospitals were of medium size (300 - 700 beds) and each had a director or coordinator of inservice education. Each of the respondents participated in at least one of the continuing learning activities accessible to nurses during the year, September 1, 1972 to September 30, 1973, but on the average, the group participation rate was less than half the total possible score. Nonetheless, it was established that the respondents engaged in significantly more independent than dependent learning activities. A factor analysis of S.B. Sheffield's Learning Orientation Index determined that this particular group of nurses did possess the three basic learning orientations described by C. O. Houle but that their reasons for participating in continuous learning could be more precisely defined as being learning, occupational, professional, societal, sociability, interactive, and relief from boredom and frustration-oriented. In addition, the respondents were found to have a favourable attitude to continuing nursing education which related significantly to their participation scores. Other factors related to the nurses' participation in continuing learning activities included the psychological variables - Learning, Sociability, Professional, and Interactive Orientation, as well as the following socio-economic characteristics: number of preschool children, university educational experience, position, employment status, and length of current employment. As a result of multiple regression analyses, three of the learning orientations and the attitude of nurses toward continuing nursing education were found to be better predictors of the respondents participation scores than were certain socio-economic factors. The favourability of nurses' attitudes toward continuing nursing education emerged as the most efficient single predictor. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

This study explored the lived experience of re/ehtering mothers who were entering baccalaureate nursing education for their first registered nursing credential. These re/entering women were either reentering higher education or entering for the first time. The participants in this study were mothers of 1 to 3 children. In-depth personal interviews and a focus group session were conducted with 5 re/entering mothers aged 28 - 45 years who were enrolled in the second year of nursing education in a community college setting. Analysis revealed five major themes that were incorporated into a narrative that reflected their lived experience as a multiple role learner in nursing education: time as a scarce resource, a personal need to achieve, feelings of guilt related to not "being there" for their children, re/entering women as the family organizer and their positive perception of their multiple role status. The voices of these women are heard in their stories that are interwoven throughout the narrative. The findings from this study suggest ways in which institutions of higher education might assist and support re/entering mothers and recommend this group of women as a target population for recruitment into nursing. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

The purpose of the study was to utilize group counseling as an attempt to assist an experimental group of students to identify and overcome difficulties which might serve as deterrents to the successful completion of the educational program. The assumption was made that efforts to assist students to have successful experiences would alleviate the high attrition rates of students from nursing education programs.

The purpose of this study was to develop an Evaluation Q-Sort and to test it by measuring the perceptions held by-nursing, instructors of the relative importance of five functions and effects of evaluation. The functions and effects identified for study were: the measurement of student achievement, the measurement of student progress, psychological effects of evaluation, the influence of evaluation on teaching, and the influence of evaluation on administration. An Evaluation Q-Sort was developed and used to measure the perceptions of evaluation held by the 111 nursing instructors in the six professional nursing schools in the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island areas of the Province of British Columbia. The population was divided into ten classifications according to various criteria related to role, experience, preparation, and instructional setting. The central hypothesis assumed that the group of instructors as a whole would not assign greater importance to anyone of the five functions and effects of evaluation. The nine sub-hypotheses assumed that the perceptions of evaluation held by nursing instructors would not be influenced by the variables selected for study. The .05 level of significance was used in the study. The results indicated that the nursing instructors did ascribe significantly different degrees of importance to the five functions and effects of evaluation. Measurement of student achievement was ascribed least importance and measurement of student progress was ascribed most importance among the functions and effects studied. In addition, differences were found with respect to the nature of the instructors' responsibilities, the type of school in which she taught, and her stated level of satisfaction with preparation as an evaluator. No differences were found with respect to length of experience in nursing service or education, preparation as an instructor, course in tests and measurements, instructional focus, and instructional setting. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

Programmes in continuing education are necessary to help practitioners keep their skills and knowledge current. The purpose of this study was two-fold: to evaluate the effectiveness of a nursing institute as a means of introducing new practices by using the adoption concept as a criterion of measurement, and to determine whether certain characteristics of individual nurses are significantly related to the adoption of practices recommended in a continuing education programme. The population was drawn from 122 nurses who attended the Nursing Assessment Institute held in Vancouver, British Columbia on February 12-14, 1969. Seventy nine participants included in the sample were interviewed. The innovations included six steps in the nursing process, (l) writing a nursing history using a standardized guide form, (2) using the nursing history to formulate objectives for nursing care, (3) devising specific nursing methods to achieve the objectives, (4) evaluating the objectives and methods through the use of progress notes, (5) modifying the objectives and methods in terms of the patient's progress, and (6) preparing a nursing discharge summary. An adoption score was computed for each participant by assigning a score for each reported stage in the adoption process -awareness, interest, evaluation, trial and adoption. Three adoption scores were computed for each participant: the extent to which the recommended practices were in use prior to the study, the extent to which the practices were adopted as a result of learning about them at the institute and the total adoption from all sources. The adoption scores provide a basis for dividing participants into adopter categories ranging from those first to accept an idea or practice to those who are last or never adopt. Certain socio-economic characteristics, age, educational background, community participation, occupational position, years of practice, income, job satisfaction and participation in continuing education were collected about each participant. Interrelationships between the socio-economic characteristics and interrelationships between socio-economic characteristics and adoption scores were computed using zero order and partial correlations and a multiple regression analysis was performed. The adoption concept can be used as a criterion to assess learning that occurs at an institute by measuring the degree to which participants have incorporated into their practice those innovations which have been recommended. The institute on Nursing Assessment produced a considerable total amount of change in the participants, a 581 per cent increase in adoption, and this change seems to have been fairly consistent from person to person within the group. The participants were more prone to adopt the practices when they were relevant to their present nursing activities. The adopter categories showed the following percentages: innovator 1.27, early adopter 11.39, early majority 36.71, late majority 37.98, and laggard 12.66. Although previous research suggests a variety of characteristics which have been associated with the acceptance of new ideas, this study found education and occupational position to be the only characteristics that were significant at the .05 level. A significant coefficient of determination showed that some 30 per cent of the variation could be explained by these two variables. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

Thesis (MCurr)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The objective of this study was to explore the perceived need among nurses from different cultures in a private hospital in Saudi Arabia for a program to teach cultural sensitivity. The hypotheses for this study were:  Diverse bio- and demographical/cultural/educational backgrounds of nursing staff have an input on their cultural knowledge and sensitivity of care given in the hospital  The amount of occurrence reports generated due to cultural differences and clashes indicate the need for a program to teach cultural sensitivity. A descriptive quantitative study was done, using a self administrative questionnaire on a randomly selected sample 15.8% (n=200) of the population (N=1272) of registered nurses. The data was collected by structured questionnaires with sections requiring the following:  Biographical information (age, gender, nationality)  Amount of experience in nursing of patients with diverse cultures  Nursing education received about caring for patients of diverse cultures  Cultures of colleagues and patients in the hospital  Whether incidents occur because of cultural differences  Amounts of incident reports generated by each respondent per month The study is descriptive and made use of non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis, Mann- Whitney U and Chi-square computations to determine relationships between the answers of the different respondents to be able to come to a conclusion about the research question. The study reflects a youthful component of nurses from very diverse cultures working in the hospital, with a large variety of patients of equally diverse cultures. Only 1:5 of the nurses felt that they have enough knowledge about each others’ and their patients’ cultures. Recommendations for the implementation of a program for cultural sensitivity are the end result of this study. The ultimate goal for such a program is culturally sensitive nursing where the patients would experience that their culture has been considered in the planning and implementation of their nursing care. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doelwit van hierdie navorsing was om te bepaal of geregistreerde verpleegkundiges van verskillende kulture by ’n privaat hospitaal in Saudi Arabië die behoefte ervaar en herken vir die aanleer van kulturele sensitiwiteit. Die hipoteses van die navorsing was soos volg:  Diverse bio- en demografiese/kulturele/opvoedkundige agtergrond van verpleeglui sal hul kulturele kennis en dus kultuur sensitiewe verpleging in die hospitaal beinvloed.  Die aantal insidente wat voorkom oor kultuurverskille en botsings is ‘n aanduiding vir die nodigheid van ‘n program om kulturele sensitiwiteit aan te leer. ’n Beskrywende navorsingsontwerp met ‘n kwantitatiewe benadering is in die studie gevolg. ’n Vraelys wat deur die respondente self voltooi moes word, is ingevul deur die ewekansige verkose steekproef van 15.8% (n=200) van die bevolking van geregistreerde verpleegkundiges (N=1272).Die gestruktureerde vraelys het afdelings bevat wat die volgende inligting verlang het:  biografiese inligting (ouderdom, geslag, nasionaliteit),  hoeveelheid ondervinding van verpleging van ander kulture,  verpleegonderrig ontvang in die hantering van pasiёnte met diverse kulture,  kulture van kollegas en pasiёnte in die hospitaal,  of daar insidente voorkom weens kultuur verskille,  hoeveelheid insidentverslae wat elke deelnemer moet invul per maand. Die studie is beskrywend van aard en daar is gebruik gemaak van nie-parametriese Kruskal-Wallis, Mann-Whitney U en Chi-kwadraat berekeninge om verhoudinge tussen die antwoorde van die verskillende respondente te bepaal en om tot ‘n gevolgtrekking te kom oor die navorsingsvraag. Die resultate van die navorsing toon dat daar ’n jonger komponent van geregistreerde verpleegkundiges van baie diverse kulture in die hospitaal werk met ‘n groot verskeidenheid van pasiente van ewe diverse kulture. Slegs 1:5 van die verpleegkundiges in die steekproef het gevoel dat hulle oor die nodige kennis beskik m.b.t. mekaar en hul pasiёnte se kulture. Aanbevelings vir die implementering van ’n program vir kulturele sensitiwiteit is die eindresultaat van hierdie navorsing. Die uiteindelike doel van so ‘n program is kultureel sensitiewe. verpleegsorg waar pasiёnte ervaar dat hul kultuur aangespreek word in die beplanning en implementering van sulke sorg

Nursing lecturers are faced with the challenge to adapt their teaching styles and attitudes to accommodate the new nursing student that enters the nursing field. These students have expectations and demands which differ highly from past students. Another challenge for lecturers is the demands of a nursing curriculum. The students that commenced with the four year course during 2005 at the Port Elizabeth Nursing Campus experienced negativity with regards to their training. The objectives of the study are to explore and describe the training experiences of the fourth year student nurses of the Port Elizabeth Nursing Campus and to co-construct guidelines to assist nursing lecturers to gauge the understanding of students during their four years of nursing training. The participants used for the study were all fourth year nursing students. They had positive and negative experiences of their training during the four years. The negative experiences related to the demands of the curriculum, lecturers’ poor subject knowledge and insufficient material resources needed for their studies. Regardless of the negativity experienced, students encountered positivity with regards to lecturers’ attitudes. The researcher focused on a qualitative study using an explorative, descriptive, contextual and phenomenological approach. A semi-structured approach was adopted to obtain data. Once consent was obtained from the relevant authorities, four fourth year nursing students were interviewed. The interviews were conducted by an independent role-player within the Department of Health to ensure an unbiased approach. Guba’s model was used to assess trustworthiness and data was analysed. Ethical considerations were ensured throughout the research process. Themes and sub-themes were identified. Based on the research findings, guidelines were co-constructed to assist nursing lecturers to better understand nursing students during their training. The findings of the study will be brought to the attention of nursing lecturers and management personnel of the campus. It was concluded that nursing students need to be consulted on issues concerning their training and development before implementation, and that they be respected and cared for as students based on their human rights.