South African nurses are emigrating for greater prospects abroad – a weakening of the healthcare system. Nurses play a critical role in health care globally as well as in South Africa. Work engagement or lack thereof may be the reason why so many nurses decide to emigrate. This study aimed to get a better understanding of whether nurses working more specifically with mentally and physically challenged ‘children’ experience work engagement. The focus will be on the resources and demands that nurse’s face in their work environment and whether these contribute to feelings of work engagement. A qualitative research design was used to collect data in this study. The study took the form of a cross sectional survey design with a sample of 8 nurses from a home for physically and mentally challenged individual’s in the Durban, KwaZulu-Natal region. The data was collected with the use of a biographical questionnaire and an interview schedule. The resulting data was analysed using thematic content analysis with the aid of NVIVO 9. The study found that the nurse’s do experience work engagement despite the circumstances they are exposed to. The study also found the resources the nurses were presented with aided in them experiencing work engagement. A love for their job contributed to feelings of work engagement. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.

Almost 40% of the Canadian workforce shows signs of progressive burnout. For a variety of reasons, stress within the workplace appears to be increasing. The popular press and academic journals suggest that chronic job stres, burnout, will be most significant workplace issue in the new millennium. Although both men and women suffer from stress and burnout, it appears that women are at a greater risk than men. Unfortunately, research on the relationship between women's stress and their heatlh has not kept pace with the popularization of the problem. We could understand this relationship better if we had more information about women, their health history (including phases of development over the life span), and occupational history. Relatedly, as the baby-boomer generation ages to mid-life, there appears to be a sea change on the horizon: one in which women are demanding answers and knowledge about the process of menopause and its effect on their lives, inside and outside the home. To fill this void, the proposed research will address the life change of women, and specifically, how their stages of development and occupational and health histories relate to the experience of burnout. / xv, 126 leaves ; 29 cm.

This ethnographic study of nurses at King Edward VIII Hospital in Durban, South Africa was designed to seek insights into the lives of women as nurses during the socio-political transition of the 1990's. It suggests that this period of dramatic political change in the country created spaces for redressing uneven social relations and chronic disparities faced by nurses in their personal and professional lives, particularly those constructed through the social engineering of apartheid policies. The study describes the particular evolution of nursing in South Africa, the process undertaken to unify the professional nursing associations formed through the 1980's and the national labour unrest that rippled through the health care system between 1994 and 1996. It considers the diverse locations of nurses as the backbone of the healthcare system, primarily in their capacities as professionals, managers, care-providers, team-players and colleagues and describes practices that operate to constrain nurses as women and health care practitioners. Feminist, post-structural perspectives framed the theoretical approach taken in this qualitative study. These were guided by Foucauldian theories of knowledge, power and discourse, and feminist contributions regarding resistance and agency. Over the course of four years in the field, methods of participant observation and in-depth interviews were employed to develop insights into the subject locations of nurses in their private and public lives. Twenty-six nurses of the professional and subprofessional categories contributed to the main narratives. In addition, a series of interviews were undertaken with key informants from the medical, paramedical, nursing and administrative services. The study illustrates the practices of patriarchal, institutional and organisational relations of power that intersected and dominated the realities of the nurses in all spheres of their day-to-day lives. Within the post-colonial moment in South Africa, these were conceptualized as subaltern institutional relations. The study found that as a consequence of their subjugation within the subaltern institutional relations, the realities of nurses were diverse, divergent, and fragmented. It argues that these relations imbued a lack of professional and personal coherence that impaired the capacity of nurses to contest the chronic professional and work place disparities. Often multiple and compounding in their manifestation, these relations and practices reinforced the isolation of nurses, compounding their incapacity to meaningful challenge professional and personal obstacles during the socio-political transition of the 1990's. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2000.

Stress among nurses is still perceived as a challenge experienced by the nursing profession. Several studies have shown the negative impact of stress on both nurses and patients. However, little is known about the factors influencing stress among nurses in Rwanda. Aim: The overall aim of the study was to explore the factors contributing to nurses’ stress and related coping strategies used by nurses in the University Teaching Hospital of Butare (UTHB), Rwanda. Methods: The researcher used a non-experimental, descriptive study to explore the factors contributing to nurses’ stress and related coping strategies used by nurses in the University Teaching Hospital of Butare, Rwanda. This study was informed by a stress and coping theoretical framework. A questionnaire was used to collect the demographic characteristics of participants, while nurses’ stressors were assessed using the questionnaire of nurse’s stressors previously developed by Bianchi. The ways of coping were evaluated using the ways of coping elaborated by Folkman & Lazarus. A convenient sampling of 85 registered nurses, working at UTHB, participated in this study. Permission to conduct the study was requested and obtained from the University of KwaZulu-Natal Ethics Committee, the Kigali Health Institute -Institutional Review Board and the management of UTHB. The data was analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), version 15, and was summarized using descriptive statistics. The results were presented in tables and graphs. Results: The findings of the study revealed that registered nurses at UTHB face a variety of stressors such as shortages of staff and materials, facing death and dying, dissatisfaction with the work environment, work overload and time spent on bureaucratic activities. It was shown that consequences of stress vis-à-vis registered nurses could be low quality of care, job dissatisfaction and burnout syndrome. Among the major strategies of coping with stress, registered nurses have indicated problem solving, social support and accepting responsibility. This study indicates that stress can be prevented and managed by using vi nursing strategies such as team work, effective communication improving work conditions and fostering the managerial nursing strategies in working unit. Conclusion: Drawing from these findings, it can be inferred that nurses’ stressors need to be addressed in order to create a working environment conducive to high quality of care and also to enhance nursing staff morale, satisfaction, motivation and retention. / Thesis (M.N.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2011.

The present study, based on Lazarus' cognitive theory, identified coping strategies utilized by psychiatric nurses, and examined correlations between social support, perceived threat and coping effectiveness. The correlational design utilized a convenience sample of registered nurses holding membership in the Indiana State Nurses' Association Council on Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing Practice. Subjects completed a demographic sheet, Interpersonal Support Evaluation List, Jalowiec Coping Scale, McNett Coping Effectiveness Questionnaire, and a one-item threat evaluation scale. Problem-focused coping was preferred by the sample. There was a statistically significant positive correlation between social support and coping effectiveness, a significant negative correlation between threat and coping effectiveness, and a non-significant negative correlation between social support and threat. Conclusions were psychiatric nurses utilize problem-focused coping strategies, there was a significant relationship betweeen social support and coping effectiveness, and threat and coping effectiveness, and a nonsignificant relationship between social support and threat. / School of Nursing

The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between hardiness and burnout in medicalsurgical staff nurses at a midwestern hospital. The conceptual framework used in the study was hardiness, developed by Kobasa (1979).The population selected for the study was medicalsurgical staff nurses at a midwestern hospital. The convenience sample consisted of responding staff nurses (n=41). Subject confidentiality was maintained by indicating respondents by number instead of name.The research design for the study was a descriptive correlational design. The research question was analyzed using the Pearson Moment Correlation Co-efficient. Findings of the study indicated a negative, significant correlation between Emotional Exhaustion Burnout subscale and hardiness (p=.001). A positive significant correlation was supported-between the Personal Accomplishment Burnout subscale and hardiness (p=.000). The Depersonalization Burnout Subscale and the overall Burnout Score did not support significant correlations in sample subjects studied.Conclusions from the study were that nurses need opportunities for increasing personal development and decreasing exhaustion. The depersonalization of the environment did not seem to be a factor related to hardiness, and remains to be examined. The study was significant because it was determined that certain subscalBall State UniversityMuncie, IN 47306 / School of Nursing

America's health care industry is in a state of crisis. Nursing administrators are in the position to facilitate change in institutions. One aspect of nursing which has remained constant is high turnover rates. The high turnover rates have been linked to job dissatisfaction. One method of reducing turnover is to provide greater job satisfaction to staff nurses. Job satisfaction has been connected with management style (Lucas, 1991; Price & Mueller, 1981; Volk & Lucas, 1991).This study described the impact of head nurse management style on staff nurse job satisfaction. Likert's (1967) System 4 management theory was utilized as the framework in the study. All staff nurses and head nurses from three Central Indiana hospitals were given the opportunity to participate in the study. Participants completed two questionnaires, one from Price and Mueller's (1981) work on turnover to determine job satisfaction and one from Likert and Likert's (1976) work to determine management style.Data analysis was conducted to describe any variations between staff nurse experience of head nurse management style and staff nurse job satisfaction. Differences between head nurse and staff nurse description of management style were also examined. There were no identified risks as participation was voluntary and did not affect the employment status of any individual.Results of the study demonstrated agreement with previous research findings. When management style is closer to participative (system 4), greater job satisfaction is expressed. Recommendations are to provide management training and training in communication and self-awareness for head nurses, and to form unit based committees designed to achieve greater staff input in decisions affecting the unit functioning.Benefits of the study include identification of the management style which leads to improved staff nurse job satisfaction. Equipping nurse administrators with information regarding desirable management style to employ for staff nurses to experience greater job satisfaction, and training present managers in that management style are also possible benefits from the study. / School of Nursing

The recruitment, hiring, and retention of registered nurses (RNs) is of critical concern for nursing home administrators. Many times, nursing homes unsuccessfully compete with hospitals and staff relief agencies for available RNs (Braddy, Washburn, & Carroll, 1991). Understanding the factors that influence nurses to seek a particular employer is significant in recruitment and hiring. Factors related to nursing decisions to choose employment in nursing homes were identified in this descriptive study.Price and Mueller's (1981) Causal Model for Turnover (CMT) provided a conceptual framework for the study. The investigator used a revised form of an instrument developed by Price and Mueller for a 1981 study of hospital turnover. The instrument contained 67 items presented in a combination of 59 multiple choice items and 8 five-point Likert-type items. The reliability for each of the seven subscales was equal to or greater than .70.A sample of 300 full-time RNs with tenure of at least 6 months employment with a large for profit corporation was selected for this study. Questionnaires were mailed to participants with a letter of introduction from the investigator and the divisional vice president of the corporation. Subjects were provided with a self-addressed, stamped envelope to be used to return completed questionnaires. A follow-up call was done one week after the mailing requesting return of all completed questionnaires.There were no risks or ill effects from participating in this study. Respondents were free to ask any questions during the study. The agency and respondents were not identified in the sampling and the results of the study. Completion of the questionnaire was interpreted as the respondent's agreement to participate in the study.Results should help administrators understand the factors that influence registered nurses to seek employment in nursing homes. The results of the study should be utilized in reviewing current recruitment, hiring, and retention strategies. / School of Nursing

The nursing home industry has low registered nurse retention rates. Low retention rates can be related to job satisfaction. The nursing home industry needs qualified registered nurses (RNs) who are satisfied with all aspects of their jobs. The purpose of this study was to examine factors affecting job satisfaction of RNs currently employed in nursing homes using Herzberg's (1968) Dual Factor Theory.Herzberg (1968) has identified internal factors that motivate employees on the job. If intrinsic factors are met, the employee is satisfied. Extrinsic factors, if present, will not satisfy the employee, but will prevent dissatisfaction (Herzberg, 1968). The Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire - Short Form, was used to determine the intrinsic, extrinsic and general satisfaction scores of 48 (480) RNs currently employed in ten nursing homes from the midwest. Confidentiality and anonymity of the subjects were maintained as questionnaires contained no identifying information.Findings supported previous studies on job satisfaction of RNs employed in nursing homes. Participants did not identify intrinsic factors as being fully satisfactory, but responses were closer to satisfied than dissatisfied. Extrinsic factors were not sources of dissatisfaction, but responses were closer to dissatisfied than satisfied. General satisfaction scores determined respondents were not fully satisfied, but were closer to neutral scores. Responses were closer to being satisfied than not. Conclusions were that extrinsic and intrinsic factors influence job satisfaction.Implications call for examination of factors effecting job satisfaction. Managers should increase job security, social services, activites, independence and variety. Human relations, company policies and technical supervision should be open to input from staff as to how the extrinsic motivational factors can be improved. Recommendations include replication of this study with a large sample size; assuring nurses under 40 years of age participate in further studies and the need for nursing home administrators to address intrinsic and extrinsic factors that affect job satisfaction. / School of Nursing

<p>A survey of the literature revealed that althougth a great deal of research has been carried out relating to stress and coping internationally, little has been written about nurses in South Africa. The aim of this study was to identify the possible causes and frequency of stress experienced by registered nurses working in a hospital, to identify the coping strategies used, to assess the relationship between stress and coping mechanisms of registered nurses, to compare stress and adopted coping strategies among registered nurses in the different units/wards, to identify the support systems that minimize stress and to address stress amongst nurses in South Africa.</p>