M.A. (Health Studies) / The purpose of this study was to explore and describe communication effectiveness and communication satisfaction experienced by professional nurses in selected public health care services. Quantitative, explorative and descriptive research was conducted to determine the communication effectiveness and levels of communication satisfaction. The Downs and Adrian (2004) structured questionnaire was adapted and used to collect the data. The study population consisted of three groups of professional nurses, namely nurse managers (n=18), operational managers (n=22) and professional nurses (n=90). The study highlighted areas of effective and ineffective communication, as well as areas of communication satisfaction and dissatisfaction, among professional nurses. The findings revealed that although professional nurses are satisfied with their supervisor-subordinate communication, they are dissatisfied with personal feedback between all categories of professional nurses. Recommendations for the improvement of the communication effectiveness and communication satisfaction of professional nurses are aimed at creating an organisational atmosphere conducive to two-way communication. / Health Studies

The purpose of this study was to explore and describe communication effectiveness and communication satisfaction experienced by professional nurses in selected public health care services. Quantitative, explorative and descriptive research was conducted to determine the communication effectiveness and levels of communication satisfaction. The Downs and Adrian (2004) structured questionnaire was adapted and used to collect the data. The study population consisted of three groups of professional nurses, namely nurse managers (n=18), operational managers (n=22) and professional nurses (n=90). The study highlighted areas of effective and ineffective communication, as well as areas of communication satisfaction and dissatisfaction, among professional nurses. The findings revealed that although professional nurses are satisfied with their supervisor-subordinate communication, they are dissatisfied with personal feedback between all categories of professional nurses. Recommendations for the improvement of the communication effectiveness and communication satisfaction of professional nurses are aimed at creating an organisational atmosphere conducive to two-way communication. / Health Studies / M.A. (Health Studies)

Aim of the study is to explore the role caring practices within the nurse-patient relationship, in facilitating effective chronic pain management in the primary health care context. Objectives are to analyse the current caring practices within the nurse-patient relationship during the management of patients with chronic pain within primary health care services; explore the challenges experienced by nurses in primary health care services when managing patients with chronic pain; observe the caring practices within the nurse patient interaction for the patients suffering from chronic pain within the Primary health care setting and explain the nurses‟ caring practices when managing their chronic pain in the primary health care setting. Method The research design for this study is sequential, explanatory and mixed method, which is more appropriate due to the complexity of the phenomenon under study. Findings: Although the survey measured the caring practices subjectively which other studies had done consistently, generally nurses associated caring as their core function within the health profession. Nurses do not actively involve the patients in the development of a treatment plan and as a result the caring behaviours that are intended to benefit the patients are not realised and, thus patients report nurses as not being caring. The results indicated that lack of an inclusive treatment plan, which can only be discovered through the development of the therapeutic NPR, is not given priority in the management of patients with chronic pain Conclusions: Caring should not be seen as concrete execution of the set of activities towards the patient but rather as a joint venture between the nurse and the patient. The strength of the model developed in this study is the identification of the nurses‟ internal readiness to create a caring environment by experiencing the love, faith and hope before engaging with the patient. / Health Studies

MCur / Department of Advanced Nursing Science / Stress management is a major challenge in South Africa, as well as other countries. Job stress has negative effect on professional nurses ’rendering of patient care. They should thus be able to manage their stress successfully in order to render quality nursing care to the customers. The purpose of the study was to identify and describe factors contributing to stressors among professional nurses, the effects of stressors on the wellbeing of professional nurses and the management of stress by professional nurses. METHOD: A quantitative, exploratory, descriptive design was utilised. The target population of this research study comprised of all professional nurses who were at work the day the researcher visited the sampled hospitals. The questionnaires were used to collect data from the sampled professional nurses, and descriptive statistic was used to analyse the data. RESULTS: The findings revealed that 45% of the professional nurses experienced pressure of work without rest, whereas 75% viewed changes at work as challenging and 15% mostly experienced accidents while on duty. Most of them indicated that they had previously iii experienced anxiety and that they did not engage in exercise. The finding further revealed that EAP is not facilitated in most institutions and that 97.4% of the professional nurses like to have more knowledge on management of stress. The results of this study may be useful to the entire population of health professionals, policy

MCur / Department of Advanced Nursing Science / See the attached abstract below

South Africa is experiencing shortage of resources in most health services, including tertiary hospitals. This leads to a situation where health care workers, especially professional nurses (PNs) leave to private nursing or go abroad for better work conditions. The aim of this study was to explore and describe experiences of PNs on the shortage of resources at a tertiary hospital in Tshwane District. The study followed a qualitative, explorative, descriptive design based on phenomenological interpretive approach. Purposive sample of 16 participants were recruited. Unstructured interviews with a grand tour question was used to conduct face-to-face individual interviews. Interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. TheTesch’s method of analysis was utilised. Target group was PNs aged between 25 and 65 years who have worked for two or more years in selected units. Experiences of PNs on shortage of resources was reported as the major findings of this study. / Health Studies / M.A. (Nursing Science)

Background: This study derived from the concerns raised by nurse educators, clinical preceptors, and some nursing students in public nursing colleges in Gauteng following the implementation of the provincial selection criteria and processes. While these criteria could be seen as a means of standardising the admission into the Basic Nursing Diploma Programme at public nursing colleges, anecdotal reports from nurses in education institutions and clinical practices indicated a lack of professionalism, high attrition rates among these cohorts of students. The researcher believed that any meaningful selection criteria and processes should be on the views expressed by people who have been through the process as students or educators. Aim: The aim of this study was to analyse the selection criteria and processes followed by nursing colleges in the Gauteng Province to admit students into Basic Nursing Diploma Programme with the view of proposing selection criteria and processes that would secure the admission of the best candidates to this programme in public nursing colleges in Gauteng Province. Design: Quantitative descriptive survey design with self-completion questionnaire was used to generate data for this study. Out of 571 questionnaires distributed, 492 were returned and considered for analysis. Summary descriptive statistics were performed using SPSS version 21. Results: Four of the 13 items analysed were viewed by more than 70% of the respondents as less important and irrelevant to the selection of best candidates for nursing professional education. Proposal for changes supported by the rational for these changes were made by the respondents. Conclusion and Recommendation: The study proposed a framework that could guide the provincial authority in developing admission criteria that will ensure the selection of best candidates for Basic Diploma Nursing Programme in the province. / Health Studies / M.A. (Nursing Science)

MCur / Departrment of Advanced Nursing Science / In mental health, a Maximum-Security Ward is a special setting for care of patients who are unique and exceptional. People who have committed crimes due to their mental conditions are admitted for care, treatment and rehabilitation. Patients admitted in this ward are verbally and physically aggressive, violent, unpredictable, unmanageable and at times manipulative. Professional nurses working in the Maximum-Security Ward are at risk of suffering from occupational stress, burnout, lack motivation and are anxious. The aim of this study is to investigate the experiences of professional nurses working in the Maximum-Security Ward at Hayani hospital. A qualitative approach using a descriptive, exploratory and contextual design was used. A purposive, convenient sampling was used to sample professional nurses working in the Maximum-Security Ward of Hayani hospital. In-depth interviews were used to collect data. A voice recorder was utilised to record all data and the researcher being the main instrument for data collection. Dependability, confirmability and transferability were upheld to ensure trustworthiness of the findings. Data was analysed using Tech’s eight steps approach. Three themes with their categories and subcategories emerged after data analysis. The themes were as follows: the participants’ views on type of patients admitted in the ward, participants’ views on safety in the ward and participants’ views on staff interaction. The study recommended the following: Emotional counselling and debriefing sessions to be conducted at regular intervals or after a traumatic incident. Motivational and team building activities to be organised for professional nurses. Safety of professional nurses must be of significant value. More support is needed in times of emotional difficulties. Development of a model to support professional nurses. / NRF

Text in English with abstracts in English, Northern Sotho, Tshivenda and Xitsonga / The purpose of this study was to determine the self-reported competence of newly qualified professional nurses on the critical midwifery skills. The study was conducted in the four public hospitals designated for community service in Gauteng Province. A quantitative descriptive design was used with a structured self-report questionnaire as data collection instrument. Non-probability convenience sampling was used for the study. The sample size was eighty-four newly qualified professional nurses. The Stata 15 software was used for statistical analyses. The researcher used descriptive statistics to describe and synthesize the collected data. The findings revealed that most newly qualified professional nurses had no knowledge in identifying different types of decelerations, management of late and variable decelerations, but had knowledge in most of the skills related to management of third stage of labour. / Maikemišetšo a dinyakišišo tše e be e le go hwetša bokgoni bja go ipega ka nnoši bja baoki bao ba ithutetšego profešene ya booki ka go bokgoni bjo bohlokwa bja pelegišo. Dinyakišišo di dirilwe dipetleleng tše nne tša bohle tšeo di kgethetšwego tirelo ya setšhaba ka Profenseng ya Gauteng. Khwanthitheitif diskriptif disaene ‘Quantitative descriptive design’ e dirišitšwe gammogo le lenaneopotšišo leo le beakantšwego la go ipega ka nnoši ‘structured self-report questionnaire’ bjalo ka sedirišwa sa go kgoboketša bohlatsi. “Non-probability convenience sampling” e dirišitšwe mo go kgetheng banyakišišwa. Bogolo bja sešupo e be e le baoki ba masomeseswai-nne ba baswa bao ba ithutetšego profešene ya booki. “Stata 15 software” e dirišitšwe tshekatshekong ya dipalopalo. Monyakišiši o dirišitše dipalopalo tša tlhalošo ‘descriptive statistics’ go hlaloša le go kopanya ‘data’ yeo e kgobokeditšwego. Ditšweletšo di utollotše gore bontši ba baoki ba baswa bao ba ithutetšego profešene ya booki ga ba na le tsebo ya go hlatha mehuta yeo e fapanego ya diphokotšo, taolo ya diphokotšo tša morago le tša go fetoga, efela ba na le tsebo ka go bokgoni bjo bontši bjoo bo amanago le taolo ya kgato ya boraro ya lešoko. / Ndivho ya ngudo iyi yo vha u wanulusa nḓivho ya vhukoni ha iwe muṋe ya vhaongi vhaswa vha kha ḓi bvaho u phasa vhuongi uri vha na zwikili zwa ndeme zwa vhuongi vhubebisi u swika ngafhi. Ngudo iyi yo itwa kha zwibadela zwiṋa zwa muvhuso zwo ṋewaho u isa tshumelo zwitshavhani kha vunḓu ḽa Gauteng. Kha u kuvhanganya mafhungo muṱoḓisi o shumisa ngona ya u ṱalutshedza ya khwanthithethivi ho ṱanganyiswa na mbudziso dzo dzudzanyiwaho dzi bviselaho khagala kha iwe muṋe (structured self-report questionnaire). Vhunanguludzi ho shumiswaho kha ngudo iyi ho vha “Non-probability convenience”. Tshivhalo tsha vhashelamulenzhe vho nanguludzwaho tsho vha vhaongi vhaswa vha kha ḓibvaho u phasa vha fumalo ina. “The Stata 15 software” ndi tshishumiswa tsho shumiswaho kha u sengulusa mafhungo o kuvhanganywaho. Muṱoḓisisi o shumisa zwisiṱatisitika zwa u ṱalutshedza kha u ṱalutshedza na u dzudzanya mafhungo o kuvhanganyiwaho. Ngudo iyi yo bvisela khagala uri vhunzhi ha vhaongi vhaswa vha kha ḓi bvaho u phasa a vha na nḓivho ya u vhona tshaka dzo fhambanaho dza kurwele kwa mbilu ya ṅwana na u langa u lenga ha u rwa ha mbilu ya ṅwana zwo katela na u sa dzudzanyea fhethu huthihi ha kurwele kwa mbilu ya ṅwana, honeha vha na nḓivho ya zwikili zwi yelanaho na vhulanguli ha tshipiḓa tsha vhuraru tsha u beba. / Xikongomelo xa ndzavisiso lowu i ku kuma vuswikoti lebyi munhu a byi twisisaka hi vaongori lava ha ku thwaselaka tidyondzo ta vuongori eka swikili swa nkoka hi vusungukati. Ndzavisiso lowu wu endliwile eka swibedlhele swa mune swa mani na mani leswi yisaka vukorhokeri evanhwini eka Phurovhinsi ya Gauteng, laha ku tirhisiweke maendlelo ya tinhlayo lama hambanaka na swivutiso ku hlengeleta timhaka. Ku tirhisiwile xiphemu xo karhi xa vanhu ku kuma vuxokoxoko hi mayelano na vona hinkwavo. Xiphemu lexi tirhisiweke i xa nhlayo ya vaongori vo ringana makumenhungu-mune wa vaongori lawa ha ku thwaselaka tidyondzo ta vuongori. Ku tirhisiwile “stata software” ku hlela tinhlayo leti tirhisiweke. Mulavisisi u tirhisile tinhlayo, tinhlayonhlamuselo ku hlamusela no katsakanya mahungu lama a ma hlengeleteke. Leswi kumiweke swi paluxa leswaku vunyingi bya vaongori lava ha ku thwaselaka tidyondzo ta vuongori va hava vutivi byo hambanisa mabelo ya mbilu, ku hlawula ku hlwela no hambana ka mabelo ya mbilu, kambe va na vutivi eka swikili mayelana no lawula xiyimo xa vunharhu xo lumiwa. / Health Studies / M.A. (Nursing)