D.Cur. ( Psychiatric Nursing Science) / The aim of this study was to develop a selection model for prospective candidates in advanced psychiatric nursing, based on a whole person approach. In her interaction with patients, the nurse is confronted by the unusual realities of death, birth, pain and suffering of her patients, and the concomitant dependency and intimacy needs of these patients. This reality activates intense and complex feelings in the nurse's internal world, against which she develops a system of defense mechanisms which enable her to control her feelings and effect distance between her and her patient. These defense mechanisms protect her in general nursing practice, but become stumbling blocks for those nurses who wish to specialize in psychiatric nursing. It is contingent upon her as an advanced practitioner in psychiatric nursing to expose herself by casting off these defense mechanisms, building up intimate relationships with her patients, and to be open in terms of her own feelings. This process is intensely painful, anxiety provoking and stressful, and all are not equal to this task. The research question which arises is: To what extent can candidates who are not equal to the task of a course in, and the practice of, advanced psychiatric nursing, be protected by an effective selection procedure? A theory generational approach was used in the design and description of a selection model for prospective candidates in advanced psychiatric nursing. The methodology of Chinn & Jacobs (1987) was combined with that of Dickofj, James & Wiedenbach (1968) in this process. The 5 steps in this combined approach included: * The identification, definition and classification of concepts central to the model. Concepts were identified by utilizing four different methods: A literature survey of the characteristics of the mature person (ideal candidate). A survey of existing selection methods and techniques.

No description available.

Thesis (PhD--History)--University of Auckland, 2007.

No description available.

Thesis (M Nursing (Advanced Practice))--University of South Australia, 1995

Masters in Public Administration - MPA / Absenteeism is a serious problem globally, and it entails a high cost for organizations. Shortage of nurses is a world-wide concern and absenteeism worsens the existing shortage in hospitals. In order for hospitals to run smoothly and render quality nursing care, regular attendance is required. The South African health institutions are faced with challenges of poor working conditions, low pay, as well as physical exhaustion from the workload. These challenges are seen as contributing to nurse absenteeism. The overall aim of this study was to describe factors that contribute towards absenteeism among nurses in an acute psychiatric hospital in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. The study was carried out in an acute psychiatric hospital in Cape Town. Only permanently employed nursing staff at Valkenberg Hospital and Community service nurses were considered for the study. This study was quantitative in nature and it used the descriptive survey design. A self-administered questionnaire was used as a tool for data collection. The sample size of this study consisted of 135 (67.5%) nurses. It was drawn from a hospital population of 200 nursing staff. A number of factors emerged as significantly contributing to nurse absenteeism. The results show that 69% of participants agree that they were absent as they are dissatisfied with pension funds, medical aid contributions and the criteria for issuing incentive bonuses. Moreover the same percentage of participants, 69% strongly felt that the amount of work was overwhelming due to the fact that the staff patient ratio is too high. About 51% of participants were not satisfied with their progression in their career of nursing. About 68% of participants were not satisfied with the sufficiency of equipment and 51 % were unhappy with working conditions. The results also show a significant rate of absence of female nurses and older nurses. Absenteeism has become a major challenge that cuts across many organisations and national borders. It is a global phenomenon. The study, in hint sight, recommends that the physical working conditions of the institution need to be revamped to accommodate employees’ basic needs. It further recommended that staff patient ratio be revised, as it places tremendous pressure on nurses in terms of excessive workload. A facility like pre-school also needs to be provided as the female nurses appear to be more absent from work due to their multi-task roles.

D.Cur. / Lifecare, like any other corporate business, in the current environment, has to change all the time. Companies need new customers, innovative products, expanded market and cutting edge technologies. The Company has the potential to shape the behaviour, reinforce common beliefs, and encourage members to apply their efforts to accomplish important Company objectives of providing care for chronic mentally ill patients. The psychiatric nurses are therefore an essential requirement for the success of the Company in a competitive environment. On the other side, psychiatric nurses face the difficult task of confronting the challenges involved in the nature of care required among chronic psychiatric patients. Whilst striving for quality patient care, they find themselves faced with some breakdowns within the environment in which they are interacting, resulting in their resorting to negative media publicity. This type of publicity can lead to damaging the Company’s reputation and can retard the Company’s growth strategy, which the psychiatric nurses might not seem to understand. There was also high staff turnover which hampered quality patient care. This could also affect the Company in terms of what affects the competitiveness of the quality care which the Company aims to deliver. The researcher believes that for clinical care to take place, psychiatric nurses need to be in sound mental health and understand the dynamics within the Company in order to deal with it in an effective way. The following research questions posed were addressed in this research: • What are the psychiatric nurses’ experiences whilst being employed by the Company? • In what way can the formulation of the model be of assistance in the promotion of the psychiatric nurses’ mental health as an integral part of health? The research objectives were: • To explore and describe the experiences of the psychiatric nurses whilst employed by Lifecare.• To use the results to generate the concepts for the model that would serve as a framework for the psychiatric nursing specialist to facilitate the implementation of guidelines that would assist the psychiatric nurses to be in a sound mental state. • To describe the guidelines that would serve as a framework for operationalising the model in nursing education, psychiatric nursing practice and nursing research. Methods to ensure trustworthiness were ensured throughout this research. Ethical consideration as outlined in the Position Statements published by the Democratic Nursing Association of South Africa (1998: 2-21), was adopted. The researcher utilized the assumptions of the Theory for Health Promotion in Nursing in this research. This theory focuses on the whole person, that is, the mind, body and spirit as well as on the parameters of nursing and the beliefs about the person, health, illness and nursing. The emphasis in this theory is on mental health promotion of the psychiatric nurses within the Company. This research consisted of three stages as follows: In stage one a qualitative design was used to explore and describe the psychiatric nurses’ inner world experiences of the Company’s culture. Indepth semi-structured interviews were utilized to obtain data from these psychiatric nurses. These interviews were conducted by an independent interviewer, and were audio-taped. These were transcribed and were analysed by the researcher. Tesch (1990) in Cresswell (1994: 154) outlined eight steps, which are referred to as decontextualisation and contextualisation, which were adopted in analyzing the results. A description of the results was given. This was followed by literature control which highlighted the similarities to and contributions to this research. Themes that emerged highlighted the experiences that the psychiatric nurses had of the Company culture which affected their mental health. In stage two the research design and theory generation was employed to formulate a model which could be used in nursing education, nursing research and nursing practice. The model formulated was based on the resultsobtained on the inner world experiences of psychiatric nurses. A combination of stages of theory generation by Chinn and Kramer (1991:79-104) and Dickoff, James and Wiedenbach (1968: 431-434) were employed by the researcher to identify the central concepts that guided the identification of the main theme. A tentative model was formulated and was submitted to the independent experts for consultations and clarification. The model was named and presented in its final form to the independent experts. In stage three the researcher formulated the guidelines for operationalising the implementation of the model in clinical practice, nursing education and recommendations were made for further research.

M.Cur. (Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing) / Psychiatric nursing is seen as a high-stress profession. The demands of caring for others, especially those who suffer from acute and chronic mental health impairment, can be extremely stressful (Lin, Probst & Hsu, 2010:2343). Psychiatric nurses run a high risk for being exposed to aggression in the work environment. The aggression that they experience is not only from hostile and aggressive mental health care users, but also from fellow colleagues. Aggression in the work environment has an overt negative psychological effect on the nurse (Yildirim, 2009:509; Bimenyimana, Poggenpoel, Myburgh & Van Niekerk, 2009:5). The aim of the research study was to explore and describe the lived experience of psychiatric nurses of aggression amongst colleagues in the work environment. A second aim was to formulate guidelines on assisting psychiatric nurses and their colleagues in order to facilitate their own mental health. The research design of the study is qualitative, explorative, descriptive and contextual in nature (Maphorisa, Poggenpoel & Myburgh, 2002:24). This qualitative approach created an opportunity to discover the phenomena of the lived experiences of psychiatric nurses of aggression amongst colleagues. The research study was conducted in two phases. In the first phase, data was collected by means of conducting in-depth phenomenological interviews, naïve sketches, observations and field notes until data saturation was achieved. In the second phase, guidelines, recommendations, challenges and a summary were formulated to address the lived experience of the psychiatric nurses of aggression amongst colleagues in the work environment. During data collection, the following question was asked in the in-depth phenomenological interviews and naive sketches, “What is your experience of aggression amongst colleagues in the work environment?” Tesch’s (Creswell, 2004:256) open coding method and an independent coder were used during data analysis.

Workforce shortages are a major concern of health care and the creation of a positive workplace is central to the attraction and retaining of employees where employees are motivated to be loyal towards their employer by a positive work experience rather than by financial rewards (Manion, 2009:XIII). This positive work experience can include the providing of workplace support that is tailored to the specific experiences and wishes of psychiatric nurses working at a private mental health care setting. Work demands encountered by psychiatric nurses can vary from personal stresses related to the interpersonal nature of working with the challenging behaviour of mental health care users, to environmental stresses related to an environment reflecting inadequate workplace support. Stuart and Laraia (2005:11) described the role of the psychiatric nurse in any mental health care setting as depending on certain factors in the organisation. This include the philosophy, goals, prevailing understanding of mental health, the needs of the mental health care users, number of available personnel, communication structure, understanding of their individual roles, available resources and the presence of effective nurse mentoring. As a professional psychiatric nurse, I identified the need for effective workplace support to psychiatric nurses working in a private mental health care setting by observing signs of burnout in psychiatric nurses and by listening to employees verbalising their need for workplace support. The purpose of the research was to conduct an Appreciative Inquiry in order to generate an in-depth understanding of the experiences and wishes of psychiatric nurses regarding workplace support in a private mental health care setting. The objectives of the research were to explore and describe the experiences of psychiatric nurses regarding workplace support, to explore and describe the wishes of psychiatric nurses regarding workplace support in a private mental health care setting and to propose recommendations regarding workplace support. Proposed recommendations will have reference to psychiatric nursing research, psychiatric nursing education, psychiatric nursing management and psychiatric nursing practice, in order to facilitate more effective means to provide workplace support and to facilitate the promotion of the mental health of psychiatric nurses. I decided to use an Appreciative Inquiry framework in order to explore the experiences and wishes of psychiatric nurses regarding workplace support. The importance of Appreciative Inquiry lies in the appreciation of the behaviour and the responses of individuals instead of focusing on their problems. Appreciative Inquiry identifies that which is positive in any system and connects to or builds on it in order to “heighten energy, vision and action for change” (Cooperrider, Whitney&Stavros, 2008:XV). The meta-theoretical perspective that guided this researcher was the Theory for Health Promotion in Nursing. The essential purpose of this theory is health promotion for an individual, group, family or community (University of Johannesburg, 2009:4). The individual is in interaction with the environment, which consists of an internal and external environment. The internal environment comprises the body, mind and spirit dimensions of the individual. The external environment comprises the physical, social and spiritual dimensions of the individual. The interactions of these dimensions in the environment of the individual influence the health status of the individual on a continuum (University of Johannesburg, 2009:5). The experiences and wishes regarding the providing of workplace support pertaining to the internal and external environments of the psychiatric nurse were examined in order to facilitate the promotion of the mental health of the psychiatric nurse. The theoretical and methodological perspective that guided this research was Appreciative Inquiry. Appreciative Inquiry uses a process known as the 4-D cycle, which is the process that is employed to facilitate change or to generate the power of Appreciative Inquiry (Whitney&Trosten-Bloom, 2003:6). For this research on workplace support, I employed the first two phases of Appreciative Inquiry, namely the discovery phase and the dream phase as part of the data collection. The discovery phase involves the appreciation or discovering of that which is positive, life giving or effective and the dream phase involves the imagining of new possibilities. As a unique paradigm, Appreciative Inquiry questions traditional approaches to problem solving by accepting organisational challenges using an affirmative approach. An affirmative approach includes an appreciation of the positive by focussing on successes, strengths and potential (Cooperrider, Whitney&Stavros, 2008:433). Appreciative Inquiry views organisations as an individual centre of immense imagination and possibilities, intended to function as solutions (Cooperrider, Whitney&Stavros, 2008:16-17). I used a qualitative design, which was exploratory, descriptive and contextual. I integrated an Appreciative Inquiry approach into this design. I used purposeful sampling, which Polit and Beck (2007:763) define as a sampling method where participants are selected based on who will be the most informative regarding the topic of the research, namely workplace support in this research. The data collection methods used was naïve sketches, small core group inquiries and individual interviews with members of nursing management. The small core group inquiries included written answers on the interview schedule from the one-on-one interviews, transcribed feedback from the discussion phase, the positive core map, the nominal group technique, field notes and reflective interviews. The small core group inquiries were structured around one-on-one interviews that participants conducted with each other in groups of two, using an interview schedule. During the data analysis phase, I used two different techniques in order to analyse the available data, namely the nominal group technique and open coding. I used a tree as symbol for workplace support at this mental health care setting. The roots of the tree symbolised the willingness of management to provide workplace support to their employees. The trunk of the tree symbolised the holistic approach to workplace support. The branches of the tree symbolised the identified themes. I represented the discovery phase categories as the green leaves of the tree. I represented the dream phase categories as pink buds. I proposed recommendations relating to psychiatric nursing research, psychiatric nursing education, psychiatric nursing management and psychiatric nursing practice. The aim of these recommendations was to facilitate more effective means of providing workplace support, from a holistic perspective, in order to facilitate the promotion of mental health of psychiatric nurses working at this mental health care setting. / AFRIKAANS : Tekorte in die arbeidsmag is ʼn bron van groot besorgdheid vir gesondheidsorg, en die skep van ʼn positiewe werkplek is sentraal tot die aantrekking en behoud van werknemers in gevalle waar werknemers deur middel van ʼn positiewe werkservaring, eerder as ʼn finansiële vergoeding, gemotiveer word om lojaal teenoor hul werkgewer te wees (Manion, 2009:XIII). Hierdie positiewe werkservaring kan die verskaffing van werkplekondersteuning, wat op die spesifieke ervarings en wense van psigiatriese verpleegspraktisyns wat in ʼn privaat geestesgesondheidsomgewing werk, geskoei is, insluit. Werkseise wat psigiatriese verpleegspraktisyns teëkom kan wissel van persoonlike stres verwant aan die interpersoonlike aard van om met die uitdagende gedrag van geestesgesondheidsgebruikers te werk, tot omgewingstres verwant aan ʼn omgewing wat ontoereikende werkplekondersteuning bied. Stuart en Laraia (2005:11) beskryf die rol van ʼn psigiatriese verpleegspraktisyn in enige geestesgesondheidsomgewing as afhanklik van sekere faktore in die organisasie. Dit sluit die filosofie, doelwitte, heersende begrip van geestesgesondheid, die behoeftes van die geestesgesondheidsgebruikers, die aantal beskikbare personeel, die kommunikasiestruktuur, begrip vir die individuele rolle, beskikbare hulpbronne en die teenwoordigheid van effektiewe verpleegsbegeleiding in. As ʼn professionele psigiatriese verpleegspraktisyn het ek die behoefte aan effektiewe werkplekondersteuning vir psigiatriese verpleegspraktisyns wat in ʼn privaat geestesgesondheidsomgewing werk, waargeneem toe ek na tekens van uitbranding by die psigiatriese verpleegspraktisyns opgelet het, en na die werknemers geluister het wanneer hulle hul behoefte aan werkplekondersteuning verwoord het. Die doel van hierdie studie was om ʼn Waarderende Ondersoek te loods ten einde ʼn indiepte begrip van die ondervindings en wense van psigiatriese verpleegspraktisyns met betrekking tot werkplekondersteuning in ʼn privaat geestesgesondheidsomgewing te bewerkstellig. Die doelstellings van die studie was om die ondervindings van psigiatriese verpleegspraktisyns met betrekking tot werkplekondersteuning te beskryf ten einde die wense van psigiatriese verpleegspraktisyns met betrekking tot werkplekondersteuning in ʼn privaat geestesgesondheidsomgewing te ondersoek en te beskryf en om aanbevelings te maak met betrekking tot werkplekondersteuning. Voorgestelde aanbevelings verwys na psigiatriese verpleegsnavorsing, psigiatriese verpleegsopleiding, psigiatriese verpleegs-bestuur en psigiatriese verpleegspraktyk, om meer effektiewe metodes te fasiliteer ten einde werkplekondersteuning te voorsien en die geestesgesondheid van psigiatriese verpleegspraktisyns te bevorder. Ek het besluit om ʼn Waarderende Ondersoekraamwerk te gebruik te einde die ervarings en wense van psigiatriese verpleegspraktisyns met betrekking tot werkplekondersteuning te ondersoek. Die belangrikheid van ʼn Waarderende Ondersoek lê in die waardering van die gedrag en terugvoer van individue, in plaas van om op hul probleme te fokus. Waarderende Ondersoek identifiseer dit wat positief is in enige stelsel en sluit daarby aan of bou daarop om energie, visie en aksie vir verandering te verhoog (Cooperrider, Whitney&Stavros, 2008:XV). Die meta-teoretiese perspektief wat die navorser gelei het, was die Teorie vir Gesondheidsbevordering in Verpleging. Die hoofdoel van hierdie teorie is die gesondheidsbevordering van ʼn individu, groep, gesin of gemeenskap (Universiteit van Johannesburg, 2009:4). Die individu is in interaksie met die omgewing, wat uit ʼn interne en eksterne omgewing bestaan. Die interne omgewing sluit die liggaamlike, verstandelike en geestelike dimensies van die individu in. Die eksterne omgewing sluit die fisiese, sosiale en geestelike dimensies van die individu in. Die interaksies van hierdie dimensies in ʼn individu se omgewing beïnvloed die gesondheidstoestand van die individu op ʼn kontinuum (Universiteit van Johannesburg, 2009:5). Die ervarings en wense met betrekking tot die voorsiening van werkplekondersteuning wat met die interne en eksterne omgewings van die psigiatriese verpleegpraktisyn verband hou, is ondersoek ten einde die bevordering van die geestesgesondheid van die psigiatriese verpleegpraktisyn te fasiliteer. Die teoretiese en metodologiese perspektief wat hierdie studie gelei het, was Waarderende Ondersoek. Waarderende Ondersoek gebruik ʼn proses wat as die 4-D siklus bekend staan. Hierdie proses word gebruik om verandering te fasiliteer of om die krag van Waarderende Ondersoek te verseker (Whitney&Trosten-Bloom, 2003:6). Vir hierdie navorsing oor werkplekondersteuning het ek die eerste twee fases van Waarderende Ondersoek, naamlik die ontdekkingsfase en die droomfase, as deel van dataversameling gebruik. Die ontdekkingsfase sluit die waardering of ontdekking van wat positief, lewegewend of effektief is, in, en die droomfase sluit die verbeelding van nuwe moontlikhede in. As ʼn unieke paradigma, bevraagteken Waarderende Ondersoek tradisionele benaderings tot probleemoplossing deur organisatoriese uitdagings met ʼn regstellende ingesteldheid te benader. ʼn Regstellende benadering sluit die waardering van die positiewe in, deur op suksesse, sterkpunte en potensiaal te fokus (Cooperrider, Whitney&Stavros, 2008:433). Waarderende Ondersoek sien organisasies as ʼn individuele sentrum met onmeetlike verbeelding en moontlikhede, met die voorneme om met oplossings vorendag te kom (Cooperrider, Whitney&Stavros, 2008:16-17). Ek het ʼn kwalitatiewe ontwerp, wat verduidelikend, beskrywend en kontekstueel van aard was, gebruik. Ek het ʼn Waarderende Ondersoekbenadering met hierdie ontwerp geïntegreer. Ek het doelbewuste steekproefneming, wat Polit en Beck (2007:763) definieer as ʼn steekproefnemingsmetode waar deelnemers gekies word op grond van wie die meeste inligting oor die tema van die navorsing sal verskaf, wat in hierdie navorsing werkplekondersteuning is. Die dataversamelingsmetodes wat ek gebruik het, was naïewe sketse, klein kerngroep-ondersoeke en individuele onderhoude met lede van die verpleegsbestuur. Die klein kerngroep-ondersoeke het geskrewe antwoorde op die onderhoudskedule van die een-tot-een onderhoude, getranskribeerde terugvoer van die besprekingsfase, die positiewe kernkaart, die nominale groeptegniek, veldnotas en reflektiewe onderhoude ingesluit. Die klein kerngroep-ondersoeke was gegrond op een-toteen onderhoude wat die deelnemers met mekaar, in groepe van twee, gevoer het, deur van ʼn onderhoudskedule gebruik te maak. Tydens die dataontledingsfase het ek twee verskillende tegnieke gebruik om die beskikbare data te ontleed, naamlik die nominale groeptegniek en oopkodering. Ek het ʼn boom as simbool vir werkplekondersteuning in hierdie geestesgesondheidsomgewing gebruik. Die wortels van die boom het die bestuur se vrywilligheid om werkplekondersteuning aan hul werknemers te bied, gesimboliseer. Die stam van die boom het die holistiese benadering tot werkplekondersteuning gesimboliseer. Die takke van die boom het die geïdentifiseerde temas gesimboliseer. Die kategorieë van die ontdekkingsfase is deur die groen blare voorgestel, en die kategorieë van die droomfase deur pienk botsels. Ek het aanbevelings gemaak met betrekking tot die psigiatriese verpleegsnavorsing, psigiatriese verpleegsopleiding, psigiatriese verpleegsbestuur en psigiatriese verpleegspraktyk. Die doel van hierdie aanbevelings is om meer effektiewe metodes vir die verskaffing van werkplekondersteuning, uit ʼn holistiese perspektief, te fasiliteer, ten einde die geestesgesondheidsbevordering van psigiatriese verpleegpraktisyns wat in hierdie geestesgesondheidsomgewing werk, te fasiliteer. / Dissertation (MCur)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Nursing Science / unrestricted

D.Cur. (Psychiatric Nursing Science) / The researcher was involved in the clinical accompaniment of student nurses working with mentally challenged individuals during their psychiatric nursing practical training. In her role as advanced psychiatric nurse educator, she noticed that student nurses experienced working with mentally challenged individuals as a challenging working context. It created intense emotional discomfort for the student nurses, especially during their initial exposure to the relevant individuals. During the student nurses' last day of working with these individuals, they reflected with the advanced psychiatric nurse educator on their emotional growth and enrichment and how this experience had changed their views of life. Ineffective management of emotional discomfort may lead to emotional exhaustion or burnout and reflect negatively on a person's mental health. The main purpose of this research was to explore and describe the experiences of student nurses working with mentally challenged individuals. Subsequently, to develop, describe and write guidelines to operationalise and evaluate a model for the advanced psychiatric nurse educator to facilitate the mental health of student nurses working with mentally challenged individuals. A qualitative, explorative, descriptive, contextual and theory-generating research design was utilised to achieve the abovementioned purpose. The development of the model comprised four steps. Step one consisted of a concept analysis including identification and definition of central concepts in the model. A concept analysis was done by exploring and describing the experiences of student nurses working with mentally challenged individuals. Two focus groups, naive sketches, reflective journals, a reflective letter and field notes were used to explore their experiences. Focus groups were audiotaped as well as videotaped. Verbal consent was given by the student nurses to be videotaped and a letter of consent was signed to give permission for audiotaping of the focus groups. The audio tapes were transcribed verbatim. The video tapes were only used by the transcriber when she could not hear the sound on the audio tapes clearly. An independent coder utilised Tesch's method of open-coding to code and analyse the data. A consensus was reached between the researcher and the independent coder with regard to the themes and catogories represented by the data. During the concept analysis, engagement on a deeper emotional level was identified as the central concept. Step two consisted of the relationship statements of the model. During step three, a model for the facilitation of a process of engagement on a deeper emotional level for student nurses working with mentally challenged individuals was described. The structure of the model clarified the purpose, assumptions and context. The central concepts were defined and the relationship statements between the central and essential concepts were explained. The structure of the model focused on the relationship-, workingand termination phases within the process of engagement on a deeper emotional level. In step four guidelines were described to operationalise the model in practice. The model, as framework of reference for the advanced psychiatric nurse educator, focused on the facilitation of a process of engagement on a deeper emotional level for student nurses working with mentally challenged individuals. The process description of the model differentiated between three phases: the relationship phase, the working phase and the termination phase. Guidelines for the operasionalisation of the model focused on the objective of each phase as well as the strategy of actions for each different phase.