PhD (Health Sciences) / Department of Advanced Nursing Science / Introduction: For newly graduated midwives to function effectively with regard to provision of quality midwifery services, successful transition from student status to professional status should be enhanced. It is therefore important that transition support programmes be put in place in order to provide a baseline for guidance and support of newly graduated midwives. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to develop a transition support programme to enhance effective support of newly graduated midwives during their transition period in Limpopo Province, South Africa. Setting: The study was conducted in maternity units of selected regional hospitals and a tertiary hospital in all the districts of Limpopo Province, South Africa. Methods: Phase 1: A qualitative, exploratory and descriptive design was used for the study. The population comprised of all newly graduated midwives who have undergone a comprehensive nursing programme (R425 of 19 February 1985, as amended) and qualified as nurses (General, Psychiatric and Community) and Midwifery from the universities and nursing colleges; as well as all professional nurses working at selected hospitals. A non-probability, purposive sampling method was used to select five newly graduated midwives who have been working for a period less or equals to one year following their successful completion of training, and were working in maternity units of the selected hospitals. Five professional nurses qualified as midwives and have been working in maternity units of the selected hospitals for at least five years, were also sampled through a non-probability, purposive sampling method. Data were collected through in-depth individual face-to-face interviews; a ABSTRACT vii voice recorder was used to capture information shared by participants, and field notes were also taken. An open-coding method was used to analyze data. Ethical principles and measures to ensure trustworthiness were considered. Major themes, themes and sub-themes were identified from the analyzed data. The following major themes emerged from data analysis: Experiences of being a newly graduated midwife in labour ward, Support provided by experienced midwives, Relationship between experienced and newly graduated midwives in labour ward, Expectations of experienced midwives from newly graduated midwives as well as Newly graduated midwives’ views related to placement in the labour ward. Empirical findings revealed that newly graduated midwives viewed labour ward as a traumatic environment as it is very busy with serious shortage of staff. Graduates also expressed a professional nurse’s role as stressful as it demands high level of responsibility and accountability which they did not have, resulting in frustration and anger. Newly graduated midwives felt that the support they received from the experienced midwives was ineffective, as they were neither mentored nor properly supervised and the environment was not conducive for learning. The relationship between graduates and experienced midwives was poor and some experienced midwives displayed negative attitudes towards the graduates. Results showed that graduates failed to meet experienced midwives’ expectations as they were unable to function independently, resulting in failure to reduce the workload. Newly graduated midwives recommended that their placement in maternity ward be extended from a period of six months to a year in order for them to build confidence in midwifery practice. Phase 2: Results of phase 1 of the study revealed transition support gaps which led the researcher to analyze ‘effective transition support’ as a core concept. Concept analysis was done in accordance with Walker and Avant’s method; in order to clarify its meaning. The findings of both phase 1 and concept analysis guided the ABSTRACT viii development of a transition support programme aimed to enhance effective support of newly graduated midwives during their transition period. Development of a transition support programme was based on Duchscher’s transition theory as well as ADDIE’s model for training and instructional design, the steps of which were: analysis, design, development, implementation and evaluation. A developed transition support programme was validated using a quantitative approach, whereby exploratory and descriptive designs were employed. The main aim was to validate for effectiveness and applicability of a developed transition support programme. Validation was conducted in a similar setting as in phase 1, with the same population. Puposive sampling method was used to select participants who met inclusion criteria. A sample consisted of twelve (12) newly graduated midwives, thirty eight (38) experienced midwives of which thirteen (13) were operational managers. A self developed questionnaire was used for data collection. The validation process was based on a framework for programme evaluation in public health by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. According to the validation results, the developed transition support programme met the standard as it can be easily implemented, it is practical, utilizable, appropriate and will benefit patients, family members, health care facilities and the community at large. Recommendations: The developed transition support programme addressed the major challenges identified in the findings of the main study. Only aspects of the results which were not addressed by the developed transition support programme were covered in the recommendations. Recommendations were directed to the nursing education, nursing practice as well as future research. / NRF

Introduction: When enrolled nurses upgrade to newly-qualified professional nurses, they are considered more prepared to adapt to professional nurse roles and are expected to "hit the floor running". However, transitioning from enrolled nurse to newly-qualified professional nurse has been found difficult and stressful due to the shift from enrolled nurses' familiar dependent practitioner role to the less known professional nurses' independent practitioner role. Currently there is no official programme to address the transition support needs of newly-qualified professional nurses who upgrade from enrolled nurses in Mpumalanga private hospitals. In the Mpumalanga private hospitals, for the period 2012-2013, the estimated average turnover rate for newly-qualified professional nurses was 33-47%. Aim: The aim of this study was to explore and describe how newly-qualified professional nurses who upgraded from enrolled nurses experienced transition support during the transition period in private hospitals in the Mpumalanga Province. Research design: A qualitative holistic multiple case study research design was utilised to explore and describe how newly-qualified professional nurses who upgraded from enrolled nurses experienced transition support during the transition period in private hospitals in Mpumalanga Province. Method: Ten newly-qualified professional nurses, who graduated in 2012-2015 with a minimum of six months' and a maximum of four years' work experience in two private hospitals in Mpumalanga Province, participated in this study. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted and an inductive approach was utilised for content analysis of verbatim transcripts and field notes. Findings: The study found that at the private health care level, there is minimal understanding and recognition of the transition support needs of the newly-qualified professional nurse making the transition to clinical healthcare practice in private hospitals as professional nurses. Consequently, there is no newly-qualified professional nurse transition support programme during the transition period. Moreover, the newly-qualified professional nurse needs transition support mostly during the first two stages of the transition period. / Dissertation (MCur)--University of Pretoria, 2016. / Nursing Science / MCur / Unrestricted

Some veterans transitioning from military duty to the classroom are not obtaining college degrees. The purpose of this study was to investigate student veterans’ perceptions of the transition services and support systems at their college that might impact the challenges they face while pursuing a college degree. The theoretical framework for this study was Schlossberg’s Theory of Transition. The guiding research question asked how military veterans perceived the transition services and support systems at their university in the context of their decision to obtain their degrees. A purposeful sampling approach was used for selecting student veteran participants who had returned from active duty and were enrolled at the university for 1 year. Moustakas’s transcendental approach was the model used for interviewing 12 veterans. Inductive analysis was used to analyze data, including coding the interview transcripts and identifying themes to capture the collective experience of the veterans. Participants indicated that existing emotional or social support programs, organizations, and personnel to assist them on campus were inadequate. Implications for social change include increasing faculty and staff understanding of veterans’ needs, which may lead to improved transition services, support systems, and communications within the university. Results may be used to improve retention and degree completion rates of student veterans.

Residential relocation requiring a change of school enrollment can negatively disrupt academic achievement, extracurricular participation, attendance, and ability to appropriately regulate emotions/behaviors. This disruption impacts military-affiliated students every 2 to 3 years. The purpose of this study was to quantitatively inform Student 2 Student’s (S2S’s) continued development and the Military Child Education Coalition’s (MCEC’s) pursuit of better serving newly relocated students. This will help the program to reach beyond good intentions and mitigate the perils of assuming that benefits occur without quantitative support. The three-factory model of Academic Resiliency was used as the theoretical framework guiding this study. Two American public high schools with similar demographics were requested to provide data for all new 9th through 12th graders, who enrolled in the school district for the first time during the 2018-19 academic year. A Mann-Whitney U was used to compare grade point averages (GPA), attendance percentages, number of extracurricular activities, and number of behavioral referrals for 179 students at a school with S2S to 97 students at a school without S2S. The 2 groups showed statistically significant differences across all 4 dependent variables. For example, the S2S group showed higher levels of extracurricular participation and fewer behavioral referrals than the control group. Additionally, a positive relationship between attendance and GPA was supported for the control group more than the S2S group. Overall, the results of this study quantitatively inform S2S’s continued development and the MCEC’s pursuit of better serving newly relocated students worldwide, which assists to create positive social change.

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Introduction: A nurse preceptorship is essential in the transition period (TP) of novice nurses. Especially in intensive care workplaces, where training for highly specialized and demanding care is provided. TP thus becomes a sensitive period in which the employee decides whether to remain in the workplace or even in the profession. Methodology: This is qualitative study with the main focus of the survey on the specific experience of preceptors with TP management. Data collection was performed using semi-structured interviews with preceptor nurses in one selected workplace of intensive care. Data analysis was performed in 4 steps, open coding and sorting of data into categories and subcategories were used. Results: Six main topics were identified: Preceptors' experience from their own transition, TP organization attributes, Evaluation and feedback, The role of the preceptor nurse, Critical moments and Factors influencing the TP. The experience of trainers from their own TP is a significant predictor for their individual way of training and leading novice nurses. Evaluation and feedback have a culture and should be performed regularly in cycles to achieve the purpose. The preceptor has many roles, participates in the creation of social relationships with the novice, he himself strives to establish...

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