New research findings, changes in legislation and the use of information technology in nursing,
requires continuous in-service training of psychiatric nurses (Booyens, 2004:381; Muller,
2004:294) to cope with, reflect on, evaluate and modify their clinical practice based on emerging
knowledge (Cowen et al.,2009:2; Polit & Beck, 2006:4). Many studies have been conducted on
the importance of in-service training, and authors agree that in-service training improves the
quality of nursing care. However few studies on in-service in South Africa and psychiatric
nursing science have been conducted, of which the last study conducted on psychiatric nursing
science in South Africa was 1986 (Nel, 1986:1-125). Personal observations found that some
psychiatric hospitals in Gauteng do not conduct in-service training at all and informal
discussions held with nursing managers highlighted that when in-service training programmes
are compiled that are poorly followed, and it is unclear what the needs of psychiatric nurses are
in terms of in-service training to keep them updated and empowered to perform to the best of
their ability.
The objectives of the study were to explore and describe the needs and benefits of in-service
training for psychiatric nurses in a specific psychiatric hospital in Gauteng and to formulate
recommendations for in-service training for psychiatric nurses in this hospital.
The research project followed a qualitative, explorative, descriptive and contextual approach.
Six focus group interviews were conducted and relevant data obtained. The findings of this
research included seven main themes, namely the need for in-service training, career
advantages, social advantages, physical advantages, psychological advantages of in-service
training, recommendations regarding in-service training and factors that hinder in-service
training. These findings were enriched with direct quotations from the transcriptions as
verbalized by psychiatric nurses during focus group discussions. The findings were compared
with available relevant literature for confirmation.
Recommendations were formulated for nursing education, nursing research and nursing
practice that focus on in-service training for psychiatric nurses. / Thesis (MCur)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NWUBOLOKA1/oai:dspace.nwu.ac.za:10394/8451 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Letlape, Herman Rankele |
| Publisher | North-West University |
| Source Sets | North-West University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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