A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing. Johannesburg, 2017 / Background and objectives: The purpose of the study was to explore and describe the economic and social wellbeing and aspirations of professional nurses in selected provinces of South Africa. The objectives of the study were: to explore the existing evidence on the nature and meaning of aspirations and their impact on wellbeing, to formulate an aspiration questionnaire based on existing evidence, to explore and describe the economic and social wellbeing and aspirations of professional nurses in selected provinces of South Africa, to determine if there is any difference between the economic and social wellbeing and the aspirations of professional nurses in urban and rural provinces and to formulate recommendations for addressing the economic and social wellbeing and aspirations of professional nurses in South Africa.
Method: An exploratory, sequential mixed method design was used. The study was conducted in four phases (scoping review, Delphi study, a survey and formulation of recommendations with the assistance of experts through a focus group and follow up verification. The results of qualitative phase were used to build onto the quantitative phase. One thousand, one hundred and thirty-eight (1138) professional nurses participated in the study. The data from all phases of the research was integrated prior to the formulation of recommendations which were organized according to the Walt & Gilson framework (1994) in order to answer the research question.
Results: Important lessons were learned in terms of professional nurses’ aspirations for job satisfaction, possessions, financial success, self-acceptance income and status and power. The quantitative data revealed that professional nurses as a group are mainly mature (the majority >40 years old) unmarried females, working irregular hours, highly indebted and who carry the financial and social burden of caring for extended families. They value education, both for themselves and their children, but are part of the ‘missing middle’ as far as accommodation is concerned as they earn too much to qualify for grants and too little to qualify for housing mortgages. Overall, professional nurses’ have aspirations that are not met which impacts on their economic and social wellbeing.
There is no significant difference between the economic and social wellbeing of urban and rural participants.
Conclusion: Recommendations aimed at addressing the aspirations, economic and social wellbeing of professional nurses in South Africa were formulated. However, it is clear that an inter-sectoral and inter-departmental approach is required to address the aspirations, economic and social wellbeing of nurses if a positive impact is to be made.
Keywords: professional nurses, aspirations, economic wellbeing, social wellbeing, wellbeing. / LG2018
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/24829 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Mabuda, Tendani Bernard |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
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