Magister Curationis / Background: Globally, nurses and midwives are the most important healthcare providers. In most
countries, nurses and midwives are often the first point of contact to healthcare, and in many rural
areas, they are the only point of contact for patients. Skilled midwives are essential for the care of
pregnant women and the safe delivery of their infants. Midwives play an important role in
promoting the health and wellbeing of women, newborns and their families. In South Africa, slow
progress in reducing maternal mortality can be partially attributed to a lack of appropriately trained
health professionals to render some basic maternal care services.
Aim & objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the self-perception of preparedness
for midwifery practice of final-year nursing students at a university in the Western Cape, South
Africa. The objectives of the study were to: identify midwifery skills final-year nursing students
found challenging to perform independently, determine the level of confidence of final-year
nursing students for managing patients in the maternity unit, determine the level of
comfort/confidence of final-year nursing students in key practice skills performance, and collect
baseline evidence of nursing students’ perceptions of self-preparedness to inform the higher
education institution of gaps and needs identified by nursing students.
Methodology: A quantitative research approach using a descriptive survey design was
implemented to gather information. A self-administered questionnaire using the Casey-Fink
Readiness for Practice Survey was used. Due to the limited size of the population, an all-inclusive
sampling strategy was utilised, with a sample size of N=217. At the time of the survey, only 164
nursing students attended class. Only 112 questionnaires were returned, yielding a response rate
of 70.88%. All returned questionnaires had no missing data. SPSS Statistics version 25 was utilised
for data analysis. Descriptive statistics, frequencies and tests for association were utilised.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uwc/oai:etd.uwc.ac.za:11394/8158 |
| Date | January 2020 |
| Creators | Ramahlo, Tebogo |
| Contributors | Mayers, P |
| Publisher | University of the Western Cape |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | University of the Western Cape |
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