Factors influencing the throughput of master degree nursing students at a university in South Africa

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Scientific evidence based practices are essential to efficient health service delivery. Continuous education to Master's Degree level is the springboard to future research projects, but the throughput of Master's Degree students is however a concern. The poor attainment rate of Master's Degree in nursing delays improvement in evidence based nursing practices and impedes the availability of academia.This study aimed to identify factors that influence the throughput of Master's Degree nursing students in a distance education programme at a university in South Africa. The objective was to identify influencing factors related to• the individual• the Higher Education Institution• the employerA non-experimental, descriptive research design was applied with a quantitative approach. The target population was all the enrolled Master's Degree Nursing students between 2004 and 2010 at the university under study.A structured electronic questionnaire was implemented for data collection. The questionnaire was presented to (n = 201) with a response rate of (n = 46/23%).Ethical approval was obtained from Stellenbosch University to conduct this study. Permission was obtained from the university under study to utilize the contact details on the data base of the target population.Reliability and validity was assured by two pilot studies to test the instrument and the use of experts in nursing research, methodology and statistics. The electronic instrument allowed automatic data capturing. The collected data was archived in the accessed controlled electronic data surveys pool of Stellenbosch University.Data analysis was done with the support of a statistician and was expressed as frequencies and in tables. Descriptive statistics and tests for statistical associations were also performed.The individual related outcomes showed that respondents had a mean age of 42 years and (n = 22/48%) had 21 to 40 years experience as a professional nurse. The majority of respondents were female (n = 45/98%) and married (n = 30/54%). Results indicated that the management of family and studies was not easy (n = 30/65%), but respondents experienced their family as an effective support (n = 37/80%) during their studies. Respondents who left their studies indicated the main reason to be a lack of a supporting network (n = 7/19%). Impeding factor results from the Higher Education Institution showed that WebCT was not an effective communication instrument (n = 19/42%) and (n = 22/48%) respondents had difficulty to access their supervisors. Enhancing factors related to study outcomes that were easy to comprehend (n = 39/85%) and efficiency of face-to-face workshops (n = 21/88%) provided support. All the respondents were employed at the time of study (n = 46/100%). Results showed that service demands were the reason why (n = 4/11%) non-completing respondents left their studies. Employers required from (n = 22/48%) respondents to do overtime during their studies. Employer demands influenced the studies of (n = 16/65%) respondents.In conclusion, this study showed specific factors that influence the throughput of Master's Degree in Nursing students at the university under study. Recommendations were made to influence policy makers and stakeholders to reconsider their present practices regarding continuous education and support to their clients.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University