Experiences and perceptions of life orientation teachers in guiding learners about nursing as a career of choice

[摘要] ENGLISH SUMMARY : The challenge of nursing shortages in South Africa is increased by an ageing nursing workforce. A strategy to address the nursing shortages includes the promotion of nursing as a career of choice to high school learners. There seems to be an expectation that LO teachers will be able to promote this career field amongst the learners who are in their final year at secondary school level. It was thus necessary to explore their perceptions and experiences on guiding learners about nursing as a career of choice. The research question for this study was thus: 'What are the experiences and perceptions of LO teachers on guiding learners about nursing as a career of choice?A qualitative approach with a descriptive research design was applied. A purposive sample was drawn from a total population of 355 LO teachers in the Western Cape, from schools situated in low and high socio-economic residential areas, public to private schools. The Health Research Ethics Committee of Stellenbosch University gave ethics approval S14/04/093 (Appendix 2) for the study. Interviews were guided with an interview guide, audio taped and then transcribed verbatim. Trustworthiness of the study was assured by applying the criteria of Lincoln and Guba: credibility, conformability, dependability and transferability which included affirmation of the transcriptions, member-checking through validation by the supervisors and the use of experts in nursing research and methodology. Data was collected and captured by the researcher.The data was analysed according to Tesch's open-coding system, with themes and subthemes that were described.The findings of the study included: not enough time was allocated for career guidance in LO; both public and private schools still differ in their ability to expose learners to careers; that decision making about a career choice was influenced by not only teachers but other significant others; that there was a decline in the number of learners interested in nursing; that the teachers have a lack of knowledge about nursing in general and that they are not necessarily the ideal people to promote nursing career pathways, as they have to consider many other career fields and have no specific loyalty towards promoting the nursing profession; they were also influenced by negative media reporting about nursing and by the general community, including those who find themselves in this career field .Recommendations based on the scientific evidence include LO in the form of career guidance, which forms the ideal platform to promote nursing as a career of choice to learners; a structured job shadowing programme should be developed by the different stake holders, such as the Department of Education, Department of Health and Department of Labour and policy makers in the nursing profession. Trends and demands in the job market, especially acknowledgement of the global shortage of nurses play a crucial role in the career guidance of learners at high school level.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University