Determining learner nurses' perceived levels of competence and willingness to practise in a maternity unity at a university in the Western Cape Province
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Date
2017
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University of the Western Cape
Abstract
Midwifery is a health profession where a qualified midwife provides care to a woman during
her pregnancy, labour and the postnatal period. Apart from taking care of the mother, the
midwife is expected to take care of the new-born baby as well until the health of mother and
baby is in a satisfactory condition which will allow them to be discharged from the midwife’s
care.
The purpose of the study was to determine the perceived levels of competence and
willingness of learner nurses to practise in a maternity unit after completion of the midwifery
component of the undergraduate curriculum at a university in the Western Cape. The current
study provides nursing institutions with an opportunity to review the content of the midwifery
curriculum in order to prepare learner nurses adequately to practise after graduation and, thus,
facilitate the provision of improved maternal care and childcare.
A descriptive research design was used to determine the perceived levels of competence and
willingness to practise in a maternity unit of final-year undergraduate learner nurses. Pretesting
was conducted prior to the collection of data to measure the reliability and validity of
the adapted, structured questionnaire. All-inclusive sampling (n=247) was used, which
included all learner nurses registered as 4th year undergraduate learner nurses at this
institution during the time of data collection.
Data was collected by means of an adapted questionnaire which included closed-ended
questions and one open-ended question. Three themes were identified: Positive views;
Negative views; and Competences in midwifery practice areas. The collected data was
cleaned, and entered into and analysed using SPSS v24. The Cronbach’s alpha score calculated for the competence levels of respondents were 0.82%, while the section on
willingness to practise scored 0.95%.
The findings of the study revealed that learner nurses perceive themselves competent while
performing basic obstetric procedures in low-risks areas. However, the learner nurses
perceive themselves to have low competence levels when they have to perform more
complicated obstetric procedures. The results also show that learner nurses need more time in
high-risk areas to increase their perceived competence levels. Furthermore, the results show
that learner nurses are very willing to perform these procedures once they are qualified
midwives.
Description
Magister Curationis - Mcur