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Nursing Praxis in New Zealand
Vol. 18 No.3 - November 2002
EDITORIAL
Abstracts of Articles published in this volume:
Pamela Wood & Lynne Giddings
Meeting the Challenges of Critical Case Study in Nursing Research:
An Interview with Alison Dixon
Jenny Carryer, Claire Budge & Anne Russell
Measuring Perceptions of the Clinical Career Pathway in a New Zealand Hospital
Willem Fourie, Janet Olliver & Catherine Andrew
Defining Currency of Practice for Nurse Educators
Margaret Horsburgh, Victoria Smith & Denise Kivell
South Auckland Community Paediatric Nursing Service: A Framework for Evaluation
Stephen Neville & Fiona Alpass
Stress, Social Support and Psychological Well-Being in Older Men
MEETING THE CHALLENGES OF CRITICAL CASE
STUDY IN NURSING RESEARCH:
AN INTERVIEW WITH ALISON DIXON
Pamela J. Wood, RGON, PhD, Associate Professor
Graduate School of Nursing and Midwifery
Victoria University of Wellington
Lynne S. Giddings, RGON, RM, PhD, Associate Professor
School of Nursing and Midwifery, Auckland University of Technology
Abstract
Critical case study is a methodology seldom used in nursing or midwifery research, yet it offers a process for revealing and acting on power relations in the practice worlds of nurses and midwives. This is the eighth article in a series based on interviews with nursing and midwifery researchers, designed to provide the beginning researcher with a first-hand account of the experience of using particular methodologies. This article focuses on critical case study as experienced by Alison Dixon (RGON, BA, Dip Soc Sci (Nursing), PhD) who used this methodology to explore the difference in practice between enrolled and registered nurse practice.
Key Words: Research, methodologies, critical case study, consciousness-raising, hegemony, power, participant voice.
Article Order No: 183A
MEASURING PERCEPTIONS OF THE CLINICAL
CAREER PATHWAY IN A NEW ZEALAND HOSPITAL
Jenny Carryer, RGON, PhD, FCNA(NZ), MNZM
Professor of Nursing, Massey University &
MidCentral Health, Palmerston North
Claire Budge, PhD Research Associate to Professor of Nursing,
MidCentral Health, Palmerston North
Anne Russell, RGON CCP Co-ordinator,
MidCentral Health, Palmerston North
Abstract
Clinical Career Pathways (CCPs) for nurses were introduced in the 1970s and they were first established in New Zealand during the late 1980s. The implementation of CCP programmes has met with mixed response; many nurses view it negatively as an extra and unnecessary demand from their employers while others perceive it to be a valuable form of professional development. This paper introduces a new instrument, the Clinical Career Pathway Evaluation Tool (CCPET) designed to assess nurses’ and midwives’ knowledge of and attitudes towards their Clinical Career Pathway. The 51 item instrument takes the form of a self-report questionnaire in two sections. The first tests knowledge of the CCP, as implemented at the study hospital, the second measures attitudes towards CCP and professional development. In this paper we describe the development of the CCPET and present some of the results from an initial application of the instrument with 239 nurses and midwives in a New Zealand hospital. Results indicate that knowledge levels were moderate in this sample and were correlated with both positive and negative attitudes. Results of t-test comparisons indicated that, on average, the group who had already completed a CCP portfolio had greater knowledge and more positive attitudes than the group who had not. The authors suggest firstly that the CCPET is useful for measuring CCP knowledge and attitudes in a constantly restructuring nursing environment, and secondly that the instrument can be easily adapted for use in other hospitals and organisations.
Key Words: Clinical Career Pathway, knowledge, attitudes, nurses
Article Order No: 183B
DEFINING CURRENCY OF PRACTICE
FOR NURSE EDUCATORS
Willem J. Fourie, RGN, RPN, PhD, M.Cur, B.Cur, Dip.N.Ed,
Deputy Head of Department and Programme Leader, Department of Nursing and Health StudiesManukau Institute of Technology, Auckland
Janet D. Olliver, RGON, MA (Applied)(Nsg),
Professional Head of Nursing, UCOL, Palmerston North
Catherine M. Andrew, RCpN, MA (Hons), Head of School, Nursing,
Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology, Christchurch
Abstract
Recent Nursing Council of New Zealand (NCNZ) guidelines for competence-based practising certificates (NCNZ, 2001) and the fact that all nurse educators must have a current practising certificate prompted the Nursing Schools within the Tertiary Accord of New Zealand (TANZ) to explore issues surrounding current competency in practice and how this can be maintained by nurse educators. This is a topical debate as discussions related to competence-based practising certificates generally refer to competence only in terms of direct patient care. This article sets out to clarify the issue with specific reference to nurse educators who, by the nature of their scope of practice, often do not carry a patient caseload. The literature relating to currency of practice is explored to provide background to current definitions and existing strategies for maintaining competence. This article draws on the findings of a survey by the TANZ Nursing Schools and provides a position on how currency of practice applies to nurses working in educational settings. In addition, strategies to maintain clinical, teaching and scholarly currency are presented along with suggestions for providing evidence that currency of practice is maintained.
Key Words: Nursing education, competency, currency of practice, recency of practice
Article Order No: 183C
SOUTH AUCKLAND COMMUNITY PAEDIATRIC
NURSING SERVICE: A FRAMEWORK FOR
EVALUATION
Margaret Horsburgh, RGON, RM, EdD, MA (Hons), Dip Ed, FCNA(NZ)
Director of Education Unit, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences,
The University of Auckland
Victoria Smith, RCpN, MNS, Dip PH, BN, Dip App Sci, CIC, FCNA(NZ)
Honorary Clinical Lecturer, The University of Auckland
Denise Kivell, RGON, BHSc Clinical Nurse Director, Kidz First™ and Intermediary Care, Counties Manukau District Health Board
Abstract
This paper describes the Kidz First™ paediatric community homecare nursing team in South Auckland. While the service was not initially planned as an integrated approach to child health, its evolution reflects the move to more community based care delivery and the expansion of nurse-led initiatives in New Zealand. The components of a community paediatric home nursing team as described by Eaton (2000) are used to provide the framework with which to describe the service. A focus group held with the Kidz First™ paediatric community homecare nurses has enabled definition of the key nursing components provided to children and their families living in South Auckland.
Key Words: Paediatric nursing, community, home healthcare, ambulatory care
Article Order No: 183D
STRESS, SOCIAL SUPPORT AND PSYCHOLOGICAL
WELL-BEING IN OLDER MEN
Stephen Neville, BA(Nursing), MA(Hons), RCpN, FCNA(NZ)
Lecturer, School of Health Sciences - Albany, Massey University
Fiona Alpass, BA, MA(Hons), PhD,Senior Lecturer, School of Psychology, Massey University, Palmerston North
Abstract
Along with an increase in the older population comes a concomitant increase in the number of people for whom issues relating to well-being, for example, stress and social relationships become more salient. In this study, relationships between stress, social support and psychological well-being in men over the age of 65 years were investigated. A convenience sample of 217 men over the age of 65 years, living in a small New Zealand city took part in the study. A questionnaire was used to gather information on stress, social support and psychological well-being, as well as biographical data. Data were analysed quantitatively. Results showed that both the men who were satisfied with the social support they received and those who reported low stress levels experienced higher levels of psychological well-being (p<.001). The number of people available to provide social support was not significantly related to psychological well-being. There were no significant interaction effects between stress, social support variables and psychological well-being, with each variable operating independently in relation to psychological well-being. It appeared that the older the men were the fewer social supports available to them, suggesting the importance of the quality of
those supports in maintaining psychological well-being.
Key Words: Older men’s health, stress, social support, well-being.Article Order No: 183E
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