Research Design
The overall research design will follow a strengths-based Appreciative Inquiry (AI) co-design model, working with front-line nurses and nursing mangers in all areas of nursing to create a workforce management model that supports nurses to thrive while also meeting the need of a DHB to provide a quality service.
However, this study is just the first step in the research. It will concentrate on identifying from the perspective of new nurses what has worked well for them in terms of their preparation for nursing and the support they have received from their workplace (Discover) and then identify what their ideal would be (What could be improved?) (Dream). These are the first two steps of an AI approach. Nurses at the end of their NETP year, and years two and three after their NETP year, will be asked about what aspects of their training and their workplace have supported them to thrive as new nurses, and then what their dream training and support would be.
A combination of focus group and survey methodologies will be used. All participants in this pilot study will be graduates of The University of Auckland. The participants will be identified from the University of Auckland School of Nursing student enrolment database. In Stage One there will be four focus groups – two for people currently in NETP, and two for people who have been in practice for 3-4 years. People who accept the focus group invitation will be asked six questions using a semi-structured interview format:
NETP Year Nurses:
- What about your nurse training worked well in preparing you to be a nurse?
- What about your NETP course provides good support for nurses in their first year of practice?
- What good things has your organisation done to support you?
- What else could your nurse training have done to prepare you well for being a nurse?
- What else could the NETP course do to provide good support for nurses in their first year of practice?
- What other things could your organisation do to support new nurses?
Third and Fourth year nurses:
- What about your nurse training prepared you well for being a nurse?
- What about your NETP course provided good support for nurses in their first year of practice?
- What about the way your organisation has supported you has been very good?
- What else could your nurse training have done to prepare you well for being a nurse?
- What else could the NETP course do to provide good support for nurses in their first year of practice?
- What other things could your organisation do to support new nurses??
Existing survey tools will be examined to determine the most appropriate tool for this purpose, A tool that has been used and standardised elsewhere may also allow comparisons between nurses and other workforces. Possibilities include the Sovereign Wellbeing Index (already used for a general New Zealand workforce) (Hone, Jarden, Duncan, & Schofield, 2015), the PERMA wellbeing model (Umucu, 2017) and Deiner’s Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener, Inglehart, & Tay, 2013)The Qualtrix survey will be sent to all nurses in the UoA database who fit the NETP or post-NETP criteria. There are approximately 1800 students per year in the NETP programme.
Survey respondents will be asked for information on age, ethnicity and previous education. This will enable the identification of meaningful differences in support received and support desired across key socio-demographic characteristics. The focus group data will be analysed using The Social Embeddedness of Thriving at Work lens (See Figure 1).
Ethical approval to conduct the research will be sought from the UoA Ethics Committee. While all students in this first phase are graduates of the University of Auckland, these students will work within a number of DHB districts and institutions. As the research is based on their connection with the UoA, for this phase research permission from the DHBs is not required. The benefits of this research will be a greater understanding of training and instructional factors that impact on the ability of early career nurses to thrive. From this basis, further research can work with nurses, educational institutions and health providers to co-create improved systems of training and support that may assist with the thriving and retention of nurses.
The research findings will be given as a report to the UoA undergraduate and NETP academic teams. They will also be published as a journal article, as this information will be of wide interest to other educational providers.
Ethnicity data will be collected. In this phase, Maori will not be a particular focus. This will happen in the next phase when different nursing groups and managers will be worked with to co-create effective workforce management approaches.
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