3.8 DATA COLLECTION PROCESS
3.8.2 Description of participants, settings and interview processes, and synthesis of
3.8.2.1 Description of participants
The researcher interviewed a total of ten nurses working in the palliative care wards of the institution under study. A pilot study had been conducted with one of the nurses at the hospital who was not taking part in the study in order to check the feasibility of the study. This particular nurse had a wide experience of terminal patients and her input was very informative. Hence, the researcher was comfortable to proceed to the interviews.
For the sake of confidentiality all the participants were asked to choose a pseudo- nym, which was then used throughout the research. All the participants have had at least one year’s experience in working with terminal patients and represent all categories of operational nurses. In this way, the inclusion criteria for this study have been met. Two of the staff nurses, participants 4 and 6, have had two years’
exposure in these wards. The registered nurses had varied years of experience in palliative wards, mostly ranging between two and seven years, but two of them had been nursing terminal patients for about 20 years. All of the registered nurses, that is, participants 1, 3, and 8, 9 and 10, worked both in the female and male wards. The details of each participant are presented below.
Participant 1:
She is a 62 year old Xhosa speaking black female from the Eastern Cape. She belongs to the Roman Catholic Church. She is a professional nurse and midwife with 42 years of experience in the clinical arena, half of which (22 years) were spent with terminal AIDS patients. She has worked, and still works in both male and female wards, and is currently the unit manager of a 44 bed medical ward. She was very
42 enthusiastic about her participation in the study. She stays in KwaZulu-Natal for work reasons.
Participant 2:
She is a 26 year old, siSwati speaking female. She is an assistant nurse with one year’s experience, mostly in female medical ward. At the time of study, she was currently enrolled at the nursing college to further her studies into becoming an enrolled nurse. She is a black religious sister from Swaziland, belonging to the Roman Catholic Church. She came to the study institution with a study permit for nurse training.
Participant 3:
This participant is a 34 year old Zulu speaking, black female. She is a local Roman Catholic religious sister and is based in KwaZulu-Natal. She joined an international congregation that was started in South Africa. She is also a professional nurse with four years of experience in male and female wards.
Participant 4:
She is a 24 years old Zulu speaking, black female, based in KwaZulu-Natal. She is a Christian and not married. She is a staff nurse (Enrolled Nurse) and has two years of experience in female wards. She had a follow-up interview to clarify some of her concepts related to her understanding of terminal illness that surfaced during the initial interview.
Participant 5:
43 She is a 23 year old Sotho speaking female from Lesotho. She belongs to the Roman Catholic Church and is single. She is an enrolled nursing assistant and has had one year’s experience in male wards. She came to KwaZulu-Natal for study purposes and she is currently pursuing her studies to become an enrolled nurse in the study setting.
Participant 6:
This participant is a 24 year old Zulu speaking black female from KwaZulu-Natal, one of South Africa’s nine provinces. She is not married. She is an enrolled nurse with two years of experience in both female and male wards. She had just completed a palliative course and implements these skills in the care of patients with AIDS.
Participant 7:
She is a 30 year old Sotho speaking, black female. She is from the Eastern Cape Province and stays in the study’s institution for work reasons. She is not married and belongs to the Roman Catholic Church. She has three years’ experience in working with male and female patients with AIDS. She is an enrolled nurse who wishes to continue her studies and become a professional nurse in the same institution of the study.
Participant 8:
She is a 36 year old Zulu speaking, black female from KwaZulu-Natal. She is a young single woman belonging to the Roman Catholic Church. She is a professional nurse with seven years’ experience in male and female wards. She aspires to continue her studies to become a registered midwife.
44 Participant 9:
He was the only male working in the palliative care wards at the time of study. He is a 27 year old Zulu speaking, black male. He belongs to the Roman Catholic Church and is not married. He is a Professional Nurse with three years of work experience with AIDS patients in both male and female wards.
Participant 10:
She is a 62 year old white female. She is originally from England, but now has permanent residence in KwaZulu-Natal. She is married and belongs to the Protestant Church. She is a professional nurse with almost 25 years of experience, 20 years of which were with terminal patients, both male and female.
The participants were all currently working in the palliative care wards of the institution. They represented the cultural diversity of KwaZulu-Natal and included a Swazi, two Sothos, five Zulus, a Xhosa and an immigrant from England. In terms of gender, there was one male and nine females, thus making up the ten participants, excluding the additional one for the pilot study. Most of the participants were aged between 23 and 35 years old, with the youngest being 23 years old. The most senior participant was nearly 63 years old.
Once the information document had been explained to them, the participants were very enthusiastic about the research. Some were very eager to participate and asked the researcher, “When will you interview me?” One of the participants summed their enthusiasm beautifully, saying “It is touching me this interview, because I am talking about something that I want to talk about…” (Participant 1).
45 In terms of qualifications, all the registered nurses except one (Participant 1, who had a diploma in midwifery), were only qualified with a diploma in general nursing. They all mentioned that they wished to study midwifery in the following year.