Exploration of the procedures and practices for providing student support services in a nursing college in South Africa

The shortage of nurses is a global crisis, particularly in remote and rural communities. Contributory factors are retirements, resignations, recent increased deaths due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the reduced production of nurses because of high attrition rates. This article’s purpose was to inves...

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Main Authors: Thembekile Skakane, Ntombifikile Mtshali, Sandiso Ngcobo
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Journal of Student Affairs in Africa 2024-07-01
Series:Journal of Student Affairs in Africa
Subjects:
Online Access:https://upjournals.up.ac.za/index.php/jsaa/article/view/4651
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author Thembekile Skakane
Ntombifikile Mtshali
Sandiso Ngcobo
author_facet Thembekile Skakane
Ntombifikile Mtshali
Sandiso Ngcobo
author_sort Thembekile Skakane
collection DOAJ
description The shortage of nurses is a global crisis, particularly in remote and rural communities. Contributory factors are retirements, resignations, recent increased deaths due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the reduced production of nurses because of high attrition rates. This article’s purpose was to investigate the provision of student support in the nursing education institution (NEI) of the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) province in South Africa and come up with a model to improve completion rates. The researchers intentionally selected three KZN campuses based on their demographical location and programme offerings for the study. For data collection through in-depth interviews, the study adopted a case study design and employed a qualitative explorative approach, purposely sampling the NEI’s senior academic staff. Strauss and Corbin’s stages of coding were used to conduct the data analysis. The findings suggest comprehensive orientation and academic support as strong measures applied by the NEI to provide student support services and highlighted a need to improve enabling resources. Psychosocial support was predominantly provided by the hospital, which implied a lack of on-site comprehensive support. A necessity for developing a comprehensive student support model for the NEI emerged from the study. The model is expected to enhance the support and, in turn, increase completion rates.
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publishDate 2024-07-01
publisher Journal of Student Affairs in Africa
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spelling doaj-art-875c52efb3064406b5a3e1885f148ba52025-01-03T12:48:18ZengJournal of Student Affairs in AfricaJournal of Student Affairs in Africa2311-17712307-62672024-07-0112110.24085/jsaa.v12i1.46514653Exploration of the procedures and practices for providing student support services in a nursing college in South AfricaThembekile Skakane0Ntombifikile Mtshali1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4096-8193Sandiso Ngcobo2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8256-4453University of kwaZulu-NatalUniversity of kwaZulu-NatalMangosuthu University of TechnologyThe shortage of nurses is a global crisis, particularly in remote and rural communities. Contributory factors are retirements, resignations, recent increased deaths due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the reduced production of nurses because of high attrition rates. This article’s purpose was to investigate the provision of student support in the nursing education institution (NEI) of the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) province in South Africa and come up with a model to improve completion rates. The researchers intentionally selected three KZN campuses based on their demographical location and programme offerings for the study. For data collection through in-depth interviews, the study adopted a case study design and employed a qualitative explorative approach, purposely sampling the NEI’s senior academic staff. Strauss and Corbin’s stages of coding were used to conduct the data analysis. The findings suggest comprehensive orientation and academic support as strong measures applied by the NEI to provide student support services and highlighted a need to improve enabling resources. Psychosocial support was predominantly provided by the hospital, which implied a lack of on-site comprehensive support. A necessity for developing a comprehensive student support model for the NEI emerged from the study. The model is expected to enhance the support and, in turn, increase completion rates.https://upjournals.up.ac.za/index.php/jsaa/article/view/4651comprehensive student supportattritionacademic successnursing education institutionpsycho-social support
spellingShingle Thembekile Skakane
Ntombifikile Mtshali
Sandiso Ngcobo
Exploration of the procedures and practices for providing student support services in a nursing college in South Africa
Journal of Student Affairs in Africa
comprehensive student support
attrition
academic success
nursing education institution
psycho-social support
title Exploration of the procedures and practices for providing student support services in a nursing college in South Africa
title_full Exploration of the procedures and practices for providing student support services in a nursing college in South Africa
title_fullStr Exploration of the procedures and practices for providing student support services in a nursing college in South Africa
title_full_unstemmed Exploration of the procedures and practices for providing student support services in a nursing college in South Africa
title_short Exploration of the procedures and practices for providing student support services in a nursing college in South Africa
title_sort exploration of the procedures and practices for providing student support services in a nursing college in south africa
topic comprehensive student support
attrition
academic success
nursing education institution
psycho-social support
url https://upjournals.up.ac.za/index.php/jsaa/article/view/4651
work_keys_str_mv AT thembekileskakane explorationoftheproceduresandpracticesforprovidingstudentsupportservicesinanursingcollegeinsouthafrica
AT ntombifikilemtshali explorationoftheproceduresandpracticesforprovidingstudentsupportservicesinanursingcollegeinsouthafrica
AT sandisongcobo explorationoftheproceduresandpracticesforprovidingstudentsupportservicesinanursingcollegeinsouthafrica