Abstract
Abstract:Within the context of South Africa, student diagnostic radiographers start their workintegrated learning from their first year of study. Hence, it is imperative for them to be caring professionals. Generally, diagnostic radiography students begin the radiography programme being passionate and enthusiastic about caring, but they find themselves in environments that do not fully support the development of caring professionals. Diagnostic radiography has always been perceived as a very scientific, technology-driven profession hence the focus of the current undergraduate curriculum is on the technical aspects of equipment and patient positioning. While patient care is definitely an aspect that is emphasised in radiography education, the teaching of caring has been overlooked. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore and describe the concept of caring among first-year diagnostic radiography students, in order to develop a model to facilitate the teaching of caring. A qualitative, theory-generating, exploratory and descriptive research design was used. Four steps were conducted for model development as a research method. Step 1 was the concept analysis consisting of two phases. Step 1, phase 1 was focus group interviews with first-year student diagnostic radiographers, exploring their understanding of caring. Appreciative inquiry was used as an interview technique. Focus group interviews were conducted until data saturation was achieved. Three major themes emerged from the data: caring as an integral part of a career choice, unpreparedness for interpersonal interactions and barriers and enablers to the development of a caring identity. Results from the focus group interviews in phase one of this research study revealed that radiography students describe caring as being integral to choosing radiography as a career. Despite this, they feel unprepared for their daily interactions with patients. Additionally, they articulated that the radiography environment does not fully support the development of a caring identity. Inductive reasoning was used to identify a central concept, namely the facilitation of a culture of caring. In step 1, phase 2, the related concepts were defined according to dictionary and literature sources. Step 2 entailed the description of relationships between the identified concepts. Step 3 was the development and description of the model. This v model provides a simple, practical guide to teaching caring to students in a meaningful way that will allow them to develop a culture of caring that will be part of them as individuals. The implementation of the model will be conducted in three phases, namely relationship, working and termination phase. Lastly, step 4 was the description of guidelines for the implementation of the model. These guidelines were illustrated in the form of a workbook. The operationalisation of this model will be in the form of coursework that can be incorporated into relevant subject modules, starting at firstyear level.
D.Tech. (Radiography)