Abstract
In South Africa, many nurses and nurse academics are nearing retirement or are retired. This results in a generational gap and raises the question: “Who will take over this role?” Many higher education institutions are attracting and recruiting young nurse academics but do not retain them. Young nurse academics have challenges in that their initial experience of being in academia can be daunting. The aim of this study is to share how young nurse academics define, discover, dream and design their destiny. A qualitative design with Appreciative Inquiry (AI) was used. The population comprised of young nurse academics at higher education institutions in South Africa, with 1-5 years’ experience in academia, therefore “young” did not refer to age. Purposive and snowball sampling was used, and seven participants were interviewed until data saturation was reached. Four themes emerged from the in-depth individual semi-structured interviews: 1: Defining being a young nurse academic: The emphasis was their transition from clinical setting into the world of academics which was challenging, overwhelming and exciting all at the same time. 2: The best moments of being a young nurse academic. Participants were fulfilled and inspired to achieve more. 3: The dream of being a young nurse academic: Participants had wishes/ideals for their respective institutions. 4: Designing best moments for young nurse academics. Participants shared recommendations of job security, employment, and retainment of young nurse academics. In this study it transpired that the participants were challenged initially but are now in a great space. Recommendations for nursing education, higher education institutions and nurse academics have been made. Trustworthiness of the data was accomplished by ensuring credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability of the findings...
M.Cur. (Nursing : Ethos and Professional Practice)