Abstract
The nursing sector is one of the largest health professions, with healthcare workers spanning across private and public hospitals. Nurses hold a remarkable place in our healthcare system and contribute to the well-being of individuals, families and communities at large. In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, nurses had to deal with many challenges to continue providing a service to people. Many factors can affect a nurse’s identity at work, such as unfavourable working conditions, high stress levels, burnout and workload. The nursing profession in the early years based nursing care on ethics and an ethical way of behaving; nurses are expected to provide quality care even amidst all the changes experienced in the working environment. The focus of this study was to determine the identity work of nurses during the pandemic, the identity demands experienced and strategies they employed to deal with the different identity tensions.
The study followed a qualitative approach and used two sampling methods, i.e., purposive and snowball sampling. The sample consisted of 11 nurses from a public hospital in Gauteng; data were collected using semi-structured interviews, which were analysed using thematic analysis. In our findings, we confirmed that the nurses faced many personal identity demands (working long hours, burnout, high stress levels, and mental and emotional strains) and some of these were experienced by the hospitals (dealing with equipment shortages and social distancing). There was also a need for recognition and support, which we found was important for the nurses, and many felt if this was present, it would have made a huge difference. We also found that the nurses made use of different strategies (e.g., family support, spiritual upliftment, having to upskill and learn new tasks) to deal with the identity tensions (work life balance, changes in roles, feelings brought on by the pandemic) they experienced.
Apart from the different identity strategies that were employed, we also found that the nurses’ work was meaningful to them and served a greater purpose (calling). The research available on identity work of nurses in public hospitals in South Africa during a pandemic can still be expanded. The findings and recommendations presented in this study can potentially contribute to the identity work of nurses. HR strategies, such as counselling programmes, need to be implemented to assist the nurses with the psychological effects of the pandemic, and hospitals and government need to create working environments that encourage the collaboration and inclusion of nurses in policy-making and the advancement of nurses.