Abstract
Nursing education has always been a profession that is taught via contact traditional
classroom strategies. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, teaching modalities
had to change to online platforms to curb the transmission of the virus and continue teaching
and learning. Since nursing is a caring profession, caring also had to be translated into the
online teaching modalities.
A qualitative, contextual research method was used in the study, and the appreciative inquiry
approach was applied to define, describe and explore nursing students’ perceptions of
lecturers’ caring presence during online learning at the Gauteng nursing colleges. The target
population was nursing students at the Gauteng College of Nursing (GCoN) campuses who
were taught online during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study used purposive sampling
methods to choose specific participants, and data were collected through focus group
interviews. Four focus group interviews were conducted with a sample size of between 4-8
participants in each group.
Data analysis was done using the thematic analysis approach and assistance from an
independent coder. Three predominant themes became apparent: Theme 1: Participants
experienced caring and uncaring moments from their lecturers. Theme 2: Participants
experienced that NEIs’ sudden shift to online learning as the only teaching tool, as well as
numerous other factors, contributed to a chaotic academic process. Theme 3: Participants
expressed their academic, technological and personal needs to succeed in future
technological learning environments.
Measures to ensure trustworthiness, such as credibility, dependability, transferability and
confirmability were ensured throughout the study. Ethical considerations of beneficence, nonmaleficence,
autonomy, privacy and confidentiality were also maintained throughout the study
to protect participants. The study received full ethical approval from the University of
Johannesburg Research Ethics Committee (REC-1670-2022), the Gauteng Department of
Health Research Protocol Committee (GP-202208-072) and the GCoN Research Committee.
The in-depth narration led to numerous recommendations, such as the development of
strategies altering the mission and philosophical statements of caring practices in the college
to ensure effective facilitation of the soft skills in nursing, like caring, compassion and
resilience in a blended-learning approach.