Abstract
In nursing, self-care is essential for the wellbeing of patients and nurses. Professional nurses often pay attention to the health of their patients and little or no attention to their own wellbeing. Caring for one’s own mental and physical health is as imperative as caring for a patient’s health because a lack of self-care will affect one’s ability to provide care and compassion to others. A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual research design using a phenomenological approach was used to explore and describe professional nurses’ experiences with self-care practices at a primary healthcare clinic (PHC) in Gauteng, practicing self-care. The target population was professional nurses who practice self-care within a PHC clinic for a year or more. The inclusion criteria were professional nurses employed within a PHC clinic in Gauteng for 12 months or longer, and the sample size were 25 professional nurses who consented to be part of this study. Purposive sampling was used to select participants, and data were collected using unstructured individual interviews with the participants. Nine interviews were conducted physically, and one was conducted via Zoom; all interviews were conducted with strict adherence to Covid-19 regulations. Colaizzi’s method of data analysis was employed. Measures to ensure trustworthiness was adhered to through applying criteria of credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability. Ethical consideration focused on the principles of autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence and justice. The exploration and description of how professional nurses practice self-care within a PHC clinic led to recommendations to facilitate professional nurses’ empowerment to practice self-care as a lifestyle. It is anticipated that the findings will be implemented in nursing practice in PHC clinics in Gauteng...
M.Cur. (Nursing Science)