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Determinants of Workload and Stress among New Nurse Educators in Ghana: A Qualitative Study

Received: 1 December 2023    Accepted: 23 December 2023    Published: 8 January 2024
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Abstract

Excessive workload and stress is a complex phenomenon experienced by many nurse educators and may aggravate their desire to leave the profession. This also has a grave implication for the nursing profession with direct dire consequences on student learning outcomes. Albeit excessive workload and stress is a source of career dissatisfaction among new nurse educators, its determinants have not been thoroughly investigated in the Ghanaian context. This study explored the determinants of workload and stress among new nurse educators in Ghana. This descriptive qualitative study was conducted from June to August 2020. Twelve new nurse educators were purposively sampled from three nursing and midwifery training colleges in the Upper East Region. Audio recorded individual in-depth interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed manually using Braun and Clarke’s approach. Four main theme emerged from the analysis of the data and constituted the determinants of the workload and stress of nurse educators. These were (a) teaching multiple classes and courses, (b) teaching large class sizes, (c) working for lengthy hours, and (d) working outside the classroom. It is imperative that policymakers consider these determinants when designing interventions and policies to mitigate the workload and stress among new nurse educators. It is important for NMTCs to ensure new nurse educators are assigned fewer courses and classes, ensure ideal class sizes, acceptable working hours, and moderate work outside the classroom.

Published in American Journal of Nursing and Health Sciences (Volume 5, Issue 1)
DOI 10.11648/j.ajnhs.20240501.12
Page(s) 9-16
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Ghana, New Nurse Educators, Stress, Workload

References
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Laari, T. T., Apiribu, F., Kuunibe, J. K., Atanuriba, G. A., Mohammed, R. S. (2024). Determinants of Workload and Stress among New Nurse Educators in Ghana: A Qualitative Study. American Journal of Nursing and Health Sciences, 5(1), 9-16. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajnhs.20240501.12

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    ACS Style

    Laari, T. T.; Apiribu, F.; Kuunibe, J. K.; Atanuriba, G. A.; Mohammed, R. S. Determinants of Workload and Stress among New Nurse Educators in Ghana: A Qualitative Study. Am. J. Nurs. Health Sci. 2024, 5(1), 9-16. doi: 10.11648/j.ajnhs.20240501.12

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    AMA Style

    Laari TT, Apiribu F, Kuunibe JK, Atanuriba GA, Mohammed RS. Determinants of Workload and Stress among New Nurse Educators in Ghana: A Qualitative Study. Am J Nurs Health Sci. 2024;5(1):9-16. doi: 10.11648/j.ajnhs.20240501.12

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ajnhs.20240501.12,
      author = {Timothy Tienbia Laari and Felix Apiribu and Joseph Kuufaakang Kuunibe and Gideon Awenabisa Atanuriba and Rumana Saeed Mohammed},
      title = {Determinants of Workload and Stress among New Nurse Educators in Ghana: A Qualitative Study},
      journal = {American Journal of Nursing and Health Sciences},
      volume = {5},
      number = {1},
      pages = {9-16},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ajnhs.20240501.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajnhs.20240501.12},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajnhs.20240501.12},
      abstract = {Excessive workload and stress is a complex phenomenon experienced by many nurse educators and may aggravate their desire to leave the profession. This also has a grave implication for the nursing profession with direct dire consequences on student learning outcomes. Albeit excessive workload and stress is a source of career dissatisfaction among new nurse educators, its determinants have not been thoroughly investigated in the Ghanaian context. This study explored the determinants of workload and stress among new nurse educators in Ghana. This descriptive qualitative study was conducted from June to August 2020. Twelve new nurse educators were purposively sampled from three nursing and midwifery training colleges in the Upper East Region. Audio recorded individual in-depth interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed manually using Braun and Clarke’s approach. Four main theme emerged from the analysis of the data and constituted the determinants of the workload and stress of nurse educators. These were (a) teaching multiple classes and courses, (b) teaching large class sizes, (c) working for lengthy hours, and (d) working outside the classroom. It is imperative that policymakers consider these determinants when designing interventions and policies to mitigate the workload and stress among new nurse educators. It is important for NMTCs to ensure new nurse educators are assigned fewer courses and classes, ensure ideal class sizes, acceptable working hours, and moderate work outside the classroom.
    },
     year = {2024}
    }
    

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Author Information
  • Presbyterian Primary Health Care (PPHC), Bolgatanga, Ghana

  • Department of Nursing, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana

  • Midwifery Training College, Tumu, Ghana

  • Tamale Central Hospital, Tamale, Ghana

  • Department of Nursing, Garden City University College, Kumasi, Ghana

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