Open Access Te Herenga Waka-Victoria University of Wellington
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Journeys Cross Divides: Nurses and Midwives' Experiences of Choosing a Path Following Separation of the Professions

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posted on 2021-11-03, 09:20 authored by Mulcahy, Dianne Mary

In 2003 the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act was introduced and established separate regulatory authorities for nursing and midwifery. This study is designed to explore the experiences of dually registered practitioners affected by this divide, as now there are two separate and possible paths, and two corresponding sets of competencies to fulfil. The design for this qualitative descriptive study utilised the written and oral narratives of three practitioners affected by this professional regulation and demonstrated its impact on their career development. Individual storytelling, as narrative, provided a theoretical lens aiding insight into their experience and pattern of decision making. In addition, symbolic consideration of the study data was provided by collective storytelling via the perennial myth of the hero journey. Shifting professional ground following the Health Practitioners Competence Act 2003 generated a focus for the inquiry into practitioners’ modes of adjustment. For the practitioners in the study, transition between the occupational roles of nursing and midwifery comprised the possible career trajectories. A status passage, as the process of change from one social status to another, is described and includes the transitional experience of anticipation, expectation, contrast, and change. The findings from this research provide illumination of the nuances of professional decision making as a lived experience, and highlight how these practitioners dealt with shifting meaning, values, awareness, choices, and relationships. Aspects of group agency and identity, change management, and professional role transition were revealed. Life pattern, revealed through narrative, was an important research construct for exposing the ways in which the participants negotiated change, and displayed the function of their thinking and reasoning through dilemmas. Perception of individual and group identity revealed attitudes of esteem to the dominant discourse, and exposed dynamic tension between work patterns and life stage. Renegotiating arrangements of personal and professional commitment resulted from this dynamic interplay, and the relationship to stress and burnout was explored.

History

Copyright Date

2006-01-01

Date of Award

2006-01-01

Publisher

Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington

Rights License

Author Retains Copyright

Degree Discipline

Nursing

Degree Grantor

Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington

Degree Level

Masters

Degree Name

Master of Arts (Applied)

Victoria University of Wellington Item Type

Awarded Research Masters Thesis

Language

en_NZ

Victoria University of Wellington School

Graduate School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health

Advisors

Moss, Cheryle