Strategies To Facilitate Application Of Sociology Of Development To Nursing Practice

ABSTRACT Nursing practice is a living body of knowledge derived from different disciplines, i.e. biological,

psychological and social. From the social sciences, Sociology of Development is one of the sources of

knowledge used in nursing practice.

Student nurses in Namibia have been taught Sociology of Development since 1987 at the diploma

level. The content of sociology motivates the pivotal role of nurses as resource persons who enhance

and promote the social upliftment of the people of Namibia. Health care and education is necessary for

the development of people. If society does not benefit from the education and practice of nurses, then

the teaching of sociology of development is meaningless.

There is no scientific evidence on how knowledge from Sociology of Development is being utilised in

nursing practice, because there is no study report available on the integration of this content into

nursing practice.

The purpose of this study is the development of strategies to facilitate the application of Sociology of

Development to nursing practice.

A quantitative descriptive design was used to determine the extent to which registered nurses apply

Sociology of Development in nursing practice. For data collection, the questionnaire method was

employed.

The study population was comprised of registered nurses who were taught Sociology of Development

and were practicing in the four training hospital in Namibia. The sample was selected by means of

systematic random sampling.

The study was conducted in three phases. Phase one was the exploration of possible challenges to the

application of Sociology of Development in nursing practice. The data collected during this empirical

phase were statistically analysed and described to ascertain whether there is any significant difference

between the independent and dependent variables of the dichotomy groupings. Comments on the

questions where open coded and summarised.

The second phase was the development of the conceptual framework upon which strategies are to be

based. The third phase was the development and description of the strategies.

The exploration of the possible challenges in the application of Sociology of Development to nursing

practice has revealed that there were areas where application has been successful but also that there are

weaknesses identified on the side of registered nurses and challenges revealed in their comments on

health facilities and the health care delivery system. Strategies have been developed based on these

findings to facilitate application of the content in nursing practice.

Conclusions were made and recommendations were given to the Ministry of Health where these

registered nurses practice and also to the University of Namibia (UNAM) where nurses are trained and

taught Sociology of Development.

This study has made two major contributions to the body of knowledge in nursing practice as well as to

applied Sociology of Development. The contributions are: A conceptual framework for the

development of strategies that facilitate the application of sociology of development to nursing practice

and the strategies which were formulated.

The strategies formulated in this study are not conclusive. There is room for additional ideas on how

best the content can be made practically applicable not only to nursing science but to other healthscience

professions.