title: Nurses' perceptions of their psychiatric nursing competencies in the Kwa-Zulu Natal Province.
abstract: This research report discusses the results of a quantitative exploratory descriptive survey which investigated specific psychiatric competencies of nurses who completed the R425 diploma programme and who were working in psychiatric clinical units in and around Durban and Pietermaritzburg during 2003. Forty-five nurses completed questionnaires, indicating their perceptions of their psychiatric nursing competencies on Likert scales and by responding to open-ended questions. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences, (SPSS) was used to analyse the data from the 45 completed questionnaires. Findings revealed that nurses who completed the R425 programme, and who were working in psychiatric clinical units, perceived themselves to be competent in performing some of the psychiatric clinical competencies contained in the questionnaires, but not all.
authors.affiliation: University of South Africa.
authors.forename: E N
authors.initials: EN
authors.lastname: Hlongwa
authors.forename: V J
authors.initials: VJ
authors.lastname: Ehlers
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: van der Merwe
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002983:Clinical Competence; D004510:Education, Nursing, Diploma Programs; D004521:Educational Measurement; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011568:Psychiatric Nursing / Q000193:education*; D013019:South Africa