Developmental level of Black first-year nursing students : research

Black first-year nursing students hailing from a historically disadvantaged educational situation may experience various problems at the university. It is therefore important to support these students. If, however, it should prove possible to determine the exact nature of the backlogs in their development, the lecturer would be able to offer meaningful support. During this research the students' development was determined with the aid of the Student Development Task and Lifestyle Questionnaire at the beginning of the year and again at the end of the year. The questionnaire is based on Chickering's (1972) seven vectors model and was designed by Winston, Miller and Price (1979). The survey method was used and the aim was to determine the developmental level of the students and to adjust inputs to them accordingly. Feedback sessions were held with students and they were provided with a guide showing them how to stimulate their own development. The students achieved higher than average scores for the task of establishing and clarifying purpose. Their level of development with regard to cultural participation was average. Unfortunately their developmental level regarding mature interpersonal relationships, was below average. Students ought to benefit by the development of this subtask in order to enter into successful communication with patients / clients. Once deficiencies in the student's developmental level have been pinpointed, meaningful support should be offered that would contribute to the student's development. Regular feedback to students is therefore important. The most important benefit of this questionnaire is that students acquire insight in their own level of development. Swart eerstejaar verpleegkunde studente wat uit 'n histories benadeelde onderrigsituasie kom, kan verskeie probleme op universiteit ervaar. Dit is dus belangrik om hierdie studente te ondersteun. Indien daar egter vasgestel kan word waar die leemtes in hul ontwikkeling gesetel is, kan die dosent sinvolle ondersteuning bied. In hierdie navorsing is die studente se ontwikkeling aan die begin van die jaar en aan die einde van die jaar met behulp van die Student Ontwikkelings en Lewensstyl Vraelys bepaal. Die vraelys is gebaseer op Chickering (1972) se sewe vektore model en ontwerp deur Winston, Miller en Price (1979). Die opname metode is gebruik en die doelstelling was om die ontwikkelingsvlak van die studente te bepaal en dan volgens insette aan studente te lewer. Terugvoersessies