A self-management model towards professional maturity for the practice of nursing

A theory-generative, qualitative, explorative, descriptive and contextual research design for theory generation was used to develop a self-management model towards professional maturity for the practice of nursing. It became evident throughout the research study that the final year nursing students needed to become independent in the management of their practice. Classification of main concepts self and management was made according to the methods of theory generation of Mc Kenna (1998), Walker and Avant (1995), Chinn and Kramer (1995) and Dickoff, James and Wiedenbach (1968). Dickoff, James and Wiedenbach's (1968:422) survey list was utilized to classify the concepts of the model. Concluding relationship statements were inferred through deductive analysis and synthesis after each concept was conceptualized. The relationship statements provided a basis for the model description. A description is given of the model evaluation utilizing the criteria of Chinn and Kramer (1995:119). To ensure trustworthiness of the study, Guba's model in Krefting (1991:215) was utilized. Guba's four criteria for trustworthiness were ensured, namely truth value, applicability, consistency and neutrality. The researcher, throughout the study, considered ethical issues discussed in the previous article, as were the recommendations and limitations.