Doctoral Contribution to Nursing Science in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Document Review

Nursing science is at serious risk of extinction. The lack of funding for research, absence of healthcare policies underpinned by nursing science, and general lack of understanding of nursing metaparadigms all contribute to the stunted growth in nursing science. Doctoral research is a platform for the development and refinement of nursing science. The purpose of this qualitative retrospective document review was to describe the doctoral contribution to nursing in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Electronic dissertations for doctoral degrees in nursing within a 5-year period from universities in SSA were included. The extracted data comprising the purpose of the studies, the models used in the studies, and the studies' contributions to nursing science were analyzed against a knowledge contribution framework. In total, 166 documents were included, mostly from South African universities, with a predominant focus on developing models, frameworks, and strategies within nursing practice. Only 17% of the studies applied grand nursing theories or models, with the rest of the studies applying theories from other disciplines. The contribution to nursing science from the doctoral studies was poor. The low uptake of nursing models in doctoral research in SSA may significantly contribute to the lack of refinement of nursing science within SSA. Structured approaches focused on integrating the nursing metaparadigms, theories, and models and fundamental underpins for doctoral education in Africa are essential to influencing the refinement of nursing science.