Purpose
This program of research situates nurses as leaders in building
capacity and promotes collaborative action with other health
professionals and decision-makers to improve health systems for
HIV and AIDS nursing care (Edwards & Roelofs 2007). One of
the projects within this program of research focused on the
influence of workplace policies on nursing care for individuals
and families living with HIV. In this paper, we present findings
related to the barriers and facilitators for nurse engagement in
policy development and implementation.
Methodology
A participatory action research design guided the program
of research, which included four interrelated projects. Ethical
approval for the study was obtained from the research ethics
board at the University of Ottawa (site of principal investigator)
and from 15 research ethics boards in each of the partner countries
and Canada where the co-investigators are located.
Fifteen qualitative and quantitative research instruments,
including interviews, focus groups, surveys and document analysis,
were used in the four projects. Purposive sampling was used
to recruit unit, clinic and healthcare managers, and senior nurse
officers from each of the institutions who had participated in the
completion of the Human Resource Management rapid assessment
tool (Management Sciences for Health 2003). Interviews
were conducted to explore the influence of workplace policies on
the ability of nurses to provide care for individuals and families
living with HIV and to access treatment for themselves. Following
informed consent, the interviews were conducted in English
by a research assistant in each of the study countries, using
guiding questions to ensure the topic of interest was explored
in a similar way with each participant. In the current paper,
we report on findings from 51 interviews (J = Jamaica, 10;
K = Kenya, 17; U = Uganda, 12; SA = South Africa, 12) with
nurses. Interviewed participants are identified with an ‘I’.
Data analysis
All of the interviews were transcribed verbatim and research
team members collaborated through regular data analysis
meetings to conduct a thematic analysis of the data. This
approach is also compatible with the NVivo8 (QSR International
2008) qualitative software that was used to code (i.e.
label), categorize, classify, store and manage the data for this
project (Boyatzis 1998). During the data analysis process, an
experienced qualitative researcher (SR) worked with less experienced
researchers in each of the study countries. The transcribed
interviews were co-analysed by research assistants and
co-investigators in each country and an experienced researcher
to ensure rigor and enhance capacity building in the country
teams.