The philosophical perspective of this qualitative research will be guided by constructivism. Grove et al (2013:57) describe philosophy as the view of science that values the uniqueness of the individual and the holistic approach to understanding human experiences. In this instance, in order to understand the whole picture of student nurses’ experiences in their workplace, participants were actively involved in the research process and had a say in everything that took place .Digitally recorded one-to- one in-depth interviews, written reflective diaries, observation and field notes were used in order to obtain multiple realities. An open ended question /grand tour question was asked in order to encourage the participants to open up and share views. Every participant had his/her own reality; therefore multiple realities emerged. The grand tour question for this study was: What are your experiences as a 4th year student nurse in caring for mental health care users with profound intellectual disabilities? This broad question was asked in order to encourage participant to open up and give their insider perspectives. It was followed by other subsequent questions in order to obtain multiple realities and rich data. Pieces of information collected from different participants were joined together to make a whole.
3.4.1 Population
According to Botma et al (2010:123, 211), population is all the elements (individuals) that meet certain criteria for inclusion in a given universe and in which the researcher is
interested. The target population of this study was the 4th year student nurses undergoing training for the diploma in Nursing (General, Psychiatric and Community) and Midwife in accordance with the SANC Regulation (R425). The target population is the entire set or persons, behaviour or events that meet the sampling criteria (Botma et al 2010:124). In this case, a particular group of student nurses that were accessible and available during data collection were used in order to seek answers to the research questions.
3.4.1.1 Sample criteria
Sample is defined as the population that includes both the inclusion and exclusion criteria. In this study, the inclusion and exclusion criteria were outlined as follows:
3.4.1.1.1 Inclusion criteria
It is the criteria that define who should be included in the population (Botma et al 2010:124; Polit & Beck 2008:338). In this case, only 4th year student nurses (R425) who were undergoing training at one of the nursing college in Gauteng province and willing to be participants formed part of the study. Furthermore, only 4th year student nurses who had the opportunities to be exposed to caring for mental health care users with profound intellectual disabilities at one of the care and rehabilitation centre in Metsweding District were included. In this study the inclusion criteria were as follows:
• Participant’s relevance to the research topic of study.
• Participants who were registered at one of the specified nursing college in
Gauteng province.
• Participants who were doing fourth year and had the opportunity to care for
mental health care users with profound intellectual disabilities at one of the care and rehabilitation centre.
• Participants who were able to give the best information irrespective of race,
gender and age.
• Participant who had prior knowledge of caring for mental health care users with profound intellectual disabilities.
• Participants who were able to reflect in their diaries their daily experiences of caring for mental health care users with profound intellectual disabilities.
• Participants who were more articulate.
• Participants who were fluent in written and spoken English.
• Participants above 21 years.
• Participants who had time to be interviewed.
• Participants who were willing to participate in the method required by the
researcher.
• Participants who volunteered and showed interest irrespective of race and
gender.
3.4.1.1.2 Exclusion criteria
Exclusion criteria are defined as criteria that stipulates who should be excluded in the population (Polit & Beck 2008:338). All 1st, 2nd and 3rd year student nurses were excluded as they have not yet been exposed to caring for mental health care users with profound intellectual disabilities. The excluding criteria were as follows:
• Participants who were not registered at one of the specified nursing college in Gauteng province.
• Participants who were doing 1st, 2nd and 3rd year of the R425 four year courses. • Participants who did not have opportunities to care for mental health care users
with profound intellectual disabilities at one of the care and rehabilitation centre in Metsweding district, Gauteng province.
• Participants who were not fluent in written and spoken English.
• Participants below 21 years.
• Participants who lacked interest.
• Participants who were unwilling to participate in the method required by the
researcher.
3.4.2 Sample size
The sample is the portion of the population that you will study in order to get information about the entire population (Bruce et al 2011:384). In qualitative research, the sample size is determined by the quality of information obtained from the participants, event, situation and documents sampled versus the size of the sample (Grove et al 2013:371). According to Botma et al (2010:200), in order to determine the sample size, the two criteria for ‘enough’ that is, sufficiency and saturation should be followed. Monette et al (2005:242) cited in (Botma et al 2010:200), state that sufficiency is achieved if there are sufficient numbers to reflect the range of participants and sites that make up the population so that others outside the sample might have a chance to connect to the experience of those in it. In this case, 4th year student nurses were sampled out of the particular group placed at that particular time during data collection. A group of fifty six (56) student nurses were placed at the care and rehabilitation centre at a time.
Saturation means that no new or relevant data are emerging; the researcher has pursued all avenues or leads, and the story or theory is complete and redundancy achieved (Mayan 2001:10; Polit & Beck 2008:357). According to Morse (1994:226) (cited in Botma et al 2010:10), saturation has occurred when the researcher is familiar with the setting, routine or data being collected – perhaps even bored, feeling as if he/she has “seen it all”. In this case, the researcher considered reflective diaries and repeated digital recorded in depth interviews with participants until data saturation was achieved. Data saturation was reached with the twelve participants and in depth scope of the study was obtained. The researcher was very satisfied with the new information and multiple realities obtained from each participant. In this study, high quality data were obtained from the variety of data collection methods, that is reflective diaries, one- to-one in-depth interviews, open-ended questions; observations made by the researcher during students’ accompaniment, field notes and prolong engagement made by researcher whilst accompanying students. Furthermore in this study, high quality of information was obtained from the 4th year senior student nurses who were about to complete their studies. This meant that by virtue of being senior nurses, they were more experienced and well informed compared to other levels. Participants in this study were able to share more rich data in a clear and concise manner.
The topic was clear as it was based on the participants’ experiences, personal views, thoughts and feelings. The Common sense model (CSM) was integrated into the study in order to determine what makes sense of the topic intended to be studied.
3.4.3 Sampling frame
According to Bless et al (2013:165), a sampling frame is used in order to ensure a complete and correct representative sample. In this study, a placement list was used to determine which group was accessible and available during data collection. A total of fifty six (56) students were placed at a time. Out of the fifty six students placed at the care and rehabilitation centre, 20% students were chosen. A group list was utilised in order to determine which participants were available for the topic intended to be studied.