NURSING AND RADIOGRAPHY STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF THEIR WELLBEING AT THE SCHOOL OF NURSING, UNIVERSITY OF NAMIBIA.

Small L.F., Pretorius L., Walters A., Kuugongelwa S., De Villiers E., Amakali K.*, Anyolo E., Bampton E. Brinkman C. and L. Nelumbu

ABSTRACT

This paper discusses a report of perception of wellbeing among nursing and radiography students at the School of Nursing of the University of Namibia. A mixed method of descriptive, analytical quantitative and qualitative study was conducted to gather data on self-report perception of wellbeing among the study and target population of 440 Nursing students (both undergraduate and postgraduate) and Radiography students registered for the 2013 academic year at the School of Nursing, University of Namibia, Windhoek campus. Data were collected from a convenient sample of 403 students with a response rate of 95% (n = 383), through a self- administered questionnaire that focused on the six subcomponents of wellbeing. Descriptive and analytical analysis were applied to describe participants’ perceived wellbeing and to determine possible associations between the perceptions of wellbeing as a dependent variable and the independent variables. The findings indicated a significant overall low level of perceived wellbeing among all students irrespective of the study programme and levels of studies.

Keywords: Nursing, radiography, students, perceptions, wellbeing.