An exploration and analysis of the relative importance of employability skills for undergraduate nursing students as perceived by stakeholders - a mixed methods approach

Lists

Williamson, Swapna, Tong, Kit, Paulsen-Becejac, Laila and Stock, Rosemary (2021) An exploration and analysis of the relative importance of employability skills for undergraduate nursing students as perceived by stakeholders - a mixed methods approach. World Journal of Advance Healthcare Research, 5 (5). pp. 104-113. ISSN 2457-0400

[thumbnail of 6 WJAHR 1492 - 20-09-2021.pdf]

PDF
6 WJAHR 1492 - 20-09-2021.pdf - Published Version
Restricted to Repository staff only
Download (566kB) | Request a copy

Official URL: https://www.wjahr.com/home/article_abstract/896

Abstract

Background: Current challenges in healthcare environment require nurses to develop and be equipped
with transferable employability skills in addition to discipline specific skills. Recently, Higher Education
Institutions and healthcare providers have focused on more collaboration and working in partnerships to
develop the requisite employability skills in undergraduates. Objective: To identify and develop an
employability skills questionnaire as informed by the stakeholders including service users. Methods: A
mixed method study using the Delphi technique to develop items of the Employability Skills
Questionnaire, and statistics to examine quantitative results. Setting: A modern university in London.
Undergraduate nurses, academics, managers in healthcare and service users who regularly use National
Health Service participated in the study. Focus groups and Delphi technique was used to obtain the general
consensus in the Questionnaire, and surveys to obtain numerical data to establish the reliability of the
questionnaire and the differences in the stakeholders‟ responses applying ANOVA. Results: The Delphi
technique yielded a consensus of 75% to the Questionnaire. Quantitative findings showed good internal
reliability of the Questionnaire and all stakeholders attributed high value to all the items therein. Data
indicated that service users play a significant role in identifying undergraduates‟ employability skills as
consumers of the healthcare service and gave more weight to the importance of evidence-based
information demonstrating their awareness of the importance of evidence-based practice in healthcare.
Conclusion: It is crucial that nurses keep abreast of current research to translate research findings into
practice and to adapt to different ways of working to improve patient care.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Employability skills, undergraduate, healthcare, stakeholders, service users, higher education institutions
Subjects:	Education > Higher education Medicine and health > Nursing
Related URLs:	Publisher
Depositing User:	Rosemary Stock
Date Deposited:	14 Oct 2021 10:39
Last Modified:	04 Nov 2024 11:18
URI:	https://repository.uwl.ac.uk/id/eprint/8346

Actions (login required)

View Item

References

REFERENCE
1. Belt V, Drake P, Chapman K. Employability Skills:
A Research and Policy Briefing. London: UK
Commission for Employment and Skills, 2010.
2. Collet C, Hine D, du Plessis K. Employability skills:
perspectives from a knowledge-intensive industry,
Education and Training, 2015; 57(5): 532-559.
3. Craig C, Pi kur . Student perspectives on the
development and evaluation of a joint international
education to promote employability in Europe.
Work, 2012; 41(4): 439-446.
4. Creswell JW. Research Design: Qualitative,
Quantitative and Mixed Methods Approaches. 4th ed.
Los Angeles: Sage, 2014.
5. Davies K, Gray M. The place of service user
expertise in evidence-based practice. Journal of
Social Work, 2016; 17(1): 3–20.
6. Draper J, Beretta R, Kenward L, McDonagh L,
Messenger J, Rounce J. Ready to hit the ground
running‟: Alumni and employer accounts of a
unique part-time distance learning pre-registration
nurse education program. Nurse Education Today,
2014; 34: 1305-1310.
7. Field A. Discovering Statistics Using IBM SPSS
Statistics (4th Edition). London: Sage, 2013.
8. Garwood PT, Hassett A. Service user involvement
in cognitive behavioural therapy training: an
interpretive phenomenological analysis. The Journal
of Mental Health Training, Education and Practice,
2019; 14(3): 186-198.
9. Hadley J. Employability Skills and Graduate
Attributes. Journal of Health and Social Care
Improvement, 2017; 1(3): 1-6.
10. Harvey L. Defining and measuring employability.
Quality in Higher Education, 2001; 7(2): 97-110.
11. HESA (2019) Widening Participation: UK
Performance Indicators 2017/18. Available at:
https://www.hesa.ac.uk/news/07-02-2019/wideningparticipation-tables . (Accessed 10 August 2020)
12. Health and Care Professions Council (2018)
Standards of conduct, performance and ethics.
London: HCPC. Available at:
https://www.hcpcuk.org/globalassets/resources/stand
ards/standards- of-conduct-performance-andethics.pdf. (Accessed February 27, 2021).
13. Khalil K, Mohebbifar R, Rafiei S. Evidenced based
practice among healthcare providers across sectional
study. International Journal of Healthcare Quality
Assurance, 2019; 32(5): 867-878.
14. Knight P, Yorke M. Employability through the
curriculum. Skills Plus Project Report. The Open
University, United Kingdom, 2001.
15. Messum DG, Wilkes LM, Jackson D, Peters K.
Employability skills in health services management:
perceptions of recent graduates. Asia Pacific Journal
of Health Management, 2016; 11(1): 25-32.
16. NHS (2019) The NHS long term plan. Available at:
https://www.longtermplan.nhs.uk/ (Accessed 10
August 2020)
17. NHS England (2016) Leading Change, Adding
Value – a framework for nursing, midwifery.
Available at:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/lead
ing-change-adding-value-a-framework-fornursing-midwifery-and-care-staff/ (Accessed
10 August 2020)
18. Nursing and Midwifery Council. Standards for PreRegistration Nursing Education. London: NMC,
2018.
19. Saunders V, Zuzel K. Evaluating Employability
Skills: Employer and Student Perceptions.
Bioscience Education, 2010; 15: 1-15. DOI:
10.3108/beej.15.2.
20. Sumanasiri EGT, Yajid MS, Khatibi A. A
Conceptualising Learning and Employability
“Learning and Employability Framework”. Journal
of Education and Learning, 2015a; 4(2): 54-63.
21. Sumanasiri EGT, Yajid MS, Khatibi A. Review of
literature on graduate employability. Journal of
Studies in Education, 2015b; 5(3): 75-88.
22. Van Sheppingen AR, de Vroome EM, Ten Have
KC, Zwetsloot GI, Wiezer N, van Mechelen W.
Vitality at work and its associations with lifestyle,
self-determination, organizational culture, and with
employees‟ performance and sustainable
employability. Work, 2015; 52(1): 45-55.
23. Williamson S, Paulsen-Becejac L, Tong K, Minette
R, Forbes-Burford J. Embedding graduates‟
employability skills into health and social care
course – a scoping review. World Journal of
Advance Healthcare Research, 2020; 4(1): 147-164
24. Yorke M, Knight PT. Employability and Good
Learning in Higher Education. Teaching in Higher
Education, 2003; 8(1): 3-16.

Tools

CORE (COnnecting REpositories)

The University of West London

An exploration and analysis of the relative importance of employability skills for undergraduate nursing students as perceived by stakeholders - a mixed methods approach

Abstract

Actions (login required)

Menu