OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1.1 Introduction The background, problem statement, research questions and objectives, paradigmatic perspective, research methodology and ethical considerations of this research will be discussed in this chapter. 1.2 Background and problem statement Nursing is a nurturing profession and caring is an essential component of its practice (Peery, 2010:53). Due to increased complexity of job description, the unpredictable changes in one’s daily work routine, unrealistic expectations from patients and their families, and common encounters with ethical and end of life issues, hospitals are seen as stressful places of employment (Mealer, Burnham, Goode, Rothbaum & Moss, 2009:1118). Nurses have a duty to compassionately care for the sick, wounded, traumatized, and the weak in their charge, which personally exposes them to patients’ pain, trauma and suffering on a daily basis (Knobloch-Coetzee & Klopper, 2010:235). Within the daily interaction with patients, nurses are confronted with deep emotions like fear, frustration, stress, anxiety and disappointment (Trewich, 2008:16). Nurses differ in their ability to work through these emotions. The majority of nurses can successfully work through them and carry on, but …show more content…
Research done by Sherring and Knight (2009:1239) amongst nurses in the United Kingdom has found that 41% of these nurses experience emotional exhaustion, whereas as a study done in Malawi by Thorsen, Tharp and Meguid (2011:1) found that 72% of nurses reported emotional exhaustion. Nurses with high levels of emotional exhaustion are more likely to quit the nursing profession according to Sherring and Knight