Nurturing an evolving identity: a hermeneutic phenomenological exploration of the lived experiences of nurses working as academics in UK universities.

Hill, Barry (2024) Nurturing an evolving identity: a hermeneutic phenomenological exploration of the lived experiences of nurses working as academics in UK universities. Doctoral thesis, Northumbria University.

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Abstract

This doctoral research focused on the experiences and perspectives of registered nurse academics within three higher education institutions in the UK. Nurse education and the broader healthcare sector are increasingly complex and there are challenges recruiting nurses to academic roles. To meet the aspirations of the NHS long-term workforce plan, an increase in nurse academics is needed. Understanding the role and how people can be supported in the transition to the role is important to their attraction and retention. There is a shortage of empirical research to help understand this issue.
The primary aim of this study was to understand the lived experiences of registered adult nurses who have transitioned to academic roles in higher education in the UK. Following ethical approval, within an interpretive paradigm, a hermeneutic phenomenological research design was used. In-depth data was collected from recorded, individual, semi-structured interviews with 30 participants, purposively sampled from three higher education institutions in the UK. Data were transcribed verbatim and initially analysed using qualitative thematic analysis. Data were further analysed using the hermeneutic circle and a hermeneutical phenomenological lens.
Four themes were identified from the participants' experiences: experiences of nurse academic identity; service culture of nursing; influence of others on nurse identity; and experiences of competence. From the deeper phenomenological analysis, four key outcomes were identified: being a nurse; organisational socialisation; social identity switching; and job satisfaction.
These insights led to the creation of a new theoretical model to explain how nurse academics in my study developed their identity. These new insights can potentially be used to inform the attraction and retention of nurse academics to a career in higher education in the UK.

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