Background: The quality of nursing care rendered today is markedly reducing and the amount of time spent with patients listening to and explaining issues concerning their conditions is gradually diminishing. The therapeutic touch and the listening ear of the nurse are no longer accessible to the patient. Understanding what non-technical skills are and their relevance for healthcare practitioners has become a new area of consideration. Although recent literature has highlighted the necessity of introducing soft skills training and assessment within medical education, nursing education is yet to fully embrace this skills training.Objectives: The aim of this study was to explore nursing students’ understanding of the concept of soft skills and to acquire their perception on the need for soft skills training to promote quality nursing care.Methods: A quantitative research design with descriptive and explorative strategies was used. One hundred and ten nursing students were sampled after permission to conduct the study was requested and obtained from the University of KwaZulu-Natal Ethics Committee.Results: The results indicated that a majority (68.8%) of respondents understood the concept of soft skills and agreed with the definition of ‘soft skills’. They furthermore agreed that soft skills should be part of the training that student nurses receive during their professional training.Conclusion: The study revealed that there is a need for nursing students to be educated in soft skills and that this will enhance their job performances in the clinical environment and improve the way in which they communicate with their clients.

A true test of qualitative researchers’ competencies lies in their systematic data analysis, the ability to transform raw data into meaningful interpretations. This personal, creative, and rigorous activity requires both inductive and deductive logic in harmonising complex phrases to break ambiguity and clarify meanings for both amateurish and expert qualitative researchers. This integrative review used Whittemore and Knafl’s framework as a guide aimed to provide harmonised literature on qualitative data analysis for qualitative researchers to clarify the use of inductive and deductive analysis logic. The literature was searched from Scopus, CINAHL, and the Web of Science. Relevant studies were retrieved using qualitative data analysis, thematic analysis, qualitative content analysis, inductive analysis, deductive analysis, and coding as search terms and incorporated citation chaining with Google Scholar. The literature search explored dates ranging from 2000 to 2024, focusing on the English language to retrieve books, book chapters, and methodological papers that were applicable to the studies. The inductive dominant thematic analysis performed was guided by the question: What underlines the epistemological assumptions of inductive and deductive logic in qualitative data analysis? Twenty-six papers were included, with six themes emerging that include planning the research, coding fundamentals, inductive and deductive logic, content analysis, manifest and latent analysis, and thematic analysis. The review found a dual-logic approach to qualitative data analysis in health sciences research appropriate to provide valuable insight to further refine and improve the field of data analysis. Abductive or retroductive analysis is identified as the best fit for qualitative data analysis because researchers are either dominant in inductive and dormant in deductive or vice versa.

Background: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), a neurodevelopmental condition, has become a major concern for both developed and underdeveloped countries since the condition is associated with significant caregiver, family, and financial burdens. Approaches to educating these children, especially in their preschool years, are burdensome and demanding for both parents and teachers. Although it is recommended that children with ASD receive inclusive, age-appropriate education in mainstream school settings, there are barriers in Ghana. This study explored barriers faced by preschool teachers in implementing and adhering to inclusive education for children with ASD. Methods: The study employed an exploratory descriptive qualitative design to sample 17 participants in the Greater Accra Region using a purposive sampling technique. Data was collected through an in-depth virtual interview and analyzed using content analysis. Results: The study identified inadequate parental cooperation, poor ASD knowledge of the teachers, socio-cultural and political issues, and a lack of collaboration with other professionals as major barriers thwarting the success of inclusive education for children with ASD in Ghana. Conclusion: These barriers affect effective and successful adherence to inclusive education for children with ASD, and as such, we recommend orientation and special training for teachers, the provision of resources for effective child inclusion, and the creation of ASD awareness during the training of pre-school teachers.

Background: Speaking up to safeguard patients is a crucial ethical and moral obligation for nurses, but it is also a difficult and potentially dangerous component of nursing work. Health advocacy is gaining impetus in the medical literature, despite being hampered by barriers resulting in many nurses in Ghana remaining mute when faced with advocacy-required situations. We explored situations that thwart nurses from performing their health advocacy role. Research question: What would cause nurses to take no action when they witness situations that require them to act as health advocates for their clients or communities? Research Design: An inductive, descriptive qualitative design was used to collect and analyse data on barriers that prevent nurses from practising their health advocacy role in Ghana. Individual one-on-one in-depth interviews were conducted using a semi-structured interview guide. The data were analysed using qualitative content analysis. Participants and research context: Twenty-four professional nurses and midwives registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council were recruited from three regional hospitals in Ghana. These public hospitals were chosen from the upper, middle and coastal regions. Ethical considerations: The UKZN Ethics Review Committee in South Africa and the GHS Ethics Review Committee in Ghana both gave their approval for this study. Findings: Intrapersonal barriers, interpersonal barriers, and structural barriers emerged as major obstacles that nurses experience when performing their health advocacy role. Conclusions: Barriers to health advocacy have undermined nurses' ability to function as health advocates and are preventing them from utilising their health advocacy position in nursing practise. Giving nursing students positive role models in the classroom and in the clinic can help them become more effective health advocates.

Background: Identifying facilitators of health advocacy role practice of nurses is important in reducing health disparities and inequities in Ghana. The struggle to reducing these disparities and inequities needs a combination of bravery, courage, and professionalism. In many instances, many barriers hinder nurses from practicing their health advocacy role in Ghana. Facilitators that motivate nurses who would perform this health advocacy role have not been identified and adequately described in Ghana.Aim: To explore and describe the facilitators of the health advocacy role of nurses in Ghana.Methods: This qualitative study used Strauss and Corbin's grounded theory approach to collect and analyze data from 2018 to 2019 in three regions in Ghana. Semistructured interviews (n = 24) and field notes were used to collect data.Results: Professional influence emerged as a core category among other three facilitators that motivate nurses to perform the health advocacy role. The other three are clientele influence, intrinsic influence, and cultural influence.Conclusions: Facilitators to the health advocacy role practice of nurses are multidimensional and hidden. In this respect, educating hospital managers on these facilitators should be done through workshops and seminars to enhance the managers' strategies of motivating nurses to advocate for the less privileged and the disadvantaged of the society.

Background & Aim: While hard skills refer to the technical ability and factual knowledge needed to do a job, soft skills allow you to use your technical abilities and knowledge more effectively. These two skills are complementary, but soft skills are prerequisites in every profession where human interaction and teamwork are needed to succeed. This integrative review examined the research on soft skills in nursing and made recommendations based on its findings. Methods & Materials: Whittemore and Knafl’s five-step integrative review framework was carried out using four electronic databases. These databases are the Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), PubMed, Medline on EBSCOhost, and Scopus. Searches were conducted using keywords: soft skills, non-technical skills, nursing skills, nursing art, and aesthetics. The literature search explored no date ranges, and only the English language was considered. Full texts of relevant studies in both qualitative and quantitative research were retrieved. Critical appraisal was undertaken, and the findings of the relevant studies were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results: Seventeen studies were included, and the findings suggest an urgent need for soft skills in the nursing domain. Five themes emerged: the meaning of soft skills in nursing, the benefits of soft skills in nursing; the need for soft skills in nursing; the incorporation of soft skills into nursing practice; and the relationship between hard and soft skills. Findings show soft skills are the cognitive and social capabilities that complete the technical skills of the nurse. Conclusion: Incorporating soft skills into the nursing curriculum should be a resuscitative call that requires immediate attention.