Managing in Critical Care Settings: A Qualitative Study of South African Nurse Unit Managers and the Psychological Contract.

Introduction: Little is written about the management of psychological contracts by nurse unit managers (NUMs) in critical care settings and how this perspective contributes to the performance, experiences, and views of nurses and nursing teams. Psychological contracts are important regulators of the employer-employee relationship, with managers (NUMs) being the embodiment of the employer in managing the contract.

Objectives: This qualitative study answers a call for research on the NUM perspective of the psychological contract given the role they play in the wellbeing of critical care nurses and quality of care provided.

The changing meaning of 'home' in the work of South African women academics during the pandemic-enforced lockdown.

This article shows how the meaning of home and 'working from home' were fundamentally transformed by the pandemic-enforced lockdown for women academics. Drawing on the experiences of more than 2,000 women academics, we show how the enduring concept of home as a place of refuge from the outside world was replaced with a new and still unsettled notion of home as a gendered space that is a congested, competitive, and constrained setting for women's academic work. In this emerging new place for living and working, home becomes a space that is claimed, conceded, and constantly negotiated between women academics and their partners as well as the children and other occupants under the same roof.

Women academics and the changing psychological contract during COVID-19 lockdown.

This study examines the psychological contract between academics and their institutions during a time of great stress-the COVID-19 pandemic. Given that relationships between these parties have been found to be deteriorating prior to the pandemic, we believed it pertinent to explore how environmental changes brought about through lockdown conditions may have shifted the academic-institution relationship. Through a qualitative research design, our data is from 2029 women academics across 26 institutions of higher learning in South Africa.

Us and them: Experiences of agency nurses in intensive care units.

Objective: This qualitative case study describes the work experiences of agency nurses from their perspective. It explores their interactions with intensive care unit managers to whom they report in their designated intensive care units and their relationships with fellow permanent nurses.

Methods: A qualitative study was undertaken in three intensive care units at a public hospital in South Africa.

Intensive care nurses in South Africa: Expectations and experiences in a public sector hospital.

Aim: To explore the content, fulfilment and potential breach of nurses' psychological contracts and provide a nuanced understanding of the expectations and lived experiences of intensive care unit (ICU) nurses.

Background: The challenges presented by the South African healthcare system have implications for the motivation and retention levels of ICU nurses. In an environment such as the ICU, personnel dynamics and nursing management's role are crucial to success.

The role of the psychological contract in the motivation of nurses.

Purpose Although private health care is regarded as providing a premium quality experience for both patients and staff alike, it is not without its daily challenges for health professionals. This study aims to explore the psychological contract of nurses to develop a greater understanding of how employee-employer interaction impacts motivation levels. Design/methodology/approach Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with thirteen nurses at a private hospital in South Africa.

Human resource management practices in a medical complex in the Eastern Cape, South Africa: assessing their impact on the retention of doctors.

Background: Human resource management (HRM) practices have the potential to influence the retention of doctors in the public health sector.

Objective: To explore the key human resource (HR) practices affecting doctors in a medical complex in the Eastern Cape, South Africa.

Methods: We used an open-ended questionnaire to gather data from 75 doctors in this setting.