Transitioning experiences from students to qualified radiotherapists in South Africa: A Qualitative Study

INTRODUCTION

The transition from a student to a qualified healthcare practitioner brings unique and challenging experiences, including conflicts in values, stress, and role uncertainty. During this period, graduates must adjust from being students whose activities were supervised in a controlled environment to working independently as qualified healthcare practitioners. Limited research exists on the experiences of radiotherapists transitioning from students to qualified radiotherapists. Therefore, this study sought to address this gap by exploring radiotherapists' experiences transitioning from being students to becoming qualified radiotherapists.

METHODS

This study employed a qualitative research approach with a phenomenological research design. Data were collected through individual, in-depth, semi-structured interviews with nine qualified radiotherapists and underwent thematic analysis. The study adhered to standards of trustworthiness and ethical considerations.

RESULTS

Thematic analysis generated two main themes, encountering the workplace as a qualified radiotherapist and support during the transition. Participants were excited and prepared to start working as qualified radiotherapists but also acknowledged the increased responsibilities and accountability that accompanied their new role. Adapting to the new workplace environments was challenging for the participants. Lastly, the participants emphasized the need for support during this transition period, and some expressed frustration and disappointment at the lack thereof.

CONCLUSION

The participants encountered diverse experiences as they transitioned from students to qualified radiotherapists. They were enthusiastic about working as qualified radiotherapists and emphasized how their clinical placements had prepared them for this new role. Workplace support during this transition period, such as orientation, clinical supervision, and a positive work environment, was crucial for building the participants' confidence and helping them adjust to new workplace environments. The study will contribute to a better understanding of newly qualified radiotherapists' experiences as they transition from being students to becoming qualified radiotherapists. The findings and recommendations from the study can offer valuable insights to support these individuals in their transition, aiding in their growth and development as confident healthcare practitioners.

Spatial thinking, gender and immaterial affective labour in the post-Fordist academic library

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to use spatial thinking (space-time) as a lens through which to examine the ways in which the socio-economic conditions and values of the post-Fordist academy work to diminish and even subsume the immaterial affective labour of librarians even as it serves to reproduce the academy.

Design/methodology/approach

The research question informing this paper asks, In what ways does spatial thinking help us to better understand the immaterial, invisible and gendered labour of academic librarians' public service work in the context of the post-Fordist university? This question is explored using a conceptual approach and a review of recent library information science (LIS) literature that situates the academic library in the post-Fordist knowledge economy.

Findings

The findings suggest that the feminized and gendered immaterial labour of public service work in academic libraries – a form of reproductive labour – remains invisible and undervalued in the post-Fordist university, and that academic libraries function as a procreative, feminized spaces.

Originality/value

Spatial thinking offers a corrective to the tendency in LIS to foreground time over space. It affords new insights into the spatial and temporal aspects of information work in the global neoliberal knowledge economy and suggests a new spatio-temporal imaginary of the post-Fordist academic library as a site of waged work.

Contextualising risk: the unfolding information work and practices of people during the COVID-19 pandemic

Purpose

The aim of this study is to investigate people's information practices as the SARS-CoV-2 virus took hold in the UK. Of particular interest is how people transition into newly created pandemic information environments and the ways information literacy practices come into view.

Design/methodology/approach

The qualitative research design comprised one-to-one in-depth interviews conducted virtually towards the end of the UK's first lockdown phase in May–July 2020. Data were coded and analysed by the researchers using constant comparative and situated analysis techniques.

Findings

Transition into new pandemic information environments was shaped by an unfolding phase, an intensification phase and a stable phase. Information literacy emerged as a form of safeguarding as participants engaged in information activities designed to mitigate health, legal, financial and well-being risks produced by the pandemic.

Research limitations/implications

Time constraints meant that the sample from the first phase of this study skewed female.

Practical implications

Findings establish foundational knowledge for public health and information professionals tasked with shaping public communication during times of crisis.

Social implications

This paper contributes to understandings of the role that information and information literacy play within global and long-term crises.

Originality/value

This is one of the first studies to explore information practices during the COVID-19 pandemic.