Understanding employee engagement among midwives in public health care facilities in a sub-district, North West Province

M (Nursing Science in NuMIQ Research Focus Area), North-West University, Potchefstroom CampusBackground: Currently, South Africa experiences a high turnover of midwives. Midwives leave the South African public health facilities mainly due to reduced staff levels as there are many vacant posts not filled. The overall deterioration of the work environment e.g. broken equipment and shortage of necessary supplies, low image in the community they serve and legal issues such as disciplinary hearings about misconduct that is reported to the South African Nursing Council. The existing retention strategies used in public health facilities seems to be ineffective in addressing nurses’ turnover. It is against this background that the researcher seeks to understand midwives’ employee engagement in selected public health facilities in a sub-district of North West Province. Research Aim: The aim of this research is to derive recommendations on how public health facilities could improve employee engagement amongst midwives, to enhance maternity service delivery and improve staff retention. Research Design and method: In this study the researcher used a qualitative descriptive design and data were collected by means of semi-structured individual interviews and field notes. Content analysis is descriptive using inductive and deductive techniques in which the researcher revealed the experiences of midwives regarding their understanding of employee engagement. Results: Different barriers were identified. The level of employee engagement of these midwives are low and it will not be easy to retain them. A few enhancers were identified. The barriers were much more than the enhancers and attention to recommendations can assist the sub-district-, district- and North West Department of Health management to take action to retain specialist and experienced midwives in deprived socioeconomic rural district public health facilities.Master