The perceptions of nurses in a district health system in KwaZulu-Natal of their supervision, self-esteem and job satisfaction.

BACKGROUND: Supervision has been identified as a major issue in quality of care. Although increasing attention is being given to supervision in the District Health System, there have been no studies describing the current situation. This article describes a survey done in two health districts in KwaZulu-Natal involving 319 nurses from all types of government health care settings.

METHODS: This was a quantitative descriptive study that described the current supervision, job satisfaction and self-esteem in two (2) health districts, that is the Ugu and the uThukela health districts. The three variables were described using a mailed questionnaire. A total 319 nurses participated in this study.

RESULTS: The majority of the nurses (53%) felt that positive supervision behaviours listed in a rating scale, occurred never or seldom. The average self-esteem score was very positive (83%), and the average job satisfaction score was 60%. Nurses were most satisfied with the factor reflecting "personal satisfaction about their contribution to the work" (72%) and the least satisfaction with the factor that has to do with "pay and prospects" (50%). While there was no relationship between any of the demographic variables and supervision, there was a low but significant relationship between supervision and job-satisfaction. A significant relationship was also found between the personal satisfaction factor of job satisfaction and self-esteem.

CONCLUSION: As nurses form the backbone of the health services, it is incumbent that health service managers safeguard the nursing workforce. Targeted strategies are necessary to ensure retention of the nurses for the health care of the South African population.