Postgraduate education : personal, organisational and higher educational barriers experienced by radiographers in KwaZulu-Natal

Abstract

INTRODUCTION Radiography is a profession of rapidly advancing technology, changing scope of profession and practice and intolerance for anything but quality service delivery. The profession demands competent and relevant radiographers who are engaged in Postgraduate Education (PGE) which will facilitate consistence, relevance, competence and excellence. Participation in PGE is critical therefore barriers need to be eliminated. PURPOSE This study sought to investigate the barriers to PGE that radiographers in KwaZulu Natal (KZN) experienced at personal, organisational and higher educational levels. In addressing these, participation in PGE should increase and an improvement in the quality of radiographic services will then result to the end users, in this case the people of South Africa. METHOD A quantitative, descriptive research approach using surveys, was used to collect primary data from a randomly selected sample of 283 radiographers across all categories of radiography in the public and private sectors within KwaZulu-Natal. A questionnaire comprising of closed questions with a five-point Likert scale, and open-ended questions was utilised. SPSS and inferential statistics were used to identify relationships and associations between the variables. A p-value ˂0.05 was considered to indicate a significant result. The return of 121 responses yielded a response rate was 42.8%. RESULTS Significant differences were identified between variables in the personal, organisational and higher educational barriers. Personal barriers such as nonrecognition for PGE and non-remuneration that would elevate personal status and self-esteem were identified as the main barriers to PGE. Lack of time, lack of motivation, and lack of funding were also noted. PGE was found to be a lower personal priority for males than for females (p<0.05). Personal health was not a hindering factor for females (p<0.05). The lack of financial support by the employer (p<0.05) and heavy workloads created organisational barriers. No time off to study, staff shortages as well as lack of incentives or rewards for PGE were also identified at the organisational level. A significant difference was found for employee development and remuneration for additional training between the public and private sector (p<0.05). Higher educational barriers included a lack of quality local courses, inequalities in the admission criteria and quota system and instability such as protest action and untimely disruptions. CONCLUSION To effectively address the barriers to PGE, recommendations were made to radiographers to take responsibility for their professional development by adopting a culture of life-long learning to remain competent. Return on investment is guaranteed for organisations that support employee development. HEIs need to ensure quality supervision and support for appropriate PGE in order to meet industry demands for high quality, standardised courses. Barriers to PGE have no place in radiography where participation in PGE is critical.