| 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 criti... 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. |
