Coping Strategies Used by Newly Appointed Nurse Educators During Transition from Clinical Practice to Academia: A Qualitative Study.

Background: Transition from clinical to academia requires newly appointed nurse educators to deploy certain coping strategies to thrive in their newly assumed roles. This is because this period is often coupled with high teaching expectations, research, increased workloads, and a lack of proficiency with work-life balance, resulting in a lack of coping. Therefore, this study aimed to explore and describe the coping strategies used by newly appointed nurse educators in a South African university. Methods: A qualitative, explorative, and descriptive research design was used. Data were gathered from 12 newly appointed nurse educators using online semi-structured individual interviews. Nurse educators who joined academia from clinical practice within the last six months to five years were included in this study. Data were analysed using Cresswell and Cresswell's five steps for data analysis. Findings: Four categories emerged from the data: newly appointed nurse educators' experiences of problem-focused coping, emotion-focused coping, meaning-focused coping, and coping through support from others during the transition from clinical practice to academia. Among the many coping strategies, the participants expressed that they apply clinical experience, self-assertiveness, conflict management, and setting boundaries to cope with the transition to academia. Conclusions: The findings of this study suggest that the transition from clinical practice to academia remains challenging for newly appointed nurse educators. This study further suggests that there is a need to have support measures in place for newly appointed nurse educators during their transition to academia to improve their ability to cope.