Date of Award
Fall 11-8-2018
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Nursing Science (DNS)
Department
Nursing
Committee Chair/First Advisor
Dr. Jackie Jones
Committee Chair
Dr. Mary de Chesnay
Second Committee Member
Dr. Maia Hallward
Abstract
This study uses life history methodology to examine the personal experience of being an Omani woman during the Omani Renaissance, choosing a career in nursing, and evolving into a nurse leader. There is a lack of research on why Omani women choose to enter the workforce, choose nursing career paths, and what sustains them in the nursing workforce. There is also a lack of research on the path to Omani nurse leadership. The research question is: What is the personal experience of being an Omani woman during the Omani Renaissance, choosing a career in nursing, and becoming a nurse leader? Life history methodology was used to examine the life of an Omani woman nurse leader within a few years of retirement, who has been a nurse in Oman since she was a young woman, in relation to the context in which her life occurs. The researcher spent many hours of informal time and conducted four in-depth interviews with this nurse. Interviews were also conducted with ten colleagues, as well as three family members. Inductive thematic analysis revealed three dominant themes: opportunity, visionary, and nursing; with subthemes: national identity, country building, nursing pioneer, leadership, perseverance, resilience, mentors, advocacy, caring, and fulfillment. Conclusions from this study are that opportunities, personal attributes and motivations all played a role in overcoming barriers to empowerment in the workforce and shaped decisions about employment. Additionally, personal attributes of perseverance and resilience, as well as mentors, facilitated leadership development.