Browsing by Author "Fourie, Menanteau"
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- ItemThe development of a South African medical practitioners competency questionnaire(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2016-03) Fourie, Menanteau; Visser, Michelle; Theron, Callie; Stellenbosch University. Economic and Management Sciences. Dept. of Industrial PsychologyMedical practitioners are without a doubt one of the most fundamental role players in the functioning of hospitals and community health. The fraternity of industrial psychology can contribute to interventions ensuring optimal medical practitioner performance. The long-term objective of the study is to develop and test a medical practitioner competency model which is a structural model that reflects the medical practitioner competency potential variables, the situational variables as well as the competencies (behaviours) and outcomes that constitute medical practitioner performance. However, this objective was deemed slightly too ambitious for a single research study and consequently only the first phase of this research was done. This research aims to determine what behaviours constitute medical practitioner performance success. The research objectives were twofold. Firstly, to constitutively define the medical practitioner performance construct by developing a partial competency model and secondly, to develop a South African behavioural performance measure that could eventually be used to obtain multi-rater assessments of the latent behavioural variables in the partial South African Medical Practitioner’s Competency Model. From the literature study a partial medical practitioner competency model was developed that explicates the different latent behavioural and outcome variables comprising job performance of medical practitioners and the manner in which these latent variables are structurally interrelated. The South African research on this topic is extremely limited and therefore research had to be done to determine the competencies relevant to the South African context. A qualitative research approach was adopted to discover what behaviours are required for effective medical practitioner performance. In depth interviews were conducted utilising both the Repertory Grid and the Critical Incident Technique. This combination of techniques was highly effective in that the research question was investigated from different positions. The repertory grid phase of the interview allowed participants to contrast different behaviours in relation to medical practitioner performance which mainly lead to the identification of themes that was not identified in the literature review. During the critical incident phase of the interview the participants described specific behaviours in translating the meaning of the identified competencies in the South African context. Due to the exploratory nature of this research study an interpretivism research paradigm was adopted. A sample of seven family physician (specialised medical practitioners) was used in the data gathering phase. All participants are also employed in a supervisory role at respective public hospitals in South Africa. Through thematic analysis thirty-two distinct first-order themes relating to medical practitioner performance was elicited. These themes were contrasted with the competencies identified from literature and it were established that 31% of the themes were additional to the identified competencies from the literature study. The researcher categorised the first-order themes into eleven second-order themes. The behavioural denotations presented by the participants were used to write items for the South African Medical Practitioner Competency Questionnaire (SAMPCQ). The questionnaire still needs to be validated in future before it could be adopted in practice. The SAMPCQ could be used in future for performance evaluations and to determine developmental areas of medical practitioners. The South African Medical Practitioner Competency Model (SAMPCM) will eventually indicate the outcomes, competencies and competency potential required for effective medical practitioner performance. This contribution can assist with selection processes on tertiary level and development on a tertiary and post-tertiary level as the factors contributing to successful medical practitioner performance are understood.