"I felt a sense of belonging somewhere". Supporting graduates' job transitions with WhatsApp groups

Abstract

Background: Nurse graduates' transition into the world of work is a very challenging phase of professional development. This research examined the affordances of using moderated WhatsApp groups to support nurse graduates in this phase.

Approach and methods: Study participants, newly graduated nurses (n = 72) from South Africa, were assigned to two WhatsApp groups. The groups were facilitated by moderators during the 12-week intervention. The intervention was based on a curriculum that incorporated topics related to professional immersion that emerged from a priori needs assessment. Twelve individual interviews were carried out and analysed together with the written conversations from the WhatsApp chats using content analysis as part of an interpretive paradigm.

Results: Three central affordances emerged in the analysis: (1) Instructional: joint learning and cooperative problem solving in-situ; (2) Social: co-constructing proximity and providing motivational and socio-emotional support; (3) Professional: scaffolding job immersion in becoming and being a nurse. Through re-connecting relatable social ties (former students) and tapping into a medium that afforded intimacy, immediacy and high levels of ownership, the intervention offered spatially, socio-culturally and often emotionally 'dislocated' graduates a provisional space to belong to.

Conclusions: The feasibility and dynamics of supporting graduates in marginalised and remote areas with a facilitated, peer-mediated and WhatsApp-based transition support group are shown; practical recommendations and challenges are discussed.

Keywords: Graduates; Instant messaging; Mobile instant messaging; Postgraduate nursing; Study-to-work transition; WhatsApp.