A theoretical framework created from a repertory grid analysis of graduate nurses in relation to the feelings they experience in clinical practice

This paper outlines a theoretical framework that was created as a result of an investigation into the feelings graduate nurses have towards clinical practice. The framework offers an explanation of the complexity of emotions which need to be considered when considering why it is that people react in the way they do to their environment. The study from which this framework emerged was a repertory grid analysis of six graduates from an English university in their first year of practice. From the elicited constructs six themes emerged: feelings related to connectedness; feelings related to job satisfaction; feelings related to effectiveness; feelings related to ability; feelings related to threat to self; and feelings related to pressure of work.