Thematic analysis

A number of themes have been extracted from the data. The key ones picked out for the study are:

• Becoming a learning disability nurse


• Role Diversity


• Identity


• change

Within the first theme of 'becoming a learning disability nurse there were some key points and questions for me to use to scrutinise the data. Initially there were many questions but in phase two these were reduced further Phase 1

1) Influences & choices

Influencing factors in thinking about becoming a nurse – people – parents/friends/girlfriends/boyfriends. Personality styles? – saw self as a ‘carer’. Wanted to ‘make a difference’. Deliberate or non deliberate decision to ‘choose’ LD nursing. What people wanted to be prior to this (if anything). At what point did they decide to apply to LD nursing? Educational background – failed A levels etc

2) Applying inc. Timing – life events etc

Timing – personal - At what age did they apply and what were the life events surrounding this. Ie needing to leave home/unemployment)

Timing – policy – where were we at in terms of policy? Were people making direct applications to hospitals or through an education establishment.?

3) Knowledge and experience of LD

Did an pre application experience of working with people with learning disabilities (pwld) influence the decision to apply. (In the main – yes) How do people describe this experience? Not just pwld but the staff who work with them as influencing too. The notion of ‘injustice’ and wanting to ‘make a difference’

4) Experiences during training

Type of training – joint training with mental health/ starting with another branch of nursing ie adult/ changing branches part way through a course (indecision – what led to this?) Both positive and negative experiences during training and the shaping of the nurse. Resilience

Phase 2

The theme was further reduced into two key categories:

• Influencing factors - The influence of people, timing and experience


• Experiences during training - types of training, decisions/indecision, resilience and change

The next steps 20 participants with interviews of on average 90 minutes generates a large data set and in order to undertake in depth analysis I am selecting 6 particpants as 'cases' to scrutinise in depth and the remaining 14 participant's experienceswill be drawn in to illustrate appropriate concepts and issues. Pen pictures or vignettes have been written for all participants to give the reader a feel for the careers of those involved.