The Development of Concepts for a Concept-Based Advanced Practice Nursing (Child Health Nurse Practitioner) Curriculum for Sub-Saharan Africa

Sep 30, 2026

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Background: Developing appropriate health workforce cadres for underserved communities is essential for Universal Health Coverage in sub-Saharan Africa. Prior Advanced Practice Nursing initiatives in the region faced limited resources, resistance from the medical profession, inefficient nursing regulation, and the absence of a context-specific APN benchmark. This study developed concepts to guide institutions in creating a concept-based Child Health Nurse Practitioner curriculum for sub-Saharan Africa. Methods: A multimethod approach used a scoping review, a Delphi process, and a curriculum committee. Results and Conclusion: Fourteen concepts were developed and analyzed, producing a comprehensive, context-specific guide for responsive APN curriculum development.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages13

Reading Time33 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Background and Introduction

Rural health workforce challenges

Rationale for Advanced Practice Nursing

Concept-based curriculum rationale

International Journal of Caring Sciences September-December 2019 Volume 12 | Issue 3| Page 1410 Original Article The Development of Concepts for a Concept-Based Advanced Practice Nursing (Child Health Nurse Practitioner) Curriculum for Sub-Saharan Africa Christmal Dela Christmals, BSc, MSc, PhD, RN Centre for Health Policy, School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of itwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa Department of Nursing Education, School of Therapeutic Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa Lizelle Crous, BSocSc, MSc, RN Department of Nursing Education, School of Therapeutic Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa Susan Jennifer Armstrong, DCur, MSc., BEd (Hons), BACur Department of Nursing Education, School of Therapeutic Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa Correspondence: Dr Christmal Dela Christmals (BSc, MSc, PhD, RN) Centre for Health Policy, School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Witwatersrand, 27 St Andrews Road, Parktown 2193, Johannesburg, South Africa Department of Nursing Education, School of Therapeutic Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Witwatersrand, 7 York Road, Parktown 2193, Johannesburg, South Africa [CCI] Email: [joechristmal@yahoo.com](joechristmal@yahoo.com) [christmal.christmals@wits.ac.za](christmal.christmals@wits.ac.za) Abstract Background: The training of appropriate cadres of health workforce who are willing to be deployed to underserved communities is essential to the realization of Universal Health Coverage in sub-Saharan Africa. Attempts to introduce Advanced Practice Nursing programmes in sub-Saharan Africa were thwarted by limited resources, opposition from the medical profession, inefficient nursing regulation and regulatory bodies, and lack of context-specific APN benchmark. This study sought to develop concepts for the Child Health Nurse Practitioner (CHNP) programme to serve as guide institutions in developing a concept-based Advanced Practice Nursing curricula in sub-Saharan Africa. Methods: A multimethod study comprising a scoping review, a Delphi and a curriculum committee was used to develop concepts for Child Health Nurse Practitioner curriculum development in this study. Results: 14 concepts namely: transformational leadership, governance, systems thinking, quality of care, clinical assessment, clinical decision making, treatment selection, nursing case management, child mortality, medical record management, teaching, influencing curriculum, nursing research and research dissemination were developed and analysed in this study. Conclusion: The concepts for the Child Health Nursing Practitioner curriculum are comprehensive, and provides a context-specific guide for Nursing Education Institutions in developing responsive concept-based Child Health Nurse Practitioner and other Advanced Practice Nursing curricula in sub-Saharan Africa. Keywords: Concept-based Curriculum, Advanced Practice Nursing, Child Health Nurse Practitioner, SubSaharan Africa Background and Introduction Between 70 to 90% of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) population, reside in rural areas that are mostly deprived of essential healthcare services and medical doctors due to acute shortage and the refusal of physicians to be deployed to such rural and hard to reach communities. The training of appropriate cadres of health workforce who are willing to be deployed to underserved communities is essential to the realization of Universal Health Coverage in SSA (Soucat, Scheffler & Ghebrey, 2013; Hiatt et al., 2017) . The inaccessibility of quality health care services by the rural communities necessitated the introduction of Advanced Practice Nursing (APN) in the United Kingdom, Canada, America and other jurisdictions (Pirret, Neville & La Grow, 2015; S

FAQs

What problem does the study address for sub-Saharan Africa?

It addresses the need for an appropriate Advanced Practice Nursing framework for underserved communities, which was previously blocked by limited resources, professional opposition, weak regulation, and lack of context-specific APN benchmarks.

How were concepts for the Child Health Nurse Practitioner curriculum developed?

The study used a multimethod design including a scoping review, a Delphi process, and a curriculum committee to develop and analyze curriculum concepts.

What are the main outcomes of the study?

The study produced 14 developed and analyzed concepts for the Child Health Nurse Practitioner curriculum, offering a comprehensive, context-specific guide for nursing education institutions to build responsive concept-based APN curricula.

Sep 30, 2026

Uploaded by Muffet