Study title

Kenya, South Africa, Thailand

Individual

Our data collection consisted in several surveys, carried out in 3 countries. The project was embedded in a cohort study of nurses across Kenya, South Africa and Thailand. In each country, nursing colleges were selected at random in rural and urban regions, and nursing students about to graduate and enter the labour market were invited to participate. We enrolled 342 nursing students in Thailand, 377 in South Africa and 345 in Kenya. During the baseline of this cohort study (2008) students took part in experimental economic games that were specifically designed for the present project. In addition, as part of the broader study, a range of socio-demographic information was collected.All respondents participated in two experimental economic games:- a dictator game (DG), where participants had to allocate an initial endowment between themselves and one of three recipient types (student, patient or impoverished)- a game which consisted of a series of pair-wise choices where participants chose between two possible money allocations between themselves and a patient. The game presented various institutions to investigate nurses’ social preferences and the effects of some mechanisms that might affect pro-social attitudes. Economics students in each country were subjected to the same experiments to enable comparison between nurses and “standard” subjects to such games (Thailand= 127, Kenya=55, South Africa=55). As part of the cohort study, nursing students were followed up at one year to record the actual employment status (public vs. private sector, rural vs. urban location). A significant attrition rate reduced the number of nurses who could be interviewed. Only 238 and 177 could be reached for a follow-up interview respectively in Thailand and Kenya. In South Africa, nurses complete a two-year compulsory service, and thus are unable to make a choice until the end of 2010, beyond the period of this study.