Meaning in caring: reconceptualizing the nurse–family carer relationship in community practice

Abstract

To date family caregiving studies have considered family caring in primarily practical terms such as 'how to do' and 'how to cope'. Research efforts have focused upon exploiting the productive elements of a certain conception of the essence of family caregiving. Thus despite a wealth of studies, the question of the nature of family caregiving is not well understood. This ontological-hermeneutic study highlights the importance of understanding the human experience of family caring at home. The study involved in-depth audio-taped interviews with seven family carers who care for an older relative at home. Thematic analysis of the transcribed interviews uncovered a number of common themes which highlighted unique and shared meanings family carers ascribed to their everyday existence as carers. The findings will challenge practitioners to reconceptualize the nurse-family carer relationship, to appreciate the many ways in which family members' involvement in care provides meaning and significance to their lives, and to understand family carers through a process of human relating which fosters families' meaningful involvement in caring at home.

Perceptions of the Relationship Between Mental Health Professionals and Family Caregivers: Has There Been Any Change?

“…Tesch (1990) states that meaning in the data can be found by identifying themes, some of which are expressed during the interviews while others emerge during intensive scrutiny of the transcriptions (Boyatzis, 1998). Thematic analysis is a way of seeing something in the data that is not always obvious at first glance and has been used by Rose (1998), Kellett and Mannion (1999), and Ayres (2000) to describe the caregiving experience. Therefore this method was employed to identify main themes and subthemes specific to the relationship between the two groups of caregivers.…”

`Seeking': a key activity for new family carers of stroke survivors

“…Adopting such a perspective highlights the importance of professionals creating a partnership with family carers (Askham, 1998; Kirk & Glendinning, 1998; Kellet & Mannion, 1999) so as to provide support that is consistent with their needs at specific points in a caring `career' (Anehensel et al. , 1995; Nolan et al.…”

Exploring the emotional support needs and coping strategies of family carers

“…When caregiving is needed, family members provide most of the support, yet, frequently find that they are unprepared for their new roles as caregivers and decision makers (Nolan & Grant 1989, Ruddle et al 1997, Kellett & Mannion 1999). Turner & Street (1999) discovered information, coping with stress and dealing with emotions to be important areas where carers require help.…”