‘Relatives are a resource, but…’: Registered Nurses' views and experiences of relatives of residents in nursing homes

Abstract

Registered Nurses (RNs) working in nursing homes in Sweden have obligations towards the residents' relatives, besides the care of residents. Relatives' involvement and satisfaction with the care partly depend on their contacts and communication with the staff. This study aimed to explore and describe RNs' views and experiences of relatives of residents who live in nursing homes. Open interviews were conducted with 19 RNs at three nursing homes. The verbatim-transcribed interviews were subjected to qualitative content analysis. Relatives were seen as a resource (with some restrictions) and nice, although demanding. The RNs saw relatives as part of their work--a part that could be time-consuming and had low priority. Interviewees noticed a difference between young and old relatives, and between female and male relatives. A large proportion of accounts could be related to issues about communication and interpersonal relationships with relatives. Building a trusting relationship with relatives may result in them being involved in residents' care and thus giving the nurses time rather than consuming time.

Pårørende en betinget ressurs? En kvalitativ studie av pårørende til langtidsbeboere i sykehjem sine erfaringer av egen rolle

“…Pårørendes egne behov blir ofte ikke ansett som pleiepersonalets ansvar (Haesler et al, 2010;Hertzberg, Ekman & Axelsson, 2003). Tidligere forskning har rapportert at pårørende har behov for oppfølging etter at deres naermeste har flyttet til sykehjemmet, både når det gjelder egne og beboernes behov, og at de ønsker å bli involvert (Eika et al, 2014;Hanssen & Sommerseth, 2014;Lindman Port, 2004;Rognstad et al, 2015;Smith, Dewar, Pullin & Tocher, 2010).…”

Atitudes dos enfermeiros face à família: validação da escala Families' Importance in Nursing Care - Nurses Attitudes

“…Some studies acknowledged atti tudes and behaviors that minimize family involvement in care (9,(12)(13)(14) . Such atti tudes are manifested through restricti ng the presence of families during the performance of nursing acti viti es and also restricti ng their presence in services such as Intensive Care Units (ICU) (13) , based on the belief that the family is unable to care for its sick member (14) and on the convicti on that the family negati vely infl uences their work.…”

“…Some studies acknowledged atti tudes and behaviors that minimize family involvement in care (9,(12)(13)(14) . Such atti tudes are manifested through restricti ng the presence of families during the performance of nursing acti viti es and also restricti ng their presence in services such as Intensive Care Units (ICU) (13) , based on the belief that the family is unable to care for its sick member (14) and on the convicti on that the family negati vely infl uences their work. There are various instruments and questi onnaires that enable the identi fi cati on of the atti tudes of nurses toward families when evaluati ng their needs, percepti ons and experiences (15) and also in relati on to the family parti cipati ng in care delivery (16)(17) .…”

Conceptualizaciones sobre la atención a personas con demencia en residencias de mayores

“…Así, la atención ha estado más orientada a cubrir las necesidades físicas o a la aplicación de protocolos estandarizados, que a satisfacer las necesidades psicosociales de las personas con demencia y sus familiares, como el mantenimiento de su entorno sociocultural y de sus relaciones sociales 2,3,4 . Recientes estudios muestran las deficiencias de este enfoque, planteando la necesidad de individualizar los cuidados y prestarlos en entornos hogareños, donde la familia sea considerada parte activa en la planificación de la asistencia 3,5 . En esta línea, nuevos enfoques como la Medicina Basada en Narrativas (MBN) proponen la inclusión de la experiencia personal y de los relatos, tanto de los usuarios como de sus familiares, en la práctica clínica, al considerar también la demencia como un proceso sociocultural y no solo clínico 6 .…”

“…Además, sabemos que la participación de los familiares en ciertos aspectos del cuidado reduce su angustia, aumenta la satisfacción con la atención 16 y mejora las relaciones con el personal asistencial 5,10,20 .…”