NURSING INTERVENTIONS TO ENCOURAGE RESIDENTS' SELF-CARE IN LONG-TERM CARE: AN ETHNOGRAPHY.
Contributors: Adelphi University.
Published: 1993
Number of pages: 214
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: It has been suggested that the value placed on self-care by the nursing profession may not be reflected in the actual practice of nurses in long term care. A review of the nursing literature reveals no studies that describe interventions to encourage residents' self-care in long term care. The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the nurses' perspective of nursing interventions to encourage residents' self-care in long term care.

Over time nurses who work together share assumptions, values and beliefs that give meaning to their experience and inform their practice. In this way, they can be recognized as practice cultures. Studies of self-care in nursing have relied primarily on quantitative methods and therefore have not recognized the context, or culture in which nursing practice occurs.

The relationship between culture and symbolic interactionism formed the framework that guided this study. Spradley's (1980) Developmental Research Sequence was utilized as the research protocol. With data from multiple interviews and extensive observations, the researcher, in collaboration with four nurse participants, has described the nurses' perspective of self-care interventions.

The nurses' perspective is not just a result of their interpretation of their experience; the process of giving meaning to their Self-Care Interventions is their practice. This is reflected in the cultural themes that emerged from the data. The overarching theme "Conundrum of Collaboration" represents the contradictions of Self-Care Interventions in this practice culture. The nurses' resolution of this conflict was seen through three mediating themes. "Taking Time" reflects the necessity of using the time the nurses have with the residents, for the residents. "Engaging Dialogue of Presence" recognizes that to encourage self-care the nurses must engage the self of the resident. "Day Trips Toward Restoration" shows the nurses being with the residents as the residents define and redefine their self-care. The findings of this study reveal a new view of self-care by putting forth the notion of an empowering nurse/resident self-care relationship, which suggests a feminist model of self-care.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-08, Section: B, page: 4084.

Thesis (PH.D.)--ADELPHI UNIVERSITY, 1993.

School code: 0001.