TRANSITION OF FAMILIES THROUGH TERMINATION OF CONTINUOUS HOME NURSING CARE FOR TECHNOLOGY-DEPENDENT CHILDREN (CARE TERMINATION).
Contributors: Catholic University of America.
Published: 1995
Number of pages: 244
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: The purpose of this retrospective study was to describe the experience of transition occurring with termination of private duty home nursing care for the families of technology dependent children. The research questions guiding this proposal were: How do families experience the transition from continuous home nursing care through termination of that care? How do families perceive their functioning after home nursing care is terminated? What did families find as helpful in preparing for termination? What deficits did they identify? What coping strategies did families use during transition and after termination? What effect does termination have upon individual family members and the home care child?.

Using a descriptive exploratory design, twenty-five parents of technology-dependent children who required private duty home care nursing were interviewed to describe the transition period from private duty home care nursing to family-provided care. Schlossburg's (1984) model of transition provided the conceptual orientation for this study. Basic demographic data were collected to describe sample characteristics. Qualitative data analysis as described by Miles and Huberman (1984) was used to simultaneously analyze and direct data collection.

While technically-competent in the care of the child, families found themselves ill-prepared to access resources, cope with the emotional burden of the child's care, or advocate for their child within the health care system. Families progressed through three phases of assimilation as they adjusted to the termination: pervasiveness, disruption, and integration. Families used a variety of strategies to prepare for termination. They provided recommendations and interventions for professionals, and other families in preparing for and adjusting to termination. Parents additionally developed strategies that continued to be refined through the experience and after termination.

Termination also required readjustment in the marital relationship and as parent or sibling to the home care child. For example, the home care child demonstrated some acting-out and attention-getting behaviors after termination. The experience of the families in this study contributed to an understanding of a particular transition under a special set of circumstances, and also to the general understanding of how transitions occur as described by Schlossburg's (1984) model.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 55-12, Section: B, page: 5282.

Thesis (D.N.SC.)--THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA, 1995.

School code: 0043.