“They can do whatever they want”: Meanings of receiving psychiatric care based on a common staff approach

This study deepens our understanding of how patients, when cared for in a psychiatric ward, experience situations that involve being handled according to a common staff approach. Interviews with nine former psychiatric in-patients were analyzed using a phenomenological–hermeneutic method to illuminate the lived experience of receiving care based on a common staff approach. The results revealed several meanings: discovering that you are as subjected to a common staff approach, becoming aware that no one cares, becoming aware that your freedom is restricted, being afflicted, becoming aware that a common staff approach is not applied by all staff, and feeling safe because someone else is responsible. The comprehensive understanding was that the patient's understanding of being cared for according to a common staff approach was to be seen and treated in accordance with others' beliefs and valuations, not in line with the patients' own self-image, while experiencing feelings of affliction

Aspects of institutional care of patients with dementia

The aim of the present study was to investigate all long-term institutions in the county of Västerbotten, Northern Sweden, to give a detailed description of the institutionalized population with respect to motor functions, vision, hearing, speech, ADL-functions, prevalence of psychiatric symptoms and behavioral disturbances, staff work load, use of psychoactive drugs and prevalence of dementia. Another aim was to select some specific 'problem areas' in the nursing care of demented patients for further descriptive and interventional studies. For this reason, morning care procedure (hygiene, dressing), meal behavior (eating, communication), nutrition, constipation and relocation between institutions were selected. The results of the study have been reported in six papers summarized below: I.The study has shown that the proportion of demented patients is increasing in longterm institutions in Sweden. Furthermore, demented patients were shown to be more impaired in all rated functioning abilities and exhibited more psychiatric symptoms and behavioral symptoms. A high proportion of the demented probands were also prescribed psychoactive drugs, i.e. neuroleptics. II. Five patients with Alzheimer-type dementia were monitored during morning care. A 12-step classification system was developed to be used as a guide to understand and determine abilities essential for performance of morning care for demented patients. The quantitative assessment showed that none of the patients were able to manage morning care independently, but there was a wide variation in their highest level of performance. III. Five patients with Alzheimer-type dementia were observed (video taped) during their meals in a changed meal milieu and with new meal routines. When the patients ate without staff participation, the two least demented patients became 'caregivers'. When two mental nurses joined the group, first in civil clothes and then in white uniforms, the patients dropped their roles as helpers. The patients were able to compose complete meals in 0-79 per cent of the meals. The conversation during the meals could be characterized as incomplete, with short sentences and a lot of breaks. Sixty-three per cent of all utterances were about food and eating and almost all conversation concerned the present time. IV. Thirty-three psychogeriatric patients, with severe constipation were given a high- bran bread instead of their accustomed laxatives. During the high-bran treatment period, the number of bowel evacuations and the volume of faeces increased. The total laxative consumption decreased by 93 per cent. V. Nutritional status and dietary intake were studied in a sample of severely demented, institutionalized patients. Energy and /or protein malnutrition was found in 50 per cent of the patients. The mean energy intake was 2059 kcal. Malnourished patients had had four times as many infectious periods during their hospital stay as patients without malnutrition. Thirty-nine of 44 patients lost weight during their hospital stay. VI. Thirty-three psychogeriatric patients were followed for 36 weeks after relocation from a mental hospital to two newly built nursing homes. An intensive pre-relocation program was performed. No negative effects of the relocation were found. On the contrary, the relocated group improved their ADL-functions after the transfer. Based upon the above cited studies, a model for nursing care of demented patients is presented.S. 1-45: sammanfattning, s. 46-192: 6 uppsatserdigitalisering@um

Aspects of institutional care of patients with dementia

The aim of the present study was to investigate all long-term institutions in the county of Västerbotten, Northern Sweden, to give a detailed description of the institutionalized population with respect to motor functions, vision, hearing, speech, ADL-functions, prevalence of psychiatric symptoms and behavioral disturbances, staff work load, use of psychoactive drugs and prevalence of dementia. Another aim was to select some specific 'problem areas' in the nursing care of demented patients for further descriptive and interventional studies. For this reason, morning care procedure (hygiene, dressing), meal behavior (eating, communication), nutrition, constipation and relocation between institutions were selected. The results of the study have been reported in six papers summarized below: I.The study has shown that the proportion of demented patients is increasing in longterm institutions in Sweden. Furthermore, demented patients were shown to be more impaired in all rated functioning abilities and exhibited more psychiatric symptoms and behavioral symptoms. A high proportion of the demented probands were also prescribed psychoactive drugs, i.e. neuroleptics. II. Five patients with Alzheimer-type dementia were monitored during morning care. A 12-step classification system was developed to be used as a guide to understand and determine abilities essential for performance of morning care for demented patients. The quantitative assessment showed that none of the patients were able to manage morning care independently, but there was a wide variation in their highest level of performance. III. Five patients with Alzheimer-type dementia were observed (video taped) during their meals in a changed meal milieu and with new meal routines. When the patients ate without staff participation, the two least demented patients became 'caregivers'. When two mental nurses joined the group, first in civil clothes and then in white uniforms, the patients dropped their roles as helpers. The patients were able to compose complete meals in 0-79 per cent of the meals. The conversation during the meals could be characterized as incomplete, with short sentences and a lot of breaks. Sixty-three per cent of all utterances were about food and eating and almost all conversation concerned the present time. IV. Thirty-three psychogeriatric patients, with severe constipation were given a high- bran bread instead of their accustomed laxatives. During the high-bran treatment period, the number of bowel evacuations and the volume of faeces increased. The total laxative consumption decreased by 93 per cent. V. Nutritional status and dietary intake were studied in a sample of severely demented, institutionalized patients. Energy and /or protein malnutrition was found in 50 per cent of the patients. The mean energy intake was 2059 kcal. Malnourished patients had had four times as many infectious periods during their hospital stay as patients without malnutrition. Thirty-nine of 44 patients lost weight during their hospital stay. VI. Thirty-three psychogeriatric patients were followed for 36 weeks after relocation from a mental hospital to two newly built nursing homes. An intensive pre-relocation program was performed. No negative effects of the relocation were found. On the contrary, the relocated group improved their ADL-functions after the transfer. Based upon the above cited studies, a model for nursing care of demented patients is presented.S. 1-45: sammanfattning, s. 46-192: 6 uppsatserdigitalisering@um

“Being good or evil” : applying a common staff approach when caring for patients with psychiatric disease

Abstract This study was performed to gain a deeper understanding of how psychiatric staff, when caring for patients with psychiatric disease, experience situations that include a common staff approach directed toward an individual client. Nine nurses were interviewed. The interviews were analyzed with a phenomenological-hermeneutic method in order to illuminate the livedexperience of applying a common staff approach. The results revealed several meanings: shedding light on carers’ mutual relationships; being deserted by nurse colleagues; being aware of one’s own basis of evaluation, and that of others; beingjudged by the patient as good or evil; and becoming sensitive to the patient’s suffering. The comprehensive understandingwas that the nurse has a difficult choice*to focus on relations with one’s colleagues or to focus on the situation of the patient, who seems to suffer when a common staff approach is used

'There should be something gained' : Carers’ ethical reasoning about using a common staff approach in psychiatric in-care

Thirteen carers were interviewed about their ethical reasoning when using a common staff approach to restricting smoking for a psychiatric in-patient. A constructed case structure and a vignette method were used in the interviews, and manifest content analysis of the texts exposed five ethical positions adopted by the carers: ‘best for the person’, ‘best for the patient’, ‘best for others involved with the person/patient’, ‘best for me as a carer’, and ‘best according to rules and regulations’. A second manifest content analysis of language showed terms that expressed value judgments in regard to the carers’ personal experiences. Some carers argued at first from one ethical position, but when the question was changed, they argued from an opposite ethical position. Results may be understood in light of dialog philosophy; ethical reasoning during use of a common staff approach tends to focus either on relations with others or with oneself.Part of thesis: Mellan frihet och trygghet: personalgemensamt förhållningssätt i psykiatrisk omvårdnad</p

Enacting person-centred care in home care services for people with dementia

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To develop the theoretical understanding of the process of providing person-centred home care for people with dementia. BACKGROUND: People with dementia are increasingly cared for at home by family members and home care staff. Care of people with dementia should be person-centred; however, little is known about how home care staff understand and enact person-centred care in their daily work. DESIGN: Grounded theory. METHODS: Home care staff (n = 29) were recruited from home care services specialised in providing care for people with dementia. Group interviews were conducted, and a tentative theoretical model for providing person-centred home care to people with dementia was outlined. Nine of the participants were then individually interviewed to further develop the model. The analysis was conducted parallel to the data collection, and hypotheses concerning the evolving theoretical model were continuously tested in the following interviews. The COREQ checklist for qualitative studies was used in reporting the study. RESULTS: Person-centred home care of people with dementia was conceptualised as a series of processes: Getting ready, getting in, giving care, getting out and finalising the story, each with subprocesses. Theatre metaphors were used to describe how the care was provided. A core process, Enacting and re-enacting familiarity, was at centre in all processes. CONCLUSIONS: In the person-centred care of people with dementia, familiarity had to be established and continuously fostered. When familiarity was in place, the care recipient and the home care staff acted as a team to perform the care. The theoretical works of Goffman were used to interpret the results. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: The study provides a model for person-centred care of people with dementia at home that deepens the understanding of its processes, prerequisites and outcomes. The model can inform education and administration of home care for people with dementia

Forecasting the ward climate: a study from a dementia care unit

Aims and objectives. This article present findings from a study aiming to explore the psychosocial climate and its influence on the well-being of people with dementia in a psycho-geriatric hospital unit. Background. Environmental influence in dementia is well explored in relation to the physical environment; however, few studies have explored the psychosocial environment and its influence on well-being. Design. The study had a grounded theory design. Methods. Participant observations were conducted in a psycho-geriatric ward for assessment and treatment of people with dementia in Sweden (n = 36 hours). Data were collected and analysed in a dialectical fashion using the principles of grounded theory methodology. Results. The basic social process that best accounted for the variation in the psychosocial climate and well-being of patients at the unit was &apos;staff presence or absence&apos;, conceptualised as the core category. Three categories emerged in relation to the core category; &apos;sharing place and moment&apos;, &apos;sharing place but not moment&apos; and &apos;sharing neither place nor moment&apos;. Conclusions. Staff were catalysts for the psychosocial climate and when being present and engaged they could create a climate interpreted as at-homeness which supported patient well-being. When being absent, the climate quickly became anxious and this facilitated patient ill-being. To provide quality care for people with dementia staff need to be aware of their role in setting the emotional tone of the psychosocial climate and also that this emotional tone significantly influences patient well-being. Relevance to clinical practice. The findings are clinically relevant and can be operationalised and applied in clinical practice. Awareness of the intimate connection between staff presence and absence, the psychosocial climate and patient well-being highlights an ethical responsibility to question: routines that promote staff absence; a culture of merely &apos;doing for&apos;; and nursing tasks which involve a minimum of staff-patient interaction. The findings have implications for managers as well as for clinical staff