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Aims and Objectives: To explore the relationship between nurses and caregivers using a web camera and web forum as the communication methods., Background: In Norway and other European countries, there is an increased focus on ageing at home, which is aided by technology, as well as formal and informal care. The literature reveals that caregivers endure physical and mental burdens. With computer-mediated communication, such as telecare, it is possible for nurses to provide supportive care to caregivers in their homes., Design: An explorative design using qualitative content analysis., Method: Six nurses and nine caregivers with residential spouses suffering from stroke or dementia were interviewed two times over a six-month period., Results: The nurses responded dynamically to the information they received and helped to empower the individual caregivers and to strengthen the interpersonal relationships between the caregivers. While some participants thought that meeting in a virtual room was close and intimate, others wanted to maintain a certain distance. The participants' altered their roles as the masters and receivers of knowledge and experience; this variation was based on a relationship in which mutual respect for one another and an interest in learning from one another allowed them to work together as partners to demonstrate the system and to follow-up with new caregivers., Conclusions: The flexibility of the service allows the possibility of engaging in a close, or to some extent, a more distant relationship, depending on the participants' attitudes towards using this type of service., Relevance to Clinical Practice: Nurses can provide close care, support and information to caregivers who endeavour to master their everyday lives together with their sick spouses. The support seems to help the caregivers cope with their own physical and emotional problems., (© 2015 The Authors. Journal of Clinical Nursing published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Aims and Objectives: To describe and explore experiences of next of kin during the older persons' transition into long-term care., Background: Moving into long-term care is a challenge for both resident and next of kin. Next of kin experience transitions at the same time as they play significant parts in their family members' transition into long-term care placement., Design: Constructivist hermeneutical design., Methods: Ten next of kin to newly admitted eight residents were recruited by purposeful sampling and interviewed. Periodic participant observation periods following new residents on arrival day and the first week after admission and some written documentation were the backdrops to the interviews., Results: What happened prior to the long-term care placement as well as what happened in the initial period of transition influenced the experiences of next of kin. Characteristics of their experiences were: 'striving to handle the new situation', 'still feeling responsible', and 'maintaining dignity and continuity'., Conclusions: Next of kin were unprepared for the transition and had little support from staff. Staff lacked awareness about next of kin's transition experiences. Their involvement with next of kin was unpredictable, and this added to the burdens of next of kin in this period., Relevance to Clinical Practice: Knowledge about experiences of next of kin needs to be acknowledged among healthcare professionals. Health professionals need to pay attention to what happens across institutional borders within families as well as between staff and family members. Individual family members need support in this period of change., (© 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Aim: To report a concept analysis of telecare., Background: Lately telecare has become a worldwide, modern way of giving care over distance by means of technology. Other concepts, like telemedicine, e-health, and telehealth, focus on the same topic though the boundaries between them seem to be blurred., Data Sources: Sources comprise 44 English language research articles retrieved from the database of Medline and Cinahl (1995-October 2011)., Design: Literature Review., Method: A principle-based analysis was undertaken through content analysis of the definitions, attributes, preconditions, and outcomes of the concept., Results: The attributes are well described according to the use of technology, caring activity, persons involved, and accessibility. Preconditions and outcomes are well described concerning individual and health political needs and benefits. The concept did not hold its boundaries through theoretical integration with the concept of telemedicine and telehealth. The definition of telecare competes with concepts like home-based e-health, telehomecare, telephonecare, telephone-based psychosocial services, telehealth, and telemedicine. Assessment of the definitions resulted in a suggestion of a new definition: Telecare is the use of information, communication, and monitoring technologies which allow healthcare providers to remotely evaluate health status, give educational intervention, or deliver health and social care to patients in their homes., Conclusion: The logical principle was assessed to be partly immature, whereas the pragmatical and linguistical principles were found to be mature. A new definition is suggested and this has moved the epistemological principle forward to maturity., (© 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.)