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Aim: To generate, test and refine programme theories that emerged from a rapid realist review investigating practising UK Nurses' and Midwives' experiences of effective leadership strategies during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Background: The realist review of literature generated six tentative theories of healthful leadership practices reflecting, working with people's beliefs and values; being facilitative; multiple means of communication and; practical support. The review yielded little insight into the actual impact of the leadership approaches advocated. Methods: A realist study, informed by person‐centredness using mixed‐methods. Online survey (n = 328) and semi‐structured interviews (n = 14) of nurses and midwives across the UK in different career positions/specialities. Quantitative data analysed using descriptive statistics and exploratory factor analysis. Framework analysis for qualitative data using context (C), mechanism (M), outcome (O) configurations of the tentative theories. Results: Three refined theories were identified concerning: Visibility and availability; embodying values and; knowing self. Healthful leadership practices are only achievable within organisational cultures that privilege well‐being. Conclusions: Leaders should intentionally adopt practices that promote well‐being. 'Knowing self' as a leader, coaching and mentoring practice development is important for leadership development. Implications for Clinical Practice: Nurses who feel valued, heard, cared for and safe are more likely to remain in clinical practice. Job satisfaction and being motivated to practice with confidence and competence will impact positively on patient outcomes. Impact: The study addresses the role of leadership in developing healthful workplace cultures. The main findings were six leadership practices that promote healthful cultures. The research will have an impact on strategic and clinical leaders, nurses and midwives. Reporting Method: This study used EQUATOR checklist, RAMASES II as reporting standards for realist evaluations. Patient or Public Contribution: No patient or public contribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The aim of the study is to provide insight and facilitate a deeper understanding of family members who have experienced their older family member's suicide. Design: Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) study. Methods: Semi‐structured individual interviews with five family members of older people who died by suicide recruited from a rural area of Shanxi Province, China. Smith's (2009) six steps of IPA was used for data analysis. Results: Three main themes emerged from the study: (a) Initial psychological reactions; (b) Long‐term life effects; (c) Social attitudes. The study shows how the family members of older people who died by suicide have experienced stigmatization and felt largely ignored. A suicide event poses a challenge to the future living quality of the family members. The study also highlights that it is necessary to pay attention to families of older people who died by suicide and providing support is required to improve the quality of life of these family members in rural China. Conclusion: The study adds to the understanding of the lived experience of family members of older people who died by suicide in less economically developed rural areas. Patient or Public Contribution: Patients and the public were not involved in the design, conduct or reporting of this study. Participants of this study helped with recruitment via snowball sampling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Globally, humanising healthcare is a strategic response to a distinct need for person-centred approaches to practice. This movement has largely focused on the artefacts of healthcare practice, with an emergent focus on the role of healthcare education in instilling and espousing the core principles of person-centredness. It is increasingly recognised that how healthcare professionals are educated is fundamental to creating learning cultures where person-centred philosophies can be lived out and aligned with workforce and healthcare policy strategies. In 2019, six European countries began collaboration on an Erasmus+ project, Person-centredness in Healthcare Curricula, to develop a Person-centred Curriculum Framework. The other articles in this Special Issue focus on the methodologies employed by the project team, and this article describes the framework. Aim: While curricula exist with person-centredness as a focus, aim or component, few embrace person- centredness as an underpinning philosophy and theory, or use a whole-systems approach. This project aimed to develop a universal curricular framework with the agility to work synergistically with existing curricular processes, in pursuit of the development of person-centred healthcare practitioners and cultures. Methods: The project used an iterative multiphase, mixed methods approach, including an e-survey and interviews. Drawing on authentic co-design principles, to create our framework we engaged with stakeholders in clinical practice and academic institutions as well as healthcare students and those working in health policy and strategic workforce planning. Results: We present a framework for the design, delivery and evaluation of curricula, structured using a modified version of McKinsey's 7S methodology, resulting in each component having a statement, outcomes, and thematic actions to support the realisation of a person-centred curriculum. Conclusion: Our Person-centred Curriculum Framework can facilitate congruency between healthcare education and practice in the way person-centredness is defined and lived out through healthful cultures. Given the iterative origins of the framework, we anticipate its evolution over time through further exploration following its implementation and evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To understand the challenges in delivering comprehensive care for patients recovering from stroke in Guangdong Province, China. A cross-sectional qualitative study was conducted in two tertiary hospitals with different socio-economic characteristics in Guangdong Province, Southern China. Interviews were conducted with 16 stroke care providers including doctors, nurses, rehabilitation therapists and care workers. The interviews were audiotaped, transcribed and translated from Mandarin to English. Thematic analysis was used to draw out descriptive and analytical themes relating to care providers' experiences of existing routine stroke care services and the perceptions of challenges in delivering comprehensive stroke care. The interviews with stroke care providers highlighted three key factors that hinder the capacity of the two hospitals to deliver comprehensive stroke care. First, expertise and knowledge regarding stroke and stroke care are lacking among both providers and patients; second, stroke care systems are not fully integrated, with inadequate coordination of the stroke team and inconsistency in care following discharge of stroke patients; third, stroke patients have insufficient social support. While comprehensive stroke care has become a priority in China, our study highlights some important gaps in the current provision of stroke care. Comprehensive integrated stroke care is essential to maximize the effectiveness of stroke services and in China it needs to be further improved. Multidisciplinary stroke care systems should strengthen collaborations across all relevant disciplines and should include a clear role for registered nurses. Follow-up care after discharge needs more engagement with family caregivers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The Covid-19 crisis has created new and difficult working conditions for all frontline healthcare staff and leaders. Ward managers in particular have faced significant challenges. The practice development initiative described in this article began at a hospital in Denmark immediately after the country's first Covid-19 wave. The hospital has person-centredness as its vision for care and research. Aim: The purpose of this article is to offer a reflection on the ways in which our research and its findings enabled us to learn from the experiences of ward managers so as to support them and strengthen their network during a difficult time, using principles of practice development. Conclusion and implications for practice: The evidence produced in the project was found to be relevant to leadership practice by the ward managers and led to a strengthened position at a time of crisis. This implies that: • It is possible to establish collaborative and useful evidence for clinical practice under difficult circumstances • • By using principles of practice development it is possible to facilitate constructive dialogues between ward managers and executive managers • At a time of a major crisis, the role of ward managers should not be underestimated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The term peer researcher describes the role of a person who has similar characteristics and can identify with the participant group in a research study. This paper describes the methodological approach and experiences of older people who were peer researchers on a study that explored the lived experience of people with dementia who lived in technology‐enriched housing. Methods: Nine people responded to a public recruitment campaign through nongovernment organisations using multiple methods such as seniors' forums, development officers and social media. Mandatory training across 2 days was provided and seven peer researchers successfully completed the training. A total of 22 interviews were undertaken by the seven peer researchers. The data collected from the training feedback proforma (N = 7), interview debrief forms (N = 22) and final evaluation forms (N = 5) were analysed using content analysis and triangulated. Results: Five core themes emerged from the data using a content analysis approach to examine the peer researchers' experience: (1) skill development; (2) recognition of competencies; (3) connection; (4) supplementary information; and (5) the triad dynamic. Conclusions: Considerations to enhance the peer researcher experience emerged including enhanced communication training, consideration of the optimum number of peer researchers to balance workload and identification of the characteristics that enable people to connect as peer researchers. Future research should consider the impact that experiential skill development has on the data collected. Public Contribution: Older people conducted qualitative interviews as peer researchers with people living with dementia to cocreate knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To investigate the family members' experiences with receiving help and support while their loved one develops dementia and their subsequent placement in nursing homes. Background: As the dementia disease progresses, some family members will struggle with the option of nursing home placement. This situation can precipitate feelings of anger, disappointment and guilt, all of which can be overwhelming. Methods: A qualitative descriptive study with in‐depth interviews (n = 19) was carried out in several nursing homes of Slovenia's North Eastern Region. Results: Inductive thematic analysis identified two main themes: (i) developing the diagnosis and (ii) accommodation process. Family members noticed the progressive behavioural changes in their loved ones. While they were searching for help at the primary health care level, they experienced a lack of help and support. Conclusions: When family members detect behavioural changes in their loved ones, the primary health care team should establish an early diagnosis of dementia and provide adequate decision‐making support. Implications for Nursing Management: The findings are useful to prepare guidance for a family member to inform them of the types of support available and from which associations and organisations. To achieve adequate management support, primary health care teams need to be aware of family member experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In contemporary health and social care services and systems, there is a critical need for nursing care that is agile in its delivery, integrated across sectors, responsive to complex need, and focused on prevention, self-care and wellbeing. Community nurses are at the centre of these services, working in and across a variety of complex systems that depend on the expertise they bring to individuals, communities and populations. However, ensuring this capability is brought to the forefront of quality frameworks is a challenge as care practices are often reduced to moments of interaction or intervention that are tangible and objectively measured. We know, though, that community nurses bring vital and wide-ranging expertise to the health of populations. The Queen's Nursing Institute Scotland has re-established the Queen's Nurse Development Programme to address these contemporary agendas and ensure the potential of expert community nursing is demonstrated and recognised. Aim: To engage in a participatory evaluation of the experience of the nine-month development journey of the 2019 Queen's Nurse Development Programme participants. Methods: A Collaborative Critical Creative Inquiry (CCCI) methodology was used, operationalised through a five-phase inquiry process, informed by Theory U 'presencing' and its five movements for attending to and co-shaping reality to achieve presencing. Our embedded and embodied data-collection methods drew specifically on participants' creative expressions, reflective diaries and journals, and project notes. Findings: The results of each phase of inquiry informed subsequent phases, culminating in a final phase (synthesis) where key themes representing the findings from all phases were derived. These themes were self-growth, community and practical impacts. Conclusion and implications for practice: The importance of slowing and stillness, linked to the spaces created for creative reflective learning and development has been significant in this programme. Being present to listen to self, and engage in self-care and self-growth is something the programme provides and that is highly valued. We would argue that if health systems are serious about the transformation of services and people, then these kinds of programmes are critical to success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of family carers supporting a relative living with dementia during and after the move to technology-enriched supported accommodation (TESA). The paper explores the informal carers (ICs) roles, the factors prompting the move to TESA, alongside their perceptions of their relatives' experience of the move and of life in a technology-enriched environment. Within a qualitative study 25 semi-structured interviews were conducted with ICs and data were analysed following a thematic approach. Four themes were identified, reflecting the shift in roles and identity of both ICs and persons living with dementia. The move to TESA was linked to a perceived reduction in care-giving pressures, with positive outcomes reported for both the ICs and the people living with dementia. Smart home technologies in the facilities did not appear to impact on the decision-making during transition, however, they were valued as part of the lived experience for the people living with dementia within the TESA facilities. These findings are relevant to policy makers, commissioners and providers of services to highlight the engagement of all stakeholders in the provision of care for people living with dementia and their families early from diagnosis in order to facilitate person-centred practices in community settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We describe the findings of a qualitative longitudinal interview study of a group of initially community-dwelling frail older people, and their informal and formal carers. We used a narrative approach to explore the role that narrative may have for people living with frailty. This has been less explored comparative to the experiences of those living with chronic illness. The frail older people told stories of their experiences that revealed three distinct shapes or typologies. These were either stable, unbalancing or overwhelmed, and related to how the person managed to adapt to increasing challenges and losses, and to reintegrate their sense of self into a cohesive narrative. Each is illustrated by an individual case story. Frailty is described as both biographically anticipated yet potentially biographically disruptive as older people may struggle to make sense of their circumstances without a clear single causative factor. Findings are discussed in relation to biographical disruption and reconstruction in chronic illness and the rhetoric around 'successful ageing'. We conclude by drawing attention to the complex individual and social factors that contribute to the experience of living with frailty in later life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the experiences of formal carers working in technology-enriched supported accommodation for people living with dementia, examining their care-giving role from a person-centred care perspective. Within a qualitative study, 21 semi-structured interviews were conducted with formal carers and data were analysed following a thematic approach. Four main themes were identified that mapped to the attributes of the person-centred practice framework (PCPF): promoting choice and autonomy, staffing model, using assistive technology and feeling that 'you're doing a good job'. Central to person-centred practice in these settings was the promotion of choice, autonomy and independence. The dichotomy between safety and independence was evident, curtailing the opportunities within the environmental enablers and associated embedded assistive technologies. Formal carers reported considerable job satisfaction working in these settings. The small-scale, home-like facilities seemed to have a positive effect on job satisfaction. These findings are relevant to policy makers, commissioners and service providers, highlighting the facilitators of person-centred care in community dwellings for people living with dementia and the role of formal carers in promoting this approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Person-centred practice is inherently integrated in palliative care. However, it cannot be assumed that its underpinning values are lived out in day-to-day practice in a hospice. At St Columba's Hospice, Edinburgh, the five-year strategy demonstrated commitment to person-centredness and this prompted an 18-month project focusing on the evaluation and development of a person-centred culture, taking a practice development approach. Aim: To implement a person-centred practice development research project to assess, evaluate and enhance person-centred culture within St Columba's Hospice. Methods: The theoretical underpinnings of the programme were based on the Person-centred Practice Framework. A transformative practice development approach was employed to bring about change in individuals and teams. Twelve multidisciplinary team members from different departments across the hospice formed a core research project group, which was allocated 10 protected learning and development days over the 18-month period. To assess the existing culture, data were collected at the beginning of the practice development programme, including observation in practice and real-time interviews with patients and staff. The data were analysed using a participatory approach, with group members mapping the data collected against the Person-centred Practice Framework and undertaking creative hermeneutic analysis. Discussion: The project created and sustained a space to explore and expose person-centredness within the hospice and raised awareness of what person-centred culture means in day-to-day practice. Fourth-generation evaluation highlighted further areas for action, with teams developing their own action plans aimed at enhancing person-centred culture. Conclusion and implications for practice: The context of day-to-day practice in a hospice setting is complex, and developing person-centred culture is an ongoing process. Hospices can help their staff to flourish by providing the necessary space to reflect and for critical awareness of own practices to be heightened. This could encourage staff to embrace the contradictions inherent in the work they undertake and to learn from it in order to improve their own wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Collaboration with care partners is a political aim in recent white papers in Norway and internationally. Home care services regularly work closely with care partners, but there are many indications that the collaboration does not work satisfactorily. Aim: To explore home care staff and leaders' experiences of collaborating with care partners of older people with mental health problems through a personhood perspective. Methods: The study had a qualitative design and comprised eight health professionals in two focus groups and in‐depth interviews with three leaders in one home care district. The data were analysed using a thematic framework analysis building on previous research on personhood. criteria for reporting qualitative reporting guidelines were used to ensure comprehensive reporting. Results: Four themes were identified in the analysis: 'non‐negotiated relationships', 'contradictory agendas', 'weak paternalism' and 'moral compromise'. Conclusion: There seems to be a lack of facilitation of collaborative relationships through all levels of the home care organisation. The interactions between care partners and home care staff sometimes appear to produce low or negative levels of emotional energy, and situations where the personhood of neither of them is respected occurs. Paying attention to the four modes of being as a framework for understanding personhood creates the foundation for a person‐centred approach that enhances the potential of creating stronger partnership in care relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In this article we reflect on the experience of the first author (Berit Margrethe Sandvik) of conducting seven qualitative research interviews with public health nurses trained in parenting guidance by the International Child Development Programme at the University of South-Eastern Norway. The interviews focused on how the nurses use a particular set of competencies in their daily work at the health centre. A person-centred practice framework was used to reflect on whether personcentred prerequisites and processes could be recognised in the completed interview processes, and how a greater focus on a person-centred approach could improve the quality of data collection. The results of this reflection are presented in this paper. Aim: To understand how a researcher can use person-centred principles to facilitate qualitative interviews. Findings: Being reflexive is essential to a person-centred approach in qualitative research interviews. It relates to the researcher's ability to facilitate an engagement that promotes authenticity, selfdetermination and reciprocity. Knowing oneself without letting conscious or unconscious values and perceptions overshadow the opportunities that arise in gaining an understanding of the participant's values and perceptions is essential. Through being vigilant in all senses, an holistic, mutually respectful dialogue can be created, through which new knowledge and understandings can be generated. Conclusion: It is important to consider person-centredness in the planning and undertaking of research methods. While there is an increasing evidence base about person-centredness in health and social care practice, there continues to be a dearth of publications that focus on its role in research methods. Implications for practice: •Developing the ability to facilitate mutually respectful dialogue in research interviews is important in researcher development programmes •Facilitating flow and creativity through engaging all senses in the dialogical situation has the potential to create a more person-centred approach to interview practices •Being open to and aware of the lifeworlds of others, and having the ability to adjust one's own pre-understanding, facilitates an engagement that promotes authenticity, self-determination and reciprocity •There is a need for more studies to use person-centred principles and practices explicitly in the conduct of research. This article provides a reflexive framework for doing that and suggests principles that can be applied in future research studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims and objectives: To explore the meaning of home for six baby boomers and consider how this insight can be used when caring for older people in hospital or residential settings. Background: Feeling at home is important to help retain a sense of autonomy, security and well‐being, but home is a complex concept to understand. The baby boomers are a large cohort entering later life and understanding their sense of home is not only an example of anticipatory gerontology but it could also provide the tools to explore home with the current older population, who may be in a variety of care settings. Design and methods: A qualitative hermeneutic approach was adopted to explore the meaning of home of six baby boomers. The participants were asked to take photographs showing what home meant to them and interpret these in a recorded photo‐elicitation interview. Small teams then reviewed the images to provide further insight. Finally, all the data were reviewed to provide an overall analysis of the revealed meaning of home. Results: Having possessions or stuff was important for the meaning of home; being familiar with the local environment was also “homely,” as well as certain textures and familiar sounds and smells; relationships with others and the ability to have choice in where and how the participants live were also significant for their meaning of home. Conclusions: The meaning of home is complex. Nevertheless, in this study, an evocative sense of home was revealed and these insights could be used in discussions with older people in care settings to help increase their sense of autonomy, security and well‐being. Furthermore, these insights could also be used to develop a framework to help nursing staff guide these discussions. Relevance to clinical practice: By considering the multisensory nature of the meaning of home, nurses can create a sense of home for patients. Feeling at home can improve the well‐being and a sense of autonomy for patients. Enabling patients to feel more autonomous recognises the importance of a person‐centred approach to care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims and objectives: To evaluate the effects of the implementation of a methodological framework for a narrative‐based approach to practice development and person‐centred care in residential aged care settings. Background: Care in long‐term residential settings for older people is moving away from the biomedical approach and adopting a more person‐centred one. Narrative can help shape the way care is planned and organised. The provision of person‐centred care that is holistic and that takes account of resident's beliefs and values can be enhanced by incorporating narrative approaches to care within a practice development framework. Design: The chosen methodology was participatory action research. Methods: Between 2010–2014, a methodological framework of narrative practice was implemented in two residential care settings, comprising 37 residents and 38 staff, using an action research approach. Three action cycles: (i) narrative practice and culture identification, (ii) developing narrative practice and (iii) working in a storied way emerged during the implementation. Results: Key outcomes emerged in relation to the findings. These were based on narrative being, knowing and doing and centred around the key outcomes of (i) how people responded to change (narrative being), (ii) the development of shared understandings (narrative knowing) and (iii) intentional action (narrative doing). Conclusion: The implementation of a framework of narrative practice demonstrated that how people respond to change, the development of shared understandings and intentional action were interrelated and interlinked. It illustrated the importance of ensuring that practice context is taken account of in the implementation of action research and the importance of ensuring that narrative being, knowing and doing are clear and understandable for change to occur. Relevance to clinical practice: Implementation of a narrative approach to care can develop new ways of working that value biography and promote the development of a co‐constructed plan of care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims and objectives To explore family perspectives on their involvement in the timely detection of changes in their relatives' health in UK nursing homes. Background Increasingly, policy attention is being paid to the need to reduce hospitalisations for conditions that, if detected and treated in time, could be managed in the community. We know that family continue to be involved in the care of their family members once they have moved into a nursing home. Little is known, however, about family involvement in the timely detection of changes in health in nursing home residents. Design Qualitative exploratory study with thematic analysis. Methods A purposive sampling strategy was applied. Fourteen semi-structured one-to-one interviews with family members of people living in 13 different UK nursing homes. Data were collected from November 2015-March 2016. Results Families were involved in the timely detection of changes in health in three key ways: noticing signs of changes in health, informing care staff about what they noticed and educating care staff about their family members' changes in health. Families suggested they could be supported to detect timely changes in health by developing effective working practices with care staff. Conclusion Families can provide a special contribution to the process of timely detection in nursing homes. Their involvement needs to be negotiated, better supported, as well as given more legitimacy and structure within the nursing home. Relevance to clinical practice Families could provide much needed support to nursing home nurses, care assistants and managers in timely detection of changes in health. This may be achieved through communication about their preferred involvement on a case-by-case basis as well as providing appropriate support or services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim To explore the inter-play between external facilitation and nursing home contexts relative to intervention outcomes. Background The Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services framework is frequently used to theoretically inform implementation and research in nursing and recent reviews indicate high face validity for health services. However, the inter-play and relationship between framework sub-elements of evidence, context and facilitation and the prospective utility in non-English speaking contexts warrant further illumination. Design In an overarching single-blind cluster-randomized controlled trial, we applied participatory action research and ethnography from August 2011-June 2015 to evaluate a standardized education intervention to reduce restraint and agitation in nursing home residents living with dementia. The trial results are published elsewhere. Methods Prospectively informed by the PARIHS framework, a research team and eight facilitators participating in dual roles as action researchers designed, implemented, and evaluated the intervention. How contextual factors influenced the facilitation processes were explored in focus group interviews (1), reflection notes (84) written by the facilitators' after each education session, ethnographic field studies (6 homes), and co-analysis workshops (5). Directed content analysis was used to analyse data. Results Clinical leaders taking roles of internal facilitator influenced the success of implementation, while complex and fluctuating context elements determined whether restraint use was reduced- or not. The PARIHS framework was found to be relevant in a non-English nursing home setting, albeit some elements merit further conceptualization. Conclusions Our findings confirm the prospective utility of the PARIHS framework for implementation in a non-English context, particularly the notion of implementation processes as dynamic and multifaceted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There is a large and diverse literature on the concept of hope in health care. This literature covers a broad spectrum of perspectives, from philosophical, conceptual, and theoretical analysis through to attempts at measuring the concept of hope with differing health care users. Aims: To explore the concept of hope through the secondary analysis of existing data sets, with the intention of understanding hope in the context of person-centeredness. Research Question: What is the experience of hope among service users and informal carers in different health care contexts? Method: Secondary analysis of data derived from three research studies. Findings: We identified four key themes that together illustrate what we describe as a kaleidoscope of hope, reinforcing the view that there is no one presentation of hope and that practitioners must engage authentically with service users to determine the most effective and appropriate intervention strategies. Conclusions: Hope is not a singular phenomenon, and in the context of person-centered practice there is a need for practitioners to engage authentically with service users and listen carefully to what may bring hope for them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims and objectives To explore how older people living at home with mental health needs and their care partners experienced the practices of collaboration within and between services. Background Many healthcare strategies for community mental health services for older people espouse a person-centred approach or principles that are similar in focus. Design This study reports on the first stage of a three-year action research project that focused on improving mental health services for older people and their care partners living at home. Data were collected through individual interviews. Twenty people were interviewed. Data were analysed continuously and in parallel with data collection for the identification of themes. Results We focus on two particular themes, 'acknowledgement, recognition and respect' and 'the prestige hierarchy of mental illness in older people'. We highlight how older people and their care partners experience discontinuities in their everyday interactions with nurses and care workers and that this impacts on their experience of person-centred care. Conclusions Older people with mental health needs and their care partners need high levels of energy to express their needs and have them met in a way that reflects principles of partnership working. Relevance to clinical practice Nurses and care workers need to consider how 'tasks' can be used as a vehicle for creating emotional connections with service users. Service managers and leaders need to consider the implications of discontinuities in care on service user, care partner, nurses and care workers experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims To explore the expertise of Registered Nurses in residential care for older people. Background As older people in residential care have many complex dependencies, nursing expertise is an essential component of care excellence. However, the work of these nurses can be invisible and, therefore, unrecognized. Thus, additional attention is required to illuminate such nursing expertise. Design A mixed method design was used in this study. Methods The research took place in 2012 in the Republic of Ireland. Twenty-three case study nurses were recruited from nursing homes. Each case study nurse involved five data collection methods: shadowing, interview with a colleague, interview with a resident, a demographic profile and a director of nursing survey. The study was also informed by a modified focus group. Qualitative data were analysed using directed content analysis using a conceptual framework generated from the literature on nursing expertise. Quantitative data were analysed using SPSS and presented in descriptive statistics. Findings The findings from the case studies and the modified focus group are presented in seven themes, which represent nursing expertise in residential care of older people: transitions, context of the nursing home, saliency, holistic practice knowledge, knowing the resident, moral agency and skilled know how. Conclusion Nursing expertise in residential care of older people is a complex phenomenon which encompasses many aspects of care delivery in a person-centred framework. By rendering this expertise visible, the need for appropriate and adequate skill mix for a growing residential care population is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rationale Besides a growing demand for safe high-quality care for older people, long-term care ( LTC) often struggles to recruit appropriately qualified nursing staff. Understanding what LTC staff value in their work may contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of what can attract staff and support person-centred care. Aim To explore staff experience of the advantages of working in LTC settings for older people. Methods Narrative descriptions of 85 LTC staff in Ireland, the Netherlands and Sweden on what they value in their work were analysed with qualitative content analysis. Ethics Ethical approval was obtained according to the requirements of each country, and participants provided informed consent prior to the individual interviews. Findings Working in LTC signifies bonding with the older people residing there, their next of kin and the team members. It means autonomy in one's daily tasks amalgamated with being a part of an affirmative team. Participants reported a sense of accomplishment and fulfilment; caring meant consideration and recognition of the older people and the relationships formed, which provided for professional and personal growth. The sharing of compassion between staff and residents indicated reciprocity of the relationship with residents. Study limitations The findings may be transferable to LTC in general although they address only the positive aspects of caring for older people and only the experiences of those staff who had consented to take part in the study. Conclusions The findings add to what underpins the quality of care in nursing homes: compassion in the nurse-resident relationship and person-centred care in LTC. They indicate reciprocity in the relations formed that may contribute to the empowerment of older people, but further studies are needed to explore this in more detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Leadership programmes have been used to support nurse leaders in developing their skills and equiping them as transformative change agents in healthcare organisations around the world. For this purpose, the Royal College of Nursing's Clinical Leadership Programme has been adapted, implemented, and evaluated in Switzerland. Although a shared vision is a key element in leading organisations and in change, the impact of such a vision on clinical practice is rarely described in the literature. Aims and objectives: To determine qualitatively the benefits of a shared vision as one essential feature of leadership behaviour. Methods: In the context of a mixed methods research study, individual interviews with nurse leaders, as well as focus group interviews with their respective teams, were recorded and transcribed verbatim prior to qualitative content analysis. In order to integrate all findings, a triangulation protocol was applied after separate analysis. Findings: Having a vision helped leaders and their teams to become inspired and committed to a shared goal. Moreover, the vision was a strong driving force for ongoing and systematic practice development and thus established a culture that favoured quality and safety improvement in patient care. However, the strategic direction needed to be tempered; the positive impact on teams and their care practices generated a great deal of enthusiasm, which had the potential to overload the organisation through taking on more than could reasonably be accomplished. Conclusion: The study found that a vision provides orientation and meaning for leaders and their teams. It helps them to focus their energies and engage in the transformation of practice. However, it is very important for leaders to monitor closely the energy level of teams and the organisation, in order to maintain the balance between innovation/transformation and relaxation/recovery. Implications for practice: A vision provides orientation and meaning for leaders and their teams and is a strong driving force for ongoing and systematic practice development The enthusiasm at the beginning brought about the danger of starting too many activities, thus overloading the organisation. Therefore, it is important for leaders to maintain the balance between innovation/transformation and relaxation/recovery Care should be taken to ensure that a vision and corresponding core values are realistic and achievable. Otherwise, the vision might remain an unattainable illusion, and the individuals who are supposed to turn it into reality may become frustrated and demotivated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims and objectives To report on the development of a framework of narrative practice, in residential care settings for older people. Background Residential care settings for older people provide care for people who are no longer able to live in their own home. To date, the impact and structure of nursing practice on care provision in these settings has proved difficult to conceptualise within a specific nursing theory framework. Design A hermeneutic approach incorporating narrative methods was used. Methods Forty-six narrative interviews with older people in residential care were secondary-analysed for key themes through a three-stage process: by the first author, four focus groups of 12 clinical nurse managers and two independent experts. Themes were also derived from a focus group of eight residents who explored person-centredness and narrative. Finally, the combined findings were used to derive a single set of themes. Results The secondary data analysis process led to the development of a framework of narrative practice for the care of older people in residential settings. The framework is influenced by narrative enquiry, person-centred practice and practice development. It has four pillars, prerequisites, care processes, care environment and narrative aspects of care. To operationalise the framework of narrative practice, three narrative elements, narrative knowing, narrative being and narrative doing, need to be considered. Working with the foundational pillars and the narrative elements would enable staff to 'work in a storied way' and provide person-centred outcomes and a narrative informed philosophy of care for older adults in residential care. Conclusion This framework provides nurses with a template that confirms the identity of the older person taking account of their biography. Relevance to clinical practice The framework outlines an approach that provides staff with a template on how to provide person-centred care in a narrative way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: In theory, greater interaction between researchers and practitioners should result in increased potential for implementation. However, we know little about whether this is the case, or what mechanisms might operate to make it happen. This paper reports findings from a study that is identifying and tracking implementation mechanisms, processes, influences and impacts in real time, over time in the Collaborations for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRCs). Methods: This is a longitudinal, realist evaluation case study. The development of the conceptual framework and initial hypotheses involved literature reviewing and stakeholder consultation. Primary data were collected through interviews, observations and documents within three CLAHRCs, and analysed thematically against the framework and hypotheses. Results: The first round of data collection shows that the mechanisms of collaborative action, relationship building, engagement, motivation, knowledge exchange and learning are important to the processes and outcomes of CLAHRCs' activity, including their capacity for implementation. These mechanisms operated in different contexts such as competing agendas, availability of resources and the CLAHRCs' brand. Contexts and mechanisms result in different impact, including the CLAHRCs' approach to implementation, quality of collaboration, commitment and ownership, and degree of sharing and managing knowledge. Conclusion: Emerging features of a middle range theory of implementation within collaboration include alignment in organizational structures and cognitive processes, history of partnerships, responsiveness and resilience in rapidly changing contexts. CLARHCs' potential to mobilize knowledge may be further realized by how they develop insights into their function as collaborative entities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim. The aim of the study was to examine the usefulness of narratives of older peoples' hospitalisation experiences as a focus for informing practice and service developments. Background. Narrative inquiry provides an option for exploring personal experiences and for providing insight into treatment decisions that can help guide how healthcare services are developed and provided. Methods. Participants were aged 65 and upwards and had been patients in a rehabilitation unit. They were cognitively and physically able to communicate and give consent to take part in the study. Narrative interviewing methods were used for data collection. A problem-solution pattern framework enabled the reconfiguring of narratives in the context of the older persons' past, the here and now and the context of their usual level of well-being or ill-being. Seminars with multidisciplinary professionals were used to analyse the narratives in the context of how they informed the need for practice and service developments. Results. Twenty-eight narrative interviews were undertaken. Through reading and discussing the reconfigured narratives, the multidisciplinary team evaluated whether care procedures were appropriate and identified ways of improving care delivery. Challenges to the integration of narrative approaches were identified. Narrative interviewing was implemented in practice by some of the nurses who participated in the study. Conclusions. Narrative inquiry enhances the assessment of care needs and interactions between healthcare professionals and patients. The framework used for translating stories into plans for practice and service developments needs to be used in further studies and with a broader range of healthcare and social care professionals to determine its usefulness. Relevance to clinical practice. Narrative inquiry is a valuable methodology for understanding older peoples' experiences of health care. Stories developed from older peoples' hospitalisation experiences are a useful basis for identifying aspects of practice that could be developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

boomer c.a.& mccormack b. (2010) Journal of Nursing Management  18, 633-644 Creating the conditions for growth: a collaborative practice development programme for clinical nurse leaders Aim To evaluate a 3-year practice development (PD) programme for clinical nurse leaders. Background The development of effective leaders is a key objective to progress the modernization agenda. This programme aimed to develop the participants alongside development of the culture and context of care. Methods Programme evaluation methodology to determine the 'worth' of the programme, inform the experience of the participation, effect on workplace cultures and determine effectiveness of the process used. Results Created the conditions for growth under two broad themes: process outcomes demonstrating growth as leaders contributing to cultural shifts; and general outcomes demonstrating practice changes. Conclusions Developing communities of reflective leaders are required to meet demands within contemporary healthcare. PD provides a model to develop leaders to achieve sustainable changes and transform practice. Implications for nursing management Active collaboration and participation of managers is crucial in the facilitation of and sustainability of cultural change. Approaches adopted to develop and sustain the transformation of practice need to focus on developing the skills and attributes of leaders and managers as facilitators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To explore the lived experiences and support needs of the care partners of older people with mental health problems living at home with assistance from home care services. Care partners face significant challenges in their care role and they often feel unsupported. An understanding of their experiences may help improve home care to support their needs. Method: An exploratory qualitative approach was used. The study is based on the SRQR and COREQ reporting guidelines. In‐depth interviews were conducted with six Norwegian care partners from two municipalities. Data were collected during 2012–2013 and 2016. The data were analysed using Gadamer's hermeneutics. Results: Three themes were identified: "invisible cornerstones," "dimensions of collaboration" and "unwanted roles." Conclusion: Few or no routines for collaboration exist between care partners and home care, and the care partners seem to have little knowledge of legal rights. They request more information, spare time and the opportunity to remain in their original family role. However, their main focus is for the patient to receive the necessary help from home care. Home care have restricted resources for meeting these needs and share a sense of powerlessness and lack of influence over their own everyday life with the care partners. There is a need for a systematic, person‐centred approach to collaboration. A correlation is necessary between what is communicated at the system level and the means of realising this in practice for home care to meet care partners' needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]