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Aim: The integration of robots can help provide solutions in regards to the need for an increase in resources in healthcare. The aim of this review was to identify how robots are utilized in the healthcare of people who are over the age of 65 and how this population experiences interacting with healthcare robots. Design: A systematic literature review with an integrated design was conducted. Methods: A literature search was performed in the electronic databases CINAHL via EBSCO, EMBASE, and Medline via Ovid. Content analysis was performed to assess the studies that were included in this review. Results: A total of 14 articles were included. Participants in the studies included 453 older people ranging from 65 to 108 years of age. Nine of the studies focused on people with dementia or cognitive impairment. Seven studies included different types of socially assistive human-like robots, six of the studies included two different types of animal-like robots, and one study focused on a robotic rollator. The robots mainly served as social assistive- or engagement robots.

Jörg W Kirchhoff,1 Abigail Marks,2 Ann Karin Helgesen,1 Kirsti Lauvli Andersen,1 Hilde Marie Andreassen,1 Vigdis Abrahamsen Grøndahl1 1Faculty of Health, Welfare and Organisation, Østfold University College, Halden, Norway; 2Author Affiliations Newcastle University Business School, Newcastle University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UKCorrespondence: Jörg W KirchhoffFaculty of Health, Welfare and Organisation, Østfold University College, Halden, NorwayTel +47 47 69 60 86 99Email jorg.kirchhoff@hiof.noPurpose: Previous studies indicate that the introduction of information and communication technology (ICT) in health care organizations impairs health care professional’s working conditions and diminishes job discretion. Most of these studies, however, were designed to explore the influence of ICT exclusively on a single group of health care professionals and thereby did not consider the influence of the same technology on other groups of health care professionals. The aim of this article is to explore the influence of a fully integrated ICT system on both doctors and registered nurses within the same working environment: a high-tech hospital.Methods: This is a cross-sectional study conducted in a high-tech Norwegian hospital. Data were collected in 2016. In total, 264 registered nurses and 172 doctors responded to a questionnaire on their working conditions and experiences with ICT in clinical work. Descriptive statistics, compare means, cross-tables, Chi-square and bivariate correlation analysis were used to analyze the data. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05.Results: The findings revealed differences in doctors’ and registered nurses’ working conditions. Registered nurses reported a statistically significant higher workload and better job content than doctors. There was no difference in job discretion between doctors and registered nurses. Both occupational groups experienced that the ICT system impairs patient contact and the quality of health services. We found statistically significant correlations between registered nurses’ and doctors’ experiences with ICT in clinical work and working conditions, whereof the strongest correlation was related to job discretion in clinical work.Conclusion: This study concludes that the impact of ICT on doctors’ and registered nurses’ working conditions in a hospital depends on the experiences of ICT in clinical work. In consequence, it is recommended to involve doctors and registered nurses in the implementation of ICT in hospitals.Keywords: health care professionals, information and communication technology, job discretion, job content, working conditions

Aim Delirium is a serious, acute medical condition which places a heavy burden on the patient, his or her family and healthcare professionals. There have been only a limited number of studies to explore nurses' experiences of delirium and how delirium is identified in community care. The research questions of the study are as follows: “How do community care nurses' experience delirium?” and “How is delirium identified?”. Design This study has been designed as an explorative and descriptive study. Methods A topic‐based interview guide was developed containing questions associated with the Registered Nurses' experiences of their meetings with people with delirium and their identification of delirium. Results Nurses working in the community care need to know more about delirium as they play a key role in treatment. Our results also show that the participants have difficulty in establishing whether a patient is suffering from acute confusion/delirium, depression or dementia.

Background Approaches involving resource nurses have been used in several fields of practice to enhance quality of care. A literature review reveals limited research on the role of the resource nurse in palliative care in the community. Aim To explore experiences related to the role of the resource nurse in palliative care in the setting of nursing homes in Norway. Design The study has an explorative design with a qualitative approach. Methods Two semi structured group interviews were conducted. Five resource nurses participated in the first interview, two resource nurses participated in the last interview. The group interviews were audiotaped, transcribed verbatim and analysed with systematic text condensation. Results The resource nurses wish to promote high-quality palliative care. They are skilled palliative nurses working clinically, and they use their experience and knowledge to talk about and demonstrate good practice. By conveying knowledge and being role models, they bolster their colleagues’ confidence and skills in palliative care and contribute to a shared view of quality. They can potentially play an important role in facilitating reflection and collaboration in the palliative care team. However, the resource nurse’s function is affected by interpersonal, managerial and organisational factors. Conclusion The resource nurse most important tool in promoting high-quality palliative care may be to support their colleagues being a role model, and sharing knowledge and experience. The resource nurses play an important role in facilitating reflection and collaboration in the palliative care team and may contribute to ethical awareness and proper dialogues about end of life issues.

Background:Person-centred care is often described as an ideal way of preserving vulnerable persons’ wellbeing and dignity and an essential component of quality-care delivery. However, the staff find that making the care dignified is the most challenging issue, often because of effectivity, everyday stress and overload. In the interests of making the care more person-centred, systematic intervention involving ‘one-to-one contact’ (resident – carer) was trialled for 30 min twice a week over 12 months in two units in a nursing home in Eastern Norway.Objectives:The aim of the study was to elicit healthcare staff’s experiences of implementing ‘one-to-one contact’ between residents and carers in nursing homes.Methods:The study has a grounded-theory inspired design. Two groups of health care staff were each interviewed three times. Data were collected over an 18-month period.Ethical considerations:The study was approved by the Data Protection Official for Research under the auspices of the Norwegian Social Science Data Services.Findings:The core category is ‘One-to-one contact’ at a nursing home is possible, but requires open-mindedness. The core category indicates that open-mindedness is required, since it does not take much for scepticism to take over and cause reversion to habitual practices. The category Expectant but Sceptical describes staff thoughts and experiences before the implementation phase got underway. The category Positive but Undecided describes staff experiences 6 months into the intervention and after 12 months.Conclusions:This study has revealed that systematic ‘one-to-one contact’ between resident and carer in nursing home is achievable, and that such a simple action might be an important step towards achieving more person-centred care as the resident is seen more as a person. However, in order to make a more person-centred and dignified approach to care constant attentiveness and awareness is required, as there were ongoing factors counteracting it.

Background : Approaches involving resource nurses have been used in several fields of practice to enhance quality of care. A literature review reveals limited research on the role of the resource nurse in palliative care in the community.Aim: To explore experiences pertaining to the resource nurse’s role in palliative care in nursing homes in Norway.Design: An explorative and descriptive design using group interviews. Methods: Two semi structured group interviews were conducted. Five resource nurses participated in the first interview, two resource nurses participated in the last interview. The group interviews were audiotaped, transcribed verbatim and analysed with systematic text condensation.Results: The resource nurses wish to promote high-quality palliative care. They are skilled palliative nurses working clinically, and they use their experience and knowledge to talk about and demonstrate good practice. By conveying knowledge and being role models, they bolster their colleagues’ confidence and skills in palliative care and contribute to a shared view of quality. They can potentially play an important role in facilitating reflection and collaboration in the palliative care team. However, the resource nurse’s function is affected by interpersonal, managerial and organisational factors.Conclusion: The resource nurse most important tool in promoting high-quality palliative care may be to support their colleagues being a role model and sharing knowledge and experience. The resource nurses play an important role in facilitating reflection and collaboration in the palliative care team and may contribute to ethical awareness and proper dialogues about end of life issues.

Pharmaceutical care necessitates significant efforts from patients, informal caregivers, the interprofessional team of health care professionals and health care system administrators. Collaboration, mutual respect and agreement amongst all stakeholders regarding responsibilities throughout the complex process of pharmaceutical care is needed before patients can take full advantage of modern medicine. Based on the literature and policy documents, in this position paper, we reflect on opportunities for integrated evidence-based pharmaceutical care to improve care quality and patient outcomes from a nursing perspective. Despite the consensus that interprofessional collaboration is essential, in clinical practice, research, education and policy-making challenges are often not addressed interprofessionally. This paper concludes with specific advises to move towards the implementation of more interprofessional, evidence-based pharmaceutical care.

Objectives To understand healthcare professionals’ experiences and perceptions of nurses’ potential or ideal roles in pharmaceutical care (PC). Design Qualitative study conducted through semi-structured in-depth interviews. Setting Between December 2018 and October 2019, interviews were conducted with healthcare professionals of 14 European countries in four healthcare settings: hospitals, community care, mental health and long-term residential care. Participants In each country, pharmacists, physicians and nurses in each of the four settings were interviewed. Participants were selected on the basis that they were key informants with broad knowledge and experience of PC. Data collection and analysis All interviews were conducted face to face. Each country conducted an initial thematic analysis. Consensus was reached through a face-to-face discussion of all 14 national leads. Results 340 interviews were completed. Several tasks were described within four potential nursing responsibilities, that came up as the analysis themes, being: 1) monitoring therapeutic/adverse effects of medicines, 2) monitoring medicines adherence, 3) decision making on medicines, including prescribing 4) providing patient education/information. Nurses’ autonomy varied across Europe, from none to limited to a few tasks and emergencies to a broad range of tasks and responsibilities. Intended level of autonomy depended on medicine types and level of education. Some changes are needed before nursing roles can be optimised and implemented in practice. Lack of time, shortage of nurses, absence of legal frameworks and limited education and knowledge are main threats to European nurses actualising their ideal role in PC. Conclusions European nurses have an active role in PC. Respondents reported positive impacts on care quality and patient outcomes when nurses assumed PC responsibilities. Healthcare professionals expect nurses to report observations and assessments. This key patient information should be shared and addressed by the interprofessional team. The study evidences the need of a unique and consensus-based PC framework across Europe.

Background: Nurses play an important role in pharmaceutical care. They are involved in: detecting clinical change; communicating/discussing pharmacotherapy with patients, their advocates, and other healthcare professionals; proposing and implementing medication-related interventions; and ensuring follow-up of patients and medication regimens. To date, a framework of nurses' competences on knowledge, skills, and attitudes as to interprofessional pharmaceutical care tasks is missing. Objectives: To reach agreement with experts about nurses' competences for tasks in interprofessional pharmaceutical care. Methods: A two-phase study starting with a scoping review followed by five Delphi rounds was performed. Competences extracted from the literature were assessed by an expert panel on relevance by using the RAND/UCLA method. The experts (n = 22) involved were healthcare professionals, nurse researchers, and educators from 14 European countries with a specific interest in nurses' roles in interprofessional pharmaceutical care. Descriptive statistics supported the data analysis. Results: The expert panel reached consensus on the relevance of 60 competences for 22 nursing tasks. 41 competences were related to 15 generic nursing tasks and 33 competences were related to seven specific nursing tasks. Conclusions: This study resulted in a competence framework for competency-based nurse education. Future research should focus on imbedding these competences in nurse education. A structured instrument should be developed to assess students' readiness to achieve competence in interprofessional pharmaceutical care in clinical practice. The research was supported by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union (grant number 2018–1-BE02-KA203–046861) and MDMJ accountants, an accountancy service in Belgium that financially supported the Belgian authors, without any conflicts of interest.

Clear role descriptions promote the quality of interprofessional collaboration. Currently, it is unclear to what extent healthcare professionals consider pharmaceutical care (PC) activities to be nurses’ responsibility in order to obtain best care quality. This study aimed to create and evaluate a framework describing potential nursing tasks in PC and to investigate nurses’ level of responsibility. A framework of PC tasks and contextual factors was developed based on literature review and previous DeMoPhaC project results. Tasks and context were cross-sectionally evaluated using an online survey in 14 European countries. A total of 923 nurses, 240 physicians and 199 pharmacists responded. The majority would consider nurses responsible for tasks within: medication self-management (86–97%), patient education (85–96%), medication safety (83–95%), monitoring adherence (82–97%), care coordination (82–95%), and drug monitoring (78–96%). The most prevalent level of responsibility was ‘with shared responsibility’. Prescription management tasks were considered to be nurses’ responsibility by 48–81% of the professionals. All contextual factors were indicated as being relevant for nurses’ role in PC by at least 74% of the participants. No task nor contextual factor was removed from the framework after evaluation. This framework can be used to enable healthcare professionals to openly discuss allocation of specific (shared) responsibilities and tasks. This research was supported by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union [grant number 2018-1-BE02-KA203-046861] and MDMJ accountants, Belgium.

Objective: The overall objective is to explore how the implementation of person-centred practice and use of technology affects patients’ and relatives’ perceptions of care quality and healthcare personnel’s job satisfaction, as well as shed light on nursing students’ experiences when performing person-centred interventions. In this paper, the interventions used to assure implementation of person-centredness and use of technology in relation to patients are described to facilitate an increased understanding of the study’s future results. Results: A person-centred practice framework was introduced and facilitated in three phases. These included: 1) Establishing a project group consisting of ward leaders and researchers. Workshops and meetings were held with the healthcare personnel to inform and discuss the concept of person-centred practice, use of technology and the interventions: “one-to-one-contact”, collection of life stories, advanced care planning, and point prevalence of wounds, including pressure ulcers, incontinence associated dermatitis and developing a skin care bundle. 2) A twelve months’ intervention period including facilitated innovation groups for personnel and leaders and conducting the four interventions. 3) Discussion of results with personnel. Inhibitors and promoters for the continuation of interventions will be highlighted. Strategies will ensure the further development of person-centred practice and use of technology in nursing homes.

Background Healthcare services are facing extensive challenges due to the increased proportion of elderly persons and persons with chronic disease. Technology enabled care (TEC) is a collective term for telecare, telehealth, telemedicine, mobile (m)-, digital- and electronic (e) health services. TEC is increasingly seen as a solution to many of the challenges facing the health sector. Patient perspectives may provide a useful evaluation tool for new healthcare technologies that have limited clinical data to support their effectiveness. More studies need to be done to better understand the acceptance of technology in healthcare. This review aim to summarize empirical studies exploring patient experiences with TEC. Findings in this study can be used to better understand what is needed to develop, implement and improve such services. Methods Systematic searches were conducted in the Pubmed, Psycinfo, Cinahl, Embase, Cochrane systematic reviews and Cochrane clinical trials databases. These studies were systematically reviewed using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, subjected to quality appraisals using the Critical Appraisal Skills Program (CASP), and synthesized via integrative analysis. Results After removal of duplicates, languages other than English, and non-scientific records, 4087 titles and abstracts were screened. After assessment against inclusion and exclusion criteria, 69 records were screened in full-text, and underwent quality appraisal. 21 records were included in the integrative analysis. Patients’ experiences with TEC related to 1) technological features, namely functionality and appearance, and 2) evolving independence, namely empowerment, autonomy and security. Technological challenges lead to frustrations and negative experiences, while a stigmatizing appearance lead to patients not using the solution. Through the use of TECs, patients felt more empowered, learning about their condition, increasing awareness to their symptoms and treatment, and feeling more safe and self-efficient. Patient participation was seen as a central aspect of the development of the TECT, as well as when using it. Conclusion This review deepens the understanding of patients’ experiences with technology enabled care solutions. Patients’ experiences not only relate to the practical/technical element of the device or solution, but to how this impact on their everyday life. Patient participation in development and planned use of such solutions should be considered an integral part in healthcare quality initiatives.

Background: The quality of care offered to older people is still poor. Nursing home administrators often claim that they provide person-centered care, but research indicates that institutional goals take precedence. Aim: The aim was to explore the impact of person-centered care on residents’ perceptions of care quality. Methods: An intervention study was conducted in one nursing home (41 residents). Person-centered care was operationalized into the interventions: greeting the resident on each shift, one-to-one contact (resident – carer) for 30 minutes twice a week, informing the residents continuously about changes in medication, and informing the residents about their legal rights at admission and three months after admission. The interventions were systematically conducted for 12 months. Face-to-face interviews using the Quality from Patient’s Perspective (QPP) questionnaire were conducted both prior to interventions and immediately after the 12-month period. Descriptive and comparative statistics were used to test for differences between care quality perceptions before and after intervention (p ≤ .05). Results: The residents rated all four quality dimensions (caregivers’ medical-technical competence and identity-oriented approach, care organization’s socio-cultural atmosphere, and physical-technical conditions) more highly after the 12-month period, and the socio-cultural atmosphere was rated significantly more highly. At item level, 44 items received higher scores, and, among them, significantly higher scores were given to 6 items. One item received a significantly lower score. Conclusions: Residents’ perceptions of care quality increase when person-centered care is operationalized and takes precedence over the ward’s routines or is part of the ward’s routines. The results indicate that it is possible to design a care system where the residents are at the centre of the health care offered.

The aim of this study was to explore the personnel's experiences with the implementation of an activity program for male residents in municipal care services. The design was inspired by a grounded theory approach. The data were collected by means of two focus group interviews with 11 participants in total. The findings showed that the personnel experienced that continuity was a prerequisite to being and remaining motivated when taking part in the activity program. Therefore, a lack of continuity was an obstacle. The categories ‘to be prepared’, ‘to be responsible for a sense of fellowship’, and ‘to gain new perspectives’ illuminate the personnel's experiences. Different conditions had an impact on how the personnel experienced the implementation of the activity program and whether they stayed motivated for being a part of the program in the future. More attention should be given to ward routines that, with only minor changes, may strengthen the activity leader role.

ObjectivesSafe pharmaceutical care (PC) requires an interprofessional team approach, involving physicians, nurses and pharmacists. Nurses’ roles however, are not always explicit and clear, complicating interprofessional collaboration. The aim of this study is to describe nurses’ practice and interprofessional collaboration in PC, from the viewpoint of nurses, physicians and pharmacists.DesignA cross-sectional survey.SettingThe study was conducted in 17 European countries, each with their own health systems.ParticipantsPharmacists, physicians and nurses with an active role in PC were surveyed.Main outcome measuresNurses’ involvement in PC, experiences of interprofessional collaboration and communication and views on nurses’ competences.ResultsA total of 4888 nurses, 974 physicians and 857 pharmacists from 17 European countries responded. Providing patient education and information (PEI), monitoring medicines adherence (MMA), monitoring adverse/therapeutic effects (ME) and prescribing medicines were considered integral to nursing practice by 78%, 73%, 69% and 15% of nurses, respectively. Most respondents were convinced that quality of PC would be improved by increasing nurses’ involvement in ME (95%), MMA (95%), PEI (91%) and prescribing (53%). Mean scores for the reported quality of collaboration between nurses and physicians, collaboration between nurses and pharmacists and interprofessional communication were respectively ConclusionsME, MMA, PEI and prescribing are part of nurses’ activities, and most healthcare professionals felt their involvement should be extended. Collaboration between nurses and physicians on PC is limited and between nurses and pharmacists even more.

Background Research to date indicates that most nursing homes offer various kinds of activities for their residents, but that these are seldom tailored to each individual person. In respect of activities, it is reasonable to assume that male residents are at particular risk of not receiving person-centred care as they inhabit a largely ‘female domain’, where the majority of personnel and often also of residents are female. Few studies to date have focused on activities for men in nursing homes. Aim The aim of this study was to explore male residents’ experiences of an activity programme in a nursing home in Norway. Design The study had an explorative Grounded Theory (GT) design. Data were collected by means of interviews with nine residents. All of the men were offered an activity at least once a week as part of a project over the preceding year. According to the basic principles of grounded theory sampling, data collection and analysis are carried out simultaneously using constant comparison. Findings The core category showed that there was ‘a change in the men’s everyday lives’ after the special activity programme – for men only – was offered. Their own influence on the content of the conversations and on the activity itself was described as limited. This was not important for them, as the most essential issues were ‘being together’ and ‘getting away’. Conditions relating to the men themselves, the place where the activities were held and the nursing personnel had an impact on how important the activity programme was for them. Conclusions A more person-centred approach in future activity programmes will enhance the residents’ integrity and well-being, and allow them a degree of self-determination even while resident in a nursing home.

Aim. The aim of this study was to explore ‘patient participation’ in everyday activities for persons with dementia living in special care units in nursing homes. Background. Studies about how ‘pa ...

Background: The recent reforms in the health care sector have changed the requirements for professional nursing competence in the clinical field. The reforms have also required nursing education to consider different areas for clinical placements for their students, and outpatient units in hospitals have been increasingly formalized as clinical learning environments. The complex technologies in some of these units represent a challenge for students who have limited existing knowledge or experience. More focus on outpatient care has also led to fewer opportunities for studying the continuity of a patient’s life situation. In order to meet these challenges, structured learning activities with special forms were developed by nursing educators and nurses at outpatient units. The aim of this study was to explore students' experiences of using structured learning activities as unit-specific learning outcomes and targeted reflection during clinical placements in an outpatient unit. Methods: Two focus group interviews were conducted with a total of seven nursing students who had experienced structured learning activities during clinical placements in an outpatient unit. Data were analyzed by means of content analyses. Results: This study shows that preparedness and guidance during placement were imperative for making the week in the outpatient unit meaningful. ‘Being prepared’, which was one of the categories, incorporated the subcategories ‘being able to understand what to do’, ‘being at the right place at the right time’ and ‘being alert for new experiences’. The category ‘being guided’ which incorporated the subcategories ‘from uncertainty to more confidence’, ‘from observer to seeking knowledge’ and ‘from focusing on technology to seeing the person’ showed that the forms guided the students through the placement in the outpatient unit. Discussion: Students take a more active approach to seeking knowledge when given structured learing activities during clinical placement in outpatient unit. Conclusions: This study shows that use of outpatient units for clinical placement in nursing studies has several challenges but also the potential for creating positive experiences for the students.

The objective of this study is to illuminate the experience of Norwegian rheumatics illness during long-term residency in Spain. The method chosen is qualitative with a phenomenological approach. Twelve rheumatics comprise the sample group, eight women and four men, ages from 45 to 70. Data collection was performed by qualitative research interview. The data is analyzed using condensation, followed by a thematic approach, inspired by Giorgis phenomenological method. The essence of the Norwegian rheumatics experience is that they recovered control over everyday life. They experienced pain relief, reduced medication and increased personal activity. The study indicates that long-term stay in Spain can promote health for people suffering weather-sensitive rheumatism.

Background: Research concerning relatives’ participation in the everyday care related to persons living in special care units for persons with dementia is limited. Research questions: To examine relatives’ participation in their near one’s everyday care, the level of burden experienced and important factors for participation, in this special context. Design: The study had a cross-sectional design, and data collection was carried out by means of a study-specific questionnaire. Participants and context: A total of 233 relatives from 23 different special care units participated. Ethical consideration: The study was approved by the Norwegian Social Science Data Services. Results: A great majority of relatives reported that they visited weekly and were the resident’s spokesperson, but seldom really participated in decisions concerning their everyday care. Participation was seldom reported as a burden. Discussion: This study indicated that relatives were able to make a difference to their near one’s everyday life and ensure quality of care based on their biographical expertise, intimate knowledge about and emotional bond with the resident. Since knowing the resident is a prerequisite for providing individualised care that is in line with the resident’s preferences, information concerning these issues is of utmost importance. Conclusion: This study prompts reflection about what it is to be a spokesperson and whether everyday care is neglected in this role. Even though relatives were satisfied with the care provided, half of them perceived their participation as crucial for the resident’s well-being. This indicated that relatives were able to offer important extras due to their biographical expertise, intimate knowledge about and emotional bond with the resident. Good routines securing that written information about the residents’ life history and preferences is available and used should be implemented in practice.

The aim of this study was to explore the experience of nursing personnel with respect to patient participation in special care units for persons with dementia in nursing homes, with focus on everyday life. The study has an explorative grounded theory design. Eleven nursing personnel were interviewed twice. Patient participation is regarded as being grounded in the idea that being master of one’s own life is essential to the dignity and self-esteem of all people. Patient participation was described at different levels as letting the resident make their own decisions, adjusting the choices, making decisions on behalf of the residents and forcing the residents. The educational level and commitment of the nursing personnel and how often they were on duty impacted the level that each person applied, as did the ability of the residents to make decisions, and organizational conditions, such as care culture, leadership and number of personnel.

To explore the role of relatives in the patient participation process for persons with dementia living in special care units in Norwegian nursing homes, with focus on everyday life.Studies exploring the experience of relatives of persons with dementia as to their role in the patient participation process are limited.The study had an explorative grounded theory design.Data collection was carried out by interviews with twelve close relatives. Simultaneously, data analysis was performed with open, axial and selective coding.The relatives' role in the patient participation process was experienced as transitions between different roles to secure the resident's well-being, which was understood as the resident's comfort and dignity. This was the ultimate goal for their participation. The categories 'being a visitor', 'being a spokesperson', 'being a guardian' and 'being a link to the outside world' described the different roles. Different situations and conditions triggered different roles, and the relatives' trust in the personnel was a crucial factor.The study has highlighted the great importance of relatives' role in the patient participation process, to secure the well-being of residents living in special care units. Our findings stress the uttermost need for a high degree of competence, interest and commitment among the personnel together with a well functioning, collaborative and cooperative relationship between the personnel and the relatives of persons with dementia. The study raises several important questions that emphasise that more research is needed.Relatives need to be seen and treated as a resource in the patient participation process in dementia care. More attention should be paid to initiating better cooperation between the personnel and the relatives, as this may have a positive impact both on the residents' and the relatives' well-being.