Aim: The aim of this study was to explore how nurses and care-assistants (nursing staff) working in six Flemish nursing homes experience and describe their involvement in grief care.
Background: Although grief in older people is widely described in literature, less is known about how nursing staff in nursing homes offer and perceive grief care.
Design: A qualitative research design with elements of constructivist grounded theory was used.
Methods: Loosely structured face-to-face interviews were done with fourteen nurses and care-assistants. Data were collected from October 2013-March 2014. Interview transcripts were analysed using the Qualitative Analysis Guide of Leuven (QUAGOL) method with support of NVivo 10.
Findings: Grief care in nursing homes is characterized by a complex tension between two care dimensions: (1) being involved while keeping an appropriate distance; and (2) being while doing. Nursing staff described key enablers and influencing factors for grief care at the level of both the individual and the organizational context.
Conclusion: Findings suggest an established personal sensitivity for grief care considered from the nursing staff points of view. Nevertheless, a common denominator was the necessity to further develop a supportive and multidisciplinary grief care policy ingrained in the existing care culture. Suggested components of this grief care policy are: (a) centring attention on non-death-related loss and the cumulative nature of loss in residents; (b) building capacity by means of reflective practices; and (c) the importance of self-care strategies for nursing staff. Furthermore, the findings from this study point towards a need for education and training.
Keywords: care-assistants; grief; loss; nurses; nursing; nursing home; older people.
© 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.