RESEARCH ARTICLE


Caring Relationships in Home-Based Nursing Care - Registered Nurses’ Experiences



Britt-Marie Wälivaara*, Stefan Sävenstedt, Karin Axelsson
Division of Nursing, Department of Health Science, Luleå University of Technology, SE-971 87 Luleå, Sweden


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© Wälivaara et al.; Licensee Bentham Open.

open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.

* Address correspondence to this author at the Division of Nursing, Department of Health Science, Luleå University of Technology, SE-971 87 Luleå, Sweden; Tel: +46 920 493848; Fax: +46 920 493850; E-mail: britt-marie.valivaara@ltu.se


Abstract

The caring relationship between the nurse and the person in need of nursing care has been described as a key concept in nursing and could facilitate health and healing by involving the person’s genuine needs. The aim of this study was to explore registered nurses’ experiences of their relationships with persons in need of home-based nursing care. Individual interviews with nurses (n=13 registered nurses and 11 district nurses) working in home-based nursing care were performed. A thematic content analysis was used to analyze the transcribed interviews and resulted in the main theme Good nursing care is built on trusting relationship and five sub-themes, Establishing the relationship in home-based nursing care, Conscious efforts maintains the relationship, Reciprocity is a requirement in the relationship, Working in different levels of relationships and Limitations and boundaries in the relationship. A trusting relationship between the nurse and the person in need of healthcare is a prerequisite for good home-based nursing care whether it is based on face-to-face encounters or remote encounters through distance-spanning technology. A trusting relationship could reduce the asymmetry of the caring relationship which could strengthen the person’s position. The relationship requires conscious efforts from the nurse and a choice of level of the relationship. The trusting relationship was reciprocal and meant that the nurse had to communicate something about themself as the person needs to know who is entering the home and who is communicating through distance-spanning technology.

Keywords: Relationship, home-based nursing care, registered nurses, experiences, distance-spanning technology, interviews, thematic content analysis.