Explanation Caring Works in Nursing Home: A Qualitative Study

The use of long term care services has risen and this trend is expected to continue as the population reaches to old age. Because the older people who live in the nursing homes need the holistic care, so the purpose of this study was to explore the caring works in nursing homes. This study was conducted with a qualitative approach using conventional qualitative content analysis. The study included 23 Iranian participants including 14 elderly people, 7 caregivers and 2 managers. Data were collected with semi-structured interviews and continued to the point of data saturation. Analysis of the data was performed continually and concurrently with data collection of using a comparative method. 2 themes emerged from 595 open codes, including: available cares and care as unpleasant task. Nine subthemes indicated participants’ experiences and understanding of caring works in nursing home. Existence cares were routine ones, which their focus were on physical aspects, although there were, sometimes, psychological cares. The findings of this research are guidelines for managers and care planners in nursing homes to pay attention to physical and psychological care needs of elders. Also it is important to notice to clinical education for caregivers and provision recipes for treatment and supervision.