The Facilitators of Using Complementary Therapies in Clinical Nursing: A Qualitative Content Analysis

In response to the community need, it is necessary for nursing staff to use complementary therapies in their professional performance. The related facilitators in various clinical settings are different and the exploration of these factors are essential and important. So, this study was designed to assess clinical nurse's perceptions about the facilitators of using complementary therapies in clinical nursing.
This qualitative content analysis study was done from June 2014 to July 2015 in Kashan and Isfahan cities. Sampling was done purposively and ended after reaching data saturation. The snowball sampling was used to access the eligible samples. In-depth and Semi-structured interviews were done with sixteen nurses and two physicians who had rich experience. Concurrently with data collection, the data were analyzed via the conventional content analysis approach.
In relation to the research objective, the study participants’ perceptions fell into nine main categories of ‘client collaboration’; ‘the nurse's technical expertise and legal authority’; ‘the peers collaboration'; ‘compatible specialists'; ‘nursing manager-intelligent stimulator’; 'organizing, directing and supervising by nursing manager'; ‘active strategies'; ‘passive strategies', and ‘partial achievement in problem management’ from which, the four main themes of ‘supportive co-workers', ‘the nurse and client Synchronization', ‘intelligent nursing manager',and ‘effectives situational strategies ' were abstracted.
Client collaboration, nurse's technical expertise and legal authority, using situational strategies in operational problems management, and the support provided by peers,physicians,and nursing managers cause the nurses to use complementary therapies in care plan easierly. The awareness of these findings is useful for authorities and designers to design guidelines related to integration of complementary therapies into nursing practice.