Nursing staff beliefs and expectations about continence care in nursing homes.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this qualitative study was to consider the current beliefs of nursing assistants and directors of nursing about management of urinary incontinence (UI) among the residents in nursing homes.


METHODS
This was a qualitative study using purposive sampling and a focus group methodology.


METHODS
Three focus groups including 38 participants were held in 2 different regions. Two of the focus groups comprised nursing assistants and 1 comprised directors of nursing.


METHODS
The focus groups were facilitated by 2 different advanced practice nurses (BR and LJK), and 2 similar interview guides were used: 1 for the nursing assistants and 1 for the nurses. The interviews were tape recorded and transcribed verbatim; data were analyzed via content analysis.


RESULTS
Ten themes were identified from the data; 3 focused on resident factors that influence UI, 4 related to staff and family contributors to UI, and 3 focused on recommendations to improve UI management in the nursing home setting.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings from this study can be used to guide interventions to decrease or eliminate barriers to continence care and thereby facilitate the implementation of clinical practice guidelines and evidence-based interventions to improve urinary continence among nursing home residents.
Resnick
Barbara
B
University of Maryland School of Nursing, Baltimore, MD, USA. barbresnick@aol.com
Keilman
Linda J
LJ
Calabrese
Barbara
B
Parmelee
Patricia
P
Lawhorne
Larry
L
Pailet
Janet
J
Ouslander
Joseph
J
D000368:Aged; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D015984:Causality; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D017144:Focus Groups; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D005851:Geriatric Nursing / Q000193:education / Q000458:organization & administration; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D008396:Maryland; D008824:Michigan; D009718:Nurse Administrators / Q000193:education / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000523:psychology*; D024802:Nurse's Role; D009730:Nursing Assessment; D009728:Nursing Assistants / Q000193:education / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000523:psychology*; D009735:Nursing Homes; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D010561:Personnel Staffing and Scheduling; D036301:Qualitative Research; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D017749:Total Quality Management; D014549:Urinary Incontinence / Q000209:etiology / Q000451:nursing* / Q000523:psychology; D016526:Workload