title: Enhancing relationships in long-term care: through story sharing.
abstract: Relationships between staff and residents in long-term care (LTC) are foundational to quality of life and high standards of care. Although nurse aides (NAs) provide more than 80% of personal care to nursing home residents, little research has focused on the NA-resident relationship or how NAs come to know and connect with their residents. This interpretive phenomenological study explored how a Story Sharing intervention initiates and enhances this relationship. Following the Story Sharing intervention, 84 volunteer NAs and 54 residents in six nursing homes were interviewed over a 6-month period. Analysis of these interviews revealed 9 patterns and 25 themes that describe how NAs and residents interact every day, along with innovative NA best practices. One theme, exemplifying a best practice, Restoring the Reciprocity of Care, is given. The findings have been incorporated into an extended Story Sharing Program for all LTC staff.
authors.affiliation: University of Texas Medical Branch-Galveston, Galveston, Texas, USA. dheliker@utmb.edu
authors.forename: Diane
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Heliker
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D008134:Long-Term Care; D033262:Narration; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D009728:Nursing Assistants; D011788:Quality of Life