"Caring as if it were my family": health care aides' perspectives about expert care of the dying resident in a personal care home.
OBJECTIVE
A qualitative pilot study was conducted to identify and describe expert behaviors in care of the dying resident in a personal care home setting from the perspective of health care aides (N = 5) nominated by their peers as demonstrating excellence in end-of-life care.


METHODS
Data was collected through audio-taped semi-structured interview, and transcribed verbatim using constant-comparative analysis procedures.


RESULTS
The over-arching theme emerging from the data was "caring as if it were my family." Subsumed within this main theme included the sub-themes of: (1) care of the resident; (2) tending to the environment; (3) care of the family; (4) going to bat; and (5) processing loss.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings from this pilot study provide preliminary empirical evidence that could inform educational programs for and performance evaluation of, health care aides providing end-of-life care in personal care home environments.
McClement
Susan
S
Faculty of Nursing, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. susan.mcclement@cancercare.mb.ca
Wowchuk
Suzanne
S
Klaasen
Kathleen
K
D001293:Attitude to Death; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology / Q000592:standards*; D018576:Home Health Aides / Q000523:psychology* / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000379:methods / Q000523:psychology*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011368:Professional-Family Relations; D036301:Qualitative Research; D013727:Terminal Care / Q000379:methods / Q000523:psychology*