title: Articulating the role of relationships in access to home care nursing at the end of life.
abstract: In this article, we draw on data collected from two samples of home care nurses to examine how relationships between nurses and family caregivers intersected with access to palliative home care nursing services. Participants referred to relationships as important for their practical benefits and for access to care: good relationships enhanced the nurse's ability to assess clients and families and fostered the family's trust in the nurse's care. Although emphasizing the need to build and maintain relationships (often requiring time), participants simultaneously referred to beliefs about the need to control the personal emotions invoked in relationships so as to ensure appropriate access for clients and families. Future research should further explore how the organizational and resource context, and the culture of palliative care, shape nurses' beliefs about relationships in their practice, the nature and types of relationships that can develop, and both client and family caregivers' access to care.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing and Centre on Aging, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. kis@uvic.ca
authors.forename: Kelli I
authors.initials: KI
authors.lastname: Stajduhar
authors.forename: Laura M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Funk
authors.forename: Della
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Roberts
authors.forename: Denise
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cloutier-Fisher
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: McLeod
authors.forename: Carolyn
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wilkinson
authors.forename: Mary Ellen
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Purkis
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000884:Anthropology, Cultural; D002170:Canada; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D003152:Community Health Nursing; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006699:Home Care Services; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D011368:Professional-Family Relations; D036301:Qualitative Research; D013727:Terminal Care / Q000523:psychology*