Dealing with troubled conscience in municipal care of older people.
Troubled conscience may jeopardize the health of healthcare personnel and, hence, the quality of care provided. Learning more about how personnel deal with their troubled conscience therefore seems important. The aim of this study was to describe personnel's experiences of how they deal with troubled conscience generated in their daily work in municipal care of older people. Interviews were conducted with 20 care providers and analysed with a thematic content analysis. The findings show that in order to deal with troubled conscience, personnel dialogued with themselves and with others. They took measures in a direction they perceived to be correct, and they expressed a need for distancing and re-energizing. It is of importance to share situations that generate troubled conscience in order to find ways to deal with them. Reconsidering one's ways of dealing with troubled conscience may give care providers an opportunity to reach consensus within themselves.
Umeå University, Campus Skellefteå, Skellefteå 93187, Sweden. eva.ericson-lidman@nurs.umu.se
Eva
E
Ericson-Lidman
Gunilla
G
Strandberg
D000328:Adult; D003242:Conscience; D005260:Female; D005851:Geriatric Nursing / Q000379:methods; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006299:Health Services for the Aged / Q000941:ethics*; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations / Q000941:ethics*; D009740:Nursing Staff / Q000523:psychology*; D017009:Professional Autonomy; D036301:Qualitative Research; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000517:prevention & control; D013548:Sweden; D019037:Urban Health Services
Municipal care of older people; conscience; coping; healthcare personnel; troubled conscience