title: Visible and invisible caring in nursing from the perspectives of patients and nurses in the gerontological context.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Just as in many countries all over the world, the number of older people in Italy has increased rapidly. Consequently, an increasing number of nurses are engaged in the care of older patients. However, due to a lack of understanding of how nurses and patients perceive caring, nursing care may be compromised. The aim of this study is to explore, describe and compare the perceptions of gerontological nurses and patients related to the dimensions of caring in nursing in an Italian hospital setting.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this qualitative descriptive study, a variety of analytic techniques were used to analyse semi-structured interview data from a purposeful sample of 20 nurses and 20 patients from geriatric units in two different Italian hospitals.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Although both nurses and patients gave rich descriptions of caring experiences, patients described features of caring in nursing that were visible (including nurses' caring gestures, giving attention and being competent) while nurses predominantly emphasised aspects of caring that were relatively invisible (such as reflecting on the patient's past needs, evaluating the nursing care rendered, planning for more appropriate future nursing care, taking multiple complex contextual factors into account to protect the patient and being competent).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data revealed more nuanced insight into the meaning of invisible and visible caring in nursing within the gerontological context than has been previously reported in the literature. This has implications for nursing education and practice because it may help nurses meet the actual needs of older patients in hospital settings.
authors.affiliation: Education and Lifelong Learning Science, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
authors.forename: Federica
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Canzan
authors.forename: MarySue V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Heilemann
authors.forename: Luisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Saiani
authors.forename: Luigina
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mortari
authors.forename: Elisa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ambrosi
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D005851:Geriatric Nursing; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D009740:Nursing Staff / Q000523:psychology*; D010361:Patients / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: caring; geriatric unit; grounded theory; hospital; interview; nursing; older people; qualitative approach; research