title: Meaning-making and managing difficult feelings: providing front-line end-of-life care.
abstract: Managing grief and difficult emotions related to end-of-life (EOL) care is an often under-recognized part of the work of resident care aides (RCAs). In this interpretive analysis we explore the shared and socially constructed ideas that 11 RCAs in 1 Canadian city employ to make sense of death and the provision of EOL care. RCAs spoke of personal challenges involved in witnessing death and experiencing loss, as well as helplessness and frustration when they could not provide quality EOL care. RCAs invoked "consoling refrains" to manage grief, including "such is life," "they are better off," and "they had a full life." To manage guilt and moral distress, RCAs reminded themselves "I did my best" and "I experience rewards." Though these ideas help RCAs, some may need to be reframed through coaching and mentorship, to prevent unintended negative effects on care or the reproduction of ageist beliefs more broadly.
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg. Laura.Funk@ad.umanitoba.ca
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Funk
authors.affiliation: University of Victoria, Canada.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Waskiewich
authors.affiliation: University of Victoria, Canada.
authors.forename: K I
authors.initials: KI
authors.lastname: Stajduhar
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D001293:Attitude to Death; D002170:Canada; D005260:Female; D006117:Grief; D018576:Home Health Aides / Q000523:psychology*; D006707:Homes for the Aged; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D012649:Self Concept; D013727:Terminal Care / Q000379:methods / Q000523:psychology*