Professionalizing familial care: examining nurses' unpaid family care work.
An emergent grounded theory was used to examine Professionalizing Familial Care, the processes by which registered nurses enact professional care work within the familial care domain. A sample of registered nurses (n = 32) were interviewed by telephone at multiple time points over a 6- to 12-month period. The findings revealed that the professionalization of care work was often reinforced by societal, familial, and self-expectations. Setting Limits and Making Connections were the dialectical overarching processes shaping the professionalizing of care while 6 interdependent substrategies emerged: assessing, advising, advocating, collaborating, coordinating, and consulting. These findings will help inform refinement of policies and practices for nurses who provide care for an older relative.
Daphne Cockwell School of Nursing, Ryerson University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (Ms St-Amant); Arthur Labatt Family School of Nursing, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada (Drs Ward-Griffin and Kerr and Ms Sutherland); Department of Family Medicine, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, School of Social Work, Kings University College, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada (Dr Brown); Department of Sociology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver (Dr Martin-Matthews); and Family Studies & Gerontology, Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada (Dr Keefe).
Oona
O
St-Amant
Catherine
C
Ward-Griffin
Judith Belle
JB
Brown
Anne
A
Martin-Matthews
Nisha
N
Sutherland
Janice
J
Keefe
Michael S
MS
Kerr
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002055:Burnout, Professional / Q000523:psychology*; D002170:Canada; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D005195:Family Relations; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D024802:Nurse's Role / Q000523:psychology*; D009732:Nursing Care / Q000523:psychology*; D011897:Random Allocation; D013315:Stress, Psychological; D014838:Volunteers / Q000523:psychology*