Identifying personal beliefs of nursing staff about encouraging psychogeriatric nursing home residents in daily activities: A qualitative study.
Joyce van Sambeek, Silke Metzelthin, Sandra Zwakhalen and 1 others
PMID 36397286WHAT IT FOUND
Nursing staff in psychogeriatric wards said they encouraged residents, yet often took over washing and dressing because it was faster, habit, time pressure, and small space.
Key findings
01Most nursing staff said they encouraged residents often, but some said they took over many daily activities.
02Staff said encouraging activity was harder when time and staffing were limited, residents were sick or restless, or physical space was small.
03Many staff said taking over daily activities was habitual, and some said the habit should be broken.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The study interviewed 15 staff, so it cannot show how common these beliefs are across nursing homes. Staff answered by telephone, so facial expressions and non-verbal behaviour were not observed. Beliefs were self-reported, and actual behaviour may differ from what staff said. Some staff also worked on somatic wards, although they were asked to answer for psychogeriatric wards. No residents or families were interviewed, so their views are not represented. No intervention was tested, so it cannot show what changes resident activity.
Declared interests
No funding was received for the study, and the authors declared no potential conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these staff beliefs as evidence that an activation programme works. The study asked 15 nursing staff what they thought, not patients, and did not test any intervention or measure resident outcomes.