Recognizing expressions of thriving among persons living in nursing homes: a qualitative study

Baxter, Rebecca; Sandman, PO; Björk, S; Sköldunger, A; Edvardsson, David

doi:10.1186/s12912-020-00526-7

Recognizing expressions of thriving among persons living in nursing homes: a qualitative study

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-020-00526-7
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journal contribution

posted on 2025-11-11, 23:19 authored by Rebecca Baxter, PO Sandman, S Björk, A Sköldunger, David EdvardssonDavid Edvardsson

Background: Thriving has emerged as a contemporary and health-promoting concept for older people living in nursing homes; however, there has been limited research to explore how nursing home staff identify thriving in their everyday practice. The aim of this study was to explore how staff recognize expressions of thriving among persons living in nursing homes. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 nurses working at a nursing home in Victoria, Australia. The interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Results: The analysis resulted in six sub-categories and three main categories. Expressions of thriving were recognized in relation to how staff understood thriving, observed thriving and sensed thriving. Staff described comparing and contrasting clinical assessment indicators with their own personal and professional understandings of thriving, as well as their overall sense of the individual person within the wider situational and environmental context. Conclusions: Our results illuminate how staff recognize everyday expressions of thriving for people living in nursing homes and emphasizes the importance of utilizing person-centred care principles in clinical assessments. These findings have practical implications with regards to how thriving is identified and assessed in long-term care, and could be used to inform and guide staff education, person-centred care strategies, and organizational policies to better support and promote thriving in nursing homes.

Funding

This work was supported by The Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life, and Welfare: FORTE [2014-4016]; The Swedish Research Council [521-2014-2715]; and, The Medical Faculty, Umea University [311-839-13].

History

Publication Date

2021-01-05

Journal

BMC Nursing

Volume

20

Issue

1

Article Number

8

Pagination

7p.

Publisher

BMC

ISSN

1472-6955

Rights Statement

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