Jakten på det gode øyeblikk : fokusgruppeintervju med ansatte om erfaringer med bruk av alternative og komplementære behandlingsmetoder i sykehjem

Abstract

Background: The number of patients diagnosed with dementia may double in the next 35 years. The health authorities meet the challenge with innovation and competence. Some nursing homes have started using alternative and complementary methods in caring for patients with dementia. Purpose: What methods are applied? How do the employees experience the use of complementary and alternative methods? This study will explore the possibilities associated with such methods. Methods: The study has a descriptive, explorative and interpretive design. Data were collected in focus group interviews, with a total of 12 employees from three nursing homes. Recorded interviews were transcribed verbatim, and Malterud’s (2003) “systematic text condensation” was used to analyze the data. Results: The employees are excited about learning and using the alternative and complementary methods, such as animal assisted therapy, music therapy, milieu therapy and aromatherapy. They have experienced successful results from using complementary and alternative methods. Employees are open towards new knowledge and they believe in alternative complementary methods. They willingly share their experience both at work and private. There are challenges using complementary and alternative methods in nursing homes with various groups of patients, problems keeping animals in institutions, negative attitude from coworkers and organizing projects at shift wards. Conclusion: Employees using complementary and alternative methods are open and teachable, fulfilling criteria described in learning organizations with willingness to change. They experience several methods having positive effect patients with dementia. There are no studies on the prevalence of complementary and alternative methods practice in Norwegian nursing homes. This calls for further research.