P22: Moral-relational learning from experiences for person-centred care

Abstract

Objective:

Lately, there is a growing interest around person-centred care in long- term care. Providing care that meets the wishes and needs of residents is essential but also challenging. Studies on implementing person-centred care point to a gap between theory and practice and argue that education is important in reducing this gap. What is not yet clear is how this education should be organized. The theory of care ethics states that a moral-relational attitude is necessary in order to achieve this. This attitude is not achieved by only focusing on formal knowledge but can be found in the care staff's implicit and experiential knowledge. Therefore, we examined how care staff can learn about person-centred care in a moral- relational way using their own experiences.

Method:

In 2020-2022, we conducted an action research in two care home locations. Care staff started by collecting their experiences on the ward. Afterwards, they reflected on these experiences in order to learn more about good and person-centred care. This study reports on the evaluation of the study (after year one and two) in interviews (n=17) in which care staff shared perspectives on working with experiences. The transcripts of the interviews have been thematically analysed.

Results:

Care staff stated that working with experiences increased awareness, giving them feelings of more control and pleasure in their work. Sharing experiences also created more context, providing care staff with guidelines for doing the right thing for the resident. This richer context was created due to the freedom they had to share their subjective experience, which worked empowering. Care staff also felt that it is necessary to reflect on experiences. Using their own experiences spoke directly to the imagination, through which they felt recognized and acknowledged.

Conclusion:

Working with experiences in the daily care routine contributes to moral-relational learning and providing person-centred care to residents. This requires a different view of learning, in which primarily the experiential and tacit knowledge of care staff, and a communitive space for moral-relational learning.