| |
Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
 | |
|
A discourse of silence
— professional carers reasoning about death and dying in nursing homes | | Author(s) | Jane Osterlind |
| Journal title | Ageing and Society, vol 31, part 4, May 2011 |
| Pages | pp 529-544 |
| Source | http://www.journals.cambridge.org/aso |
| Keywords | Death ; Dying ; Nursing homes ; Personnel ; Attitude ; Sweden. |
| Annotation | The purpose of this Swedish study was to explore nursing home staff's attitude to and understanding of death and dying. The study drew on Foucault's discourse analysis and focused on five focus-group discussions held with 28 staff of four different nursing homes in Sweden. The findings show that the discourse had three characteristics: (a) dying was silent and silenced, (b) emotions were pushed into the background, and (c) attentiveness to death arose after the moment of the elderly person's death. The structure of the discourse was characterised by a movement between two positions, avoiding and confronting death, the main focus being on avoidance. The articulation and practices of silence highlight a need to regard dying as a process that requires attention. One way to ensure appropriate attention could be to instil the philosophy of palliative care in nursing homes, including training and support for the staff in their work. Concludes that nursing home staff need more knowledge and support to enable them to feel that they do a good job. (JL). |
| Accession Number | CPA-110513004 A |
| Classmark | CW: CX: LHB: QM: DP: 76P |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
|
| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
| |
|