IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/sagope/v5y2015i1p2158244015573912.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

“Death Is Part of the Job†in Long-Term Care Homes

Author

Listed:
  • Jill Marcella
  • Mary Lou Kelley

Abstract

For long-term care (LTC) home staff who work directly with residents, death, dying, and grief are day-to-day experiences in their working life. However, staff are often overlooked for grief and bereavement support. This exploratory research used a qualitative approach to understand LTC staff’s grief and bereavement experience and to identify the perceived support needs of nurses and personal support workers who work in two faith-based non-profit care homes in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. Findings indicated that participants’ experiences are complex, shaped by the emotional impact of each loss, the cumulative burden of ongoing grief, an organizational culture in LTC where death is hidden, and the lack of organizational attention to staffs’ support and education needs. Eight recommendations were developed from the findings. It is hoped that this research will assist in the development of organizational policy and procedures, addressing the health and well-being of direct care workers in LTC homes.

Suggested Citation

  • Jill Marcella & Mary Lou Kelley, 2015. "“Death Is Part of the Job†in Long-Term Care Homes," SAGE Open, , vol. 5(1), pages 21582440155, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:5:y:2015:i:1:p:2158244015573912
    DOI: 10.1177/2158244015573912
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2158244015573912
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/2158244015573912?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Miriam S. Moss & Sidney Z. Moss & Robert L. Rubinstein & Helen K. Black, 2003. "The Metaphor of “Family” in Staff Communication About Dying and Death," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 58(5), pages 290-296.
    2. Helen K. Black & Robert L. Rubinstein, 2005. "Direct Care Workers' Response to Dying and Death in the Nursing Home: A Case Study," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 60(1), pages 3-10.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jo-Ann Vis & Kimberley Ramsbottom & Jill Marcella & Jessica McAnulty & Mary Lou Kelley & Katherine Kortes-Miller & Kristen Jones-Bonofiglio, 2016. "Developing and Implementing Peer-Led Intervention to Support Staff in Long-Term Care Homes Manage Grief," SAGE Open, , vol. 6(3), pages 21582440166, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:5:y:2015:i:1:p:2158244015573912. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.