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4.3 Inclusion Criteria
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Chapter 4 Research Method
The research unit was deemed to be “typical” of public residential care facilities in
Ireland. It met the following criteria for a “typical” residential unit:
Shared wards: more than one bed in each ward.
Communal bathrooms.
Communal day room.
One dining room.
Range of staff to include nurse managers, nurses, healthcare assistants,
laundry personnel, administrative personnel and portering personnel.
The following is a list of the inclusion criteria for staff, residents and residents’
families:
Staff: Assigned to work on the research unit only and part of the duty roster.
Involved in direct delivery of care to the residents in the research unit.
Residents: For the documentary analysis and the observations all male or female
residents on the research unit were included. For the interviews, residents needed to
be able to converse and engage with the researcher during the interview.
Family: Resident must be a relative and must be living in the research unit.
4.4 Ethical Considerations
The research protocol involved four main areas for consideration: 1) Ethics
committee approval, 2) Informed consent from participants, 3) Ensuring privacy and
confidentiality of participants, and 4) Keeping everyone informed.
4.4.1 Ethics Committee Approval
Ethical approval was sought and obtained (Appendix 5) from the hospital ethics
committee, which consisted of medical and nursing personnel.
4.4.2 Informed Consent from Participants
An information sheet was distributed to all staff, residents and residents’ families
(Appendix 6). Large font size and simple vocabulary were used for the residents’