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Chapter 5 Findings
nurse retired, one healthcare assistant left the unit, two staff members were often
off on sick leave (one nurse and one HCA) and three new nurses and one
healthcare assistant joined the unit.
Following an analysis of the duty rosters the researcher examined the research unit’s
philosophy of care and residents’ sets of documentation.
5.6 Findings from the Analysis of the Philosophy of Care
Mission statements and philosophies of care generally aim to reflect the ethos of
a care environment and the literature review indicated that this may reflect the
type of care provided in a unit. The research unit’s philosophy of care (Appendix
10) was displayed on the wall at the front entrance and a content analysis was
undertaken on this. The attributes, antecedents and consequences of autonomy as
delineated from the concept analysis (Appendix 2) were used to guide this
content analysis (referring each statement in the philosophy of care to the
attributes, antecedents and consequences and assessing whether or not they were
comparable). The aim was to ascertain whether or not resident autonomy and its
attributes were recognised within the philosophy of care. The areas circled in the
text below illustrate and provide evidence that the philosophy contained
attributes, antecedents or consequences of resident autonomy (red circle=
antecedent, red circle=attribute and blue circle=consequence).