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Chapter 6 Phase Two
phase 1, anonymity, privacy and confidentiality of all participants were
guaranteed.
6.2 Step 1: Diagnosing: Identifying or defining a problem
Step one in the action research cycle involves diagnosing the research problem
and subsequently identifying and defining what needs to be changed.
6.2.1 Diagnosing
The findings from phase one revealed that there were problems with the
residents’ autonomy. The interview data revealed that staff struggled with
understanding who the residents are. The observation data revealed that residents
had little choice over how they spent their day and made very few meaningful
decisions and the documentary data revealed a distinct lack of evidence of all of
the attributes of autonomy in the residents’ sets of documentation.
6.2.2 Identifying the problem
Across the data sets it was evident that resident assessment, goal setting and
planning were not focused sufficiently on the resident and therefore it was
difficult to facilitate their autonomy. Staff participants were particularly struck
by the results from the documentary analysis. When we looked at the themes and
sub-themes from the interview and observation data we could see that a common
issue throughout was in relation to care planning. The sub-theme “The Person”
highlighted the importance of knowing what each resident can and can’t do for
themselves, and while there was evidence that the residents level of
independence (e.g. independent or dependent) was documented there was no
evidence of detailed descriptions of their abilities or agreed level of assistance.
The sub-theme “Being Personalised” described care that was not individualised
and participants recognised that there were problems with personalised care
planning for the residents. The sub-theme “Person to Person” suggested that it
was important to properly get to know both the residents past and present lives
and to build relationships with them and with their families. The concept analysis
revealed that communication between staff and between staff and residents and
staff and families is important for resident autonomy but the observation data