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7.1 Introduction
7. Discussion, Recommendations and Conclusions
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Chapter 7 Discussion
In this chapter, the key findings of this study are discussed in the context of
relevant and current literature and the literature reviewed. The findings are
discussed according to the two main themes that emerged from this research. In
addition to the findings from the observation and interview data, the discussion
also includes reference to the attitude survey and the documentary analysis. The
findings from the documentary analysis were also discussed in phase two of this
research. The limitations of this research and the contributions of the study to
current knowledge regarding autonomy for older people in residential care are
highlighted. The chapter concludes with recommendations for future work.
7.2 The Personal
The findings will now be discussed under the two main themes generated from
phase one of the research study. These are theme 1: The Personal and theme 2:
Being Personal.
7.2.1 The Personal: The Person
One of the aims of this research was to explore resident autonomy from multiple
perspectives. The literature revealed that there are three main groups of people
who are influential in resident autonomy. These are residents themselves, staff,
and residents’ family members. Similarly, three main groups of people were
identified as stakeholders in this study. These were the residents’ group, the staff
group and the family group. Thus perspectives were gathered from each of these
groups and documentary analysis of their demographics was undertaken.
For the staff group, some researchers have identified a link between resident
autonomy and gerontological education (Hunter and Levett-Jones, 2010; Jang,
1992). The findings from phase one of this study revealed that the staff group
had a mix of education and qualifications. Five (25%) of the nursing staff had
undertaken a Postgraduate Diploma in Gerontology. Jang’s (1992) research
suggests that lack of education may prohibit resident autonomy. Jang (1992)