View/Open - ARAN - National University of Ireland, Galway

7.2.2 The Personal: The Personality
258
Chapter 7 Discussion
In this study it was suggested that certain personality attributes are needed for
one to work with older people. The sub-theme “The Personality” refers to the
type of individual who should work with older people in residential care. The
participants in the interviews described the right personality as one that is fun,
interested in older people and flexible in their approach to care. The literature
suggests that staff members’ interpersonal skills and commitment to the job can
ultimately affect and promote an older person’s level of autonomy in residential
care (McCormack and McCance, 2006). It is their motivation that enables
flexible and innovative approaches to care and their commitment that drives
them to want to understand the person they are caring for (Reed et al., 2007;
McCormack and McCance, 2006). The concept analysis for this study also
revealed that motivation and flexibility are antecedents for resident autonomy.
Johnstone (2004) suggests that a healthcare provider’s personality should hold an
attitude that patients are human beings with needs and interests. Johnstone
(2004) suggests that the attitude affects the level of participation that patients
have in decision-making related to their care. In support of this the results from
the KOP attitude survey in this study revealed mean scores that were only
slightly positive, and perhaps this accounts for the observations whereby
residents’ autonomy was prohibited and residents engaged in very little decision-
making related to their care.
The participants in the interviews for this study stated that “staff who work here
should want to work here” and the documentary analysis revealed that despite the
fact that staff did not directly choose to work in the case study site, rather they
had been assigned there by hospital management, the retention rates were high.
The concept analysis identified the importance of staff retention for resident
autonomy. It is suggested that this retention rate was a contributing factor in
enabling phase two of this research, whereby staff were motivated to make a
change to their practice in the interest of enhancing resident autonomy. The
largest number of staff in this research study were also the longest working on
the unit, with eight HCAs working on the ward for a minimum of six years and
eight nurses a minimum of five years. Hertzberg and Ekman (2000) suggested
that reducing staff turnover improves patient care and satisfaction and also