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1.5.4 Aim for Phase Two
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Chapter 1: Introduction and Background
In phase two the aim was to enhance one aspect of resident autonomy. The specific
objectives for phase two were to:
Agree with staff on a change in practice focused on enhancing resident
autonomy, based on the findings from phase one.
Involve staff and residents in designing, planning, implementing and
evaluating a change in practice that would enhance resident autonomy.
Adopt an action research approach to diagnose, action plan, action take,
evaluate and specify the learning.
1.6 Thesis Outline
The thesis is organised as follows:
Chapter One presents the introduction and background.
Chapter Two reviews the literature and performs a concept analysis.
Chapter Three describes the methodological approaches used.
Chapter Four describes the method.
Chapter Five presents the findings from phase one.
Chapter Six presents the findings from phase two.
Chapter Seven presents a discussion of the research findings.
Recommendations and conclusions are made.
1.7 Chapter Summary
This chapter presented the background to this study. It described the growing ageing
population. It revealed that the oldest old population is also increasing and that the
majority of people in this population require residential care. It was reported,
however, that quality of life for older people in residential care is not satisfactory.
The literature identified resident autonomy as one of the factors affecting residents’
quality of life and it was further reported that older people in residential care
frequently lack autonomy in this care environment. However, the lack of consensus
about the meaning of resident autonomy makes the issue even more problematic.
The need to undertake research to explore the concept of autonomy for older people