Improving Quality of Life for Older People in Long-Stay Care ...

Chapter FiveQuality of Life in Long-Stay Care Facilities:Focus Group Findings5.1 Introduction96In this chapter the findings of the focus group interviews are reported. Focusgroups were conducted with a sample of nurse managers representative of thefive facility types. A total of seven focus groups were held: three in Dublin, two inGalway and one each in Cork and Donegal. Participants were encouraged to talkabout the broad topics of quality of life, quality of care, dependency, staffing andfuture policy. Focus groups proved to be a valuable method for collecting data fromservice providers across facility types that differed geographically, organisationallyand in approach to delivering care to older people. The data provided rich contextualinformation and helped to inform the development of the survey tool. Analysisof the data revealed six key themes: measuring dependency, issues in staffing,recruiting and retaining staff, education and training, maintaining quality of life,and policy issues.5.2 Measuring DependencyThis theme focused on participants’ experiences of dependency measurement,their perception of its purpose and the issues they encountered in measuring residentdependency. The majority of participants considered measuring resident dependencyto be useful. They identified three main uses: identifying residents’ care needs,making a case for staffing, and determining appropriate subvention levels.Improving Quality of Life for Older People in Long-Stay Care Settings in Ireland