Social Innovation Toward a Meaningful Everyday Life for Nursing Home Residents: An Ethnographic Study

The literature shows that innovation, which includes culture change, may be important to create a meaningful everyday life for nursing home residents. However, there is a gap in how social innovation practices may contribute to this. The theoretical discourse for the study is person-centered care. T...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Frontiers in psychology 2021-11, Vol.12, p.666079-666079
Main Authors: Slettebø, Åshild, Skaar, Ragnhild, Brodtkorb, Kari
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
community of practice
culture change
nursing
nursing homes
Psychology
qualitative method
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Summary:The literature shows that innovation, which includes culture change, may be important to create a meaningful everyday life for nursing home residents. However, there is a gap in how social innovation practices may contribute to this. The theoretical discourse for the study is person-centered care. The main aim was to explore phenomena within social innovation that can contribute to improving nursing home residents' everyday lives. This study uses an ethnographic design with observations and interviews in two nursing homes in Southern Norway. The main theme was that social innovation within working practices in nursing homes includes phenomena that contribute to a meaningful everyday life for the residents. This main theme includes five subthemes: (1) opening the nursing home to the surroundings; (2) expanding and strengthening the community of practice; (3) facilitating customized activities; (4) ensuring sufficient nutrition and facilitating enjoyable mealtimes; and (5) preventing unrest and disturbing behavior. The study reveals that innovation practices grounded in person-centered care in nursing homes may contribute to opening the nursing home to the community and establishing a common community practice for all members of the nursing home. This enables residents to experience meaningful everyday life through customized activities, sufficient nutrition, and a pleasant milieu during mealtimes. Disturbing behavior is also prevented, making it possible to promote meaningful lives in nursing homes.
ISSN:1664-1078
1664-1078
DOI:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.666079