Intergenerational ambivalence among families with a migrant background caring for older relatives.

Introduction: Europe's population is aging and becoming more ethnically diverse due to migration. The growing number of aging migrants has raised concerns about their future eldercare arrangements and their implications for both families and formal care services. Many older non-European migrants prefer family care over formal, long-term care facilities. Objective: The objective of this study is to explore the family caregiving arrangements for older Pakistani migrants from the Ahmadiyya community in Norway. Methods: This exploratory qualitative study recruited 19 women between 25 and 62 years of age who were family caregivers for older adults. Semi-structured individual (18) and group interviews (2) were conducted in Urdu and English. Findings: Our analysis reveals four main themes: the need to share caring responsibilities with family, balancing personal relations in managing care, lack of privacy while caregiving, and feelings of inadequacy. Conclusion: While rotational care for older family members offers benefits such as the sharing of responsibilities and more privacy, reliance solely on family care arrangements led to greater ambivalence among family caregivers and provoked doubts about the ability to continue caring for older relatives in the future. Our findings highlight the urgent need to establish modes of collaboration with formal care systems to ensure the support and well-being of both older adults and their family caregivers.

Older adults' perceptions and experiences of interprofessional communication as part of the delivery of integrated care in the primary healthcare sector: a meta-ethnography of qualitative studies.

BACKGROUND: Communication between patients and healthcare providers, and effective interprofessional communication, are essential to the provision of high-quality care. Implementing a patient-centred approach may lead to patients experiencing a sense of comfort, validation, and active participation in own healthcare. However, home-dwelling older adults' perspectives on interprofessional communication (IPC) are lacking. The aim is therefore to explore how home-dwelling older adults experience communication in connection with the delivery of integrated care. METHODS: The meta-synthesis was conducted in line with Noblit and Hare's seven phases of meta-ethnography. A systematic literature search was conducted by two university librarians in seven databases using the search terms 'older adults', 'communication', 'integrated care' and 'primary care'. All articles were reviewed by two authors independently. 11 studies were included for analysis. RESULTS: Older adults are aware of IPC and have preferences regarding how it is conducted. Three main themes were identified in the reciprocal analysis: (1) Inconsistent care perceived as lack of IPC, (2) individual preferences regarding involvement and awareness of IPC and (3) lack of IPC may trigger negative feelings. CONCLUSIONS: This meta-ethnography shows the perspective of older adults on IPC as part of integrated care. Our study shows that older adults are concerned about whether healthcare personnel talk to each other or not and recognise IPC as fundamental in providing consistent care. The perspectives of older adults are relevant for clinicians and politicians, as well as researchers, when developing and implementing future integrated care services for home-dwelling older adults.

Food for Soul-Older Immigrants' Food Habits and Meal Preferences After Immigration: A Systematic Literature Review.

There are few primary studies that focused on the older immigrants' food habits and meal preferences after immigration and settlement in a new country. A comprehensive database search for literature was conducted in May 2021 and upgraded in September 2021. Ten databases (Medline (Ovid), EMBASE (Ovid), PsycInfo (Ovid), Cinahl (EBSCOhost), Food Science Source (EBSCOhost), SocIndex (EBSCOhost), Social Care Online, Applied Social Sciences Index & Abstracts (ASSIA), Web of Science and Google Scholar), were scanned for original, peer-reviewed papers published in English. The review was conducted and reported in accordance with the PRISMA 2020 guidelines and SWiM items. Out of 3069 records, 10 papers were included for thematic synthesis. A data synthesis across all studies resulted in three main findings: (i) the significance of food in maintaining cultural identity, (ii) the continuity of traditional food culture and (iii) adapting to the host country's food culture. Although different forms of dietary acculturation occur throughout life, older immigrants often want to maintain their traditional food habits and meal preferences. For them, traditional eating habits offer comfort and security by serving as a means of identifying who they are and reminding them where they have come from. Public health and social services play an important role in providing cultural nutritional care to older immigrants; therefore, this issue should be carefully addressed by professionals and future research.Registration: The review protocol was registered in the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) on 27 September 2022 with registration number CRD42022358235.

Substance use and help-seeking barriers: a qualitative study of East African migrants' experiences of access to Norwegian healthcare services.

BACKGROUND: Migration to Norway has increased rapidly in recent decades. Migrants have a lower prevalence of substance use, but may have an elevated risk of developing mental health issues and substance use problems due to various migration and post-migration factors. Few studies have sought to understand substance use problems among migrants in Norway. This study aimed to explore how people of East African background experience help-seeking for substance use problems in the Norwegian healthcare system. METHODS: Using an explorative approach, in-depth individual interviews were conducted with six adult participants from Somalia, Eritrea and Sudan who had been in contact with the Norwegian healthcare system. The goal of the interviews was to facilitate in-depth and nuanced descriptions of the participants' lived experience of help-seeking for substance use problems. The data were analysed using interpretive phenomenological analysis. RESULTS: The analysis resulted in five themes in which participants described their help-seeking experiences for substance use problems as lack of knowledge and access to information, scepticism towards a 'white system', fear of exclusion from family and ethnic community, racism as a barrier to help-seeking, and positive experiences and ideas for future treatment practices. CONCLUSION: This study provides an improved understanding of how migrants with substance use problems experience help-seeking in healthcare. The variety of barriers illustrates inequality in substance use care for East African migrants in Norway.

Changing dynamics of caregiving: a meta-ethnography study of informal caregivers' experiences with older immigrant family members in Europe.

BACKGROUND: The population of Europe is ageing and becoming more ethnically diverse due to migration. Finding suitable long-term caring arrangements for older immigrants in Europe has been one of healthcare policymakers' concerns in the last decade. However, relatively few older people with an immigrant background live in long-term care facilities, and many prefer to be cared for by their family members. Little is known about immigrant family caregivers' experiences of caring for older family members and the support they need while providing care. This study aims to synthesize the qualitative literature exploring the experiences of individuals caring for older family members with immigrant backgrounds from Africa, Asia and South America living in Europe. METHODS: We searched the electronic databases Medline Ovid, Embase Ovid, PsycInfo Ovid, SocIndex EBSCOhost, CINAHL EBSCOhost, Scopus, Social Care Online, ASSIA ProQuest, and Google Scholar for original, peer reviewed research articles, published in English from 2011 to 2022. The seven-step interpretive methodology in meta-ethnography developed by Noblit and Hare (1988) was followed for qualitative synthesis. RESULTS: After assessing 4155 studies for eligibility criteria, 11 peer-reviewed articles were included in this review. The qualitative synthesis of these included articles resulted in four main themes: strong care norms for parents, the moral dilemma of continuing care, uneven care sharing, and the use of formal care services. CONCLUSIONS: Caregiving dynamics are changing, both in terms of motivations and approaches to caregiving. Furthermore, there are gender disparities in the distribution of caregiving duties, particularly with women carrying the more significant burden of care. The care burden is further exacerbated by the lack of culturally sensitive formal services complementing the care needs of the ageing immigrants and their family caregivers. Therefore, those searching for alternatives to informal care should be met with appropriate health and care services in terms of language, culture, religion, and lifestyle, delivered in a non-judgmental way.

Organisational culture and ethnic diversity in nursing homes: a qualitative study of healthcare workers' and ward nurses' experiences.

BACKGROUND: The increase in care needs that comes with an ageing population, in combination with a shortage of healthcare workers, has made ethnic diversity among healthcare workers (HCW) an evident reality across many countries. This article aims to explore how a multicultural workplace is experienced, through the accounts of HCWs and leaders in nursing homes. METHODS: This article reports on the findings from qualitative interviews with 16 HCWs and managers from nursing homes in Oslo. The interviews were conducted from August to September 2021. We analysed the data using a reflective thematic analysis informed by a hermeneutic-phenomenological approach. RESULTS: Six themes emerged from the interview data: (1) understanding diversity through shared norms and multicultural experiences, (2) greater flexibility in a multicultural workforce, (3) challenging traditional norms in a multicultural workforce, (4) language proficiency and exclusionary practices at work, (5) perceptions of the role of the ward nurse, and (6) prejudices among and harassment from patients. CONCLUSIONS: To ensure the effective organisation and wellbeing of HCWs in a multicultural workforce, managers must develop an inclusive organisational culture. They must be able to engage with difficult topics and conflicts that may arise in the working environment.

Social Inequalities and Health among Older Immigrant Women in the Nordic Countries: An Integrative Review.

Introduction: The Nordic countries have a surprisingly strong relative socioeconomic health inequality. Immigrants seem to be disproportionately affected due to their social economic position in the host countries. Healthcare professionals, including nurses, have a professional obligation to adhere to fairness and social equity in healthcare. The aim of this review was to identify and synthesize research on health status and the impact of social inequalities in older immigrant women in the Nordic countries. Methods: We conducted an integrative review guided by the Whittemore and Knafl integrative review method. We searched multiple research databases using the keywords immigrant, older, women, socioeconomic inequality, health inequality, and Nordic countries. The results were limited to research published between 1990 and 2021. The retrieved articles were screened and assessed by two independent reviewers. Results: Based on the few studies on older immigrant women in the Nordic countries, the review findings indicate that they fare worse in many health indicators compared to immigrant men and the majority population. These differences are related to various health issues, such as anxiety, depression, diabetes, multimorbidity, sedentary lifestyle, and quality of life. Lower participation in cancer screening programs is also a distinctive feature among immigrant women, which could be related to the immigrant women's help-seeking behavior. Transnational family obligations and responsibilities locally leave little room for prioritizing self-care, but differing views of health conditions might also contribute to avoidance of healthcare services. Conclusion: This integrative review shows that there is a paucity of studies on the impact of social inequalities on the health status of older immigrant women in the Nordic countries. There is a need for not only research focused on the experiences of health status and inequality but also larger studies mapping the connection between older immigrant women's economic and health status and access to healthcare services.

Balancing standardisation and individualisation in transitional care pathways: a meta-ethnography of the perspectives of older patients, informal caregivers and healthcare professionals.

BACKGROUND: Transitional care implies the transfer of patients within or across care settings in a seamless and safe way. For frail, older patients with complex health issues, high-quality transitions are especially important as these patients typically move more frequently within healthcare settings, requiring treatment from different providers. As transitions of care for frail people are considered risky, securing the quality and safety of these transitions is of great international interest. Nevertheless, despite efforts to improve quality in transitional care, research indicates that there is a lack of clear guidance to deal with practical challenges that may arise. The aim of this article is to synthesise older patients, informal caregivers and healthcare professionals' experiences of challenges to achieving high-quality transitional care. METHODS: We used the seven-step method for meta-ethnography originally developed by Noblit and Hare. In four different but connected qualitative projects, the authors investigated the challenges to transitional care for older people in the Norwegian healthcare system from the perspectives of older patients, informal caregivers and healthcare professionals. In this paper, we highlight and discuss the cruciality of these challenging issues by synthesising the results from twelve articles. RESULTS: The analysis resulted in four themes: i) balancing person-centred versus efficient care, ii) balancing everyday patient life versus the treatment of illness, iii) balancing user choice versus "What Matters to You", and iv) balancing relational versus practical care. These expressed challenges represent tensions at the system, organisation and individual levels based on partial competing assumptions on person-centred-care-inspired individualisation endeavours and standardisation requirements in transitional care. CONCLUSIONS: There is an urgent need for a clearer understanding of the tension between standardisation and individualisation in transitional care pathways for older patients to ensure better healthcare quality for patients and more realistic working environments for healthcare professionals. Incorporating a certain professional flexibility within the wider boundary of standardisation may give healthcare professionals room for negotiation to meet patients' individual needs, while at the same time ensuring patient flow, equity and evidence-based practice.

The journey of recovery after hip-facture surgery: older people's experiences of recovery through rehabilitation services involving physical activity.

Purpose: This study sought to explore and describe the experiences of recovery among community-living older people undergoing rehabilitation involving physical activity following hip-fracture surgery.Methods: We conducted in-depth interviews with 5 men and 16 women (age range: 67 - 84 years). The data were analysed by means of systematic text condensation.Results: The analysis revealed the following four interrelated themes: (1) what participants bring to the recovery situation matters; (2) support through individually tailored rehabilitation services, involving physical activity, - is key to recovery following hip fracture surgery; (3) needing professional help on the journey from helplessness and vulnerability to being more confident and active; and (4) making progress and regaining function represent the essence of recovery.Conclusions: All four identified themes relate to how physical activity, as an aspect of rehabilitation services, contributes to the recovery process for patients who have experienced a hip fracture. Differences were reported with regard to the services used, and all the participants were at the mercy of what their municipalities chose to offer in terms of rehabilitation services.IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATIONMunicipal healthcare services should address patients' individual needs when planning, organising and implementing rehabilitation programmes involving physical activity.Healthcare professionals need to recognise older patients' experiences of reduced physical, psychological and social functioning following hip-fracture surgery and then take those experiences into account when tailoring rehabilitation programmes.Healthcare professionals providing physical rehabilitation programmes to people who have undergone hip-fracture surgery should take into account their patients' situation and lifestyle prior to experiencing a hip fracture.Municipal healthcare services should consider using recovery as a conceptual framework in relation to rehabilitation services involving physical activity.

Healthcare professionals' encounters with ethnic minority patients: The critical incident approach.

Ethnic minority patients face challenges concerning communication and are at higher risk of experiencing health problems and consuming fewer healthcare services. They are also exposed to disparaging societal discourses about migrants which might undermine healthcare institutions' ambitions of equitable health care. Therefore, healthcare professionals need to critically reflect on their practices and processes related to ethnic minority patients. The aim of this article is to explore healthcare professionals' experiences of working with ethnic minority patients by using the critical incident (CI) technique. In two focus group sessions, participants discussed challenging events in their encounters with patients. The critical incidents show that healthcare professionals may experience unfamiliar situations related to their work performance, prejudice toward patients, and labeling by patients the professionals do not identify with. The professionals' reflections are discussed in relation to social discourses on migration and their work conditions, and the possible influence on the professionals' preconceptions and the patient-professional relationship in health care. Reflections about work experiences with ethnic minority patients and aligned societal discourses should be included in healthcare workers' professional development. Critical incident reflections at work may contribute to better-coping strategies for healthcare professionals and improved patient-professional relationships with ethnic minority patients.

The Learning Environment of Student Nurses During Clinical Placement: A Qualitative Case Study of a Student-Dense Ward.

INTRODUCTION: Ensuring the quality of clinical placements has long been a challenge in nursing education. This is partly due to a growing aging population requiring health services, and an increased need for nursing workforce. Both in Norway and internationally, there is a rise in the use of student-dense models, wherein several students are placed together on the same ward at the same time where the supervision of the students is the collective responsibility of the nurses. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to explore factors that promote or inhibit learning in a student-dense ward when used as a model for clinical placement in hospitals. We examined how clinical placement is experienced in a student-dense ward, as well as how learning is facilitated. METHODS: A qualitative case study design was used to capture the learning environment on the student-dense ward in a comprehensive way. We used focus group interviews, in-depth interviews, and observations with students and employees at a major hospital in Norway. RESULTS: Our findings showed that the orientation days and the teaching activities in student-dense wards, the feedback students receive, the clinical facilitator's role and the student community were factors that had particular importance for good learning environments in this placement model. CONCLUSIONS: To ensure the quality of clinical placements, more attention should be paid to these factors in the planning, organization, and facilitation of new and existing student-dense wards. It is paramount to provide students with thorough written feedback and to secure the clinical facilitators with enough time to conduct student supervision when organizing clinical placement as student-dense wards.

Effect of nutritional and physical exercise intervention on hospital readmission for patients aged 65 or older: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

BACKGROUND: Unplanned readmission may result in consequences for both the individual and society. The transition of patients from hospital to postdischarge settings often represents a discontinuity of care and is considered crucial in the prevention of avoidable readmissions. In older patients, physical decline and malnutrition are considered risk factors for readmission. The purpose of the study was to determine the effects of nutritional and physical exercise interventions alone or in combination after hospital admission on the risk of hospital readmission among older people. METHODS: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled studies was conducted. The search involved seven databases (Medline, AMED, the Cochrane Library, CINAHL, Embase (Ovid), Food Science Source and Web of Science) and was conducted in November 2018. An update of this search was performed in March 2020. Studies involving older adults (65 years and above) investigating the effect of nutritional and/or physical exercise interventions on hospital readmission were included. RESULTS: A total of 11 randomized controlled studies (five nutritional, five physical exercise and one combined intervention) were included and assessed for quality using the updated Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool. Nutritional interventions resulted in a significant reduction in readmissions (RR 0.84; 95% CI 0.70-1.00, p = 0.049), while physical exercise interventions did not reduce readmissions (RR 1.05; 95% CI 0.84-1.31, p-value = 0.662). CONCLUSIONS: This meta-analysis suggests that nutrition support aiming to optimize energy intake according to patients' needs may reduce the risk of being readmitted to the hospital for people aged 65 years or older.

Patient Flow or the Patient's Journey? Exploring Health Care Providers' Experiences and Understandings of Implementing a Care Pathway to Improve the Quality of Transitional Care for Older People.

Internationally, the implementation of care pathways is a common strategy for making transitional care for older people more effective and patient-centered. Previous research highlights inherent tensions in care pathways, particularly in relation to their patient-centered aspects, which may cause dilemmas for health care providers. Health care providers' understandings and experiences of this, however, remain unclear. Our aim was to explore health care providers' experiences and understandings of implementing a care pathway to improve transitional care for older people. We conducted semistructured interviews with 20 health care providers and three key persons, along with participant observations of 22 meetings, in a Norwegian quality improvement collaborative. Through a thematic analysis, we identified an understanding of the care pathway as both patient flow and the patient's journey and a dilemma between the two, and we discuss how the negotiation of conflicting institutional logics is a central part of care pathway implementation.

Crossing knowledge boundaries: health care providers' perceptions and experiences of what is important to achieve more person-centered patient pathways for older people.

BACKGROUND: Improving the transitional care of older people, especially hospital-to-home transitions, is a salient concern worldwide. Current research in the field highlights person-centered care as crucial; however, how to implement and enact this ideal in practice and thus achieve more person-centered patient pathways remains unclear. The aim of this study was to explore health care providers' (HCPs') perceptions and experiences of what is important to achieve more person-centered patient pathways for older people. METHODS: This was a qualitative study. We performed individual semistructured interviews with 20 HCPs who participated in a Norwegian quality improvement collaborative. In addition, participant observation of 22 meetings in the quality improvement collaborative was performed. RESULTS: A thematic analysis resulted in five themes which outline central elements of the HCPs' perceptions and experiences relevant to achieving more person-centered patient pathways: 1) Finding common ground through the mapping of the patient journey; 2) the importance of understanding the whole patient pathway; 3) the significance of getting to know the older patient; 4) the key role of home care providers in the patient pathway; and 5) ambiguity toward checklists and practice implementation. CONCLUSIONS: The findings can assist stakeholders in understanding factors important to practicing person-centered transitional care for older people. Through collaborative knowledge sharing the participants developed a more shared understanding of how to achieve person-centered patient pathways. The importance of assuming a shared responsibility and a more holistic understanding of the patient pathway by merging different ways of knowing was highlighted. Checklists incorporating the What matters to you? question and the mapping of the patient journey were important tools enabling the crossing of knowledge boundaries both between HCPs and between HCPs and the older patients. Home care providers were perceived to have important knowledge relevant to providing more person-centered patient pathways implying a central role for them as knowledge brokers during the patient's journey. The study draws attention to the benefits of focusing on the older patients' way of knowing the patient pathway as well as to placing what matters to the older patient at the heart of transitional care.

Mobility-A Bridge to Sense of Coherence in Everyday Life: Older Patients' Experiences of Participation in an Exercise Program During the First 3 Weeks After Hip Fracture Surgery.

Our aim with this article was to explore the experiences of older people who participated in the evidence-based High-Intensity Functional Exercise (HIFE) Program during the first 3 weeks of rehabilitation after hip fracture surgery. Nineteen older people participated in the study. Data were analyzed using systematic text condensation. One overarching theme "Exercise is the key for regaining mobility and a sense of coherence (SOC) in everyday life" emerged from the analysis in addition to these five themes: (a) understanding the existential importance of mobility; (b) maintaining a positive self-image by regaining mobility; (c) regaining one's old life and independence in everyday living; (d) maintaining interpersonal relationships through mobility; and (e) creating positive emotions by being able to move. The findings highlight the importance of exercise as a strategy for regaining mobility, illustrated by the essential role it played in the participants' lives after suffering a hip fracture.

The tension between carrying a burden and feeling like a burden: a qualitative study of informal caregivers' and care recipients' experiences after patient discharge from hospital.

Purpose: The number of people aged 80 and above is projected to triple over the next 30 years. Expanding public expenditure on long-term care servicesHas made policies encouraged informal caregiving. Burden of care describes challenges connected to informal caregiving. Dependent patients report feelings of being a burden. Few studies have focused on both the experience of caregiver burden and recipients' feelings of burden. This study explore the experiences of old patients and informal caregivers in the first 30 days after the patient's discharge. Method: Aphenomenological approach was used to explore the subjective experiences of the participants . Semi-structured individual interviews were analysed thematically. Results: The reults reflect imbalance regarding care needs relative to time, social roles, physical and emotional states, and formal care resources. Four themes emerged from the interviews: 1) Bridging the gap, 2) Family is family, 3) Never enough, and 4) Stress and distress. Conclusions: The participants face strains within their roles. The care situation has potential to be burdensome. To secure healthcare quality for old patients, the informal carer's role needs to be recognized. Informal care based on altruism and reciprocity seems to be positive, whereas informal care based on family norms might have a negative impact.

Female Pakistani carers' views on future formal and informal care for their older relatives in Norway.

BACKGROUND: The aging of Pakistani immigrants in Norway raises questions related to their increased need for care and help from relatives, as well as those concerning what future formal and informal care and healthcare accessibility for older immigrants may look like. The hidden nature of family caregiving means that the circumstances of carers, their views and their dilemmas related to future care are largely invisible. In this study, we explored female Pakistani carers' views of future care and healthcare accessibility for their older relatives in Norway. METHODS: Our data included interviews with family carers between the ages of 23 and 40 years old, living in Oslo, Norway. We recruited ten family carers, out of which eight were daughters and two were daughters-in-law. Interviews were conducted by the first author in Urdu or English and were recorded and transcribed verbatim. RESULTS: Our findings revealed several factors that influenced participants' perceptions about formal and informal caregiving, which can be organised into the following themes: 1) caring for family in Norway as in Pakistan, 2) worries about being 'dropped off' at a care home, 3) concerns about being cared for by outsiders, 4) questions about what other people might say and 5) adhering to society's expectations of a 'good' carer. CONCLUSION: Family carers' traditional views of filial piety do not entirely determine the use of or access to healthcare services of their older relatives. There is a need to develop culturally sensitive healthcare systems so that immigrant families and their carers have more options in choosing care in old age, which in turn will ease their families' care burden. Healthcare professionals and policymakers should not assume that immigrant families will take care of their own older members but should instead secure adequate support for older immigrants and their family carers.

A qualitative study of old patients' experiences of the quality of the health services in hospital and 30 days after hospitalization.

BACKGROUND: The number of people aged 80 years and above is projected to triple over the next 30 years. People in this age group normally have at least two chronic conditions. The impact of multimorbidity is often significantly greater than expected from the sum of the effects of each condition. The World Health Organization has indicated that healthcare systems must prepare for a change in the focus of clinical care for older people. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines healthcare quality as care that is effective, efficient, integrated, patient centered, equitable and safe. The degree to which healthcare quality can be defined as acceptable is determined by services' ability to meet the needs of users and adapt to patients' expectations and perceptions. METHOD: We took a phenomenological perspective to explore older patients' subjective experiences and conducted semistructured individual interviews. Eighteen patients (aged from 82 to 100 years) were interviewed twice after discharge from hospital. The interview transcriptions were analyzed thematically. RESULTS: The patients found their meetings with the health service to be complex and demanding. They reported attempting to restore a sense of security and meaning in everyday life, balancing their own needs against external requirements. Five overarching themes emerged from the interviews: hospital stay and the person behind the diagnosis, poor communication and coordination, life after discharge, relationship with their next of kin, and organizational and systemic determinants. CONCLUSION: According to the WHO, to deliver quality healthcare, services must include all six of the dimensions listed above. Our findings show that they do not. Healthcare focused on measurable values and biomedical inquiries. Few opportunities for participation, scant information and suboptimal care coordination left the patients with a feeling of being in limbo, where they struggled to find balance in their everyday life. Further work must be done to ensure that integrated services are provided without a financial burden, centered on the needs and rights of older people.

What matters when asking, "what matters to you?" - perceptions and experiences of health care providers on involving older people in transitional care.

BACKGROUND: Transitional care for older chronically ill people is an important area for healthcare quality improvement. A central goal is to involve older people more in transitional care and make care more patient-centered. Recently, asking, "What matters to you?" (WMTY) has become a popular way of approaching the implementation of patient-centered care. The aim of this study was to explore health care providers' perceptions and experiences regarding the question of WMTY in the context of improving transitional care for older, chronically ill persons. METHODS: The data comprise semi-structured individual interviews with 20 health care providers (HCPs) who took part in a Norwegian quality improvement collaborative, three key informant interviews, and observations of meetings in the quality improvement collaborative. We used a thematic analysis approach. RESULTS: Three interrelated themes emerged from the analysis: WMTY is a complex process that needs to be framed competently; framing WMTY as a functional approach; and framing WMTY as a relational approach. There was a tension between the functional and the relational approach. This tension seemed to be based in different understandings of the purpose of asking the WMTY question and the responsibility that comes with asking it. CONCLUSIONS: WMTY may appear as a simple question, but using it in everyday practice is a complex process, which requires professional competence. When seen in terms of a patient-centered goal process, the challenge of competently eliciting older people's personal goals and transferring these goals into professional action becomes evident. An important factor seems to be how HCPs regard the limits of their responsibility in relation to giving care within the larger frame of the patient's life project. Factors in the organizational and political context also seem to influence substantially how HCPs approach older patients with the WMTY question.