Research in the hidden places- the challenges and opportunities for nurses

Drennan, Vari (2013) Research in the hidden places- the challenges and opportunities for nurses. In: Royal College of Nursing 2013 Annual International Nursing Research Conference; 20-22 Mar 2013, Belfast, U.K.. (Unpublished)

Abstract

The growing numbers of people with chronic conditions, or the non-communicable diseases, offer the greatest challenges to health care systems globally. Against a backdrop of changing demography and resource constraints, health care policies emphasis self- management, care in the home and strategies to reduce the need for hospital admission. Care and management in the home means it is hidden from the wider healthcare system gaze. For those with chronic conditions that also bring feelings of stigma, the experience and management is actively concealed. The delivery of appropriate, acceptable, safe and effective health care in the hidden places confronts nurses with multiple issues. In this presentation I argue that nurses are well placed to ask the questions and conduct the research that: helps give voice to those in hidden places receiving health care, informs nursing practice with patients and family carers managing stigmatised and hidden conditions and challenges health care cultures. The presentation draws on funded research conducted over the past fifteen years investigating: health and social care for older people with multiple co-morbidities living at home, the experience of incontinence in women in prison and strategies in managing incontinence in people with dementia living at home. The presentation explores the challenges in conducting research in hidden places and concludes by setting out the opportunities for a research agenda

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