Family involvement in the nursing home: Family-oriented practices and staff-family relationships. Research in Nursing and Health

Abstract: Staff–family cooperation in caring for elders in nursing homes is recommended but poorly understood. Family involvement and staff–family interactions in nursing homes with dif-fering family orientations were investigated. Friedemann’s (1995) system-based family theory guided the study. Of all 208 licensed nursing homes in southern Michigan, 143 completed a sur-vey about their family-oriented practices. Family orientation was ranked accordingly. Twenty-four nursing homes were randomly selected to conduct semistructured telephone interviews with 177 family members. Data were analyzed by thematic interpretation. Findings showed a wide range of involvement patterns that promoted family connectedness, maintenance of control, growth, and learning. Families desired various types of staff cooperation and were given such opportu