The Feasibility of Connecting Conversations: A Narrative Method to Assess Experienced Quality of Care in Nursing Homes from the Resident’s Perspective

Abstract

Currently, residents living in nursing homes and their caring relationships are being placed more centrally in the care experience. Experienced quality of care is influenced by the interactions between residents, family and caregivers, who each have their own experiences and needs. Connecting Conversations is a narrative method aimed at assessing experienced quality of care in nursing homes from the resident’s perspective by having separate conversations with residents, family and caregivers (triads), adopting an appreciative inquiry approach. This study presents how to use Connecting Conversations and its feasibility. Feasibility was assessed as performance completeness, protocol adherence and interviewers’ experiences. Conversations were conducted by trained nursing home staff (n = 35) who performed 275 Connecting Conversations in another nursing home than where they were employed (learning network). Findings show it is feasible to perform separate appreciative conversations with resident–family–caregiver triads by an interviewer employed in another nursing home; however, protocol adherence was sometimes challenging in conversations with residents. Interviewers valued the appreciative approach, the learning network and the depth of the separate conversations. Challenges were experienced with scheduling conversations and receiving time and support to perform the conversations. Stakeholders should continue collaboration to embed Connecting Conversations into daily practice in nursing homes.

The Validity of Connecting Conversations: A Narrative Method to Assess Experienced Quality of Care in Nursing Homes from the Resident’s Perspective

“…Day 3 is focused on sharing experiences, reflecting, and learning with and from each other. Specific details on the narrative method have been published separately in this special issue of IJERPH [44].…”

“…Recently, the narrative method "Connecting Conversations" was developed aimed at assessing the entire process of experienced quality of care in nursing homes from the resident's perspective [44] Connecting Conversations trains nursing home staff to perform separate conversations with a resident, family member, and a professional caregiver of that resident (triad). Its theoretical foundation is based on relationship-centered care and the full care experience as defined in the INDEXQUAL framework [16,45].…”

“…Its theoretical foundation is based on relationship-centered care and the full care experience as defined in the INDEXQUAL framework [16,45]. Connecting Conversations' feasibility has been assessed by evaluating the consistency of the procedure in terms of performance completeness, protocol adherence, and satisfaction and has been published separately in this special issue of IJERPH as well [44]. This study aimed to evaluate the validity of performing the narrative method, Connecting Conversations.…”

The Story as a Quality Instrument: Developing an Instrument for Quality Improvement Based on Narratives of Older Adults Receiving Long-Term Care

“…The need for a systematic procedure for collecting, analyzing, and synthesizing narratives to stimulate learning and quality improvement is therefore emphasized [ 20 ]. Little is known about how narratives can best be collected and used in practice for quality improvement, as use of the narrative method to structurally assess long-term care for older adults is relatively new [ 21 ].…”

Listen, look, link and learn: a stepwise approach to use narrative quality data within resident-family-nursing staff triads in nursing homes for quality improvements

“… 17 Connecting Conversations is a narrative method that assesses experienced quality of care by performing separate conversations with the three actors in the care triad. 18 It identifies similarities and discrepancies between residents’, families’ and nursing staff’s experienced quality of care and is based on the principles of relationship-centred care. Appreciative inquiry is used to discover positive routines within nursing homes, that is, what is going well.…”