Type 2 diabetes and delivery of compassionate care: A grounded theory study

Start date: April 2015

End date: April 2016

CI: Stephanie Tierney

Collaborators: Kate Seers, Liz Tutton, Joanne Reeve

Description: Compassion has received increasing attention within health settings over recent years, following incidences of poor care that resulted in unnecessary distress to patients and their relatives. Compassion is defined as feelings that emerge through seeing someone else suffering that prompt a wish to help (Goetz et al., 2010). The term ‘compassionate care’ is now seen frequently in health services policy, practice and academic literature. It involves “recognizing vulnerability and suffering; relating to the needs of others; preserving integrity and acknowledging the person behind the illness” (Dewar and Nolan, 2013: 1248). Despite its prominence in health-related documents, little research has investigated how compassionate care is enacted and what it means to healthcare professionals. It is important to develop further knowledge on the delivery of compassionate care to better understand what may make it difficult to act in this way and how to facilitate a culture that enables compassion to be expressed.

Aim: To explore the concept of compassionate care from the perspective of healthcare staff working with patients who have type 2 diabetes. This was selected as a critical case for understanding compassion because it is a long-term condition that involves sustained interactions with a variety of health services.

Progress: Data collection is complete. 36 healthcare staff took part in the study. From their interview and focus group data, we have developed a model of compassionate care that we are writing up for publication.

For further details, please contact Stephanie Tierney.

Publications

Wiltjer H Tutton L Seers K (2018) Understanding assessment on a ward for older people a qualitative study. Journal of Advanced Nursing doi:10.1111/jan.13930

Tierney S Seers K Bivins R (2018) Compassion in Nursing: Solution or stereotype?

Nursing Inquiry. 26(1) doi 10.1111/nin.12271

Bivins R Tierney S Seers K. Compassionate Care: Not easy, not free, not only nurses. BMJ Quality & Safety (2017). http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjqs-2017-007005 Published online 28-9-17

Tierney, S Seers K Tutton E Reeve J. Enabling the flow of compassionate care: A grounded theory study. BMC Health Services Research 17:174 . DOI 10.1186/s12913-017-2120-8