[Effects of nursing insurance on caregiving daughters--the role of professional nursing care].

In view of the demographic development the topic of "Nursing of elderly relatives" is gaining more and more importance within nursing research. The object of the investigation described in this paper was to assess the measures of the Pflegeversicherung [Long Term Care Insurance] with regard to its effects on care-giving daughters. This publication assesses one of the questions of the study--what part professional services play in the support of care-giving daughters. The data was collected by individual biographic-narrative interviews in the private household of care-giving daughters. The data was then evaluated according to the method of biographical case reconstruction developed by Gabriele Rosenthal. This way we were able to gain a deeper insight into the situation of care-giving daughters and analyse the consequences of the Pflegeversicherungsgesetz [Long Term Care Insurance Law] from an "inner perspective". The results of the study point to both the positive effects of the Pflegeversicherungsgesetz and its limits. We were able to show that the expansion of out patient services leads to an enhanced nursing infrastructure. In view of the part that professional nursing services play, however, the biographical access also made it clear that the Pflegeversicherung will not lead to far-reaching changes in nursing arrangements. In spite of Pflegeversicherung caregiving relatives still suffer from personal and emotional strain. Also the legal requirements are too narrow and allow hardly enough space for the consideration of the family environment and the history of life of relationship between daughter and mother.