Hospice nurses. Caring support for caregiving families.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine caring behaviors of hospice nurses, as perceived by family caregivers in a hospice home-care program. Semistructured interviews and participant observations were conducted biweekly with a convenience sample of 10 families. A final interview was conducted 3 weeks after their relative's death. Subjects encompassed a variety of ages and relationships to their dying relatives. The constant comparative method of content analysis was used, with 55 taped and transcribed interviews, in order to search inductively for recurrent themes in families' descriptions of their interactions with the hospice nurses. Scientific rigor was evaluated according to credibility, applicability, auditability, and confirmability. Families identified four areas of caring of the hospice nurses: 24-hour accessibility, effective communication, a nonjudgmental attitude, and clinical competence. The implications for nursing practice include taking time to talk with families openly and honestly, maintaining contact and follow-up regarding concerns, and accepting families' difficulties with caregiving. Future research needs to address these behaviors within a theoretical framework and to study the relationship of such behaviors to families' satisfaction with hospice care and bereavement outcomes.