Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 17, 2025
Setup and Execution Of the Blindfolded Code Training Exercise
Published on: March 29, 2019
The implementation of correctional nursing practice-Caring behind bars: A grounded theory study
Kirnvir K Dhaliwal1, Sandra P Hirst1, Kathryn M King-Shier1,2
1Faculty of Nursing, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada.
Aim:
To understand how registered nurses implement their nursing practice in correctional institutions with healthcare governance by a health authority (e.g. Ministry of Health).
Design:
Straussian grounded theory.
Methods:
Simultaneous data collection and analysis were undertaken using theoretical sampling, constant comparison and memo writing. Thirteen registered nurses engaged in semi-structured telephone interviews about implementing their correctional nursing practice including, providing direct care to adult offenders. Data were collected (December 2018 to October 2019) until saturation occurred. Analytic coding (open, axial and final theoretical integration) was performed to identify the core category and subcategories around which the substantive theory was developed.
Results:
The theory of Caring Behind Bars refers to the process of how registered nurses implemented their correctional nursing practice to care for offenders. The core category of Caring Behind Bars is comprised of five subcategories: tension between custody and caring, adaptability and advocacy, offender population, provision of care, and challenging and positive elements.
Conclusion:
Caring Behind Bars required registered nurses to address tension between custody and caring by adapting and advocating to access offenders. The provision of care required registered nurses to use assessment skills and numerous resources to provide a variety of patient focused care to offenders. The consequences of Caring Behind Bars had challenging and positive elements.
Impact:
The tension provides purposeful space to continue improving teamwork among correctional officers and registered nurses. More research is required about the impact of correctional healthcare governance models on professional practice and health outcomes. Frontline registered nurses can use the theory to make informed choices when providing care. Registered nurses practising in other domains of correctional nursing (i.e. administration, education and research) can also use this theory to advance and inform practice with the goal of promoting offender health.
Related Concept Videos
01:30Theoretical Foundations of Nursing Practice
Theories provide a perspective to assess patients' conditions and organize data and methods. They also assist in analyzing and interpreting information. They represent a...
01:15Nursing Implementation
The five steps to implementing effective nursing care include reassessing the patient, reviewing and revising the existing nursing care plan, organizing the resources and care delivery, anticipating and preventing complications, and implementing nursing interventions.
03:20The Stanford Prison Experiment
01:18The Scientific Method in Nursing Process
When using research findings to change practice, one must understand the process used to guide a study. The scientific method is a systematic, step-by-step process that supports the data's validity, reliability, and generalizability. As a result, findings can be...
01:27Nursing Ethical Principles II
Consider the following scenario, which illustrates how these principles are applied in the care of Mr. John, a fifty-year-old teacher diagnosed with metastatic liver cancer.
Initially, Mr. John's...
01:15Nursing Evaluation