A conceptual framework for home nursing

Home nursing is typically dismissed as a series of tasks, limited in range and basic in nature. The present article describes research which repudiates this view while presenting a conceptual framework of home nursing which captures the dynamics and impact of this form of nursing upon the patient. Through using the approach of 'grounded theory' (Glaser & Strauss 1967) the present stereotype was found to be deficient. Home nursing was observed to be far more complex and challenging than generally acknowledged. Whilst the development of a conceptual framework was the primary aim of the research, the author has compared the home nursing studied in Australia to the observations of Kratz (1976, 1978) upon district nursing in England. It was found that the home nurse plays a central role in the patient's response to chronic illness. Lawrence & Lawrence (1979) have described how nursing intervention can produce, through adaption to the stress of long-term illness, a higher form of human functioning than that existing before the onset of the disorder. Surprisingly, this process has never been examined in relation to home nursing which, more than ever, is caring for increasing numbers of patients experiencing chronic illness and disability. The present study found that different variables and parameters which exist in home nursing but not in acute facilities affect the nursing intervention. If a body of nursing knowledge is to be developed and maintained from which nursing education can be co-ordinated, understanding of different nursing situations and the variables active in each is essential.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)