Violation of the patient's integrity, seen by staff in long-term care

The aim of the study was to describe the views held by staff (n = 233) in long-term care on what they regard as a violation of patient's integrity and to define the concept "integrity" in simple terms. The design of the investigation was inductive. The answers were coded into 775 items. Agreement was reached between the authors on 770 of the items when sorted into 13 categories: the unique personality, autonomous self, personal opinions, secret self, personal competence, professional self, family self, cultural self, information self, personal properties, private territory, corporal self, and ridiculing. The number of categories shows a great variation in the ordinary language definitions given by staff. It was also shown in two other ways: the difference in the level of abstraction in the items, and the fact that integrity referred to the patient, directly or indirectly. Our conclusion is that integrity by the staff reflects an ethical value and not a personal trait. If the staff have to violate the patient's integrity, because other vital values are involved, it is absolutely essential that they consider the ethical aspects of the situation carefully. Such violation demands that they preserve their respect for the patient to the greatest extent possible. It seems important in the training of different staff groups to show the complexity in the concept "integrity" and the ethical dilemmas that arise, especially in the interaction with vulnerable patients who are not able to protect and maintain their own integrity.