The Caring Self: The Older Adult Care Providers’ Experiences

Abstract

This study explored the meaning of the caring experiences of nurses and caregivers in a private older adult facility. Using Hermeneutic phenomenology the study interviewed ten informants and data gathered were analyzed using NVivo, a qualitative data analysis software. Findings revealed four themes: a) My mission, my passion; b) My Challenge, my victory; c) Caring beyond boundaries and d) My life, my salvation. The study concluded that the caring self of the care providers consist of three dimensions of caring: confident care, strategic care and enduring care. This became the basis in the development of a theory that states that the caring self is the foundation of all the caring experiences that enables one to become an effective care provider, otherwise known as the care agent.

Keywords

• caring self
• older adults
• care agent
• care providers