McDonald, T. A. & Wang, W., 2015
ICN Conference, Seoul, Republic of Korea
ABSTRACT
Background: Families and nurses provide care for older adults and also act as their proxies. Their ability to assess the quality of life (QOL) of older adults in ways that align with how older people assess themselves was tested in the Chinese context and contrasted with evidence from the West.
Objective: We aimed to compare perspectives of quality of life between older adults, their family members and nurses providing care.
Methods: In this research, families and nurses’ perceptions of older people’s QOL were compared with that of the older person using concurrent EQ-5D-3L and WHOQOL-BREF surveys, responses from 72 matched stakeholder groups.
Results: Analysis revealed stark differences in contextual perspectives. While consistent with similar Chinese studies, these results differ markedly from research conducted in Western countries.
Conclusions: We conclude that, due to cultural and work influences, Chinese family members are better placed than nurses in China to represent the views of older patients in terms of severity of problems and their quality of life status. The implications of this research lie in reform of nursing work in China so that it can align with the holistic role that nurses in other countries regard as standard practice.
CITATION McDonald, T. & Wang, W (2017) Alignment of Quality of Life Perspectives among Nurses, Family Members and Older Chinese Patients. (Paper) International Council of Nurses (ICN) Conference. Barcelona, Spain. 25-31` May.
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