Hot, våld, bett och slag men inte att bli riktigt slagen - En studie om hur omsorgspersonal på demensavdelning definierar, hanterar och förklarar brukares handlingar

Sammanfattning: Threats, violence, bites and punches but not to be really beaten - A study of how nursing staff at a dementia ward define, manage and explain the residents’ action The aim of this study was to examine how nursing staff at a ward for elderly residents with dementia defined and related to situations and acts that could be defined as violent. The study was performed with a qualitative method based on seven semi-structured interviews with nursing staff and additional observation studies that took place during three shifts at the ward. It was found that most of the nursing staff had been exposed to pinches, slaps, punches and violations in their workplace but that not all of them defined these actions as violence. The result of the study showed that the staff made excuses and justifications for the care recipients’ behaviours in a way that could be described by Scott and Lyman’s concepts of accounts. It also showed how the staff tended to explain aggressive care recipients as a part of the everyday work. The result of the study revealed how the staff had different ways of handling violent situations and the emotions that occurred during these. The way the staff handled emotions could be described by Hochschild’s concepts of emotional labour. It appeared that certain feeling rules were applied among the staff and that fear was one emotion that they were supposed to disguise whilst working with the care recipients.