Kärlek på särskilda boenden : Enhetschefers perspektiv på och strategier för att hantera etiska dilemman kopplat till kärleksrelationer på särskilda boenden för äldre.

Sammanfattning: The objective of this study is to examine the perspectives and preferred actions by managers at elderly care home facilities regarding ethical dilemmas that may emerge when elderly people fall in love. Previous research is mainly focused on ageism and the sex-life of elderly people at care homes. Less attention is paid to their love-life and the view of the managers is often overlooked. Researchers tend to interview and observe the staff, such as nurses and assistant nurses, rather than the managers. In order to provide information to reduce this knowledge gap, this study is based on interviews with managers at elderly care homes in Sweden using the vignette-method.The analysis of this study is based on ethical theory, which is divided into two main orientations called duty-based ethics and consequentialist ethics. Ethical theory is used as a tool for analyzing the data in order to discover which ethical orientation the managers prefer to base their arguments on. The conclusion of this study shows that neither duty-based ethics, nor consequentialist ethics is more often used than the other. The managers motivate their arguments and actions on both ethical orientations without being solely reliant on neither one. Furthermore, the conclusions of this study state that the managers value autonomy and the well-being of the elderly as well as their spouses. However, they all pointed out that ethical dilemmas derived from love in elderly care homes are complex to deal with and more knowledge is needed.