2018 Volume 10 Issue 1 Pages 1_34-1_42
Our study investigated Japanese culture-related aspects of home-visit nursing in support of mothers with 0 to 3-year-old infants of high medical dependency, especially for “thoughtful nursing” by carefully observing the state and overall environment of the mothers.
Subjects were 8 home-visit nurses in Prefecture A who started visiting homes of 0 to 3-year old SMID-MCDG infants, and continued home-visit support for 6 months or longer. Qualitative and inductive analyses were conducted after obtaining data through semi-structured interviews.
Results showed that the Japanese “thoughtful nursing” method consisted of 5 categories, based on observations and experience as a home-visit nurse: 1) Value every moment of the encounter to be trusted by the mother; 2) Consider the mental state of the mother based on the behavior of the mother; 3) Positively and attentively observe the mother for development of trust with the mother; 4) Provide mothers with strategic indirect and direct support by the consideration of home-visit nurses; and, 5) Prepare support measures considering the burden of the mother in caring the infant.
Our results suggest that home-visit nurses support patients’ mothers directly and indirectly, while establishing trust by considering a mother’s feeling in the human relations of people related to the mother. Home-visit nurses are also found to be a liaison between the mother and local community to reduce the burden imposed on the mother, as well as taking care of health condition of SMID-MCDG infants.
