Mindfulness theory and professional family caregivers in long term care facilities

This study utilized Ellen Langer's theory of mindfulness to better understand how individuals who work in nursing homes apply their professional knowledge to their personal lives within the context of nursing home family caregiving. Mindfulness is described by Langer as a process of drawing novel distinctions in which one becomes situated in the present and increases awareness associated with the situational context and perspective of one's actions. Attributes associated with mindfulness include having an openness to novelty; alertness to distinction; sensitivity to different contexts; awareness of multiple perspectives; and orientation in the present. This work proposed that being a family caregiver of a parent in a nursing home represents a “novel experience” due to the significant change in the environmental context (i.e., home versus institution) and meanings associated with this change.;Using a sample of 10 professional and 10 non-professional family caregivers (n = 20), qualitative and quantitative methods were used to compare levels of mindfulness, nursing home knowledge, perceived emotional closeness, and personally relevant knowledge.;Quantitative analysis revealed no statistically significant differences in nursing home-related mindfulness or perceived emotional closeness between professional and non-professional family caregivers. Non-professionals scored higher than professionals on the general mindfulness instrument, while professionals had greater knowledge of nursing homes than non-professionals. Neither nursing home knowledge nor emotional closeness correlated with general or nursing home related mindfulness.;Qualitative analysis reinforced the quantitative findings for three of the four attributes of nursing home mindfulness and emotional closeness. This indicates that being a family caregiver of an institutionalized parent is novel for both professional and non-professional caregivers and is not limited to those with close adult child-parent relationships. Narrative data revealed that professionals were more mindful than non-professionals when using their nursing home knowledge to approach staff in a non-confrontational manner. Professionals were also more accepting of care-related problems than non-professionals.;Results of this research advance the understanding of mindfulness theory by further refining its related attributes and providing support for a context-specific orientation rather than a trait, or personality-based phenomenon.