Nursing students struggle with family interactions in home care—training gap identified
A Swedish study of 18 nursing students reveals significant anxiety and unpreparedness when interacting with families of elderly patients in home settings. As healthcare systems worldwide shift care away from hospitals, this education gap threatens care quality and workforce readiness—signaling an urgent need for redesigned training programs.
Originaltitel: Nursing students´ understandings of interactions with family members of older persons receiving home care - a phenomenographic interview study.
Sjuksköterskor i grundutbildning saknar tillräcklig förberedelse för att samarbeta med anhöriga till äldre personer i hemvård — en utmaning som växer när demografiska förändringar ökar behovet av hembaserad äldreomsorg. En svensk studie från Malmö universitet intervjuade 18 sjuksköterskestudenter om deras förståelse av familjeinteraktioner. Forskarna identifierade tre nyckelkategorier: motiv för interaktioner, utmaningar och framgångsrika strategier. Studenterna rapporterade särskild osäkerhet kring kommunikation, bedömning av anhörigas behov och hantering av konkurrerande intressen. Studien rekommenderar att utbildningsprogram integrerar kommunikationsteknik, teoretisk grund och klinisk erfarenhet genom simuleringar och verkliga fallstudier över hela lärocykeln. För regionvård och utbildningsansvariga signalerar detta ett implementeringsbehov: curriculumreformer för anhörigsamarbete kan reducera senare jobbosäkerhet och förbättra vårdkvaliteten när hemsjukvården expanderar.
BACKGROUND: Due to global demographic changes and transformations of healthcare organizations, nursing students need to be adequately prepared for caring for older persons in home settings and for involving and supporting their family members. However, nursing students feel unprepared for and anxious about interacting with family members. This study is part of a project aiming to advance nursing education on this matter by involving undergraduate nursing students in the development of an educational intervention. AIM: This study aims to describe the variation in nursing students' understanding of interactions with family members of older persons receiving home care. DESIGN: This study was designed as a descriptive qualitative study with a phenomenographic approach. SETTING: Data were collected from nursing students at three universities between February and April 2025 (Sweden). PARTICIPANTS: A total of 18 nursing students participated. METHOD: Data were collected using individual semi-structured interviews and analysed using phenomenographic analysis. RESULTS: The variation in the nursing students' understandings comprises three descriptive categories: rationales for interactions, challenges in interactions, and strategies for successful interactions. DISCUSSION: The findings indicate that undergraduate nursing students perceive their current education as insufficient to prepare them to involve and support family members in care. From a teaching and learning perspective, this study highlights the need for intentional, theory-informed, and practice-oriented educational strategies. Specifically, students emphasized the importance of combining theoretical grounding with experiential learning using real clinical cases, group discussions, and role-play sustained across the curriculum. In addition, communication skills training is needed to assess family needs and caregiving preferences and to manage complex communication and competing interests. These findings can inform the content and design of activities in educational interventions. CONCLUSION: Identifying a clear purpose for interacting with family members was fundamental for the nursing students because it guided the proposed strategies to overcome anticipated challenges.