Here is Valérie’s example: “The woman wants to go to the washroom. We’ll go, but I take the time to brush her teeth first. She’s just eaten. What if she has food stuck under her dentures? That’s what well-caring is: putting clean teeth in her mouth. And it takes 30 seconds.”
And this is what Florence had to say: “It’s management that treats employees fairly. You’ll see it: our performance is better. Residents will feel it: employees will be happier and more motivated to come to work. It’s a wheel that turns.”
Well-caring is attitudes (concern and caring) and small everyday actions (taking the time to listen, personalizing the relationship, acknowledging abilities). More than anything, well-caring truly occurs when those attitudes and actions are supported by an environment that provides conditions that foster its development (time and a climate of mutual trust) and compliance with certain standards (living environment approach, L-6.3). Well-caring involves all aspect of life and mobilizes all the senses. It touches everyone (residents, their families, staff), it is seen in interpersonal relationships, felt in the organizational culture and heard in discourses. And everyone has a taste for well-caring.
Our research aims to deepen our understanding of well-caring, identify well-caring practices in senior facilities, determine the winning conditions and obstacles to the development of well-caring and value the practices and staff members who adopt well-caring. And it works because it’s as simple as common sense.
Main researcher
Sophie Éthier, Université Laval
Deposit of the research report: May 2021