INDUCING THE QUALITY OF HOME HEALTH-CARE THEORY THROUGH THE USE OF GROUNDED THEORY METHODOLOGY

Spinal cord injury primarily affects those aged 15-29 years. This age group's life experience may be affected by multiple sequelae of the in jury. The quality of the care provided to these young individuals is a n important area of research for the following reasons: (1) the topic has.not been reported broadly in the nursing literature; and (2) there is a lack of empirical findings related to the quality of home health care. This investigation has used grounded theory as a qualitative ap proach to explore the quality of home health care and its related fact ors from the perspective of the injured persons and to generate the th eory that includes the quality of home health care and its related fac tors. The investigator conducted intensive interviews with 10 spinal c ord injured persons. These interviews were transcribed verbatim, analy zed, and interpreted. Findings indicated that the quality of home heal th care is affected by multiple factors including knowledge of disabil ity, stressful life events, self-monitoring, activities of daily livin g, involvement of significant others, and self-satisfaction. Numerous nursing implications can be drawn for assessment and intervention in t he early post-injury period that may help to improve and maintain opti mum health care.