Feasibility of DAIly NURSE: A nursing intervention to change nursing staff behaviour towards encouraging residents' daily activities and independence in the nursing home

Aims and objectives To examine the feasibility of DAIly NURSE and a nursing intervention to encourage nursing home residents' daily activities and independence. Background Nursing home residents are mainly inactive during the day. DAIly NURSE was developed to change nursing behaviour towards encouraging nursing home residents' activities and independence by creating awareness. It consists of three components: education, coaching-on-the-job and policy. Design A mixed-method study. Methods The feasibility of DAIly NURSE in practice was tested in six psychogeriatric nursing home wards, using attendance lists (reach), evaluation questionnaires (fidelity, dose received and barriers), notes made by the researcher (dose delivered and fidelity) and a focus group interview (dose received and barriers) with nursing home staff (n = 8) at the end of the study. Results The feasibility study showed that all three components (education, coaching-on-the-job and policy) were implemented in practice. The attendance rate in the workshops was high (average: 82%). Nursing home staff were satisfied with the workshops (mean score 9 out of 10 points) and agreed that DAIly NURSE was feasible in daily nursing care practice. Recommendations to optimise the feasibility of DAIly NURSE included the following: Add video observations of a specific moment of the day to create awareness of nursing behaviour; educate all nursing staff of the ward during the workshops; and organise information meetings for family members before the start of the intervention. Nursing staff were satisfied with the intervention and provided recommendations for adjustments to the content of the three components. The most important adjustment is the use of video observations to create awareness of nursing staff behaviour. Conclusions DAIly NURSE, consisting of education, coaching-on-the-job and policy, is feasible in nursing home practice. Relevance to clinical practice DAIly NURSE might help to change nursing behaviour towards encouraging residents' daily activities and independence.