CREATING A CARING ATMOSPHERE IN AN INTENSIVE STROKE CARE UNIT IN INDONESIA: AN ACTION RESEARCH APPROACH

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to create a caring-healing environment in the unit in order to improve the quality of nursing care. This paper describes one cycle of an action research study that was carried out in an intensive stroke care unit at a hospital in Medan, Indo-nesia. Fifteen participants were involved in this study. Individual in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, participant observa-tion, field notes, and photo recordings were used to collect data and to inform the actions. Data were analyzed by content analysis with Weft QDA program for data management. The findings revealed that after one cycle of the Action Research study the caring-healing environment in the unit improved to a certain degree. The nurses had become used to establishing caring relationships with patients and family members. The nurses also started to change their behaviors by focusing their nursing more on and about their patients.