Person-centered dementia care in home care services-maintaining the patient's and the nurses' personhood

Background: National guidelines recommends to introduce routines for person-centred care and treatment in health services caring for people with dementia. Research on how person-centered care unfolds in home care nursing contexts is scarce. Aim: To explore how nurses experience person-centered care in everyday work, focusing on ensuring the personhood of patient and nurse. Method: Nine nurses from two municipalities in western Norway, aged 31-59 years, and with 5-23 years of experience from home care services participated in two separate focus group interviews. Thematic analysis was performed. Result: The nurses considered relational work as essential to get into a helping position. Knowledge of life history, joint reflection and generous organizational formal decision made this possible. Task-oriented approach, lack of competence and flexibility undermined the personhood of both nurse and patient. Conclusion: The study provides knowledge about how to sustain the personhood of the nurse and patient in home nursing contexts.