Poster Presentation
Monday, November 5, 2007
10:30 AM - 11:45 AM
Monday, November 5, 2007
1:30 PM - 2:45 PM
Evaluation of Staff Education and Activities at the Children's Nursing Home Àurora in Romania
Margaretha Zettergren, RN, RNT, MSc and Kaety Plos, PhD. Sahlgrenska Academy, Institute of Health and care Sciences, Göteborg University, Göteborg, Sweden
| Learning Objective #1: The learner will be able to understand possibilities and difficulties when implementing UN:s Convention about Children’s Right in cultures not used to democratic principles. |
| Learning Objective #2: The learner will be able to understand the importance of supplying long lasting professional support, in order to give disabled children a life in dignity. |
A children´s nursing home ‘Aurora’ was established in Romania two years after the fall of dictator Ceausescus, following a governmental request for assistance. The home was started by a group of Swedish volunteers. The children (n=16) were between two and five years old and came from a hospital. They had delays in physical growth and in social, behavioural and cognitive domains. Education of the staff was given intermittently by Swedish nurse tutors during 1991 – 2004. With the aim to describe the effects of instruction and tuition given to the staff (n=25) of the nursing home, questionnaires with quantitative as well as qualitative components was used. The questions were categorized in the following three groups: 1) the education, 2) attitudes toward disabled children, and 3) administration and co-determination/democratization. The participants scored satisfaction with the education as high, considered their attitude toward disabled children to have improved appreciably, but expressed difficulties and doubts regarding being part of an organization built on democratic principles. However, the participants considered that trust and attitudes regarding democratic principles are likely to be achieved over a longer period of time. Patience and continuous support towards the staff are needed, especially to those in leading positions