Do nurses and other health professionals’ in elderly care have education in family nursing?

Background Family caregivers are an important resource for providing care to elderly living at home. How nurses and other health professionals interact with family caregivers can have both a positive and a negative impact on the family caregivers’ situation. We lack knowledge of Norwegian nurses’ and other health professionals’ participation in educational programmes about family caregivers’ needs and situations. Aim The purpose of this study was to investigate whether nurses and other health professionals working in home-care nursing had participated in educational programmes about family caregivers. Additionally, the study aimed to determine whether participation in educational programmes was associated with awareness of family caregivers’ contributions to elder care. Methods This is a quantitative study, and it was conducted as a cross-sectional study. The participants were required to be educated as nurses, nursing assistants or other health professionals with relevant health education and to be working with the elderly in home-care nursing settings. Descriptive statistics and trivariate table analysis using the Pearson Chi-square t-test were conducted using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Result A total of 152 nurses and health professionals in home-care nursing in 23 municipalities have participated (in one county in Norway). The results showed that only half of the respondents had participated in educational programmes about family caregivers’ needs and situations. The study did not provide a clear answer regarding the association between participation in educational programmes and awareness of family caregivers’ contributions. Conclusions The results indicate that nurses and other health professionals, to a small extent, have participated in educational programmes about family caregivers. Our findings indicate that participation in educational programmes may be particularly important for health professionals in leadership positions and for health professionals with vocational training.