| dc.description.abstract | 24-hour postural management (24-hr PM) incorporates all activities and interventions that
impact an individual’s posture and function over a 24-hour period (Gericke 2006). Due to the
cyclical and long-term nature of 24-hr PM, carers are an integral part of delivering the
intervention. As a part of a larger project to evaluate the current 24-hr PM provision within
Edinburgh, this current qualitative investigation aimed to investigate carer experiences of 24-
hr PM. Six semi-structured interviews were carried out with four formal carers and two
informal carers of adult service users currently receiving 24-hr PM within the City of
Edinburgh council. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was utilised in the analysis of
the interviews. From the analysis, emerged 11 themes and 12 subthemes in total. From
these themes three distinct clusters were discovered each providing a theoretical framework
relating to 24-hr PM. The first set of themes highlighted that in order for successful and
holistic 24-hr PM to sustain, several environmental and structural factors have to be in place.
The second set of themes elucidated the fluidity of aspects impacting 24-hr PM and its
outcome, and highlighted the requirement for a dynamic approach to 24-hr PM provision.
The third group of themes revealed the sensitivity and interconnectedness of the carer and
service user contact within the context of 24-hr PM. These findings indicate that in planning
24-hr PM provision, awareness of several complex societal, cultural, environmental and
personal factors must be considered. A service that takes into account the carer’s
knowledge and experience as well as the shortcomings of the current structures that care is
provided in, is necessary. Supported by concepts from post-modern theory, these findings
suggest that qualitative research designs are valuable in uncovering the complexity and
highly contextual nature of 24-hr PM. | en |
