Becoming a Joy of Life Nursing Home: Experiences of the implementation work

The study aimed to gain knowledge about concept-based change work by health professionals in new roles as resource persons implementing the Joy of Life Nursing Home concept. There is a need for cultural change in nursing homes to contribute to meaningful lives for the residents. The concept “Joy of Life Nursing Home” has been created to ensure quality standards in nursing homes. This study is about the experiences of members of a project team as change agents working to implement the Joy of Life concept in one nursing home that is endeavoring to become certified. A qualitative design was used. The sample included a certification project group from one nursing home; it consisted of five health professionals designated as resource persons, two department managers, and a process supervisor. Data were collected through focus group interviews twice during the certification process. Transcribed data were analyzed using thematic content analysis and interpretative phenomenological analysis of the focus group data. The analysis resulted in four themes: benefits and challenges of systematization work; being a resource person for colleagues; role prerequisites of the resource group; and Joy of Life as a concept and way of working. The study was on formative evaluation research, analyzing an implementation resource group’s experiences of the strengths and weaknesses of the program implementation process. In meeting positive attitudes about the concept, the resource persons succeeded. However, in the face of negative attitudes, they had limited skills to meet resistance. Limited supervision in the resistance the resource persons encountered limited the implementation process as a learning process. Role clarification and cooperation in JLNH made the work easier, and Joy of Life as a concept became an important motivation in the implementation work.