Compassionate presence. Compassionate presence has been identified as a key dimension of compassionate care (Xxxxx, 2009; Xxxx, 2011; xxx xxx Xxxxxx, 2011). Xxxxx (2009) conducted a qualitative study in Canada to explore the views of nurses and licensed practical nurses in long-term care for older people on practical actions they use to convey compassion. A purposive sample of seven registered nurses and healthcare assistants was used and participants were recruited through referral by other people who were already participating in the study. Data were collected through unstructured interviews and participant observations. The findings indicated that the nurses and healthcare assistants showed compassion through ‘attending to the essential ordinary’ where participants perceived assistance with basic care as opportunities to show compassion; ‘attending to little things, where the participants paid attention to the small things which matters to the patients’; and ‘keeping the promise to never abandon’ where participants consistently demonstrated presence during care delivery and continued even when patients were going through difficult and traumatic periods (Xxxxx, 2009, p17). The study has limitations which include the small sample size of seven and the recruitment process of participants of the study referring other people to take part in the study without any justification for the recruitment strategy. In addition, the study did not discuss the impact of the researcher on the participants’ behaviour during observations (CASP, 2017a). Xxxx (2011) conducted a qualitative study using interviews and focus groups to explore the experiences of nurses working in a hematopoietic stem cell transplant unit in Canada and found that the nurses described the nature of their work as having a compassionate presence. The nurses demonstrated compassionate presence by acknowledging the suffering of their patients through connection; navigating through uncertainty by spending time with patients and their families and co-creating meaning out of the experience of hematological cancer and being ‘comfortable in one’s own skin’ through self-awareness and allowing patients to guide interactions. The nurses also reported the need to be listened to and supported by managers to enable them to demonstrate compassionate presence with patients and their families (Xxxx, 2011). The participants also reported that the compassionate presence they provided enabled them to cope with the adverse effects of working i...
