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Negotiating Boundaries and Roles

Challenges Faced by the Nursing Home Ethnographer

National Ageing Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia

There is ambiguity in the role of the institution that tries to be a "home" and a place of physical care and protection. Many nursing home residents are constrained by physical and social isolation, their vulnerability increased by unmet social needs. Equally, there is ambiguity in the role of the volunteer ethnographer. The obligation to do no harm is rendered more salient by resident dependence and the intensity of nursing home relationships. Ambiguities are entailed in combining the roles of researcher and volunteer in attempting to maintain observer objectivity while becoming a trusted intimate of both the residents who live in the institution and the staff who work there. How does a volunteer determine how to "ration" help when the need for it is constant? The ethnographer is challenged to limit participation and to preserve enough distance to meet the responsibilities entailed in ethical and rigorous research.

Key Words: nursing home • research responsibilities • reciprocity • communication • self

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