Nursing Home Patients' Perception of Nurses' Affective Touching

Abstract

Within a sample of 99 elderly white patients in two nursing homes, E used the Comfort when Touched Inventory to measure Ss' perception of comfort-discomfort from affective touching by white nurses, and investigated the relationship of inconsistencies in perception to sex, age, and care classification. Results from alpha factor analysis with varimax rotation suggested that S would most likely perceive discomfort if an older male nurse affectively touched S; if a male nurse touched or held S's hand; or if a nurse, male or female, placed his/her arm around S's shoulders. Results from correlation procedures suggested that inconsistencies in perception were related only to sex; female Ss more than male Ss were likely to perceive discomfort from affective touching by nurses, especially if the nurse was a male.