Qualitative research on end-of-life communication with family carers in nursing homes: A discussion of methodological issues and challenges

Aim To identify and summarize the challenges of conducting qualitative research exploring end‐of‐life communication between healthcare providers and bereaved family carers in nursing homes. Design A descriptive qualitative study based on in‐the‐field‐notes and research diaries collected during a primary study involving 32 bereaved family carers and 14 nurses across 13 Italian nursing homes in 2018–2019. Methods Two trained female nurses conducted semi‐structured, in‐depth, open‐ended interviews and recorded “in action” (i.e. reflections reported as in‐the‐field‐notes) and “on action” (i.e. retrospective reflections within the team reported immediately in the research diaries) narratives, with the aim of identifying challenges encountered during the research process. A content analysis process was performed to analyse the narratives collected. Results We identified three major categories of challenges: (a) obtaining approval from the ethical committee; (b) approaching nursing homes and family carers; and (c) dealing with participant‐related impairments (i.e. memory, emotional, physical).