Official URL: https://www.maynoothuniversity.ie/edward-m-kennedy...

Long term care (LTC) facilities, also called nursing homes, are often ripe for conflicts which cause stress for residents, their families and staff. This article presents the results of a survey showing how nursing facility administrators in Harris County, Texas, managed conflict within their facilities and how a more positive approach was consistently reflected in how their facilities were rated in US government quality consumer ratings. The concept at the centre of this study, SOS-Semantics of Self in Conflict™, recognises that the degradation of standards due to conflict is not just an event in a nursing care facility. It is a process that is heavily influenced, and in some cases exacerbated, by the way in which facility administrators react to conflict. These reactions have important broader implications for the facility’s best practice retrospectively.