Community mental health nurses' perceptions of their elderly client's health problems related to alcohol use/abuse

Guided by King's (1981, 1999) theoretical framework, this qualitative, descriptive study described 5 community health nurses perceptions of their elderly clients' health problems related to alcohol use/abuse. Data were collected during audiotaped, semistructured interviews with each nurse. The interviews followed a guide developed by the researcher. The transcripts of the interviews were analyzed by content analysis. The findings showed the nurses' perceptions of the wide range of factors within their elderly clients' personal, interpersonal, and social systems, especially related to experiencing losses, which promote their use/abuse of alcohol. The nurses also identified that problems related to alcohol use/abuse tend to be overlooked within this population.