| Summary: | Abstract The purpose of this study was to describe and understand the evolution of the content and characteristics of Finnish geriatric nursing from the 1930s till the 2000s. The research approach was based on three underlying assumptions: historicity, multi-level analysis and the dimensions of goals and actual practice. Historicity implied both a long-term analysis of the phenomenon and the use of historical methodology. Multi-level analysis implied that the phenomenon was analyzed at both a macro-level and a micro-level. The macrolevel consisted of the societal geriatric policies (level I). The micro-level was divided into functional environments comprising the municipal context (level II) and nursing organizations (level III) as well as the nursing practice (level IV). The focal aim in the multi-level analysis was to compare the goals (at levels I-III) to the actual practice (level IV). The underlying theoretical premises of the multi-level analysis consisted of system-oriented thinking, and the data were organized in terms of the guidance model. The evolution of geriatric nursing was analyzed on the basis of official documents at the level I, the municipal documents of three municipalities in northern Finland at the level II, the documents of geriatric nursing organizations in selected municipalities at the level III, and retrospective knowledge of nursing aids and assistants and practical nurses at the level IV. In addition to this, contemporary material as well as relevant literature, magazines and research findings were used to shed light on the historico-sociocultural context. The manner of reading applied was systematic interpretation, which allowed the macro- and micro-level information of geriatric nursing in different historical periods to be integrated into a comprehensible whole. The study highlighted the basic dimensions of both goals and actual practice. Using a theoretical societal frame of analysis, they were combined into the general guidelines of geriatric nursing: the retaining nursing of ...
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