Background: Demographic change and a shift of values in society bring new challenges for the long-term care of older people, suggesting the institutional model of care should give way to one that places the person at the centre of decision making.

Aim: To describe the development of a theoretical framework for person-centred practice with older people in long-term care.

Development process: The framework was developed by synthesising original empirical research, existing evidence and existing theory, using an iterative and integrated approach to theory development based on a dialogical understanding of knowledge construction. The project formed part of a five-year research and practice development programme on person-centred practice in long-term care in Austria.

Results: The Person-centred Practice Framework for Long-Term Care (PeoPLe) is a theoretical framework of person-centred practice, consisting of five constructs: prerequisites, practice environment, person-centred processes, fundamental principles of care, and outcome. It is dependent on the macro-context of healthcare delivery.

Conclusion: PeoPLe provides a comprehensive theoretical framework for the development of person-centred practice in long-term care. The framework can be used to guide empirical inquiry, education and practice development.

Implications for practice:

• The Person-centred Practice Framework for Long-term Care (PeoPLe) is a comprehensive theoretical framework that sets out principles for the operationalisation of person-centred practice with older people in long-term care
• The Fundamental Principles of Care component of the PeoPLe framework is reported to appeal to many practitioners and may serve also as a low-threshold starting point for practice development
• The Fundamental Principles of Care component may steer the development of person-centred processes and individual care plans with persons in care. It can, for example, be used to guide assessment, case conferences and documentation

This article by Hanna Mayer, Brendan McCormack, Christiane Hildebrandt, Sabine Köck-Hódi, Eva Zojer and Martin Wallner is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 3.0 License.