Caregivers' experience: bimonthly participation in a year-long research interview process.

New caregivers of stroke survivors participated in a bimonthly research interview process for a year-long intervention study. The purpose of this current project was to describe the telephone interview experience for those in the study's control group. We purposively selected 14 participants to answer a telephone survey. The following themes emerged: (a) looking forward to talking with someone, (b) feeling helped and staying connected, (c) being busy caregiving and taking care of business, (d) helping others, and (e) being ambivalent or negative about the interview process. Orem's self-care deficit nursing theory was then applied to reflect upon these themes. It is important for nurse researchers to remember that interviews used for data collection are not neutral or noninteractive.