Older adults worked through 3 phases as they made the initial transition to permanent residence in a nursing home
Question What are the initial experiences of older adults who are admitted to nursing homes on a planned or unplanned basis as they make the transition to nursing home life?
Design
Grounded theory.
Setting
3 long term care facilities with religious affiliations in a large city in Midwestern USA.
Patients
15 adults ≥65 years (age range 76–97 y, all of Euro-American origin, 73% women) who were admitted to a nursing home for expected permanent residence, were able to understand and speak English, were able to give informed consent, and who passed a short mental status questionnaire. 2 of the adults had mild confusion.
Methods
Indepth semistructured interviews lasting 45–60 minutes were conducted with each participant every other day for 2 weeks and 1 month after admission. Discussion focused on adjustments to institutional life. Field notes were made during the interviews and observations of participant behaviour (eg, stayed in room) …
