The terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, affected the psychological health of individuals of all ages in the U.S. Compared to other age groups, older adults often experience more difficulty in obtaining disaster assistance. Therefore, an outreach team was formed specifically to assist nursing home residents as part of a community effort at a…

People in the counseling profession make some profound assumptions about the freedom that all people have (or seem to have). From the moment that each counselor began counselor training, the notion that people are able to generally choose and make decisions for themselves has been associated with the dominant process models of the profession. As a…

Cross sectional data indicate that about four percent of elderly persons reside in nursing homes. Yet many studies, some using death certificates, show actual risk of institutionalization is upwards of 25 percent. This paper presents a death registration study that examined all deaths in North Carolina and analyzed rural and urban differences. The…

In order to test the effectiveness of the use of pets with the elderly in a nursing home setting, three concurrent studies were conducted. The 29 residents participating in the experiment were selected by nursing home personnel as meeting the criteria of being depressed and withdrawn, and receiving no regular (weekly) visitors. Study I compared…

As part of the adult education program of Mountain View-Los Altos (California) High School District, elderly patients at skilled nursing care facilities take classes in poetry. The poetry classes are therapeutic in nature, satisfying a real need for these very ill elderly people to express their frustrations, hopes, fears, and joys. All of the…

This study examined the effectiveness of a new skills training program designed to increase nurse aides' knowledge of behavior management. The training program, designed as five 90-minute group learning modules, was implemented in two Western Pennsylvania nursing homes over a 5-month period. Topics covered within the training program included…

Researchers have divided nursing home residents into long-stayers and short-stayers. While long-stayers rarely return home, they do not necessarily stay long in one institution. Instead, they may transfer from nursing home to nursing home. Although many studies have examined the impact of relocation on nursing home residents, few studies have…

This paper explains how commonality analysis (CA) can be conducted using a specific Statistical Analysis System (SAS) procedure and some simple computations. CA is used in educational and social science research to partition the variance of a dependent variable into its constituent predicted parts. CA determines the proportion of explained…

Because research studies on post-relocation mortality in the elderly have come to inconsistent and contradictory conclusions, clinical teams recommending patients for placement are still relying on educated intuition as a basis for clinical decisions in what may be a life-or-death matter for elderly institutionalized patients. This study was…

Agitation is a significant problem for nursing home residents, their families, and their caretakers. Agitation is defined as inappropriate verbal, vocal, or motor activity which is not explained by needs or confusion per se. It includes behaviors such as aimless wandering, pacing, cursing, screaming, biting, and fighting. The inappropriate nature…

The increasing age of the American population and the current emphasis on cost containment in health care make the 1980s an ideal time for building bridges to span the health care needs of elderly persons in acute care and long-term care. While hospitals often discharge patients to nursing homes as an intermediate step between hospitalization and…

The success of rehabilitative nursing homes has been measured by their ability to return patients to their homes. The rates of reinstitutionalization after discharge are less studied but are basic to the role of alternative levels of care. This research examines the relationship of predischarge factors with long term outcomes of patients…

The predictive utility of a proposed need-press competence (NPC) model of satisfaction was compared with that of the traditional need-press fit model. Structured interviews with 30 residents from two nursing homes provided measures of needs, press, competence, and satisfaction. The NPC model was a better predictor of expressed satisfaction than…

A good experiential training program in geriatrics provides students with the opportunity to apply their knowledge in the basic pharmaceutical disciplines; develop management and communication skills; formulate corrective and preventive strategies; and learn rational, safe, and effective drug use among the elderly. (MLW)

Life satisfaction in the elderly has long been an area of considerable interest to gerontologists, and with good reason. As the numbers of elderly increase in our society, a better understanding of the process and determinants of successful adaption will be beneficial. Given the traditional self-reliant and independent lifestyles valued by the…