Two challenges facing nursing-home care today are understanding the concept of "quality of life" as it relates to cognitively impaired residents and finding effective ways to ensure that it is achieved. Canadian director Allan King's documentary, "Memory for Max, Claire, Ida and Company," filmed at Baycrest, captures a method…

Describes the Nursing Home Community Council Project which was developed to improve the quality of resident life through organized community involvement. Reports issues in organizing nursing homes, the group-to-group approach, and providing advocacy in the context of service. (Author/ABB)

To improve well-being of nursing home residents and ensure compliance with the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, programs aimed at improving quality of life must strive to satisfy higher level needs of the elderly as identified in Maslow's hierarchy. (SK)

Based on a needs assessment survey (66 responses from 101 nursing home activity coordinators), a recreation manual and training program was developed and tested with 25 coordinators/recreation staff. The 14 who completed evaluations increased their understanding of such topics as depression; goals of nursing home recreation programs; motivation of…

Training for caregivers of elderly nursing home residents focused on the use of reminiscence for psychological and emotional health. One technique taught was the memory box, an old suitcase filled with objects sorted into themes to stimulate memories. (SK)

Examined whether physical restraints are related to decreased social behavior among nursing home residents. Data collected from 112 nursing home residents suggest that low social performance puts resident at risk of being restrained, but more frequently use of restraint hampers resident's performance of social behavior. (Author/NB)

Nursing homes in Illinois Quality Incentive Program receive separate bonus payment per Medicaid day for achieving each of six quality standards. Of 809 participating homes (1985-88), over 90 percent of eligible facilities chose to participate annually. Success in achieving bonus payments in multiple standards increased over time, with 27 percent…

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…

Presents innovative method of using research findings to improve quality of life in long-term care institution. Describes impact of action research in developing service. Examines program implementation in terms of how groups of residents, staff, and families worked to enhance their social environment by strengthening supportive relationships,…

Nursing home social workers (n=152) and administrators (n=231) rated relative importance of resident and family psychosocial needs and frequency of function performed or expected to be performed by social workers. Both groups rated as very important needs of support during transition to nursing home, help in dealing with loss, and help with…

Purpose: We developed and tested theoretically derived procedures to observe physical environments experienced by nursing home residents at three nested levels: their rooms, the nursing unit, and the overall facility. Illustrating with selected descriptive results, in this article we discuss the development of the approach. Design and Methods: On…

This research sought to ascertain predictors of well-being and survival among "elite" residents in long-term care facilities. Analysis showed that primary predictors of morale, life satisfaction, satisfaction with treatment, and survival were residents' subjective perceptions of the facility and their preference about living in it or elsewhere.…

Relatives (N=62) of matched pairs of patients in geriatric foster homes and nursing homes rated care provided to their relatives. Significantly more foster family patients had positive pre-placement attitudes than did nursing home patients. Upon follow-up, relatives of foster patients reported seeing more patient improvement, satisfaction,…

This report from the Select Committee on Aging examines financial, medical, and social issues surrounding terminally ill patients with special emphasis on the elderly terminally ill. The first section discusses topics related to the medical treatment of the terminally ill. Two basic issues are important: the right to have medical treatment and the…

Previous research has shown that only nursing home "short stayers" will return to the community. Analyzed data to predict factors important both to discharge and tenure. Independent variables included age, sex, past residence, prognosis, and family ties. Results point to prognosis as a key predictor both of discharge and of tenure.…