Studied newly admitted cohort (n=454) to eight nursing homes over first year of residence. Gathered data at admission, two months, and one year. Examined charts for preadmission and postdischarge information. At admission, 80 percent had mental illnesses. Found significant associations of mental morbidity, restraints, and psychotropic medication…

Randomly assigned to 1 of 156 conditions, 256 adults evaluated either a patronizing or a neutral conversation between a nurse and an elderly nursing home resident. Nurses using patronizing styles were viewed as less respectful or nurturant and residents as less satisfied. Results held true for personal situation topics but not for resident…

Surveyed administrators from 70 Florida nursing homes. Administrators reported 1,193 acts of verbal aggression and 13 acts of physical aggression directed at nursing home personnel by residents' family members over 6-month period. Dissatisfaction over how specific and overall care needs of residents were being met was most frequently cited as…

Examined lifetime nursing home use with data from Connecticut for 1977-86. Gives life table estimate of total amount of time after age 65 expected to be spent by persons in nursing homes and total amount of nursing home use paid for by Medicaid. Estimates lifetime risk of Medicaid spenddown in nursing homes at 21.5 percent. (Author/PVV)

The national survey of multiple facility types ascertained patterns of adjustment and interpersonal functioning associated with being older, having mental retardation, and living in an out-of-home residential setting. Noted is a tendency to transfer older persons with mental retardation from institutions into nursing homes which are often not…

Survey data from 70 hospitals and 75 long-term care facilities compared policies and practices of support for the educational development of nursing staff. Significant differences were found, suggesting that nursing homes lag behind hospitals in the development of their staffs. (JOW)

Drawing on nursing home records, examines the relationship between vision impairment and disruptive behaviors among nursing home residents (N=89). Results indicate that vision status is a significant independent contributor to disruptive behaviors among long-term care residents. Findings show vision to be an important comorbid impairment in…

Examines the unique, combined, and interactive contribution of existential variables and traditional measures as predictors of depression in institutionalized and community-residing older adults. Results show that choice-responsibleness, social resources, and physical health predicted depression in community elderly; personal meaning, optimism,…

Uses the experiences of health care staff in a dementia facility to build a model of workplace learning, based on postmodern scholarship, with these elements: community of practice; dynamic engagement with diversity, power, and discourses; and a context integrated with the wider environment. (SK)

Purpose: Nursing facilities with nurse practitioners or physician assistants (NPs or PAs) have been reported to provide better care to residents. Assuming that freestanding nursing homes in urban areas that employ these professionals are making an investment in medical infrastructure, we test the hypotheses that facilities in states with higher…

Purpose: Our objective in this study was to compare the quality of care provided under the Minnesota Senior Health Options (MSHO), a special program designed to serve dually eligible older persons, to care provided to controls who received fee-for-service Medicare and Medicaid managed care. Design and Methods: Two control groups were used; one was…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to expand knowledge regarding end-of-life care received in nursing homes through the use of narrative interviews with family members close to the decedents. Design and Methods: We conducted follow-up qualitative interviews with 54 respondents who had participated in an earlier national survey of 1,578…

Long term care in a nursing home prior to enrollment in PACE remain at high risk of readmission, despite the availability of comprehensive services. This study determined overall risk and predictors of long-term nursing home admission within the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE). Design and Methods: Data PACE records for 4,646…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe the processes of care, organizational attributes, cost of care, staffing level, and staff mix in a sample of Missouri homes with good, average, and poor resident outcomes. Design and Methods: A three-group exploratory study design was used, with 92 nursing homes randomly selected from all nursing…

Based on qualitative interviews with 14 nursing home residents and 13 caregivers, this article explores how elders adapted to life in a nursing home, and how their caregivers came to embrace nursing home placement as the optimal way to meet their elders' need for care. These processes were mediated by two mechanisms: the function the institution…