This study investigated the use of reading activities in the enhancement of the lives of nursing-home patients. A special reading group was led by a reading specialist in weekly sessions. Patients voluntarily attended the one-hour sessions and read short selections supplied by the reading specialist. Patients ranged in age from 54 to 91. The…

This manual is based upon a study of 247 old people and their families and five long-term care facilities in New York City. The data indicate that what families do for their aged kin in institutions makes a difference to the older person, and that the ability of families to maintain contact with their institutionalized relative depends, in part,…

Resulting from a study conducted by the Advisory Housing Committee of the Dutch Society for Rehabilitation, the report describes housing conditions and possibilities for the physically handicapped in the Netherlands. Four categories of sheltered living conditions are described and analyzed: residential centers, supervised residential centers,…

The purpose of this booklet is to offer some guidelines for inservice educators who are interested in teaching human relationships and communication skills in nursing homes. Getting It All Together (GIAT) was developed for people to improve their basic communication skills through a new approach to communication and interpersonal relationships. It…

The Colerain Vocational Center in Cincinnati offers a training program to high school home economics students through which they become patient-activity coordinators for residents in nursing homes. The activities of the trainees serve to meet the needs of older adults in the community. (EC)

There are many ways in which long-term care facilities attempt to cope with the mental health problems of the elderly. The author reviews five factors crucial to effective care for the aged in these facilities. (Author/RK)

This study focuses on the relationship of intensity of religious commitment to use of indirect life-threatening behavior among elderly, chronically ill hospital patients. Findings indicate intensity of religious commitment is a potentially more meaningful measure of religiosity than formal church membership. (Author)

Night shift nursing home aides who received in-service training in behavior therapy designed and implemented intervention programs for two of their most difficult residents. Describes programs and their outcomes. Discusses use of staff members as agents of behavior change. (Author/NB)

Assigned 27 demented elderly nursing home residents to either reminiscence group therapy, supportive group therapy, or a no-treatment control group. Results showed the self-reported level of depression in participants given reminiscence therapy was positively affected compared with participants in the supportive therapy and control groups.…

Reviews physical and mental factors that influence the reading habits of older Americans. Discusses their motivations for reading, reading programs for institutionalized elders, ways to encourage older people to use the public library, and other ways to encourage older people to read. (SKC)

Analyzed interprofessional agreements (N=26) between nurses and social workers when rating older patients on their physical self-maintenance abilities, mental status, and dispositions to social interaction with other residents of a home for the aged. Findngs showed significant intercorrelations of physical self-maintenance abilities and mental…

Investigated 288 persons admitted to nursing homes for problems and problem management before admission. Found that multiple problems existed; primary caregivers were close family members. Extended family and friends were helpful, community resources were rarely used. Men were caregivers for nearly two-thirds as many persons as were women.…

Author outlines in detail how to improve health care in nursing homes by involving nurses, doctors, patients and their families in a teamwork approach to the patients' condition and care. (PD)

Residents in a home for the aged taught German to students who received college credit. Results suggest that geriatric residents can assume active roles and engage in profound interpersonal relationships until death. Students derived many of the same benefits in addition to improving language skills. (Author)

Derived a representative national nursing home admissions cohort with 1977 survey data. Found that high proportions of admissions have short lengths of stay and are discharged within the same calendar year. (Author/RC)