Examined special nursing home units for patients with Senile Dementia of the Alzheimer's Type using published and unpublished reports, as well as policy manuals, and personal observations. Identified critical dimensions on which these units can differ. Discusses heterogeneity of these units. (Author/ABL)

Although many elderly people live for years in nursing homes, death certificates routinely obliterate nursing home residence. Data from records of 1 proprietary nursing home showed that of 128 residents, from 45 percent to 66 percent could be classified as permanent residents, depending on definition. Death certificates for those 128 residents…

Nurses (N=30) employed in nursing homes were trained as Geriatric Nurse Practitioners and then implemented their new clinical roles as direct employees of the original facility. Results showed the nurses, their directors, and administrators perceived the nurses as having positive effects on resident outcomes, but described difficulties in…

Discusses the past, present, and future of the use of nursing homes as teaching sites. Suggests that teaching nursing homes must provide state-of-the-art care while avoiding the pitfalls that threaten academic hospitals; balance must be maintained between the benefits of teaching and the burdens placed on patients and staff. (JOW)

Reviewed 19 studies of psychotropic drug use for residents of long-term care facilities, published between 1978 and 1990. Compared each study in terms of sample, research design, and findings. Found that substantial proportion of nursing home residents took psychotropic drugs on regular, long-term basis; usage was accompanied by prescribing and…

Used content analysis of elderly nursing home residents' statements to describe their perceptions of communication rules and beliefs that regulate their talking. Collected data by using role-play interview technique. Perceived communication rules and self-regulatory beliefs identified by residents were found to inhibit them from talking with one…

Evaluated efficacy of four state nursing home preadmission screening instruments. Data from three community-based services demonstration experiments indicated that more restrictive screens tended to have lower sensitivity but higher specificity and to generate higher proportion of false negative decisions than more liberal screens. Overall rates…

Examined extent to which nursing homes adjust staffing and care practices relative to local market conditions. Results suggest that facilities employ more nonprofessional nursing staff in markets in which professional nurse wages are higher. Registered nurse staffing levels are higher in markets with higher percentage of self-pay nursing home…

Purpose: The aim of this study was to estimate the longitudinal relationship between transitions in the use of long-term care and older adults' depressive symptoms and to investigate whether this relationship could be explained by markers of older adults' underlying health, or other variables including demographics, personality, and partner…

Nursing homes as clinical sites for student learning have the potential to produce negative attitudes toward aging. The purpose of the study reported in this paper was to determine the impact of the Eden Alternative on the attitudes of students toward elders residing in nursing homes. Prior to beginning implementation of the Eden Alternative, 61…

This study aimed to examine the implementation, adequacy, and outcomes of discharge planning. The authors carried out a prospective study of 1,426 adult patients discharged from 11 acute care hospitals in Israel. Social workers provided detailed discharge plans on each patient. Telephone interviews were conducted two weeks post-discharge. Findings…

This study explored the impact of a group-as-a-whole processing group on 11 severely mentally ill adult clients residing in a long term care facility over 30 weeks. Participants were evaluated for the effect of the group on anxiety and depression, using the Beck Depression Index (BDI-II) and the Beck Anxiety Index (BAI). This longitudinal study…

Context: Research has demonstrated substantial differences between end-of-life care in rural and urban settings. As the end of life approaches, rural elders are less likely to be hospitalized, to be placed in an intensive care unit, or to have a feeding tube, compared to their urban counterparts. These differences cannot be fully explained by…

Purpose: Advance directives are important planning and decision-making tools for individuals in nursing homes. Design and Methods: By using the nursing facility Minimum Data Set, we examined the prevalence of advance directives at admission and 12 months post-admission. Results: The prevalence of having any advance directive at admission declined…

The purpose of this study was to describe the characteristics of social support and the influencing factors on social support in nursing home environments. Observations and staff questionnaires from two central Florida nursing homes were used in this grounded theory study to answer the following questions: (1) How is social support manifested? and…