Going into a nursing home can turn out to be a critical life experience if elderly people are afraid of losing their independence and identity after having moved into a nursing home. In order to find out what nursing home residents need in their first year after having moved into a nursing home to maintain their identity and self-determination, 20 problem-orientated interviews with residents of three nursing homes in the Austrian province of Salzburg were conducted and analysed based on content analysis according to Mayring. The participants of this study resist against having decisions taken away from them and fight for their independence and identity. In order to be able to cope with these strains, they need the help of family members, professionals, and identity-forming conversations in new social networks in the nursing home. The study participants draw enough strength from their faith in order to fight for their independence. They develop a new identity close to their previous identity by maintaining autonomy and mobility with a clear focus on the future.

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A considerable number of cancer patients use complementary medicine therapies in order to alleviate different symptoms such as pain, anxiety, and depression, occurring in connection with cancer. This paper explores the question to what extent massage therapies are able to reduce the amount of pain, anxiety, and depression. For this purpose, a systematic literature analysis was carried out in the electronic databases and specialist journals. There is already evidence that massage therapies can influence the symptoms of pain, anxiety, and depression in a positive way.

In home-care situations, the caring family members of people suffering from dementia are exposed to a great number of physical, mental and social burdens, and restrictions, putting themselves at risk of falling ill. Caring family members need adequate forms of relief in order to be able to care for the family member at home for as long as possible, and with the best possible physical and psychological status. In the present paper, interventions of relief and promotion and their effects on family members caring for dementia patients have been investigated and described on the basis of a systematic literature review. The presentation of the results shows that psycho-educational, relieving, supportive, psychotherapeutic and multimodal offers as well as counselling and case/care management among caring family members have significant effects on parameters such as burdens, level of depression, subjective well-being, skills/knowledge as well as symptoms and institutionalisation of the person in need of care. None of the interventions investigated, however, covers the entire range of parameters. In order to be able to ensure the individual support of caring family members, a superordinate organisational concept (case/care management, family health nursing) which meets the needs of the caring family members, combines and interlinks tailor-made offers for caring family members is required. Registered nurses could play a central role as care managers or family health nurses in ensuring home-based care for people with dementia. Further investigations on multimodal offers and case/care management are needed. In this context, it is essential to take well-considered decisions on study design, sample size, and result parameters (assessment instruments) in order to gain significant results and homogeneous data.