Ambiguities: residents’ experience of ‘nursing home as my home’

Abstract

Ambiguities concerning the nursing home as a home and place to live, a social environment in which the residents experience most of their social life and the institution where professional health service is provided were uncovered. High-quality care was when ambiguities were managed well and a home could be created within the institution. Implication for practice. Achieving quality care in nursing homes requires reconciling the ambiguities of the nursing home as a home. This implies helping residents to create a private home distinct from the professional home, allowing residents' personal habits to guide institutional routines and supporting meaningful activities. Using these resident developed quality indicators is an important step in improving nursing home services.

Experiences of home and institution in a secured nursing home ward in the Netherlands: A participatory intervention study

“…Activities that are regarded as private do not always occur away from other people's gaze (Solove, 2002). Nakrem et al's (2012) study showed that the nursing home itself is not associated with home; when residents talked about 'going home' they meant their own room and not the nursing home itself.…”

“…However, the institutional routines that were task-and scheduled-oriented, rather than person-oriented, hindered residents from achieving this and made them less independent. Residents who needed help getting up in the morning and into bed in the evening, in particular, were dependent on the staff's routines (Nakrem et al, 2012).…”

“…This also reduces costs of institutional care (Kamerbrief over langer zelfstandig wonen, 2014). However, people with physical and mental problems, such as dementia, most often reside in nursing homes (Nakrem, Vinsnes, Harkless, Paulsen, & Seim, 2012). Nursing homes are often criticised for not providing a home-like environment (Miller et al, 2013).…”

Besøk på sykehjem. En kvantitativ studie av sykehjemsbeboeres besøkshyppighet

“…Overgang til institusjonell omsorg kan vaere preget av sterke følelser som skyld, usikkerhet, skam og fortvilelse O'Shea, Weathers, & McCarthy, 2014). Det er viktig for både beboere og pårørende å skape et «privat hjem» på sykehjemmet slik at beboernes personlige vaner kan lede institusjonelle rutiner og støtte meningsfylte aktiviteter (Nakrem, Vinsnes, Harkless, Paulsen, & Seim, 2012;O'Shea et al, 2014).…”

Whose Right to a “Reasonable Level of Living”? Spouses with Differing Care Needs in Swedish Nursing Homes

“…Nursing homes are ambiguous environments, combining elements of home with institutional routines, and as such may still retain elements of institutional living (Hauge and Kristin 2008;Nakrem et al 2013). As a nursing home can be a home for a couple, more systematic research is needed on couples' experiences of everyday family life in the nursing home, the intersection of formal and informal care when the spouse is a coresident, and staff relations and responsibilities to the cohabiting spouse.…”