Nursing home care: Factors influencing the quality of life in a restricted life situation

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Abstract
The quality of life and care situation of 191 patients living in 4 nursing homes (NHs) were evaluated with regard to patient functional impairment and staff competence. Patient disability levels in the different NHs were similar. A high incidence of dementia in combination with somatic diseases were limitations to achieve quality of life. The patients had limited access to privacy. Their possibilities to communicate with the world outside, interpersonally, and via massmedia were small. Only about half of them went out of the NHs during their mean stay of 1.8 years, but they were often visited by relatives and friends. The staff seemed to be indifferent to the patients’ needs, which was reflected in insufficient physical and mental training, bad mealtime routines and only a minute of time allowed for personal acquaintance at admittance. The competence of the nursing staff and their working in a nursing team seemed to be of major importance in the care situation for the quality of life available. It was evident that there was a great need to improve the care situation. (Aging 3: 229–239, 1991)