Marie O’Neill, Assumpta Ryan, Anne Tracey, Liz Laird

First published: 26 November 2020 https://doi.org/10.1111/hsc.13232

What is known about this topic?

• The extent to which individuals exercise control over the decision to move to a care home is recognised as an important determinant of their relocation experience.
• Most studies report that care home environments can be restrictive, therefore making adjustment and adaptation more challenging.
• There is a dearth of research on the extent to which residents can be facilitated to feel ‘at home’ in a care home environment

What this paper adds

• Positive adaptation is connected to older peoples’ perceived quality of life, continued connection to home, family and community, and having opportunities to develop meaningful relationships with staff and other residents.
• Facilitating difficult and caring conversations with individuals and their families is required to manage individual expectations of the move to promote a positive adaptation process.
• Failure to engage early with these difficult conversations can negatively impact on the adaptation process over the course of the first year of life in a care home.
• Older people do not always have existing social supports to cope with bereavement and loss in the care home which has a significant impact on their psychological well‐being.

Read the Paper in full at Source: ‘The Primacy of ‘Home’: An exploration of how older adults’ transition to life in a care home towards the end of the first year – O’Neill – – Health & Social Care in the Community – Wiley Online Library