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Aging is inevitable, despite the urge to avoid it. It happens to everyone, but not everyone
as they age are placed into a nursing home. Nursing homes are assisted living facilities for
individuals, usually the elderly, who are no longer able to care for themselves because of health
factors or old age. And for those individuals placed into a nursing home, how exactly have they
changed? Residents of nursing homes are negatively affected psychologically and emotionally
after their relocation.
Nursing home residents are prone to depression while living in the facility. According to
Keith Dobson, this depression is caused by disabilities, physically and cognitively, along with a
sudden change in regular routines and environments (288). So losing the familiarity in their lives,
as well as failing health, causes residents to be depressed. If this is known, how are residents
treated, if they are even treated? Dobson explains that residents are treated with medication,
psychotherapy, or they are simply undiagnosed (288). This has negative side effects, however,
because treating depression with antidepressants is dangerous medically in the elderly because of
the diseases they are already coping with (Dobson 288). In other words, using antidepressants to
treat delicate, elderly residents is not the best option because of side effects. In a study to see if
depression is preventable in nursing home residents, it was found that residents that received
cognitive-behavioral treatment, which consisted of keeping a mood diary and talking about how
to prevent negative moods, were less depressed after 6-months than residents who continued
with regular activities (Dobson 288-295). As explained by the data from the study, depression is
preventable in nursing home residents as long as measures are taken to consider their mood.
Considering depression can lead to poorer health and suicide, as stated by Dobson, the time
should be taken to prevent depression in a population that is clearly subjected to the emotional
distress.
Nursing home residents also suffer a loss of independence as a result of their move.
According to The Illinois Council on Long Term Care, people who enter a nursing home are
unable to care for themselves because of their health and thus makes them dependent on others
(“Understanding the Transition”). After already losing their health, residents of nursing homes
also lose their independence and are unable to perform tasks that were once easy for them. The
Illinois Council also explains that because of their loss of independence, they also lose their
control (“Understanding the Transition”). Nursing homes schedule activities and meals,
determine roommates and when the room will be cleaned, and establish the rules in the facility
(“Understanding the Transition”). In all, nursing home residents lose their control as a result of
losing their independence because of the new accommodations they must face by relocating to a
nursing home. Their dependence on others also becomes a threat to their well-being. According
to Julie Brandt, the nursing home population is vulnerable to abuse and neglect because of
physical drawbacks and cognitive deficits (Brandt 610). Abuse and neglect is a risk to residents
because of their forced dependence on others and their inability to change their circumstances.
A loss of identity is also a factor of moving into a nursing home. The Illinois Council
describes that when residents enter nursing homes, they lose their roles or statuses and this
causes them to question who they are (“Understanding the Transition”). Roles help to identify
who residents are and without them, they are seen as just another patient in a nursing home.
According to Keith Mantovan, nursing home residents become submissive and socially
withdraw, causing them to become more reliant on the staff and lose their identity (Mantovan 3).
Due to their inability to do things for themselves, compliance overwhelms nursing home
residents and they lose the essence that makes them who they are. Mantovan makes a point to
inform that residents can create an identity for their later lives when moving into a nursing home
but only by having meaningful conversations and outside support (Mantovan 8). The loss of
identity can only be avoided for residents by forming a new self through new interactions with
other residents and having continuous support from family and friends.
The nursing home staff can be a negative or positive resource to nursing home residents.
To make the transition easier, as explained by The Illinois Council, the staff should greet the
residents and their families, explain the fundamentals of the nursing home, and introduce them to
the other people in the facility (“Understanding the Transition”). Getting a feel of their new life
and being around positivity is a factor that makes the process of relocating to a nursing home
easier for residents. According to Sandra DeYoung, minimizing the predictability and becoming
aware of past experiences of residents can also decrease negative effects of nursing homes (28).
Changing up the conceived expectations residents have and getting to know them can lower the
discomfort of relocating to a nursing home. However, not all staff interferences are positive.
Brandt explains that physical abuse against residents normally occurs as retaliation by the staff
and psychological abuse occurs against residents labeled as “bad” and includes intimidation and
isolation by the staff (611-612). Physical psychological abuse are prevalent in nursing homes
because of conflicting attitudes between the staff and residents, which leads to an unpleasant
experience in nursing homes. Malnutrition is also a risk in nursing homes, according to Brandt,
because the staff can deliberately withhold food from residents, even if they wish to eat causing a
loss in weight (613). Residents can be deprived of food when relocating to a nursing home
because of the staff. The staff can make the move to a nursing home a positive or negative one
depending on the behavior and attitude of not only the resident, but also the staff themselves.
Residents in nursing homes are negatively affected psychologically and emotionally after
their relocating because their worlds are turned upside down and they are now fully dependent
on other people. They deal with depression, a loss of identity, and can even deal with
mistreatment. There are ways to make their transition easier though such as attentive and positive
staff and the prevention of depression is also an option. Living in a nursing home, while not
usually the choice of the resident, does not have to be a negative experience and can be a new
chapter in their lives with the right development. By shedding light on the experiences of
residents in nursing homes, individuals can look into ways to make the transition easier, safer,
and more positive because while not everyone moves into a nursing home, anyone can.
Works Cited
Brandt, Julie, Landon D. Hough, Erik J. Lindbloom, and Susan E. Meadows. “Elder
Mistreatment In The Nursing Home: A Systematic Review.” Journal of the American
Directors Association 8.9 (2007): 610-616. Elsevier ClinicalKey Journals. Web. 21 Oct.
2015.
DeYoung, Sandra, and Janet P. Tracey. “Moving To An Assisted Living Facility: Exploring The
Transitional Experience of Elderly Individuals.” Journal of Gerontological Nursing
30.10 (2004): 26-33. CINAHL Complete. Web. 21 Oct. 2015.
Dobson, Keith, Candace Konnert, and Liza Stelmach. “The Prevention Of Depression In Nursing
Home Residents: A Randomized Clinical Trial Of Cognitive–Behavioral Therapy.”
Aging & Mental Health 13.2 (2009): 288-299. CINAHL Complete. Web. 21 Oct. 2015.
Mantovan, Keith, Christa Them, and Maria Riedl. ““Being a Nursing Home Resident: A
Challenge to One's Identity.” Nursing Research and Practice 2013 (2013): 1-9. Web. 3
Nov. 2015.
"Understanding the Transition to Life in a Nursing Home.” Nursing Home. Illinois Council on
Long Term Care, n.d. Web. 05 Nov. 2015.
Reflection
I chose to write about the psychological and emotional effects of nursing homes because I
have come to be more familiar with nursing homes in the past few years by visiting them
frequently, but I am unaware to what truly goes on in the facilities. I am simply on the outside
looking in and I wanted to capture an overall understanding about the nursing home dynamic.
My topic stayed the same throughout this process because I was determined to find as
much information as possible about nursing home effects. I also became very interested in the
topic because there was so much I did not know and I gained clarification about things I may
have thought I knew.
Looking at what worked for me, I noticed that the emotional effects were more prominent
in my paper because there was more research on it. I noticed that it was clearly something that
was investigated to better understand how to make the quality of nursing home betters and how
to better adjust residents to their new surroundings.
What was hard was finding psychological effects on all nursing home residents rather
than just nursing home residents with cognitive impairments such as dementia or Alzheimer’s.
Most psychological studies focused more on resident with dementia than all nursing home
residents, which was my focus. I wanted to know the psychological effects on all residents not
just one part of the population.
If I had more time, I would probably continue to work on making sure the synthesis is
absolutely perfect because this is a question that does not having many answers. This is a
question that truly needs to be explored so that the nursing home experience can be a more
positive one than a traumatic or life altering effect on individuals.