Self- determination and autonomy of elderly people living in long- stay care homes is the forefront of discussion in the media and in society today. It examines the extent to which elderly people actually have the opportunity for self- determination and to what extent they have an impact and influence in their daily lives. A suitable way to look at how the quality of long –stay care looks like is too look at the extent to which the user has self- determination.The aim of our study was to examine how self-determination appears in long- stay care homes. We also talk about in what way the officials perceive self- determination and how elderly identify and perceive their right to self- determination and the importance it has for the individual.The essay has been made with the help of interviews and surveys on a number of long-stay care homes in Skåne. In our study we interviewed twelve people, six elderly living in long –stay care and six officials. Based on our results we can conclude that self- determination is included in all components around the elderly person in everyday life. Categories that have manifested during the processing of our result was self- determination, to participate, integrity, security, communication and to feel at home, with these categories we can conclude that the elderly are content and feel that they have self- determination over their daily lives.