The assumption underlying this study is that a spatially well planned and appropriately furnished nursing home facility will help the nurses to perform their work more effectively and accordingly lead to more satisfaction for the residents. Research in the forms of a literature review, a movie analysis, and a field study of nursing homes in Germany and the USA, including plan annotations and observational mapping, trace study analyses and survey techniques, was conducted and revealed an unexpected urgent need for nursing home design improvement, especially in the U.S. The research results led to the development of a catalogue of patterns which are useful in the design and planning of a nursing home to improve nurses’ effectiveness in administering care to fulltime residents of nursing homes. With the help of the developed patterns, suggestions for building renovations of two of the researched nursing homes, one American and one German, were given. / Department of Architecture

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, School of Social Service Administration, August, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

No description available.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Michigan, 1991.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Irving B. Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies, December 1999. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Michigan, 1991.

The quality of care of residents in nursing homes receive is an important issue facing our society, and reliable methods to assess and measure important indicators of quality of care are necessary to ensure that nursing homes are providing adequate services. Previous researchers have developed methodologies to evaluate indicators of quality of care, including environmental conditions, resident conditions, resident activities, and staff activities using momentary-time sampling procedures across a variety of settings and populations. The purpose of the present study was to replicate and extend the time-sampling methodology used in previous research in two units in a nursing home.

This project explored the values considered by elderly people, their younger relatives, and health professionals in decisions about residential long - term care, aiming to contribute to the literature on prospectively held values. The mixed methods design utilised a medical record review of 60 frail elderly hospital patients, a stratified survey of 3,015 adults in the South Australian community, and interviews with 36 stakeholders ( 10 elderly people, 10 younger relatives, and 18 health professionals ). The medical record review confirmed that the hospital patients and their outcomes resembled those described internationally. It was used to develop a hypothetical vignette, used in the later studies. Survey responses suggested that when considering a hypothetical long - term care decision, community members put the elderly person ' s physical health and safety first. Situational variables ( the elderly person ' s autonomy, environmental adaptation, and caregiver burden ) appeared secondary, albeit less so with increasing age of the respondent. Thematic analysis of the interviews demonstrated that elderly stakeholders considering a hypothetical decision were more likely to mention autonomy values, and less likely to mention safety values, than were relatives or health professionals. However, elderly stakeholders were also more likely to suggest restrictive solutions, such as residential placement and proxy decision - making. This finding raised methodological issues concerning ' third person ' vignettes, in that respondents might be responding as proxy decision - makers, rather than as if the hypothetical decision applied to themselves. The project confirmed that, in this context, prospectively held values resembled the retrospectively described values identified by McCullough, Wilson, Teasdale, Kolpakchi and Shelly ( 1993 ). Hence, the retrospective literature could be applied. The project supported the importance and complexity of psychosocial predisposing factors when applying the Andersen Behavioral Model ( Andersen, 1995 ) to long - term care decisions. Additionally, the Ecological Theory of Aging ( Nahemow, 2000 ) and the MacArthur Model of Successful Aging ( Andrews, Clark, & Luszcz, 2002 ) were found to be relevant to long - term care decisions for individuals and populations. It was concluded that both clinically, and at a policy level, discussions of long - term care could be more effective if they focussed on maintenance of elderly people ' s autonomy and control, rather than on their physical health and safety. / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Psychology, 2006.

This project explored the values considered by elderly people, their younger relatives, and health professionals in decisions about residential long - term care, aiming to contribute to the literature on prospectively held values. The mixed methods design utilised a medical record review of 60 frail elderly hospital patients, a stratified survey of 3,015 adults in the South Australian community, and interviews with 36 stakeholders ( 10 elderly people, 10 younger relatives, and 18 health professionals ). The medical record review confirmed that the hospital patients and their outcomes resembled those described internationally. It was used to develop a hypothetical vignette, used in the later studies. Survey responses suggested that when considering a hypothetical long - term care decision, community members put the elderly person ' s physical health and safety first. Situational variables ( the elderly person ' s autonomy, environmental adaptation, and caregiver burden ) appeared secondary, albeit less so with increasing age of the respondent. Thematic analysis of the interviews demonstrated that elderly stakeholders considering a hypothetical decision were more likely to mention autonomy values, and less likely to mention safety values, than were relatives or health professionals. However, elderly stakeholders were also more likely to suggest restrictive solutions, such as residential placement and proxy decision - making. This finding raised methodological issues concerning ' third person ' vignettes, in that respondents might be responding as proxy decision - makers, rather than as if the hypothetical decision applied to themselves. The project confirmed that, in this context, prospectively held values resembled the retrospectively described values identified by McCullough, Wilson, Teasdale, Kolpakchi and Shelly ( 1993 ). Hence, the retrospective literature could be applied. The project supported the importance and complexity of psychosocial predisposing factors when applying the Andersen Behavioral Model ( Andersen, 1995 ) to long - term care decisions. Additionally, the Ecological Theory of Aging ( Nahemow, 2000 ) and the MacArthur Model of Successful Aging ( Andrews, Clark, & Luszcz, 2002 ) were found to be relevant to long - term care decisions for individuals and populations. It was concluded that both clinically, and at a policy level, discussions of long - term care could be more effective if they focussed on maintenance of elderly people ' s autonomy and control, rather than on their physical health and safety. / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Psychology, 2006.

The purpose of this study was to retrospectively identify risk factors of elderly nursing home residents that may predict the hospitalization of recently admitted elderly nursing home residents. Two groups of randomly chosen residents were studied. The non-hospitalized group (n = 100) were admitted to a nursing home and remained in the facility for at least 90 days. The hospitalized group (n = 100) were discharged to a hospital within 30 days of admission to the nursing home. The presence of HCFA irregularities increased the odds for hospitalization of an elderly nursing home resident by 1.67. Regular medication orders on discharge increased the odds of hospitalization by 1.25. This study showed that the use of the 33 HCFA indicators are useful in identifying elderly nursing home residents that may be at an increased risk of hospitalization.