Effects of an Empowerment Program on the Adjustment of Older Adults to Nursing Home Life

PURPOSE: This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the empowerment intervention on the levels of self-esteem, interpersonal relationships and adjustment to nursing home life of the Korean nursing home residents. METHODS: Participants (n=47) whose period of stay was less than one year were purposefully selected from 3 nursing homes in Korea. The experimental group (n=21) attended 10 weekly hour-long empowerment sessions. The empowerment program comprised two components; group education and group discussion. The control group (n=26) received a two-hour education about health management. RESULTS: Compared with the control group, the experimental group showed significantly higher mean scores of self-esteem (t=5.51, p<.001), interpersonal relationships (t=2.73, p=.009) and adjustment to nursing home life (t=2.10, p=.041). CONCLUSION: Findings of this study suggest that empowerment interventions may be effective in enhancing nursing home residents' self-esteem, interpersonal relationships and adjustment to nursing home life. Future research is needed to determine if such an empowerment program could be used with newly institutionalized elders to speed as well as enhance their adjustment to nursing home life.

Comparison of Comprehensive Health Status and Health-related Quality of Life between Institutionalized Older Adults and Community Dwelling Older Adults

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to compare the factors of health-related quality of life in older adults according to the type of residency. METHODS: A cross-sectional comparative study was conducted. The subjects were 114 institutionalized older adults and 99 community dwelling older adults. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews by nurses using structured questionnaires composed of SF-36 (ver.2) and CGA-SF. RESULTS: The institutionalized older adults had more health problems and experienced lower quality of life compared to community dwelling older adults. Factors influencing health-related quality of life for institutionalized older adults were social support, educational level, and ADL, which explained about 25.7% of the total variance, while thoseof community dwelling older adults were IADL, experiencing fall, and weight loss, which had explanatory power of 31.8%. CONCLUSION: These results indicate that differentiated nursing strategies according to the type of residency are required to promote health-related quality of life for older adults.