The stress process of family caregiving in institutional settings.

PURPOSE: This study adapts the Stress Process Model (SPM) of family caregiving to examine the predictors of depression in a sample of caregivers (n = 133) with demented relatives residing in suburban skilled nursing facilities. DESIGN AND METHODS: We interviewed family caregivers of family members residing in skilled nursing homes using a variety of measures to assess primary stressors, secondary strain, nursing home stressors, and caregiver depression. We used block-wise regression analyses to determine the predictors of caregiver depression. RESULTS: Results indicated that positive resident adjustment to placement was best predicted by the closeness of the resident-caregiver relationship and nursing home stressors. Caregiver strain, resident adjustment, and nursing home stressors best predicted caregiver adjustment. In turn, the best predictors of caregiver depression included caregiver age, caregiver adjustment to the nursing home, and nursing home stressors. IMPLICATIONS: These results suggest that caregiver depression is closely linked to how well both the resident and caregiver adjust to the nursing home environment. Results also indicate that by broadening the SPM to include stressors common to the nursing home experience, researchers will be able to understand more clearly the specific components of the stress process that may lead to depression in family caregivers of persons living in nursing homes.

The influence of religious and personal values on nursing home residents' attitudes toward life-sustaining treatments.

A cross-sectional survey design was used to interview 133 Jewish, Catholic and Protestant residents from 13 nursing homes to examine the influence of religious and personal values on attitudes toward life-sustaining treatments. Subjects on average were 83 years old, Caucasian and female, with more than half having Advance Directives (ADs). Jewish subjects, as well as those who relied on God, were better educated and more anxious about death, had significantly more positive attitudes toward life-sustaining treatments at the end-of-life. On the other hand, those who had implemented ADs desired fewer life-sustaining treatments. Findings demonstrate that understanding individual desires for life-sustaining treatments is complex. Practitioners who provide education on end-of-life decisions need to discuss a myriad of issues including individual religious and personal values and other characteristics in an effort to understand and respect treatment choices.

Restraint reduction: can it be achieved?

This article describes a step-by-step process for implementing restraint reduction programs in two skilled nursing facilities. The combination of using standardized guidelines, customizing others, and involving direct-care staff in facing challenges led to success. A research-practice partnership enabled a formal evaluation of the program. A pre- and posttest study design revealed significant reductions in physical restraints without increasing staff. This project demonstrates that frail, elderly people in nursing homes need not be physically restrained to receive effective care, but that alternatives can include more dignified options.

Falls among nursing home residents: an examination of incident reports before and after restraint reduction programs.

OBJECTIVE: To examine changes in the rate of falling of an experimental group of restrained subjects who underwent restraint reduction, and to compare their rate of falling with a group of subjects who did not have restraint orders during the study period. DESIGN: A quasi-experimental, multiple time-series study utilizing the principles of single-subject design. Each subject was followed for 25 weeks before and 25 weeks after initiation of the intervention. SETTING: Seven nursing homes. INTERVENTION: Formal programs aimed at reducing all bed and chair restraints were initiated in all sites after staff received education and training. Multidisciplinary teams implemented the restraint reduction process on a case-by-case basis, beginning with 1 unit/floor at a time in each site. Most experimental subjects reached their optimum restraint-elimination/reduced status within 2 weeks of intervention initiation. The implementation periods ranged from 4 months to more than a year. PARTICIPANTS: Subjects with chart orders for restraints at the start of the study comprised the experimental group and participated in the restraint reduction program (184 subjects). Subjects with no orders for restraints during the study period comprised the nonequivalent control group (111 subjects) and, therefore, did not undergo the intervention. MEASUREMENTS: Incident reports documenting all falls during the study period were examined. Falls, the dependent variable, were classified as serious or nonserious. The independent variable (intervention) was the restraint reduction program offered to experimental subjects. Based on the principles of single subject design, the impact of the intervention on falls was calculated before and after the date the restraint reduction process was initiated for an individual (experimental group) subject. For the control group, the pre- and posttest period was calculated from the start date of the restraint reduction program on the unit on which each subject resided. RESULT: Serious falls did not increase, but nonserious falls increased significantly after restraints were removed or reduced in experimental subjects. The total mean weekly fall rate for this group increased from 1.87% of residents falling per week during preintervention to 3.01% during postintervention. The mean weekly fall rate of the control group was 3.18% at pretest and did not change statistically over time. CONCLUSIONS: The increase in nonserious falls among the experimental group may be attributed to restraint reduction. The mean weekly fall rate in the experimental group postintervention (25 weeks) became comparable to the mean weekly fall rate for the control group during the entire study period (50 weeks). In light of such findings, policy makers have to confront the ethical choice between tying some frail, elderly subjects to beds and chairs versus exposing them to the risks of freedom in their old age.