ABSTRACT
1. Nursing home residents have the right to be involved in decision making relative to their care, which researchers have demonstrated has a positive effect on residents. 2. The authors designed a study to explore discrepancies between residents' perceptions of choice and the amount of choice preferred and their relationship to self-care abilities and functional abilities in nursing home residents. 3. The results indicate that residents desired more choice than they felt they were given, but that this difference was not related to their perceptions of their self-care abilities. As residents' functional abilities increased, actual choice as well as desired choice increased slightly. 4. Nurses should structure the nursing home's approach to residents so that choice is maximized within the constraints of the institution.
Subject(s)
Activities of Daily Living , Choice Behavior , Homes for the Aged , Nursing Homes , Patient Participation , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Female , Humans , Internal-External Control , Male , Middle Aged , MoraleABSTRACT
Hansen's disease presents a large public health problem throughout much of the world but it occurs infrequently in the United States. Only 8,501 cases have been reported since 1921 and 81 percent of these have been from just six states. Typical of many states, North Carolina has had only twenty-two case reports over this sixty-eight year period. We present two typical cases we have seen in the past year and briefly review some of the epidemiologic, clinical, and treatment aspects of the disease.
