Elderlies’ reflection on care related quality of life in Nursing home

Introduction

Quality improvement in health and care services has received significant attention in Norway with recent policies having an increased emphasis on personal preferences and quality of life as an outcome of care service delivery. Quality of life is a complex construct including objective, subjective, individually, and social aspects, that can only be assessed by subjective measures. This paper explores elderly people living in nursing homes reflection on the domains used to measure care related quality of life in a nursing home setting.

Methods

Structured interviews following a translated version of the The Adult Social Care Outcomes Toolkit (ASCOT) was carried out, including 18 elderly persons (72 – 96 years of age) living in nursing home in Norway. ASCOT measures Care-related quality of life (CRQoL), focusing on those aspects most affected by long-term care (basic needs, higher order needs and dignity)(Netten et al, 2012). During the interviews the person were allowed to reflect and comment on the answers made to the closed questions in the interview guide. The interviews lasted between 25 and 70 minutes. Notes from the interviews was analysed using content analysis. The project was approved by the Ethics committee and all participants gave written consent prior to the interview.