An examination of older people's experiences of moving to residential care

Moving to residential care assumes particular significance for the increasing numbers of individuals who find themselves in need of support as they grow older. This qualitative research examined the experiences of twelve older people, living in an East Midlands City, who had moved into residential care in the late 1990s. The semi-structured interviews with older people, examining the impact of life histories, were preceded by interviews with twenty-nine practitioners working across a range of health and social care settings. Practitioners were interviewed in order to hear their perspectives on relocation to residential care and to contrast their broad experiences and ideas with older people's. The older people had been living in residential care for different lengths of time, some weeks and some months. They were located in private, housing association and local authority residential care homes. Other methods included an examination of demographic data and reflective analysis through a research diary. The research is placed within historical contexts, undertaken five years after the introduction of the 1990 NHS and Community Care Act. This research highlights older people's experiences in the journey from their own private home to residential care. It discusses how older people experienced residential care, compares the perspectives of older people and practitioners, evaluates the influence of the life course and various social actors and identifies successful movers. In identifying 'successful' movers the research critiques earlier research that has assumed residential care to be a default choice and has not accounted for the range of qualitative experiences of moves and their outcomes.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

phd

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Nottingham Trent University

Year dc:date.issued

2008

Author dc:creator

• Towers, CJ

Language dc:language

en