The cultural context of adjusting to nursing home life: Chinese elders' perspectives

Although there is a body of knowledge relating to the different challenges residents encounter after nursing home placement, less is known about the actual process of how they handle these challenges and adjust after such placement. This study described the process whereby Hong Kong Chinese residents adjust following nursing home placement.

The grounded theory methodology was employed. Data were collected from 98 interviews with 18 residents newly admitted to a nursing home in Hong Kong one week after admission and then monthly until no new information about their adjustment experiences could be discovered. Data were analyzed using constant comparative analysis.

Newly admitted elders adjusted through the four stages of orienting, normalizing, rationalizing, and stabilizing as they struggled to regain normality with a life that was as close to that lived before admission as possible. A number of experiences suggested in the literature as barriers to adjustment, such as living with rules and regulations, and the communal nature of nursing home life were not regarded as important by Chinese elders. However, establishing relations with other residents was a particular challenge for them.

Interventions to promote adjustment should aim to assist with the process of regaining normality with the different aspects of nursing home living, taking into consideration residents' life experience and sociocultural values.