[Observation of dependent and independent behavior in a German old age home: the social environment as an influencing...

The present study was an attempt to replicate observational data on dependence vs. independence obtained from American nursing home populations. For a period of three weeks naturally occurring interactions between 39 residents of a nursing home and their social partners were observed daily. The results of the replication study support the findings concerning the interaction patterns demonstrated in the American studies. Dependent behavior of residents in the context of self-care is followed most frequently by dependence-supportive behavior of social partners; independent self-care behavior as well as passive and destructively engaged behavior of residents is followed by "no response" of social partners, while constructively engaged behavior sometimes entails engagement-supportive behavior by social partners. As for the frequency distribution of the observed behavior there is both consistency as well as divergence between the American and Berlin data. These differences are partly the result of culturally linked differences in customs and administrative habits developed in the daily routine of an institution.