[How do daughters experience their elderly mothers move into a nursing home? A pilot study]

A pilot study explored the experiences of three daughters, whose mothers were being admitted to nursing homes. An inductive, qualitative research approach, commonly used in the social sciences, was used. It was assumed that nursing care would be health promoting and would be supportive, not only of patients and clients, but also of the significant others, who had to cope with the crisis. Research on stress has shown that social support positively affects health. The results and the discussion confirm that daughters experience coping with the admission of their mothers to a nursing home as a stressful challenge. Caring for relatives and for patients in crisis situations is very demanding on nursing staff. Recommendations are made for the education of staff concerned with health promotion and with nursing care in the community and in nursing homes.