Improving Quality of Life for Older People in Long-Stay Care ...

esidents the opportunity to participate in household tasks within the residentialsetting. Almost four fifths of private nursing homes offered residents theopportunity to engage in purposeful activity (Figure 6.8). In contrast, only one thirdof district/community hospitals allowed such participation. Generally, theopportunity for participation is higher in welfare homes than in other public facilities,reflecting the lower levels of dependency in the former compared to public geriatrichomes/hospitals and district/community hospitals.Having the opportunity to participate does not indicate actual participation.Table 6.13 shows that while residents may generally have the opportunity toengage in household tasks, participation levels are quite low. Laying tables andgardening tend to be the activities that residents do most, with gardening mostlikely to occur within private nursing home settings. The lower level of dependencyin welfare homes is reflected in the relatively high level of resident involvement inactivities such as laying tables and making beds. Resident participation in servingfood, cleaning rooms and cooking occurs in only a handful of facilities reflecting thegeneral commodification of these activities in all settings.130Figure 6.8: Percentage of facilities in which residents participatein household tasksWelfare homes(n = 14)District/Community hospitals(n = 33)Voluntary homes/hospitals(n = 34)Public homes/hospitals(n = 38)Private nursing homes(n = 198)All facilities(n = 317)0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%Improving Quality of Life for Older People in Long-Stay Care Settings in Ireland