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

The results of this particular study place a lot of weight on more objective qualityof life measures such as physical health, living environment and economic status.However, psychological health also emerged as being important, as did social function.The presence of religion and death reflects the importance of the metaphysical ininfluencing the quality of life of older people.Quality of life domains for residents in long-stay care have also been investigated.Kane (2003a; 2003b; 2003c) carried out a study to identify factors influencing nursinghome residents’ quality of life that were not considered in existing quality of caremeasures. The study focused primarily on the psychological and social aspects ofquality of life. In order to identify relevant quality of life domains, a literature reviewwas carried out and then important stakeholders including care providers, regulators,professionals and family members were consulted in order to ascertain their views.Eleven quality of life domains were identified through this research: autonomy,individuality, dignity, privacy, enjoyment, meaningful activity, relationships, security,comfort, spiritual well-being and functional competence.Similar research was undertaken by Tester et al. (2004) who interviewed 52 residentsin institutional care suffering from severe physical and/or mental disabilities in orderto ascertain how they perceived the quality of their lives. The study utilised a rangeof qualitative interviews and observational methods in order to accommodate themental and physical capacities of the participants. The researchers initially usedfocus groups of older people and carers in order to identify the areas of qualityof life that are most important to older people, followed by interviews andobservations of residents. The process identified four main components ofquality of life which are interrelated:75sense of self – perceptions of own and others’ frailties and strengths,appearance, personal possessions, and privacycare environment – autonomy, control, choice, independence and staff/resident relationships.relationships – social interaction, relationships with other residents andrelationships with familyactivities – meaningful activities, organised activities and religious activity.Establishing the validity of these various quality of life measures can be problematic,particularly for self-reported or subjective measures (Farquhar 1995a; 1995b;Mozley et al., 2004). The validity of a measurement instrument can be defined as‘the degree to which a particular instrument measures the variable or phenomenonit is intended to measure’ (George and Bearon, 1980). While there is no direct and