Perspectives on residential involvement and engagement in everyday life–a qualitative study

Background: Worldwide, the population is ageing, and the need for nursing homes is increasing. institutionalization and a culture change from task-orientated care delivery towards increased involvement and engagement in a meaningful everyday life are evolving and, thus, contributing to nursing home residents’ quality of life and well-being.

Aims/Objectives: To explore nursing home staff’s and local managers’ perspectives on everyday life with a specific focus on involvement and engagement.

Material and Methods: Positioned within interpretivism and hermeneutics, a qualitative exploratory design was applied using individual and group interviews for data generation and abductive thematic analysis as the analytical method.

Results: Through the analyses, three main themes appeared—A good day–Everyday life in a nursing home, Doing together–involvement in Everyday life and Involvement in Everyday life–difficult to practice—together with four subthemes—Home and people within, Knowing and relating to the person, If they can - they must and Service and Habits.

Conclusions: Fulfilling the needs of both residents and the institution was found to be challenging by nursing home staff and local managers.

Significance: A different approach to care, facilitated by, for example, occupational therapists, might be required to enable increased involvement and engagement in everyday life.