The following survey aims to ascertain the range of activities offered by different nursing homes, the extent to which residents use these activities as well as the satisfaction of residents and nursing staff concerning these activities. Focus is put on activating activities and activities of residents' own initiative. The analysis, which is based on 255 residents and 171 nursing staff from 11 nursing homes, shows a clear distinction between the various homes as to their ranges of activities. Activation in the home's everyday life is mainly done following the "watering-can principle", which means that it does not take into consideration the residents' individualities. The study provides clear evidence that the possibility to actively participate in the home's everyday life or to follow one's own interests makes residents feel highly satisfied. The fact that some residents as well as those nursing them place more importance on activities than others shows that the attitude towards aging is still characterized by the deficit model.

Basic changes in our society and social system lead to a repression of old, frail and impaired people. They are increasingly institutionalized, and the issue of death and dying is delegated to experts. The present investigation describes the burden of routine care of dying people. "Mixed methodology" was used to obtain comprehensive and relevant data. General questions were deduced for the research subject based on qualitative interviews with 17 members of the nursing staff. These questions complete the questionnaire used to conduct the survey in 49 nursing homes. All kinds of occupational groups took part in the study. The quantitative data (n=894) were analyzed descriptively and proved for group differences with nonparametric methods. The results show that talking about the end of life with residents is difficult for almost a quarter of the participating persons. Nearly one third of the staff members tend to avoid the topic of death and dying when talking with relatives. High importance was attached to further interdisciplinary training in terminal care. Working together with different occupational groups like hospice volunteers, chaplains, psychologists and caregivers is seen as a fruitful way and a possibility of increasing the quality of dying in nursing homes.

Zusammenfassung. In einer Fragebogenstudie an examinierten Pflegekräften (N = 195) aus Österreich, Osteuropa und Asien werden Arbeitsbelastungen, Gesundheitsverhalten und der Umgang mit Belastungen im Kontext stationärer Altenpflege aufgezeigt. Ergebnisse belegen unterschiedliche Belastungsschwerpunkte in den drei untersuchten Gruppen, wobei sich osteuropäische Pflegekräfte als besonders belastet zeigten. Ein hohes Bildungsniveau erwies sich im Umgang mit den Arbeitsbedingungen als hilfreich.

Zusammenfassung: Ziel der vorliegenden Studie war es, ein abgestimmtes Verfahren (problemzentriertes Einzelinterview, Gruppendiskussion und offener Fragebogen) der qualitativen Sozialforschung zur Erforschung von aktuellen Aktivitäten und lebensspannenbezogenen Aktivitätsgewohnheiten von Senioren- und PflegeheimbewohnerInnen zu erproben. Mit dieser Vorgehensweise sollte sowohl den unterschiedlichen Beeinträchtigungen institutionalisierter Menschen begegnet als auch der Zeitökonomie innerhalb der qualitativen Sozialforschung Rechnung getragen werden können sowie das Argument der Einzelfallbezogenheit, das oft gegen eine Verwendung qualitativer Methoden spricht, entkräftet werden. Daten von 131 HeimbewohnerInnen liegen vor. Generell zeigen die Ergebnisse, dass alle drei Erhebungsverfahren bei dieser Personengruppe anwendbar sind. Entgegen den Erwartungen konnten diese jedoch nicht gemäß ihrer theoretischen Planung eingesetzt werden. Mehr als drei Viertel der StudienteilnehmerInnen nahmen das problemzentrierte Einzelinterview für sich in Anspruch, was natürlich Auswirkungen auf die Zeitökonomie mit sich brachte. Die Präferenz von StudienteilnehmerInnen für ein Erhebungsverfahren muss in zukünftigen Studien vermehrt Berücksichtigung finden.

Although being active is a central element of successful aging, we know little about activities which elderly people carry out in institutional environments. The first study's aim was to describe the importance of activation for the residents (n=255) and their nurses (n=171) using quantitative methods. To immerse into the subject we carried out qualitative interviews (n=61) to ascertain how an activation according to the needs of old people can be reached. With the background of activation and motivation theories and first results, a model was developed focusing on need-oriented activation. Considering the impairments in old age, offers for individual activation and attendance can be derived from this model.