Everyday Life and Social Contacts of Dementia and Non-Dementia Residents over 80 Years in Long-Term Inpatient Care: A Multi-Level Analysis on the Effect of Staffing

Abstract

The relationship between nurse staffing, physical outcomes of residents, as well as quality of care receives major attention. The impact of staffing levels on residents’ ability to organize their everyday life and maintain social contacts, however, has not been analyzed to date. This study examines whether a relationship between the staff-to-resident ratio for registered nurses and nursing home residents with and without dementia aged over 80 exists. Secondary data collected in the project inQS (indikatorengestützte Qualitätsförderung) were used (n = 1782, mean age = 88.14). The analyzed cross-sectional data were collected in winter 2019 in facilities of the Diocesan Caritas Association in Germany. A sum score formed from variables measuring residents’ abilities to independently organize their everyday life and maintain social contacts functioned as the dependent variable. A multi-level regression analysis was performed. The results revealed that the ability of residents without dementia was significantly associated with the staff-to-resident ratio of registered nurses. This was not true for residents with dementia. For the latter, however, whether the facility offers a segregated care unit turned out to be significant. Additional and longitudinal research is indispensable to explain the inequality between the two groups analyzed.

How Active Are European Seniors—Their Personal Ways to Active Ageing? Is Seniors’ Activity in Line with the Expectations of the Active Ageing Strategy?

“…With a more holistic, life-course-oriented approach [19,20], AA benefits all generations and societies as a whole and leads to sustain-able economic development [21,22]. Currently, it is natural for successive generations to pursue the priorities of good health, active engagement at work and involvement in social activities, being independent in daily life [16,23]. The AA strategy is to enable seniors to remain active and in good health for longer [6,18].…”

“…Health as a pillar of AA is to provide the opportunity for a long healthy life, access to and use of modern medical technologies and health services, support in situations of illness and physical impairment and access to gender sensitive social services. Actions taken in this area include maintaining independence and preventing disability [1,23]. At the same time, the assumptions of AA are aimed at supporting seniors with problems and effects of progressive physical loss [26,27].…”

“…Several major factors limit the socialisation of seniors. These include post-retirement lifestyle changes, distance from family, mobility, new technologies [16], anxiety, fears, inability to organise/plan leisure time [5,31,38], but also personality and behaviour patterns realised during working life [23,39]. These factors point to yet another aspect to be considered in AA: seniors are a heterogeneous group with diverse views and experiences of ageing [5,40].…”

“…An important group of studies on the implementation of AA are those that concern seniors with the following diseases: dementia [23,60] and walking difficulties [72]. People struggling with various illnesses may give up or withdraw from social life because, as indicated by Krawczyk-Suszek and Kleinrok [6], bodily pain has a major impact on the physical role performance and quality of life in people aged 65 and older.…”