Participation in Nursing Home Resident Councils: Promise and Practice

“Small” things matter: Residents' involvement in practice improvements in long-term care facilities

“…Their input should encourage the management of the organisation to make decisions that reflect the wishes and needs of the residents. While resident councils have a legal right to advise the health care organisation on matters that concern the residents, studies on the functioning of resident councils have shown that the actual influence of resident councils is limited (Baur & Abma, 2011b;Devitt & Chechoway, 1982;O'Dweyr & Timonen, 2010). A friction was found between the life-world issues raised by the residents (often short term, practical matters), and the more strategic and policy-oriented (long term) views of the management (Baur & Abma, 2011b).…”

Leah Wilson

“…Only 30% were chaired by residents with half being chaired by staff or management and the rest by volunteers. While staff support has been found to be important for the success of these committees, this involvement can lead to a focus on issues that staff feel would be useful and this could detract significantly from their resident-control benefits [7, 141. While held on a regular basis, the frequency of resident committee meetings was less than in previous studies [7,9,10,131. In fact, the average of once every seven weeks would be described as "infrequent" by Moos [lo].…”

“…Studies have found that residents rate choice and control highly [2] and residents who participate in the decisions that affect their daily lives generally have better quality of life [3-51. Resident committees are one way to facilitate resident participation in decision-making. These committees can improve communication between residents and management [6,7] and improve resident quality of life [8]. Family and joint residendstaff committees can also provide useful contributions to the quality of life of residents and staff committees can indirectly benefit residents through increased staff job satisfaction [6].…”

Factors Predicting Civic Engagement among Older Adult Nursing Home Residents

“…For nursing home residents, participation in resident councils can provide an opportunity to engage with other residents and staff to address issues in their community (Devitt & Checkoway, 1982;Meyer, 1991). In general, resident councils meet at regular intervals, act as a forum for identifying community issues, and share resident concerns with nursing home staff and administrators (Meyer, 1991).…”