Adapting to a Long Term Care Facility Essay

Adapting to a Long Term Care Facility Essay

The character Dorothy said in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, "there is no place like home" (Baum, 1960, p. 45). Sadly, many of our elderly live in Long Term Care Facilities (LTCF). The transition from living in their own homes, to living in a LTCF, can be a traumatic experience. Poor adaptation to a LTCF may cause depression, malnutrition and significantly reduce the lifespan of the elder. Thus, it is imperative, that nurse's recognize this promptly. According to Agnes and Guralnik (2008) adaptation is "a gradual change in behavior to conform to the prevailing cultural pattern (p. 15)." When elders are placed in a LTCF, whether it be voluntarily or involuntarily, they must give up certain liberties that are taken for granted. This ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...160). She goes on to say that adaptation to a LTCF is the process by which someone copes with the transition into the life of being a LTCF client (p.159). How the elders view their situation also plays a major role on their adaptation to the LTCF. When someone views the environment in an absolute negative way, they are going to struggle to become adapted. On the other hand, if they look at the positives of the environment they may adapt more appropriately. According to Sister Callista Roy's theory, adaptation is the process and outcome of individuals and groups, who use conscious awareness, self–reflection and choice to create human and environmental integration (Bergland and Kirkevold, 2006, p.686). This theory lends to adaptation of living in a LTCF by examining a key issue, the elders choice. With personal experience in this matter, it seems as if elders who make the decision of moving into a LTCF better adapt to the environment. In my opinion, a lot of how elders adapt to living in a LTCF depends on the choices they make. If they sit around, and think poor pitiful me, they will have a much harder time adapting to their new environment. If the elder becomes engaged in their new environment, they will adapt more efficiently. As Parker (2013) mentioned, she stays heavily involved in activities that the LTCF provides, but also performs a multitude of other activities in her apartment

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