A Study of Families' Experiences of Putting Their Elders in Nursing Homes

One of the major challenges facing society today is increasing proportion of its elderly population. Nowadays, elderliness along with its all psychological, socio-cultural, ideological and economic aspects have become a serious and challenging issue affecting families in developing and developed countries. Thus, the current study aimed to examine families' experiences of putting their elders in nursing homes. A phenomenological research method was employed to pursue this qualitative study. The samples of the study were selected through purposive sampling method; and data collection proceeded until it reached to the data saturation within 10 participants. The instruments adopted by the researcher include note-taking and in-depth and unstructured interviews with the families of the elderly who put their elders in nursing homes. The obtained data were analyzed using Colaizzi's seven-step process of analysis. The four general themes derived include isolation, peace, abusiveness, children's inability to look after their elders and guilty conscience; each of which contained some sub-themes. According to the results, it is essential to take the social, economic and health support of the elderly into consideration and to provide the necessary context for improving the life quality of the elderly residing in nursing homes through formulating, planning and making appropriate policies.