Institutional Constraints on Residents in Long-Term Care Facilities for the Elderly

Abstract

For frail older persons, gaining access to care is primarily in the context of long-term care institutions. Based on hypotheses derived from the theory of the total institution (Goffman, 1961) and anticipatory socialization theory (Merton & Kitt, 1950), linkages of intra-institutional and extra-institutional social ties with quality of life outcomes were assessed based on 168 residents’ self-reports of their life and problems experienced in long-term care (Kahana, Kahana, & Young, 1987). Findings reveal that lack of anticipatory socialization was a significant predictor of subsequent wellbeing, whereas the extent of social ties to the outside world did not predict subsequent wellbeing.

Citation

Sterns, S. and Kahana, E. (2006), "Institutional Constraints on Residents in Long-Term Care Facilities for the Elderly", Jacobs Kronenfeld, J. (Ed.) Access, Quality and Satisfaction with Care (Research in the Sociology of Health Care, Vol. 24), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 135-154. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0275-4959(06)24007-9