ArticleThe Gerontologist2019
Care Home Life and Identity: A Qualitative Case Study.
Article in The Gerontologist, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 30 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
30 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- What are the effects of animals on the health and wellbeing of residents in care homes? A systematic review of the qualitative and quantitative evidence.BMC geriatrics · 2023Pooled it
- Digital Storytelling for Health-Related Outcomes in Older Adults: Systematic Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2022Pooled it
- Improving the Oral Health of Older People in Care Homes: Results From a Randomised Feasibility Study.Community dentistry and oral epidemiology · 2025Trial
- Adapting to a Shrunken World: A Grounded Theory of Resident Adaptation to Life in Residential Aged Care.Journal of advanced nursing · 2026Article
- Views on Everyday Life and Reflections on Future Death and Dying Among Older Persons Residing in Nursing Homes: A Meta-Ethnographic Synthesis.International journal of older people nursing · 2026Review
- Digital Life Stories Within Residential Aged Care Settings: Implications for Staff Knowledge and Person-Centred Care Practices.Journal of clinical nursing · 2026Article
- Increased Risk of Transition to Institutional Care Among Community-Dwelling Older Adults With Cognitive Frailty: A Competing Risks Survival Analysis.International journal of geriatric psychiatry · 2026Article
- "The Window of Opportunity": A Qualitative Exploration of Individual Reminiscence in Care Home Settings.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Understanding Gender-Specific Daily Care Preferences: Topic Modeling Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- A Theoretically Informed Process Evaluation in Parallel to a Feasibility Study of a Complex Oral Health Intervention Using NICE Guidelines in a Care Home Setting.Community dentistry and oral epidemiology · 2025Article
- Everyday life and boredom of people living with dementia in residential long-term care: a merged methods study.BMC geriatrics · 2024Article
- Social interaction of people living with dementia in residential long-term care: an ecological momentary assessment study.BMC health services research · 2024Article
- Social connection in long-term care homes: a qualitative study of barriers and facilitators.BMC geriatrics · 2024Article
- Enhancing Caregiver Empowerment Through the Story Mosaic System: Human-Centered Design Approach for Visualizing Older Adult Life Stories.JMIR aging · 2023Article
- Family relationships as a source of narrative identity of people with advanced dementia.BMC geriatrics · 2023Article
- Evaluating non-pharmacological approaches to nursing home dementia care: A protocol.Contemporary clinical trials communications · 2023Article
- Identifying barriers and facilitators to the inclusion of older adults living in UK care homes in research: a scoping review.BMC geriatrics · 2023Article
- Views of people living with dementia and their carers on their present and future: a qualitative study.BMC palliative care · 2023Article
- Shared decision-making with adults transitioning to long-term care: A scoping review.International journal of older people nursing · 2023Article
- Carrying on life at home or moving to a nursing home: frail older people's experiences of at-homeness.International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND
objectivesThe transition to a care home can involve multiple changes and losses that can affect an older person's well-being and identity. It is not clear how older people perceive and manage their identity within a care home over time. This study explores how living in a care home affects the identities of residents and how they address this in their daily lives. RESEARCH DESIGN AND
methodsA multiple qualitative case study approach incorporated interview and observational data. Eighteen semistructured interviews and 260 hr of observations were conducted over 1 year with care home residents, relatives, and staff across three care homes within Greater Manchester, UK. Data were analyzed using framework analysis, drawing on the social identity perspective as an interpretive lens.
resultsFour themes were identified: (a) changing with age, (b) independence and autonomy, (c) bounded identity, and (d) social comparison. The impact of aging that initially altered residents' identities was exacerbated by the care home environment. Institutional restrictions jeopardized independence and autonomy, provoking residents to redefine this within the allowances of the care home. Strict routines and resource constraints of well-meaning staff resulted in the bounded expression of personalities. Consequently, to forge a positive identity, residents without dementia engaged in social comparison with residents with dementia, emphasizing their superior cognitive and physical abilities. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS: Social comparison as an adaptive strategy has previously been unidentified in care home literature. Residents need more support to express their identities, which may reduce the necessity of social comparison, and improve interrelationships and well-being.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.