13 | P a g e
Name of Systematic Narrative
Review
Does a person centred approach
enhance the self-reported quality
of life for people living in
residential or nursing home care?
Abstract
Context
The population of older people placed in permanent care in Northern
Ireland is steadily increasing. Social workers have a statutory duty to review
care placements and ensure care is meeting assessed needs. The
individual should be central to this process, but often their 'voice' is lost in
the challenges of monitoring care and health related aspects of their life.
Information and learning was sought from international research to assist
staff to fully engage with residents and establish if a person centred
approach was important to their subjective quality of life (QoL).
Methods employed in the review
A systematic narrative review of the research relating to the impact a
person centred approach has on self-reported QoL for older people living in
permanent care was undertaken.
The key concepts of Older People, Residential or Nursing Home Care AND,
Person Centred Approach AND Enhanced Quality were used in an
advanced search of four databases:
Medline
Social Care On Line
PsycInfo
CINAHL
Data was extracted using defined inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Additional hand and citation searching ensured rigor and produced
relevant, peer reviewed empirical research. Nine studies were selected for
inclusion in the narrative synthesis. These included qualitative, mixed
methods, longitudinal and survey research.
Findings
Very little international data is available based directly on resident
self-reporting. Four databases were searched and from five hundred and
twenty nine initial results only nine research articles met the search
strategy. All concluded that QoL is a complex and subjective construct
which does not lend itself to being determined by a single measure. Three
main methods of data collection were utilised in the studies' application of