Essay On Identity In Nursing Home

Admittance into a Long-Term Care Facility Endangers Identity In 1889, William Enston Home, the first planned retirement community was erected in Charleston, South Carolina. Many more would follow as the United States saw a trend in the early 20th Century toward longer life spans and increased need for elderly housing. This trend continues today. The population of older adults in the United States is growing rapidly and the chance of going into a long-term care (LTC) facility, also referred to as nursing home, increases with age. About a third of all Americans require nursing home care at some time in their lives, more women will reside in nursing homes than men and one half of the people entering nursing homes will remain there for the balance of their lives (Illinois Council on Long Term Care, n.d.). When an individual enters a nursing home, it typically means their health is deteriorating and nursing care is needed. Very few people, if
that make a particular person different from others” (Identity, n.d.). An individual’s identity evolves over the course of one’s life by social encounters, interactions with others, beliefs, values, family, friends and community. And, when an individual transition into a nursing home, they feel their identity being given, or taken, away. Without their home, social contacts and neighbors, they feel an important piece of their self is gone. Furthermore, the title of mother/father, gardener or teacher that once provided so much accomplishment and fulfillment has now changed, thus furthering their identity loss. All these changes/losses create the illusion that the resident has lost their identity. And, according to Sollitto (2016), many elderly view the move into a nursing home as a loss of identity, basically, a place to go and die. Therefore, one can hypothesize that individuals lose their personal identity when moving into a long-term care