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Enriching Now with Then: Connecting Nursing Home Residents and Staff Through Oral History Mike Payne has a master’s degree in Gerontological Studies from Miami University and a B.A. in English Literature from The Ohio State University. Prior to working for Scripps, he served as a general assignment reporter for a rural daily newspaper and was a writer, photographer and editor in the communications division of the Ohio Department of Aging (ODA) for 11 years. Mike’s oral histories of older Ohioans appeared in ODA’s quarterly magazine, Ohio’s Heritage, between 1995 and 2000. He is the author of “A Brief History of Aging Services in America,” a training manual for the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging (n4a) and his other gerontological interests include senior-service property-tax levies and nursing home reform. This research was funded as part of a grant from the Ohio General Assembly, through the Ohio Board of Regents to the Ohio Long-Term Care Research Project. Reprints available from the Scripps Gerontology Center, Miami University, Oxford, OH 45056; (513) 529-2914 Fax (513) 529-1476, http://www.scripps.muohio.edu/research/publications/oralhistory.html ENRICHING NOW WITH THEN: CONNECTING NURSING HOME RESIDENTS AND STAFF THROUGH ORAL HISTORY Michael Payne Scripps Gerontology Center Miami University Oxford, OH January 2010 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am most grateful to the Ohio General Assembly, the Ohio Board of Regents and the Ohio Long-Term Care Research Project (and it’s director, Dr. Bob Applebaum) for funding this research and making this report possible. A special thanks to Dr. Jane Straker, who served as a valuable, good-humored consultant in devising the research, to Lisa Grant, for her friendly help in preparing this report, and to the administrative staff at the Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC) where this research was conducted. Their congenial assistance, encouragement and ever-present smiles did much to facilitate the resident stories and interviews constituting this research. My gratitude, as well, to the CCRC’s nursing staff for kindly coordinating interviews with facility’s hard-working nurses and nurse aides. Finally, my abiding appreciation to the participants in the study: the 10 nurses and 18 nurse aides who generously shared their time, experience and insights with me; and, of course, the 13 residents who enriched my present with their past. It’s been a pleasure. Thank you all very much. i EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This research report presents findings on how increased staff knowledge of nursing home residents’ pasts may improve communications and relations between residents and staff (i.e., nurse aides and nurses), and, possibly, improve job satisfaction. As part of this research, oral histories were successfully conducted with 13 residents from the nursing home unit of a CCRC in southwestern Ohio, with three-page written versions of those histories enlarged, laminated and posted on the walls outside their rooms for staff members to see and read at their leisure. Most stories centered on single slices of life (e.g., an overnight train ride, first job as a teenager, sandlot baseball) and all recounted events occurring in adolescence or early adulthood. After all the stories had been accessible to staff for more than a month, both residents and staff were interviewed regarding their recent communications and any effect the stories may have had on their mutual relations. Key findings include: 1. Despite cognitive impairments, including mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease among four of the residents, 13 of 15 participants – including all 5 of those with Alzheimer’s and/or other mild/moderate to severe cognitive difficulties – were able to share enough details, and long-term memories to form a coherent story. 2. Nineteen of 28 staff members had conversations with the residents about their stories; seven of 13 residents reported having related conversations with staff. 3. All 13 residents enjoyed sharing their stories; 12 wished to share another. 4. Eighteen of 28 nurses and nurse aides (14, “very much”; 4, “somewhat”) stated that knowing more about the residents’ pasts through the stories helped make their jobs more satisfying and/or helped them to do their jobs better. 5. Fourteen of 28 nurses and nurse aides indicated that knowing more about the residents’ pasts through the stories served to improve their perceptions of and/or relations with residents and more closely connected them to the residents. 6. Five of 13 residents noticed improved relations with staff members after making their stories. 7. Eleven of 13 residents said they would like staff to know more about their pasts. 8. Twenty-seven of 28 nurses and nurse aides (and all five key informants) said they would like to know more about the pasts of the residents they care for. 9. Though nearly all residents and staff said they would like to talk more and listen more (respectively) about the residents’ pasts, nine of 13 residents responded “not at all” when surveyed about how often they talk about their pasts with staff. 10. All five key informants from the CCRC’s administrative staff perceived, in addition to their own increased job satisfaction and/or better job performance, a positive effect on the participating residents’ self-esteem and well-being. ii iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................................. i EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .......................................................................................................... ii INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................... 1 LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................................ 1 BENEFITS OF ORAL HISTORY .......................................................................................... 1 SHARED ORAL HISTORY.................................................................................................... 3 METHODS .................................................................................................................................... 4 OVERVIEW.............................................................................................................................. 4 PARTICIPANTS........................................................................................................................... 5 RESIDENTS.............................................................................................................................. 5 STAFF........................................................................................................................................ 5 KEY INFORMANTS................................................................................................................ 6 REMINISCENCE SESSIONS................................................................................................. 6 INTERVIEW SESSIONS......................................................................................................... 7 FINDINGS..................................................................................................................................... 7 RESIDENTS.............................................................................................................................. 7 ADMINISTRATIVE................................................................................................................... 14 KEY INFORMANTS.............................................................................................................. 14 Key Informant I: ................................................................................................................... 14 Key Informant II: .................................................................................................................. 14 Key Informant III:................................................................................................................. 15 Key Informant IV:................................................................................................................. 15 Key Informant V:.................................................................................................................. 15 DISCUSSION .............................................................................................................................. 15 IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE......................................................................................... 20 REFERENCES............................................................................................................................ 22 APPENDICES............................................................................................................................. 23 iv v Enriching Now with Then: Connecting Nursing Home Residents and Staff Through Oral History them, in short, have a humanizing effect that INTRODUCTION would lead to better communications, relations and overall care for the residents. It Enriching Now with Then tests how was also theorized that understanding more increased staff knowledge of nursing home about the residents would make the jobs of residents’ pasts may affect relations between nurse aides and nurses more interesting, staff members and the residents they care for satisfying and rewarding. and, possibly, improve job satisfaction, The hypothesis seemed well worth specifically among

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