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Abstract Placing a Parent in the Nursing Home: The Decision-Making Experience Taphne Blue 1994 Each individual, regardless of age, is affected by decisions. Decisions can be personal or they can be decisions reached after discussion with others. Making a decision can be a relatively simple process involving a clear-cut issue or it can be a very complex process involving many interacting persons and numerous factors (Beckingham and Baumann, 1990). In many health care situations, family members are exposed to unfamiliar situations where there are often no prescribed solutions. The family is faced with the dilemma of making an important decision when positive or optimal solutions may not be identified. Placement of a parent in a nursing home is a major life decision with significant effects on both the older person and that person’s family (Myers, 1989). The decision to place a loved one in a nursing home is difficult because it openly acknowledges that the family is no longer capable of caring for the parent. By its very nature, the decision to place someone in a nursing home means disruption of the family’s integrity by removing a member (Reimann, 1986). Care for the elderly in long term institutions has been associated with many negative views.
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