Abstract

A Descriptive Study:  Purposeful Activity and Level

Of Hope in Elderly Nursing Home Residents

Lesley Brandt-Raney

2000

            The purpose of this study was to examine and describe the levels of hope in elderly nursing home residents who perform purposeful activity.  This study is a descriptive correlational design.  Although no causal inferences were made, this design provided a beginning understanding of the relationship of levels of hope, and elderly nursing home residents who perform purposeful activity.  A purposive sampling of elderly were selected who lived in a nursing home in a Midwestern city and who met the inclusion criteria.  The Herth Hope Index was the instrument used to measure levels of hope.  The Descriptive Checklist of Purposeful Activity (DCPA) was developed by this researcher to provide a description of categories of purposeful activity within the nursing home setting and addressed the domains of type, time, place, and benefit of purposeful activity.  The study suggested the following implications:  (a) the mean level of hope in elderly nursing home residents is high as measured by the Herth Hope Index:  (b) elderly nursing home residents who perceived their functional ability as high perform more group activities compared to those who perceived their functional ability as low; and (c) elderly nursing home residents performing group activity have increased levels of hope.

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