Sammanfattning
Background: Nursing home residents are, due to their need of complex care and reduced health,
a vulnerable group. Residents’ experience of their stay depends largely on the staff in nursing
homes, including how they manage to establish and maintain residents relationships.
Objective: The purpose of this study is to study the influence of personal relationships on residents’
satisfaction with their stay in a nursing home.
Method: A cross-sectional study conducted at four nursing homes in the eastern area of Norway,
where 114 residents answered a quantitative questionnaire in fall 2011.
Results: Satisfaction with the nursing home correlated statistically significant with nursing home
residents experience in their relationship with employees, other residents and satisfaction with
leisure opportunities at the nursing home. In addition, there was a statistically significant association
between leisure opportunities and residents’ contentment with relationships with employees and
other residents.
Conclusion: Employees at nursing homes have a responsibility to ensure that residents are thriving
at the nursing home. This can be done by promoting personal relationships between residents and
employees, and through establishing relationships among residents. Leisure opportunities appear to
be a suitable mean to establish personal relationships at the nursing home, in addition to achieve
patients’ satisfaction on its own.