Who Experiences the Move into a Nursing Home as Stressful? Examination of the Relocation Stress Hypothesis using Archival, Time-Series Data

The relocation stress hypothesis that older people find the move into a nursing home to be stressful was examined using archival time-series data. The prevalence of psychological distress following admission was obtained from nursing notes written on monthly medical charts for 159 residents of four Saskatchewan nursing homes. Excluding those with an organic psychotic disorder (19.5%), the results showed that the majority of new residents (82.7%) were not distressed by the move. However, a large proportion of those who were stressed and, in particular, those who had behavioral problems prior to admission did experience psychological distress on admission, and this proportion dropped slowly over an eight month period. While this evidence does not support a general relocation stress hypothesis, it is consistent with a perceived control interpretation of this hypothesis as well as a number of other interpretations focussing on alternative explanations for the behavioral problems variable.